Phil and Shanna’s Blog

Dad and Mom Gons Come to WA!

Posted on 27. Jul, 2008 by Shanna Gons in Bellingham, Family, Pictures, Vacation

Just over a month ago, Dad and Mom Gons made the long trip from OH out to WA to spend a couple of weeks with us. They arrived on Wed. June 18th, and were able to stay with us until Tuesday, July 1. Phil and I still had to work most of the time, but we spent the bulk of our non-work hours exploring the area with them.

There are so many beautiful places to see near our home. With work and Phil’s dissertation, we have not taken much time to explore the area. Having visitors gave us the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy God’s beautiful creation that is all around us!

The first Saturday we drove down to Deception Pass, near Antacortes, WA, which is about 45 minutes south of Bellingham. Although the skies were grey, it was still very beautiful. We enjoyed walking along the shore, and Dad Gons found many beautiful rocks!

After church on Sunday, we drove up Mt. Baker Highway. (Mt. Baker is the beautiful snow-capped mountain that we are blessed to see outside our home everyday—at least the day’s it’s clear.) The drive was very beautiful, and there were many spots to pull off and take pictures. After we a couple of hours, we finally made it to the top. As we made our last stop before heading back down, we got back in the car—and the car wouldn’t start. The engine wouldn’t even turn over. We hadn’t seen too many other vehicles on the trip, so we knew we were in quite a predicament. It was early evening, starting to get dark and cool on the top of this mountain. The couple of cars that we did see, tried to jump us, but they didn’t have enough power.

Dad and Mom have AAA, so we gave them a jingle. They would be at least a couple of hours, but our options were pretty limited. Not too much longer after we placed our distressed call, a couple from Canada pulled up in their minivan and offered their assistance. This man “happened” to be a part-time mechanic and had tools in his car. After a few moments, we were on our way back down.

God was taking care of us. Not only did he send a well-qualified helper our way, the location that our car died was a blessing. We were stranded in a big parking lot of a chalet, but the previous stop we made, just a minute earlier, was right on the edge of the mountain. It was a massive drop-off with no guard rails, and the pull-off was only big enough for 1 vehicle!! We were so thankful for God’s kindness and protection.

During the week, we visited different parks around Bellingham (Sehome Hill Arboretum, Whatcom Falls Park, Boulevard Park, Maritime Heritage Park). We had such a fun, relaxing time of fellowship together.

We spent the next weekend in British Columbia. On Friday we went up to Grouse Mountain (right outside Vancouver). We had planned to spent some time in Vancouver afterward, but we ran out of time. That night we stayed at Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy’s in Ladner. On Saturday we took a ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island. This was the first time Phil and I had taken a ferry. The view on the way there and back was gorgeous. We enjoyed our time in the city and at the Butchart Gardens—a world renowned flower garden. It was beautiful!

Our time together went by so quickly, but we were thankful that they took time out of their busy schedules to visit us at our new home. We look forward to seeing the rest of the Gons family at Christmas.

See more pictures at our Picasa album.

Tags: Bellingham, Cathy, Phil, Pictures, Scott, Shanna