Rainy Day

It's a rainy Labor Day. Off and on periods of heavy rain followed by periods of mist. No sky just gray. I'm sitting at the table in the trailer listening to a radio station from Vancouver, Canada playing 60's and 70's music that sounds just like the ones American stations play. Wow!

The RV park has emptied out with about 60% of the rigs gone. The spots are quite close together so not having someone right next to us is a good thing. The WiFi works again too. Too many people during the week-end.

Yesterday we drove around the Deception Pass area. It is very beautiful. The state park has a campground, but it was put in when rigs were smaller. The road through the campground winds up and down the hills and between some trees that would present a challenge to navigate through without adding addtional pinstripes to your unit, not to mention repositioning a roof vent.

Anyway the skies were blue, the sun bright and warm and scenic vistas abounded.

Seattle

Seattle

What I know about Seattle could fill a thimble. It is a very large city in a picturesque location near lots of water. It has a temperate, albeit rainy, climate that allows lots of green trees and blooming flowers. It has major businesses, Boeing, Micro Soft It has three professional sport teams, the Mariners, the Sea Hawks, and the Sounders. It also has traffic that would scare a Californian.

So we went there today. Why? It does have a major airport, SeaTac and my sister was departing back to Minnesota. So the plan was to go early, do some shopping, and drop her and her husband off at a hotel near the airport. So we did, we did, and we did. Shopping was at Pike Place Market near the waterfront in downtown. A great experience! The place contained fresh fish,potato chips cooked on the spot, small craft vendors, street performers, lots and lots of beautiful fresh cut flowers and hundreds of people enjoying the place with us.

The only “fly in the ointment” was the parking. Lots of cars, not much parking. We got there fairly early and found a lot with several spaces available. What we didn’t know is method of payment for the spot. I assumed that the self-service pay station out front was the one for the lot. After putting in my credit card and printing a sticker to put in the window, I realized that it was for parking on the street. Seattle does not use parking tickets. Instead these stickers are purchased and stuck to the inside of the window to prevent a parking ticket. Well that sticker will not provide you with parking time at a lot. It is a self-service booth is located over in the corner of the parking lot away from the other booth. So I was offered the opportunity to donate money to the city of Seattle as well as the lot owner by buying both stickers.

I felt really stupid when I figured out what transpired. Then I felt angry because the situation is one that preys on visitors. Locals and frequent visitors would know about the situatuion, but tourists would not realize it until it was too late. When we were done shopping and returned to the lot, another individual had just done the same thing. I walked over to him and informed him of the situation. He felt as happy about it as I had been. He came to the conclusion that we had gotten ripped off just a little. Because he now belonged to my club, I offered him my parking sticker and the 45 minutes remaining on it and we left.

Ferry to Friday Harbor

You want a fun day at a reasonable expense. Take the ferry from Anacortes, Washington to Friday Harbor. Park you vehicle at the ferry terminal, and purchase a walk-on ticket. It is about $13 round trip and takes a little over an hour. So you can stroll aboard at 9:00, get to FH at 10:00, walk the streets of town for several hours, buy a t-shirt or a painting, have lunch, hop on a return trip and be back to your car before supper. A great day I would say

Bellingham

Bellingham WA is an interesting place.

We spent four days in the Bellingham area. Google it and you will find out that it is a city of 80,000 about an hour north of Seattle and a half hour south of the Canadian border. It has a lot going for it. Lots of water nearby (lakes, and the sound) the Alaska ferry docks there, lots of trees and hills and flowers. A vibrant college ( Western Washington University ) An interesting downtown complete with a Saturday Market and a shopping experience called Hardware Sales.

Hardware Sales started small and now occupies five buildings in the downtown area. Think of your favorite hardware store when you were a kid. This is very much like it. A rabbit warren with tools. If you are a tool person or just curious this is a must see when you are in Bellingham.

Another is NW Handspun Yarns downtown Bellingham at 1401 Commercial St. Meg Jobe has just bought the store, but she has worked in it for several years. It is a great store if you are a knitter, spinner, or weaver. It looks like a town I could retire in.

Oregon to Washington

The trip from Malheur to Bellingham took two days. The first day we left M at 9am, had lunch and shopped at Costco in Bend and drove as far as Brooks Memorial State Park which is in the mountains about 20 miles north of the Columbia River on Hwy 97. Many wildfires had been burning in the area so it was smoking from Bend to there. It was 100 as we crossed the river but it did decrease to 95 by the time we stopped. However, by the time we were set up and R was inside with the A/C running, it had cooled down considerably. The next day dawned clear and bright and off we went; through the Yakima Valley and up over the mountains to the north. Then through the valley and Ellensburg and up and over the mountains to its north.

The next stop was Leavenworth, a very pictureques town nestled in a narrow valley with mountains all around. It looks very much like the Bavarian village that is its theme. Parking for an RV is limited to a lot on the west edge of town so we did not get to explore the downtown area. Next time maybe. So after lunch at a place called Rudloofs Pizza and Dogs, we motored west on Hwy 2 up and over Stevens Pass. It was long tedious stop and go adventure passing through Monroe because the Evergreen State Fair was happening. As we climbed up Stevens Pass, we encountered clouds and rain by the time we reached the summit and it was wet until we passed Monroe. But as we neared I-5 the clouds broke up and the pavement was dry as we turned north. Our destination was Bellingham an hour north. We took the appropriate exit and pulled into a parking lot so that we could have supper before looking up our relatives. We were a day early so we did not want to ariive early and say, "What's for supper?"

After parking, I took the girls for a walk and, on the way back to the rig, I noticed that one of the tires on the trailer was flat. Not low, but flat. How long it had been, I don't know. We had stopped at a rest area less than an hour ago and thigns were ok, but there it was. Luckily, across the street was a Discount Tire Store. I hurried across the street because it was 5:45 hoping that they were still open. They were and so I went around the blockk again and pulled the rig behind the store. The store was closing at 6pm, but stayed open to take care of us. The tire was damaged beyond repair and looking at the other tires, another was well worn. I had replaced one tire before we went south, so we ended up replacing the other three. With all the mountain driving we did that day on two lane highways I have to believe that Someone was looking out for us.

Time to Go

Tomorrow is our last day here at Malheur. Twenty four days have come and gone quickly. I feel guilty only staying for this short time, but our supervisor knew about this last year. When we found out that we were going to spend two months at San Juan Is Nat Hist Park ( or SAJH for short) I originally told Carla that we weren't coming to Malheur this year because we could not be here for the full term of the ranch opening. Carla replied that she was willing to work with our time schedule. "How about you come the first of August and help setting up the ranch?" So that's what we did. Actually, we worked more days than if we were just hosting at the ranch. 171 hours converts to 21 days. If we were working the normal three day on, four day off schedule a month would be 15 days so I don't feel so bad.

The trailer is almost packed and ready. The satellite dish still needs to be taken down and the truck backed under the trailer and attached, but that can wait for a while.

I just looked up and the moon is about 5 degrees above the horizon and smiling at me. It must be full tonight. Awesome to look at, terrible for star gazing.

Just went outside and fought the misquitoes to dump the tanks and finish packing. Some of the work will have to wait until tomorrow. The bugs won tonight.

Before I came in tonight I checked out the sky. I easily found Venus. It is the brightest thing in the night sky besides the moon. Its about 60 million miles from us and getting closer. I also spotted Saturn and Mars nearby. Soon it will be late enough to see Jupiter come up in the East. I miss looking at the stars and planets.

Sunday Aug 21, 2010

Sitting here having a piece if toast figuring what I want to do with the rest of my day. It is our last day of rest at Malheur before we leave on Wed morning. Last night we were invited into Burns to have dinner at our supervisor's home. Good food, good conversation, good company made for a good time.

Up at 6:30 this morning to take the girls on our mile loop. After my Cheerios I decided it was time to "do Susan" again. I have cassette tape that I made from a Susan Powder video many years ago I used to do it regularly before breakfast. I knew it well enough to be able to watch a soccer tape or the news and excercise at the same time. I had the tape set up and turned on the TV on the morning of 9/11 and watched the plane crash into the second tower. It's a moment that I will never forget.

So I did Susan here in the screen porch of the Rec Building across from our trailer. It is very soothing to look out at the landscape while you work out. It's been a while since Susan and I have sweated together so it was good to do it again. Now I'm back in the trailer writing this. The forecast is for clear with temps in the 70's today with lows in the high 30's and then a slow warming trend for the next few days. Today sounds like a good day to clean up the truck and put a coat of wax on it and the front of the trailer. I don't like starting out on a trip with a dirty vehicle.