Hiking at Bear Mt, NY
Summer 2006: Trip to the US
Hiking at Bear Mt, NY
In June, we took a trip back to the US for a month. While that sounds like a long time, spreading activities between both coasts made for a very busy time. We flew from Nairobi to New York, where we stayed for a few days with Ruma's sister Salmi. Sheema and Hashi came up so we had everyone together. We went into the city, went to the beach, and drove up to Bear Mountain one day. After a few days in NY, we drove South to Washington, where we stayed with Sheema. In Washington, we visited friends, ate at some our our favorite restaurants, and did a bit of work. Kevin changed employers during this time so he had to close out his old job and get started with the new. One unfortunate thing which happened in DC is that while boating on the Potomac, we accidentally got our camera wet and poof, that was that. We were wanting to get a new camera anyway so that we could take better shots while on Safari in Kenya, but the old camera would have been nice to have as a backup. Then we headed South again to Newport News VA to stay a few days with Asha and Foma and finally back to Washington for our flight to Seattle. We bought a new Nikon camera just before we left for Seattle, so we could start taking pictures again. It was a busy two weeks on the East Coast!
Seattle was much more relaxed since we didnt have to do so much travelling. We stayed at Grandpa Bobbies house. The house is so big, it's like a vacation home. The girls had fun with the trampoline in back, going to the pool, and the beach. We toured around Seattle, visting many our our favorite haunts, including the University District and Discovery Park, boating and hanging out with Uncle D & family, and visting many friends. We had a big Family party at the Normandy Park pool. Bert came down for that, as did Aunt Eli and even Karna made it. This works so well for getting together. We also had our traditional day with Great Grandma Emma, taking her down to Pt. Defiance Park for the day and having lunch on the water at Anthony's, another of our favorite restaurants. We drove up to Mt. Rainier one day and did some hiking at Sunrise. On the way back, we stopped stayed the night at Kyle and Deb's house in Orting.
Later, we took a trip up to Canada. We visited Ruma's graduate-school friend Doug & family and then went on to Vancouver BC and stayed with Ruma's friend Vicki. The next day, we went to Stanley Park with Vicki and her daughter Celine, before heading back stateside. Along the way home, we stopped in Everett and visited Aunt Eli and Uncle Tom in their trailer. Called Bert to see if we could drop by his new house, but couldnt get in touch with them. We spent a day with Viggo and Eileen at their cabin on Hood Canal. Stephie and the girls joined us, as did Darren and Laurie. Finally, we spent a day with cousin Paula and Mark and their two kids Kevin and Allison before heading back to the East Coast.
If the first East Coast trip was busy, the wrap-up was even busier! A quick visit with Asha and Foma in DC, a quick basketball game for Kevin, and then a quick drive back to NY and we were headed back to Africa.