Seattle to Spokane

Episode № 111 spans the entire width of Washington State; from Seattle clear through Spokane, all the way to Idaho.

Transcript

Episode № 111 Seattle to Spokane

Welcome back!
Lady Jupiter Podcast is the audio accompaniment to LadyJupiter.com a lifestyle blog where I write about my family’s military life, our home life, and other tiny details that I just like to share. I’m happy that you’re here with me.

In this episode I’ll share an update on our life as affected by the U.S. military, then continue with a blog update, and wrap up with something domestic.

Today in our military-affected lives I have nothing significant to update!

When we last talked, I had just helped get Mister Jupiter and Mike Dog out the door at 3am. I’m happy to announce that their one flight that morning went as planned, and they arrived at the intended destination together - yay!

While they were flying, I packed up Kid Jupiter again. We checked out of the hotel, loaded the rental car, and got going to Target. Seattle was having a funky little cold snap, and I needed to buy my child some long pants. I aggressively shipped all of his long pants when we were steaming in Arkansas, so he wore shorts and a track jacket that day…much like several others.

This time I got a Toyota Rav4, it was a fun one to drive. Much more familiar than that Chevy Tahoe, but it had a lot of functions that I don’t think I would use. I’m not very “outdoorsy” but I think that most “outdoorsy” people aren’t allergic to trees and grass like I am. Anyway - the space was perfect for our needs that day. At this point I was in charge of one human child, two large suitcases, and three carryons. I had a few missions - 1. to keep Kid Jupiter alive and well, 2. to ship every non-essential so that I could nest two of three carryons into the large suitcases. Specifically planning and sorting for one nested checked suitcase to be our kitchen and bath essentials, the second nested checked suitcase would be our clothes and shoes, then the roller carryon would be jewelry, important papers, jackets, and toothbrushes. (For the record, my second carryon was just a purse with iPads, headphones, medication, and passports…well, on the occasion that I’m carrying more than my own singular passport. Ahem.)

We relocated from Seattle to Spokane that day.

An amazing friend and his rockstar family took Kid Jupiter and me in while we waited on his passport. We had full use of a finished basement that was perfect for extended-stay visitors like ourselves. We had a washer and dryer, our own little bedroom with two beds, a kitchenette, and a ton of toys.

Said hosts were even willing to be our drivers when we needed to buy food, or go to the Post Office; my home away from home. But despite being in Hooptown USA ~during~ Hoopfest, Kid Jupiter and I did not observe the sporting. You don’t need the details, but I can honestly say that Kid Jupiter was not feeling well, so I kept us in the house. But it was good! We walked the neighborhood at least once a day, and I pointed out wonderful things like the mountains in the distance, the lavender growing by the side walk, the neighborhood cat running with a rolled taco in it’s mouth; a real life palindrome - TacoCat!

We stayed in western Spokane, and didn’t really venture too much into the rest of the city - like I said, not only did we have what we needed, but I was still shipping out the excess just to reduce the sheer weight that I needed to haul back to Seattle.

After one sleep in Spokane, there was a good opportunity to pop over to Idaho and see Coeur d’Alene. We drove around Fernan Lake, then walked downtown a bit. Stops included Collective Kitchen Public House, the farmers market, and Whoops! Later, back in Washington, we had dinner at Elk Public House - Kid Jupiter did not eat his grilled cheese sandwich, but he stayed in his chair most of the time.

The next day (after spending about $150 on boxes and shipping costs) we went out to an Irish pub and played Uno while we waited on our meals. I love Scotch eggs, so I made sure to share those with the table, but I kept my black and tan to myself. Since I love fish and chips I had that as my main dish, and Kid Jupiter worked on my chips; one of the few foods that he’s willing to eat most days. I cannot wait for this neophobia to end - there are so many delicious foods in this world that he’s unwilling to try. Ugh.

After dinner we went to Huntington Park and rode the carousel, then walked to Spokane Falls Lookout to observe the intersections of water, gravity, and sunset. It was really nice. Before getting back in the car, we slid down the giant Radio Flyer wagon, and found some offerings for the Garbage Goat. Kid Jupiter didn’t like the Garbage Goat so much, but I thought it was charming. I love public art overall, but public art with a vacuum and instructions to feed it trash?! Love it.

I’ll be back next week!

For today’s LadyJupiter.com update…the site is still up and running.

And lastly something domestic.
I just wanted to share how nice it is to have access to a washer and dryer when you’re living out of a suitcase.

Since our household goods were packed away, I’ve simply followed the laundry appliances. We lived in our empty house until the end of May, washing and drying as needed until a holiday weekend when Mister Jupiter moved said appliances to our friends’ empty house, that we then occupied while selling our last house. We stayed in our friends’ house, washing and drying as needed until we could move into TLF (which had it’s own compact washer and dryer - the stacked kind that is perfect for us and our limited clothing).

We didn’t stay in any hotel long enough to need a laundromat, so that’s nice. No shade towards laundromats of course, they’re there for a reason and I am all for them. Especially the ones with good vending machines. When we moved to Alabama years ago, I used the nearest laundromat often, but the vending machine only had sodas. I had to walk to the nearest restaurant to get water. But obviously I started taking my own water, but still.

Anyway - apologies if I’m being repetitive…I don’t reference my own recent episodes to see how often or how recently I’ve said something…so sorry (maybe) if I’ve been talking too frequently about laundry.

And that’s it for today’s episode.

Show notes and transcript are available anytime; swing by LadyJupiter.com/podcast.
📌Ladyjupiter.com/Podcast

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—Bye for now!