|
Introduction
Mrs. Higgins mentioned that she intended to
take a little vacation and renew her acquaintance with some of Washington
State's great waterfalls. Would we be interested in her notes, she asked. Would
we!
In 1949, Bonnie married the chap with whom
I had the pleasure of serving in Korea. We were tight friends until his death a
few years ago. Roger was fond of telling the story of their honeymoon. They were
both students, he on the G.I.Bill and she on a scholarship, and both were always
flat broke. They were going to wait to tie the knot until after graduation but
decided to advance the date to help the budget, Hey, why not; I've heard of much
worse reasons. Needless to say, they couldn't afford a honeymoon so they did the
next best thing.
He borrowed $50 to buy a surplus WW-II Jeep
and they rode off into the sunrise to spend their honeymoon under the stars at
Washington's own Niagara: Snoqualmie Falls. They set up their (surplus Army) pup
tent to enjoy their wedding night with the background roar of the waterfalls.
What they heard, instead, was the roar of a Washington thunderstorm accompanied
by frequent blasts of thunder. And it rained and it rained and it rained. But
did that dampen the enthusiasm of those two young kids? 51 years later, just
before he passed away, Roger told Bonnie: "Say goodbye to old Snoqualmie
for me."
Now she has toured Snoqualmie and several
dozen of Washington's finest waterfalls in her Grand Marquis - complete with
refrigerator-freezer in the trunk, and electric cooler in the back seat. She is
missing her original companion but, as she put it: "I am just solidifying
many old memories and adding some new ones."
This five-day excursion is a little much
for most people. But, as she said, if two senior citizens could handle each of
these waterfalls and their access trails (though many were viewed from the
road), a family with young children should be able to enjoy doing the same. And
this is a family-oriented web site so that is a very important criterion.
We do hope you enjoy her visits to these
splendid waterfalls with Bonnie.
| 
