2007 was the first Thanksgiving since 1982 that we were not at home with family. Alex came up from Riverside to spend a week with us over the holiday. Megan was not able to come, she was in Texas and went home with a friend of hers from A & M (another Megan). We missed her, but were glad she had a wonderful family to share Thanksgiving with her. And she was home in two weeks for Christmas.
We had a great time with Alex. The weather was clear and cold. Being from southern California, where he is used to wearing shorts and flip-flops year around, Alex was pretty sure he was going to freeze to death (the temperatures were in the 40’s). After we got him sufficiently bundled up, we spent a lot of time hiking around and exploring the area. We hiked down to visit the spawning channel about three miles NW of us just off the Skagit River and watched the salmon spawning. We also explored the area to the east of us and discovered two little streams coming down off the mountain. The water in the stream running over the boulders is so crystal clear you almost can’t see it in the pictures. 
We took a drive up Hwy. 20 along the Skagit River to the lakes above us. There are three dams and lakes above us about 19 miles on the Skagit. The dams provide hydroelectric power for the city of Seattle. Along the way are many waterfalls and a lot of really beautiful scenery. Rick and Alex are enjoying it.
Alex caught on very quickly to the concept of keeping a good supply of wood in the bin if you don’t want the wood stove to go out and be cold. We even got him to stack some!
Even with the wood stove burning, he still kept himself wrapped in his blankie most of the time. What a California Kid!
The last night before he left we got our first little dusting of snow and he just had to try catching snowflakes on his tongue.
We had a great time with him and are looking forward to his next visit. He says he’s coming back when it is warmer. We told him to try August. Last year at that time there was a heat wave and hit 82 degrees.
