Mother’s Day in the Greenway
Recently my love of Seattle and its surrounding communities has significantly expanded – ever since I started working for the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust. I love working as the Volunteer Event Coordinator for the 8th Annual Mountains to Sound Greenway Summer Festival. If you don’t know about this festival already, you are really missing out. As our tagline implies….“100 miles. 100 events. 100 days.” And boy, do we mean it! The cool thing about all these events is that they are happening right in our backyard- in all of the great communities of the Greenway from Seattle to Ellensburg. The more I look at the festival guide the more events I can’t wait to go to. Working for the Greenway means I get to spend a great deal of time this summer out in the Greenway itself, working with volunteers, community members and participating in a long standing festival that attracts thousands to this area every summer. I can’t wait!
So, for this year’s Mother’s day, I endeavored to share my excitement for the Greenway with my mother while taking the opportunity to learn more about the communities I will be working in.
Now, before I tell you all about it, you need to understand something very important: As a girl who hasn’t been in Seattle very long and hails from the warm and arid desert of eastern Washington, the rain of Seattle has been a tack in my thumb for the last four years. As this is a constant irritant to me, and as my mother and I are best friends, she has heard of the constant rain on a very constant basis. However when given an opportunity to leave the Seattle area, no one was more surprised than I was to learn that I wouldn’t leave this place. Rain and all, I’ve come to love it dearly. Now more than ever.
Back to my story… I strived to show my mother my love of this area so she would know I was happy here, rain and all, and maybe learn to love this area herself. Since I’d been intrigued with the town of Snoqualmie, and knowing I would be spending some time there during the festival, that’s where we headed. We started our time in town doing a little shopping at some of the nifty shops along the main street. Then we moved onto the main attractions that make Snoqualmie special and unique to the Greenway- from its historic railway depot to the mystical Snoqualmie Falls. My mom and I had a terrific time taking the train (in the rain) from the Snoqualmie Depot to North Bend and back via Snoqualmie Falls (which we loved so much we went back to after lunch). After our train ride, we ate at a very cute little diner, the Candy Factory and Café– delicious sandwiches, mixed with mouthwatering candy, and a 1950’s diner feel – can’t get better than that!
To give my mom some contrast, the next day we visited the Fremont Market where a big city girl like my mom could get her fill of the sights and sounds of the city as well as mill about the crowds of people enjoying the sunshine (amen to that!). We had such a wonderful time learning about the Greenway on our mini-tour that we are planning on visiting more of the towns and communities I will be working in this summer very soon. From Pioneer Days in Cle Elum, the 13th Annual Coal Miner’s festival in Roslyn, the Duvall Heritage Festival, to Woodinville’s Shakespeare in the Park or Ellensburg’s Dachshunds on Parade this summer, I know we will have a blast. I may owe my life to my mom but I owe this brilliant Mother’s Day to the communities of the Mountains to Sound Greenway.
I highly recommend taking your mom or anyone else in the family out to one of the great events during Mountains to Sound Greenway Summer. In fact, our kick-off weekend is Father’s Day weekend, June 18th and 19th. I’ll be bringing my dad. You should bring yours too!
Lastly, let me know if you’re interested in helping out this summer in the Greenway. We would love to have your help in making this year’s Mountains to Sound Greenway Summer the best ever!
