Last Friday, the whole family caravanned to Richland, my parents' new town in Eastern Washington. It's a four-hour drive from Seattle - we broke it up with a stop for lunch halfway in the tiny town of Ellensburg. We arrived in the late afternoon and hung out in their corporate apartment while they stocked up on groceries. We had frozen pizza for dinner and then went out for ice cream at a cute old fashioned soda shop.
We drove by their new house (they just closed on it today!) and called it a night. On Saturday morning, we took the girls swimming at the apartment complex pool. Can you guess which sister was a bigger fan of the water?
We had lunch at Country Mercantile. It's the neatest place - they sell deli sandwiches, tamales, enchiladas, salsas, jams, ice cream, chocolates, produce, bread, and other assorted baked goods. Everything is fresh and made in-house!
While Claire and Maggie were napping, my dad gave us a tour of the town and showed us where new office is. Richland is where they manufactured plutonium during WWII and his company is contracted to build a treatment plant for the radioactive waste, which is currently just stored underground in metal tanks!
After they woke up, we took Claire and Maggie to a vintage carousel. It's in a park on the other side of the city, next to a splash pad and a playground. They rode once with us and once with their grandparents.
We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, one of the few restaurants still open on July Fourth, and then let the girls run out their wiggles at a park on the Columbia River.
The next day, we went to Mass at one of their potential new parishes and hit the road for home. It was really great to see their new town - I'm already excited to see their new house on our next visit! Transitioning from city life in bustling Shanghai to small town Washington State isn't going to be seamless, but we were all surprised by how many unique spots Richland has to offer.
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You are awesome.