The Mothers Take a Road Trip

My friend Susan and I loaded up the car last Friday morning and headed for Seattle. Our girls grew up together and at the moment, three of the four of them are in Seattle. Susan’s younger daughter is an artist in Bozeman. Her older daughter just enrolled in a nurse practitioner program in Seattle. She and her husband and their one year-old son spent their summer here in Montana but in-person classes started this week. Because I was going over to help DD#2 move from one house to another, I suggested Susan come with me so she could be available for grandma duty while her kids got settled.

Everyone wants to travel with me. I go to all sorts of fun places, like fabric stores, thrift stores, and Trader Joe’s. The Quilting Bee in Spokane was our first stop. I have learned not to go there without a shopping list because otherwise I get overwhelmed. I was able to find everything I was looking for:

The top is Essex yarn-dyed linen/cotton, which I need to finish a project. The middle is Northcott Fabric’s Toscana Blenders in Olive—I thought I wanted Moda Grunge in Zesty Apple, but when I looked at it in person, I realized that it had some other colors in it that wouldn’t work for what I am envisioning. The Toscana was the same shade without the color variations. The bottom is five yards of backing for the Noon and Night quilt. I wanted a black print for the backing, but black prints in 30s reproduction fabrics are few and far between. This will work. 

All that and we’d only gotten as far as Spokane!

I discovered along the way that Susan had never driven to Seattle. The few times she’d been there, she had gone by air. I’ve done this trip many dozens of times, so it was fun to experience it through her eyes, seeing it for the first time. The weather was stellar the entire time we were traveling and we had some great views of Mount Rainier as we approached Seattle.

I had booked us an Airbnb about five minutes from DD#2’s new house. We arrived Friday night and ordered in Indian food. (I confessed to the husband that DoorDash is so convenient that if I lived in Seattle, I would be tempted to give up cooking altogether and just order dinner every night.) Susan’s daughter and her husband were not scheduled to arrive until Saturday afternoon. DD#1 and her fiancé had gone to see his parents and were expected back that evening as well. Susan, DD#2, and I spent Saturday morning visiting Ikea, Half-Price Books and Joann Fabrics. After lunch, we went to DD#2’s Nordstrom store so I could return my original mother-of-the-bride dress and get something a bit less formal. DD#2 had ordered a couple of dresses for me and had them shipped to the store for me to try on. 

On Sunday, all seven of us and the baby met at the zoo and spent a wonderful couple of hours wandering around and visiting before going back to the Airbnb to relax and order dinner. We all got to play with the baby, who is just over a year old and great fun. 

Susan’s daughter had to start clinicals on Monday. After a visit to Trader Joe’s, I dropped Susan off so she could watch the baby while her son-in-law got groceries. DD#2 and I went shopping for the rest of what she needed for her new house and did a Costco run. All of us met back at the Airbnb again that night and ordered in dinner and sat and visited. 

Tuesday was the big moving day. Susan stayed at the Airbnb with the baby while the girls and I, future son-in-law, and Susan’s son-in-law worked on getting DD#2 moved from one house to another. With three cars and two strong young guys, it only took a couple of hours and went very smoothly. I like DD#2’s new neighborhood a lot. It is a bit closer to downtown, but in a nice residential area. Several of her new neighbors came over to introduce themselves while we were moving in. The landlord is very attentive and it’s obvious that she takes care of the property. 

We all met for dinner (Indian again) at the Airbnb, then said our goodbyes. Susan and I loaded up the car yesterday morning and made the drive back to Montana. We had almost as much stuff in the car coming back as we did when we went. I always wonder how that happens. 

I did buy a few books, because Half-Price Books is a wonderful used bookstore:

I am justifying this by noting that these are all block encyclopedias, so I view this as foundational research material, rather like stitch dictionaries.

I also did a big whiskey resupply:

You can buy hard alcohol in grocery stores and even Target stores in Washington state. I had amassed a collection of whiskey on previous visits to the girls but stock was getting low.

All in all, it was a great trip and we had more fun than two people probably ought to be allowed to have. Susan’s daughter will be in Seattle for the next four years and DD#2 has no plans to go anywhere, so Susan and I likely will be making more visits there in the future.

And now I’ve got to figure out what day of the week it is and what I need to get done. The first stop this morning is going to be the tomato patch. I suspect there will be a big haul.