Tolt-MacDonald Campground August 23 – 30, 2024

On Friday, August 23, 2024 we left Kanaskat-Palmer State Park in Ravensdale, Washington and drove about an hour north to Tolt-MacDonald Campground in Carnation, Washington outside of Redmond. Like Kanaskat-Palmer, this is our third year staying here when we cross the country to visit. We were held up in bad traffic on the way and arrived about 2:30 pm for a 3 pm check-in, but a worker came by and said we could go on in and set-up, so we were grateful for that small bit of extra time.

Birthday Dinner and Redmond Fun

We set-up Nomad quickly, then showered and left to meet the kids at their home so we could all go to a birthday dinner for Jeremy who turned 45 that day. His choice of venue was a place called Flatsticks, a combination pub and putt-putt or mini-golf experience. It was a fun, busy, boisterous place. We had some good food and then had fun golfing around their indoor course. When the damage was done, Wendy beat all of us by large margins. Then we took Jade back to the campsite with us for the beginning of her week with Grandma and Granddad.

Saturday and Sunday Jeremy, Wendy and Maxwell came over for lunch each day and we had a good time catching up with them.

Monday, August 26th, we had errands to run in Redmond at Costco and Ben Franklin. My daughter pretty much runs Costco so we make sure to stop in wherever we can across the country. We also took the opportunity to stop into Half-Price Books where Cindy picked up a couple of tomes and Jade got a book about American Sign Language. Jeremy stopped by for the campsite for lunch and dinner so Cindy really enjoyed the extra time with her son.

Seattle Museum of Pop Culture

On Tuesday, Cindy, Jade and I drove to the Redmond Transit Center so we could take the bus into Seattle. Jade had told us she wanted to visit the Museum of Pop Culture there. Cindy and I had been to it a few years ago when they had an exhibit of Marvel Comics superheroes, so we were looking forward to see what they might have for new exhibits.

We spent about two hours looking at all the exhibits we could (sadly the Horror exhibit, the one Jade REALLY wanted to see, was closed) including the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Music, and Pop Culture in general exhibits. Lots of good Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who and others in the Sci-Fi exhibit. Some real good Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Magic and others in the Fantasy exhibit. In Music there was a huge exhibit about Jimi Hendrix, famous guitarists in general (like my favorite; Stevie Ray Vaughn), and different music genres with a focus on Seattle bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, and more.

I was happy to see they also had an exhibit centered on K-Pop bands because my daughter loves K-Pop. They even focused on what I think is her favorite K-Pop band, BTS, as well as one of the staple of K-Pop concerts; light sticks. I enjoyed sending her photos from that exhibit for her to enjoy.

Then we had lunch at the MOPOP Cultural Kitchen, which carries a wide selection of different meal types.

After lunch we walked over to the Seattle Center Armory, which was right next to the Monorail stop, to get Jade some Salt Water Taffy and Cindy and I some ice cream. Then we took the monorail back to our bus stop and the bus back to the Redmond Transit Center where Voyager was parked safely in their garage.

We arrived back at Nomad around 2:30 pm and took an hour nap before walking over to the Farmer’s Market in the park next to our campground. We bought fresh blueberries, strawberries and raspberries as well as some dark chocolate for Jade and Cindy.

Jade was supposed to stay with us until Thursday but we took her back home on Wednesday. That was because she had a new student orientation to go to on Thursday morning as she prepares for her freshman year in high school. That night, Cindy and I finished watching the series finale of “Evil” and the season 3 finale of “Only Murders in the Building” and we enjoyed both of them. “Evil” is a bit out there, but I do hope it gets picked up by Netflix so it can continue to freak us out, lol.

Old Friends

On Wednesday night I also heard from an old friend and former work colleague, Lynn Henderson. She saw on Facebook that I was in Redmond and it turns out that she had moved to Redmond and was hoping we could have a chance to get together. It was sadly unfortunate that I didn’t find out earlier because Cindy and I would have really enjoyed getting to touch base in person with Lynn, but we just didn’t have time left in the schedule. Hopefully next year.

Thursday we DID have the chance to drive about an hour north of Redmond and meet up with another old friend and former work colleague, Betty Kirby. We haven’t seen her since the time I was working in North Dakota several years ago. When Betty saw several months ago that we would be in Washington she reached out to let us know she was living there now and so we made plans to meet halfway between her home and our campground for lunch on our last full day in town.

It was great getting to see her. She and I caught up on people we know in common and then she helped Cindy with some tatting questions she had. All while enjoying lunch at a Panera for about two hours I think. It was over way too soon but we had to get back to Redmond for a going away dinner with the kids and grandkids.

Going Away Dinner

We had a great last dinner with the kids and grandkids (thanks guys!) and then walked over to a bookstore in Redmond Town Center before trekking a little farther to enjoy ice cream for dessert at Cold Stone Creamery in the same center. We were just trying to draw out our last time together, but soon we had to head back.

As usual, we had a great two-week visit with our “West Coast Family” and always leave with good memories to hold us through.

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