This is the last installment for this travel series. For the sake of new readers and those who failed to follow along, it has been six (6) months since we traveled to Seattle/Spokane, Washington. If you wish to catch up on our Washington trip, scroll down to the bottom of this page or click on the previous link. Thank you for being patient with me!
We had plenty of time to kill on our last day in Spokane; our flight back to San Diego wasn't until late afternoon. Roan, Steph, and I had an early start that Monday morning. April, who had been studying for her school exams the night before, wanted to sleep in and begged off from joining us on our mini excursion.
It was a glorious, chilly morning in Spring. The first order of business, of course, was to grab some quick eats, but we needed some caffeine boost more than food, so we headed to the nearest Starbucks. We didn’t have anything big planned for the day since we needed to get back in time for a lunch gathering slash farewell party Auntie Nolie prepared for us.
Roan took us to where Steph spent her school years when in the US. It was a nice walk down memory lane as she narrated some of her unforgettable days in school. (Having granted authorization to live in the US on a permanent basis, Roan and his siblings spent most of their early childhood going back and forth to the US every year in order to maintain their permanent resident status. I can only imagine how hard it was to live away from family at a young age.)
Roan then took us to Gonzaga University, a private Roman Catholic university founded by the Society of Jesus in 1887.
It was named after the Jesuit Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. The Gonzaga University campus has to be one of the prettiest campuses I've seen in my life. I kind of associate the campus with my Alma Mater's because of its antiquated architectural design and vibe, not to mention that I graduated from a Catholic—albeit Dominican—university, too.
We briefly stopped by the mall before heading back to the house. We didn't realize how many people were coming until they had started to arrive. There were probably a good 30 people, both family and friends of our host, which felt like a reunion of sorts. We stuffed our mouths with good food as if it were Thanksgiving/Christmas in May.
One thing I didn't tell you about at the beginning of this post, however, is that we knew that something special was about to go down that afternoon. Just as the guests were putting away the disposable plates and cutlery, Auntie Nolie's long-time boyfriend "J" called everyone to gather in the backyard.
I was the only one who had an actual camera other than a camera phone, so since I knew what was coming, I was focused more on capturing the moment of "J" getting down on one knee to pop the question. As cliché as it sounds, everything was a blur. How's that for a lovely ending to our trip?