So, to be there in time for our 10:00 appointment, we left the house a little after 5am. We filled the gas tank in the truck, made the obligatory stop at Starbucks for mass-quantities of caffeine, and we were off. I had been looking at the mountain passes daily for the week before our trip so I had a general idea of what to expect. Light snow in the early morning hours, and freezing conditions, with traction tires advised but not required.
#1 had brought his pillow and promptly fell asleep in the back seat (I was SO jealous) while Hubby and I consumed our caffeine and chatted in the front. I do have to say, driving up into the mountains and watching the sun come up through the fog and light snow was beautiful, and we enjoyed the peaceful surroundings of our journey into the morning light.
Just under 2 hours into the drive we came into the only real town between the pass and the college, the booming metropolis of Cle Elum/Roslyn WA, population 1,770. For those TV buffs out there, Roslyn WA was the site for the fictional community of Cicely Alaska from the TV series Northern Exposure, and yes, there really is a Rosalyn Café, but we didn't stop there this trip.
Since we were quite early, and only about 20 – 30 minutes from the University, we opted to stop for breakfast. #1 grumbled at having to wake up, but he seemed to enjoy his pancakes once they arrived, so I think it was worth his time to become coherent!
We arrived at the University shortly after 9, so we drove around to look at the campus before getting our parking pass and heading into the Student Union Building where the tour would be starting at 10. #1 was fully awake by this time and fairly vibrating with excitement. The tour was informative, the student giving the tour being a super-senior (in his 5th year due to changing his major too many times) and very familiar with everything and able to answer almost all of our questions. After that we went in to speak with an advisor as to which transfer degree would be the best for #1 to pursue. I have to say, the student knew more than the advisor and we were rather disappointed with her off-hand comment to look it up in the catalog, which we could purchase at the bookstore.
Not helpful.
We wrapped up our visit with a tour of the Communications building, which houses the TV studio for the video department, and this got #1 even more excited. He had the whole stars-in-his-eyes and obvious excitement at seeing this, which we were excited about. If he could get this excited about the University, we hope this will result in more attention to his classes at the community college he will be starting classes at on March 31.
I’ll try to cover the rest of my event filled weekend in a later entry. Right now it’s time to go wake the kids and get them started for the day!