My mini Spokane adventure.

AHHHH!!! So this trip has been so jam packed already that this post will probably be really long. For those of you newly joining my blog not only is it a book blog, but I also do a play by play of my various travels all over the world. My friend Deanna from TWU is getting married tomorrow and I managed to swing 4 days off from work to watch her walk down the aisle. Spokane is one of my favorite places in the world for several reasons (one being that Deanna is a very good hostess and showed me her favorite things here which have subsequently become mine). Another reason is that the first time I came to visit Deanna a had a fairly signifcant spiritual experience that has left me with a deep love of the desert (all of them, but particularly) the just outside of Spokane. I'll start with talking about the trip and fill you in a bit when I get to the part about the desert later. The journey to Spokane according to Mapquest takes 11 hours and 45 minutes. I was invited to attend Deanna's Bridal shower at 5PM on friday and was torn about leaving Thursday or trying to get up early and do the whole day on Friday. I waffled back and forth ultimately deciding to just get up uber early Friday. I chatted with my coworker about it on Thursday and they all told me I should leave on Thursday after work. I hadn't packed, hadn't found anyone to look after my fish, hadn't bought a gift for Deanna or something I needed for the shower. I went home deciding I would try to whip it all together and leave if it didn't take too long. I got everything packed and realized after chekcing the ferry schedule that if I left by 6:45 I could catch the 8:15 ferry out of Tswassen and probably get to Bellingham by midnight. This seemed like a good idea to me because it would mean no ferry waits, and most likely no border waits (whereas an early Friday morning departure woudl put me smack dab in the middle of rush hour). Thankfully I had been to Bellingham recently (when Esther and I went to the Tulip Festival) so I knew just where I wanted to stay and booked the room, deposited my fish with my mom and raced for the ferry. I made it with only 5 minutes to spare and got right on the ferry. It was a gorgeous night and I caught the sun setting over the water which was stunning. The border was a less than five minute wait and I made it to Spokane by midnight just like I thought I would. Sadly I was highly caffinated so sleep did not come easy. Also, I seem to have developed a paranoia about bedbugs and kept leaping of bed everytime I itched!!! I am bed bug free and laughing at myself at the moment. Unfortunately despite this hotel being very nice the walls are paper thin and my upstairs neighbours arrived home at 1am and decided to "enjoy each other company" LOL....you know what I mean. I fell asleep at 3:45. I was determined to make a stop in Leavenworth though so I got up ate, showered and hit the road by 9. This journey was also uneventful. I made good time and didn't hit a single traffic jam. I even managed to stop at Wayside church which is the wee-est little church I have ever seen just outside of a small town on highway 2. It is so fricking cute, but hard to spot and kind of scary pulling over on the small shoulder of the highway.

I made it to Leavenworth and figured I had enough time to stop for an hour. I immediately headed to my favorite coffee shop in Leavenworth The Ginger Bread Factory. I had lunch, and coffee. I wandered around downtown Leavenworth stopping at the Hat store....which is not nearly as fun on a solo trip. I felt like an idiot taking photos of myself so I tried on a few things but don't have any photo evidence of it. Sorry folks! I also stopped at the toy store and a really cool hippy clothing/home decor store. I didn't by anything though.

I composed a status about Leavenworth in German while trying to steal a wifi signal but sadly it didn't work. It went somehting like "Auf Weidersehen Leavenworth. Ich liebe dich!!!" I completed the rest of the journey slightly speeding and wound along the Columbia river gorge near my favorite part of the desert. ugh...decided it would take to long to explain my spiritual moment so you will have to ask me over coffee sometime. This part of Washington has little signs next to their crops and I smelled delicious patch of Spearmint, and have discovered that Alfalfa also smells delicious. I drove by some tumbleweeds but was going to fast, to stop and take a series of ridiculous pictures. One day old friend, one day!!!!!! I made it to Spokane around 4 but got lost in the maze of one way streets. I eventually found my hotel (I could tell I was near it but couldn't see it from the road...so I parked and walked until I saw the sign. It is in Downtown Spokane's art district and the majority of the hotel is painted read with nice modern looking lamps and a nice comforter. (I rate hotels on how ugly the comforter is and this one passes the test!!!). My room has art of a Sax player on the wall, and everything so far meets my standards! I am equal distance to all my favorite things in Spokane and within walking distance all my favorite stores. Sunday I will spend sometime doing all those things, but first the wedding.

I went to Deanna's bridal shower which had a fun game where we had to bring underwear and Deanna had to guess who brought what.It was actually really difficult! I stayed for the rehearsal dinner and then went out for coffee with Deanna, Scout and Deanna's sister Melissa who I have conneced with via the internet but never seen in real life until today!!! Tomorrow is the wedding, but I might take a quick walk around the city before heading there!