MOSES LAKE - Leaving the wide-open spaces of Eastern Washington to the jam-packed territory we know as Western Washington is difficult for my wife, Garnet, and me. Perhaps not all of the areas on the other side of the Cascade Mountains are jam-packed, but the region certainly seems more congested to us. We need a good excuse, a good reason, one easily justified, to travel over Snoqualmie Pass. A few weeks ago we found several.

First the Northwest Outdoor Writers' Association Annual Conference was held in Bellingham. Second the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau has been sending me e-mails telling me how exciting it was to tour their county.

Third I discovered a few classmates from the Great Moses Lake High School Class of 1965 lived close to Bellingham. Thus the stage was set for a significant amount of sightseeing, visiting with friends and attending the conference.

When a tourism bureau organizes an itinerary for writers, they cram as many activities into the day as possible. After all, it is their job to present their spot on this earth in a good light, in this case as much of Snohomish County, so others will also want to visit.

We arrived at the Inn at Port Gardener at noon, checked in and split into two groups, with Rachel Morgan Geer and Garnet heading to the tulip fields. Ron Geer and I headed to the Future of Flight Aviation Center and then toured the Boeing Assembly Plant.

In the evening Ron and I cook steaks at Rachel and Ron's house in Stanwood. It was a good day, a great outing with Ron and a great meal with friends. Although tired, the scene outside our suite included the harbor with a few hundred boats, mostly sailboats, lining the multiple docks was serene and provided a view capable of relaxing the tired travelers.

The weather was wet, windy and on the chilly side, so we were resigned to the view the harbor through the picture window, instead of taking advantage of the private deck available to the room.

The whale-watching adventure covered the next morning and we arrived back at the dock hungry. An appetizer at Anthony's Seafood Restaurant muffled the hunger pains.

Our next stop was the Stillaguamish Valley Pioneer Museum in Arlington. We arrived a bit late, about 3:20 with the museum scheduled to close at 4. Myrtle Rausch was on hand as our tour guide.

The collection of photos and artifacts representing the area's heritage of early settlement, logging, dairy, railroad and military was extensive. The three-story building was beautiful. Ours was a quick overview, much too short, and this is a problem with me, as Garnet knows well. I want to spend days in such places, investigating the displays as well as the written documents. We must go back some day.

We had the evening to ourselves and enjoyed a leisurely supper at Lombardi's Neighborhood Italian Restaurant, located just a few yards from our room. We were seated at a table with a harbor view, the same harbor as we see from our room, but from a different angle.

The restaurant offered a first-seating, three-course, meal for $15. We couldn't pass it up and enjoyed a Caesar salad, grilled salmon and chocolate hazelnut mousse. 

Then it was back to the room for more harbor watching, as the boats bobbed gently to and fro and owners scurried to the boats, some with supplies for future outings and some, apparently, to spend the night on the boat in the harbor.

The next morning weather prevented our trip to the Snohomish River Estuary, known as the Everett Everglades, the largest wetland on Puget Sound.

At noon we were at the Lakeway Inn and Conference Center and entered the café for lunch. The luncheon was pre-planned with as many high school classmates as I could round up attending. Joining us were Linda Barrett Hall and her husband; Rachel Morgan Geer and her husband Ron; Sally Hewitt, Ralph Lloyd, Gail Englund and Steve Hopley and his wife.

We had a great visit and caught up on what has happened during the 46 years after graduation, or as much as we could in 90 minutes. All were looking forward to the upcoming 50th class reunion in four years.

The writers' conference was great also, providing a chance for us to visit with friends from the outdoor writing community.

We headed home Sunday, but Snohomish County Tourism has one more stop on our agenda, the Western Heritage Center Interactive Museum, located at the Evergreen State Fair Grounds in Monroe.

This is a private museum owned by Jerry Senner, who is a former dairy farmer and antique tractor collector. Jerry has amassed a horde of farming equipment dating back to what some refer to as the good old days.

The earliest hay bailers and steam operated engines, most operational. There were static displays of other equipment, such as a large two-man chainsaw, made by the Mercury Company for the Army. A volunteer was on hand to demonstrate how rope is made.

This is a hands-on, living history museum with interactive exhibits to demonstrate how early machinery operated. This family-friendly museum should be visited by all school children sometime during their school years.

Highway 2 was our provided our route home and Stevens Pass was beautiful with snow remaining in the shade along the road and on the highest peaks.

We arrived home tired, but energized about the visiting with friends and all of the adventures we experienced. Another visit to the land above Seattle is on our revisit list. We have just begun to touch the outdoor adventured offered in Snohomish County.