One of the latest "tender mercies" was on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. We didn't have any special plans for a fun way to spend the day off, but Thad needed to open ballot boxes all over the county, so we decided to go with him. Emily invited her friend Lucy to come with her. It had been overcast for days here in the valley, but soon after we headed up river, the clouds parted, and the sun shone brightly in a blue sky. We stopped at the Cider Works, which I hadn't been to, and got their made to order ice cream, their hot, fresh donuts (amazing!), some apples and some of their awesome cider. That was yummy! Then we drove on up to the plateau. It was so beautiful to see the sunshine on the snow-covered fields. We went to several different towns. We ended up at Grand Coulee Dam, which I had never been to. It was pretty cool! It was almost warm enough to eat our picnic lunch outside--we did, at the visitor's center park. The wind picked up as the sun started to go down, so we had dessert in the car. We went through the visitor's center, took pictures of the dam, and headed toward home. We stopped at Dry Falls on the way, too. It was a really fun, relaxing day--a nice break!
