PORT ANGELES — Luanne Huff was relieved when she got the call from Port Angeles Police Sgt. Glen Roggenbuck at 5:27 p.m. Thursday.
Roggenbuck called to inform Huff that her 80-year-old mother, Luella Hanson, had been found safe and sound in Seattle.
Hanson, who suffers from dementia, had been missing since Monday, when she left town to visit her sister in Cle Elum in Kittitas County.
She made it about halfway there.
A State Patrol sergeant found Hanson at the Colman ferry dock in Seattle, Roggenbuck said.
“She’s doing great,” Huff said on Friday.
“My sister’s going to come and get her and take her over to Cle Elum. God bless.”
Police had been looking for Hanson, who was driving a gold Ford Taurus, after her family became concerned when she failed to arrive at her destination.
Huff said her mother simply got lost. She declined to comment further on the circumstances of the disappearance.
“She’s safe,” Huff said.
“She’s fine. We’re sitting here laughing about it because she think’s it’s funny.”
Huff had reported that her mother has made the trip over the Cascades many times, and that she recently made a trip to Minnesota for a family gathering with one of her sons along for the ride.
But Huff said her mother rarely drives alone, even for local trips.
Family members said Hanson usually takes the Tacoma Narrows route.
Port Angeles police had just one tip, a vague report of Hanson’s gold car in a parking lot.