Home, Sweet, Home

We are home!  And all in all an uneventful return trip:  no delays or canceled flights.  We wondered for a minute when at 12:50 am, taxing down to the runway and in the midst of the safety spiel, the plane lost all power.


The plane, instantly quiet and with emergency lights in the cabin, sat still for a moment.  Then the stewardesses started to joke and eventually the pilot came on to say the P?U was not working, but they were going to investigate.  Great.


But a few minutes later, the plane was moving and taking off.  I chose to believe that it was someone leaning on a button and everything was fine.... 


The connecting flight was on the complete opposite side of the MN airport, but we made it.


We are now home and exhausted.  Note to self:  we are too old for red eye flights.  Jack is thrilled to see us.  Lulu aloof.  And we are going to bed.  We'll return to the living on Friday.

Full Day that’s not over yet

It’s our last day … and night.  I write from SEATAC, and we still have a few more hours to kill before the plane leaves.  Oddly today was a long day.  We headed out this morning and shipped half of our luggage and laundry home, then went on to Fairhaven.  It was hilly, but not as bad as Seattle!  We browsed the shops waiting for lunch. 

We were trying for Archer’s Tavern - but unfortunately we had used up our browsing by 11:30 and by 12 I was starved and they didn’t open until 1!  We settled for a tea shop,  Like so much here it seemed a little off.  Traditional tea sandwiches, but on soft whole wheat bread.  I got “big” (read regular size)  chicken salad and it was like pate.  Still, I was starved, I ate it all.

We then headed south to Redmond in attempt to find Microsoft.  We drove for a good hour plus trying to find the stilly place.  With no luck.  I was then so hot and tired that I didn’t care anymore.  But we tried one last road and….  OMG. 

I don’t know how we could’ve missed it.  Huge is an understatement.  It’s as large as Seatac, as large as Disney World.  Possibly larger.  When the AAA book said the visitor’s center was next to building 92 - they meant it - and that there were over 100 buildings in the “complex”.  And these are not small buildings.  They have their own bus system.   This alone was stunning.

But we did go to the visitor’s center (read: opportunity to play with Microsoft products, inc. Nintendo.  Most of the people there were Asians.  In terms of actual …history?  They had a picture of the original MS team …. Um…. They had a small display of how tech has changed,… um…. They had 6 Surfaces one could play with…. 8 video game stations….  A demo of their ‘new’ tech - an art instillation of a paper dress that randomly displayed twitter twits across it’s skirt and a shopping program that via video camera would simulate you wearing whatever you clicked on.,  Oh and a store, in which you could buy anything you could think of with the MS corp logo  from notebooks (paper kind I mean) to a cook books (3 vols) baby clothes, pens… you name it, none of it cheap and no tech,  I was a sight.

We then headed toward Seatac off the highway (it was a parking lot)  Since we didn’t really have a good map it was a long interesting ride.  Eventually we just stopped for dinner, by that point the traffic was clear, we jumped on the highway and entered the airport.  Entering was easier than leaving it.  But we did arrive early.  I’m ready to be home.

Snow!

Thinking of places that you never thought you’d be….  This morning we traveled north to Blaine, the upper most boarder town in the NW.  Right on the Canadian border.  At this crossing there is a park with a Peace Arch, a large, well, arch dedicated to the freedom of travel and peaceful relations.  We’ll never see that on the Mexican boarder.  We stood in two countries.

Then traveling the secondary roads, we went through numerous small towns to the Cascade National Park to drive up to Mt. Baker.  The snowy peak that we’ve seen for the last couple of days.  The road started off  very reasonably, windy, but with guardrails.  Then we went higher and the view was amazing, the road still okay.  Then higher, and I got a little more nervous.  Then higher, and the guardrails abandoned us and I got pretty nervous, then we drove on more… and more and then pass the ski area - currently closed for the summer.  Then we drove more, the views breath taking, if one still had breath to take…. And then we got to a ranger station and parking area … and there was snow.  Snow.  Piles of snow.  Rocky mountain tops that were in walking distance, all covered with snow.  Snow.  The mountain that we’ve been seeing from a far - we were now standing on it.

There was more road, going up a little higher.  It had a sign that said due to the nature of the switchbacks no trailers, and it had no guard rails.  We decided we’d gone that far, we really had to go all the way to the top, so, though I was so very much NOT a happy camper, I said, ‘let’s go’.    At the top there was more snow.  Snow.  We were 5,000 feet in the air - where there was rock with snow in July.  I still can’t believe I was there.  (But we do have the pictures to prove it, though I think I look a little green in them.)

At any rate, I’m very proud of myself.  And I’m not sure I want to do it ever again.  But it was impressive and something everyone should do at least once.  Snow.   July.

Tomorrow we’ll drive thru Fairhaven, and head south.  I want to visit Microsoft and we’ll end up at SeaTac to head out.  Our flight is the overnight, so I’m not sure if there will be a post here tomorrow or home the next day or…???

I’ll be glad to get home.

Snow...and me on a mountain high enough to walk in it.  Snow.

The Amazing Mt

We are in Bellingham.  It's a small city, but I kind of like it, though it does have an end of the universe quality.  And it does also feel like it's in the woods.  The cool thing is all day we have been able to see Mt. Baker.  a 10k elevation Mt so, this is not surprising.  But to see a snow cap while we drive around in 80+ degree weather is wild.

We're like new parents taking pictures of the silly thing at every turn.  Oh look, the mt's above the clouds.  Hey look this is a different angle.  Is it closer now?  There is a less flat and big sky here though and the sound is just not ocean enough.

We started the day in La Connor, a sweet little town known for it's professional flower farm.  Apparently they do a lot of tulips, so April is stunning.  Even with out this, it's a very pretty farm area.  Downtown has many tourist galleries that we wandered while waiting for the two local museums to open.

The first one we visited was a quilt and textile museum located in an old Victorian house.  The local collection was old quilts made by the original home owner, but the town has some relationship with a community in Japan.  Part of this relationship involved them sending quilts after the tsunami.  And somehow - the story right now is a bit unclear to me, they have Japanese quilters who come here and curate Japanese quilts.  They were phenomenal.  They were both gorgeous and simplistic.  They also had a woman who took old traditional work clothes and made miniature jackets to commemorate the past.  They too were very, very cool.  Makes me have lots of ideas to start sewing.

From there we went to the Pacific NW Museum of Art.  This sounds more grand  than it was.  There was basically four rooms, 3 with visiting artists and one with local permanent collection. The visiting people weren't interesting to me.  Brown water color-y pictures, blown glass that was inspired by organs (ick) and mandalas made from straws (pretty) and well, trash -  plastic milk tops and tea bag labels etc.  Not my thing.  The local art was better, though also not inspiring, like the quilts.  It feels like a very brown corner of the world.

Still it was a nice morning plus - browsing junk and high end art (it's pretty similar everywhere, but still) and these two stops. We went past the Library in town too - they have a thrift store in which they support themselves.  I have ideas!

Eventually we waved to our Mt and headed further north - the Mt came with.  After the booking.com situation, we have been a little gun shy, so we found the motel.  It was right off the exit not far from the airport.  We didn't see it however, and turned left not right and so, we got a really good tour of the airport.  But eventually we figured it out and the hotel DID have the reservation.

All being well, we headed into the city.  It's a nice city.  There was a beer festival going on, but we passed and instead went to the Whatcom Art Museum.  The earlier one was better.  This one had some name prints (Haring, Lichtenstein, Close) interesting Warhols, but all in all not that exciting,.  Their special show was 1940-50 movie poster prints (The day the earth stood still, westerns, etc.).  I thought we'd like it a lot, but.. it did little for us.  We did find a really great Greek restaurant for dinner.  We are seriously considering going back tomorrow.

We're not sure what we're doing tomorrow or Tues, but I'm sure we'll find something.  Fairhaven is in the running (and thanks CK for the warning!!!)  I am ready to be home though.

Harps on the Ferry

Today we left the peninsula, oddly I was sorry to leave it in some ways.  Although mostly park, thus far it’s been my favorite place here.  Mountains, weird.  I’m not saying I’m changing my tune about mountains in general, however.  I have to say - we can see another snow topped mountain off in the distance and that is very cool.  But the mountains are waaay over there - and clearly they are very, very big b/c we can see them and well, there’s snow on top of them.  Some times they stick out from the top side of the clouds and THAT is very cool  - since we are on flat land, with big sky.  I like that.  It makes me wonder about Montana or such?  If only Montana or Iowa had the Atlantic ocean.

In leaving the peninsula, we took the ferry to the Whidbay Isands. The ferry was much larger than the Lake Champlain ones  and more what I know of as an auto ferry.  Though, the inside observation deck had a harp player.  That was a new one.

The ferry says it’s a 40 minute ride, but it felt quicker.  On to the island, we drove south to check it out, though our destination was north.  This is a mostly farmland area, spotted with some water tourist communities.  The water is bays and straights, thus, it does not meet my personal criteria for “ocean” / “beach”.  It was nice enough and we made a few pit stops to wander stores, look at boats and eat.  Out best stop was  a local farmer’s market.  Like home, it also had the craft fair vibe and we oddly, ate African food there for lunch.  (A curry chicken - that was some what of a cross between Indian and Thia.  I think it was authentic, but how would I know really?)

Continuing north, we drove over Deception Pass - a really narrow inlet and a tall bridge crowded with people.  I told M. that the whole thing and the nature in this part seemed insincere.  I know that’s an odd word for nature, but I’m sticking to it.  Formerly, the nature was not crowded, it was a bit wild and untamed.,  This whole area has the feel of it trying to be wild and unkempt, but it really isn’t.

I’m not liking the area at all.  All of it seems like it wants to be or is trying to be something it’s not.  We went up to Anacortes - a large town really for an island.  But it too seems …confused.  It has a little bit of industry and a little bit of art, and a little bit of city, but it’s like it’s all jumbled together in a salad that doesn’t work and it wants to be gourmet. 

We’ve now left the islands and are back on the main land.  We are staying in Mt. Vernon - named after Washington.  It too has a whole different feel from the rest of the state.  More like upstate NY than what the NW has felt like thus far.  Everything here just feels a little off.  For example, we went to dinner at an Italian Restaurant. By all appearances it would  seem it is considered one of the nicest restaurants in town.  (And it was very nice, don’t get me wrong.)  The blue cheese dressing - was fresh, made with real ingredients and high end Gorgonzola cheese.  But it was the consistency of  milk.  It tasted good.  But milk salad dressing?

Tomorrow we will go further north - the goal to go to the northern most tip outside of Canada and we’ll be in Bellingham.  We’re planning to spend the next couple of days here and then head back to SEATAC.

The Vampires

(Post delayed due to internet access issues)

Today we drove to the most north western points, the very edge of the peninsula where the Ma--  Indian Reservation is located.   The secondary road out was not listed as scenic, but certainly was.  It traveled along the mt on one side and the straight on the other.  Filled with snake curves, it did have guard rails and that made a big difference.  It was beautiful.

Along the way we say 3 bald eagles flying.  The first time we’ve ever seen them in the wild.  They are far more impressive that way.

The reservation was a sad place.  Lots of poverty and more signs about not doing drugs.  The museum was fantastic.  One of the best ever, I think.  But probably one that \is rarely seen \given it’s location.  It is over an hours drive from Port Angeles and  PA is a good hour from other places.  So unless one is visiting the park and takes the time for the side trip, the res is out of site out of mind.  A shame.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we traveled to Forks, famous only for vampires.  What trip.  The place is a small mountain town.  It is the home of the lumber museum, another fun small museum.  It too was pretty good, but not among the best.  It was pretty simplistic and at times reaching.  Frankly, without it’s vampire fame, Forks would be nothing.  And when the movie fame dies, it will go back to nothing.  But right now, they are still riding their 15 minutes.  The visitor’s center sells photocopied maps with directions to significance locations.  They have a “Dr. Cullen’s” lab coat, you can try on, T’shirts, etc.  Throughout town (mostly 2 blocks worth) there are signs for tours - a tour bus.  People, and not young people either, posing for pictures at the high school and dressed up in customs for the picture.  Weird.

We drove back to PA via the park and Crescent Lake which was also visually amazing.  Tall mt and big lake.  The lake was also the prettiest shade of teal I’ve ever seen.  This route too had white birch trees.  Absolutely gorgeous.

Places You Never Thought You’d Be

We left Tacoma this morning in the drizzle.  We avoided the freeway and drove through the city.  Again I was struck by what they call “hills”.   These are not hills.  These are like giant carnival rides in cars.  I’m really convinced I hate San Francisco.

Taking far less time then we anticipated, we headed out to the peninsula, and the Olympic National Park, home of Mt Olympus.  It felt like we were entering wilderness and back into lumber jack territory.  This made me even more nervous about our unknown hotel reservations for the night.

After a few stops for rest rooms and Native American gift shops, we arrived in Port Angeles, the main town at the north end of the peninsula. It’s a port town - obviously - with ferry service to Canada.  It is pretty big for the area.  It is a very weird mix of lumberjack, ocean and town. We found the motel - it wasn’t too scary from the outside, and decided we should eat something to give them time to clean rooms.

This resulted in our visit to down town proper. We ate at a seafood place looking out at the sound and the boats, very nice.  We then walked over the marine life center, it looked tiny.  Walking around it, we peered into see the five year olds at the four touch tanks, and decided we didn’t actually need to go in.  Instead, we opted for the local bookstore.

It was a real local bookstore, don’t see that much any more.  I found a good local cookbook (one of our traditions.)  I was starting to wonder if that was going to happen this trip.  At check out, I was chatting with the man whom I think was probably the owner.  He was from NJ, originally.  He told us, we needed to drive up hurricane ridge.  They had snow there this morning.

So we officially checked into the motel, The Riviera Inn.  Thankfully it is not like the Rainbow Motel.  It is mid century modern and vintage, but its clean - and not in a scary place.  I’m perfectly happy.  And it’s keys are on those groovy plastic diamond with the room number on it.  I so love those.

We me not having room stress, we headed off to hurricane ridge.  I know how previously on this trip I was a little, say overwhelmed by the narrow windy road with no guardrail on the side of a mountain?  Much like I was in the Needle Mt drive in SD?  Nothing compares to this drive.  We got half way up, and entered the clouds.  A mix bag, the fog was a little scary, but not seeing over the side of the road was helpful.  Then we climbed higher, entering switch backs, and then tunnels.  And then we went higher.  Where we could see down … onto the cloud and the tops of trees.  The wildflowers were beautiful.  Then there was the view… amazing view, and then we went higher, and higher still, until with me a little green we reached the visitors station at the top.  The view was amazing.  A whole series of snow topped mountains.  Snow topped mountains.  Not even just one, but several.  And whole areas that I would have called mountains, but I was looking at the tops of trees.  Trees that I knew from the drive up, are 100+ feet.  (The official elevations of these mts were 6-8k.)

We also passed a dear or elk driving up.  Just hanging out on the side of the road.  And then at the top, two dear were roaming thru the parking lot. Mixed feelings about this.  On the one hand, being less than 2 feet from a wild animal was kind of cool, on the other hand, that the wild animal didn't mind being two feet from lots of people and cars, is not so good. 

The ride down was not as scary as the ride up.  It was a little less foggy and I had some sense of where the road was going to go.  Fright factor included, it was all well worth it.

Back in town we stopped at the local Art Center, a tiny little place with a show up in which the woman dips cloth in wax, forms it, then pieces it together with screws.  It a little odd, but it actually looked better than it sounds.  We got the grand tour by a delightful elderly lady who wanted to talk to someone.  I suspect as a volunteer there, they don’t see a lot of people.  (She used to teach 3rd grade.)  The location also has a sculpture walk through the woods.  It was not raining, which was a plus, but the bonsai trees, were better.  The sculpture just wasn’t that interesting.

Tomorrow will be another drive day - through more of Olympic Park and out to the Indian reservation.  The plan is also to see Forks, famous only as the setting of Twilight.  (We did walk past the restaurant here in town  which served as the location for Bella and Edward’s first date.  It was kind of neat to see the reference, but we didn’t feel the need to eat there.)