Visit from Uncle Jim

Last weekend, my uncle Jim surprised my parents by saying he was coming up for a visit.  I don't think I had seen him in about five years so decided to head up to Ferndale with Zeus to spend some quality time with my family.  I had previous plans with friends for Friday night so headed up north Saturday afternoon.

Once I got into town, we headed to Five Guys Burgers for lunch.  I love the place and convinced my family to go.  Straight from there my dad, uncle and cousin Matt decided to go shooting.  I knew my uncle had gotten into guns recently and thought it would be fun to bond that way.  I had borrowed a couple pistols from a friend and then also brought my Charter Arms .38 Special and my little Derringer .32 to shoot.  Hands down though, my uncle's gun was the nicest.  The range we went to was an outdoor range run by the county.  We shot there for a bit before heading home.

In the evening, they were having a music festival in Ferndale.  So, after dinner, we met Jimmy and Sheri along with Mel and Mike to listen to some music.  My mom and I were a little disappointed as we thought there were going to be vendor there as well, but apparently we missed them as they were there only during the day.

On Sunday, my mom planned a BBQ with some family members so Uncle Jim could see everyone.  A lot of the people up there hadn't seen him for twenty years or so.  It was fun watching everyone tell old stories and bond.  We got lucky with the weather and my mom and I figured that throughout the afternoon about 30 people came and went from the house.

My uncle left early Monday morning to head home.  He said he had a fun trip and would like to move up to this area once he retires (if not before then).  I was glad that he came up as it had been a long time since I had seen him.  I decided to stay until Tuesday so after he left, my mom and I ran some errands.  We went into Bellingham and enjoyed a yummy lunch at Olive Garden before heading to Costco.  On the way home we stopped by Hagen's so I could get some stuff to make a pie and also picked up some salmon for dinner.

After dinner, I attempted to make a Caramel Apple Pie.  I didn't really know what I was doing so just tried to make something up.  My friend loves apple pie so I thought bringing one home would be a nice surprise.  I bought a pre-made crust because frankly I hate making crusts.  For the inside, I did the standard flour, sugar mixture with some caramel on the Gravenstein apples.  For the topping, I made a streusel topping and then dripped some more caramel on top of that before baking it.  I am not sure how it tastes, but it sure looked impressive!

I left for home on Tuesday and had an uneventful drive back.  I am glad that I headed up north for the weekend and had a nice time with my family.