Friday - a long drive

Jon and Jesse

We met Jonathan and Jesse for dinner last night.  It was SO good to see Jon and we really enjoyed visiting and catching up with him.  He and Jess went for a hike today and we were on our own.

    We drove (and drove and drove) up to Sisters, east of Eugene on Roue 126.  We took the dogs along because we knew we'd be gone for quite awhile, and I'm glad we did.  The mission for today was to scope out a new spot  to explore next week while Jesse and Erin are attending a wedding in California.  We drove through groves of filbert trees, through forests of tall pine trees, and through long, desolate stretches of  black lava that towered over us and, at times, felt like it was trying to envelop the narrow shoulderless road. D  amn, I wish I had my camera!

We finally settled on a campground that isn't exactly what I'd like, but all in all, fits the bill.  It is near McKenzie Bridge, in Belknap Hot Springs.  We'll be able to enjoy in the hot pools and the other things the resort has to offer, but not actually stay there.  Their main campground is very busy, sites very close, and will be completely full for most of the time we need to be there.    We look forward to exploring the National Forest areas, the beautiful McKenzie river, Sisters, Bend and Redmond.   Miss Ruby will join us while Jesse is gone and I'm pretty sure she knows the area already.

Thursday, tired Dave!

Father and son on top of Spencer Butte

Our alarm rang for the first time in a very long while!  We had a tee time this morning and didn't want to be late.  The guys played a hard, up and down, 9 hole public course and I enjoyed the ride and the beautiful scenery.  The weather started out cloudy and quite cold, but the marine layer burned off and the sun shone brilliantly for the rest of the day.   After golf we had lunch at a local hamburger place that has just moved from its great old downtown location (Dickie Jo's Burgers) to a more suburban and brand new building.  The food was the same, but the ambiance was lost in the move.  We all had the best ever burgers, but the star of the show, at least for Jesse and I, were the french fries with truffle oil and parmesan with D.J.'s dipping sauce.  Mmmmm.   Dave had his fries the old fashioned way, malt vinegar, salt and plenty of Heinz.

Jess went back home and we did a bit of grocery shopping before getting back to Beluga and our patient pooches.  We rewarded their good nature with a nice walk and a bit of ball tossing for you know who.  We rewarded our good nature with two fabulous cookies.....

Cindy - this is the best EVER store bought cookie.  It has huge soft choc. chips, macadamia nuts and coconut and we can hardly keep our hands off them...  (doesn't this picture look funny?  -  looks like the cookie is stuck to the ceiling or something!)

Poor Dave was tuckered out after his strenuous climb last night and then the up hill and dale golf round this morning.   I sat outside and read awhile, and when I came in I found him sleeping soundly on the bed.

First real nap of the trip, and well deserved.

Hopefully we'll meet Jesse and Jonathan Bell for dinner tonight.  Jon is coming up from Davis, Ca.  for a quick visit with Jesse and we'd love to see him while he's here.  

I got word from Nikon that the camera is "in the shop" and is "being repaired".  Just get it back to me!  I'm not fond of trying to get pictures from my little phone onto this blog.   

Wednesday

Its late, we just got home from another great dinner at Jesse's.  This will probably be a short post as I have no pictures for you.   Jess took a picture of himself and his Dad on top of Spencer Butte and was going to send it to me, but it hasn't shown up so far.  I'll post it tomorrow if I get it.  They took a hard (for Dave) hike this afternoon before dinner.  Its one that Jesse takes often and was anxious to show Dave the sights.  Ruby enjoyed herself trotting along, sniffing and peeing all the way.  I stayed back at Jesse's house and did laundry and started reading one of Erin's books, Ireland.  Just what I wanted to do.

Before we left Beluga this afternoon I got an exciting call from a dear friend, Diana.  She just met her new guide dog, Gibbon.  He's an apricot Standard Poodle and she's been waiting for him a long time.  We first met Diana and her husband Terry when we learned that a special dog we  raised for Guiding Eyes for the Blind had gone to Canada to take care of Diana.  We visited Pilgrim in his new home and felt an instant kinship with Diana.  We've kept up with each other through thick and thin, through Pilgrim's illness's and his eventual death after a long, happy, productive life.  Its taken Diana a long time to decide to get another guide dog and we're so happy for her and her new partner Gibbon.  It will be really great to swap stories about our big poodle boys!

Tuesday food day

Tuesday is an abbreviated farmer's market in downtown Eugene.  Since we missed the big one on Saturday, we made sure we got ourselves going early enough and drove down to Oak and 8th street.  It was hardly an abbreviated market....so much produce, such beautiful produce.  We bought carrots, cucumber, tiny, multi-colored tomatoes, blueberries, cantaloupe, a yellow french cantaloupe, green beans, new potatoes and a few flowers.   oh my.

Jesse told us not to miss trying a pastie, if we were there near lunch time.  We didn't miss them.  I had a broccoli/cheese one and Dave had a hot dog encased in the same crust.  Mmmmmm.  Then we had a banana/blueberry/strawberry smoothie    We dropped some things off at Jesse's house and went on to Market of Choice for peach pie ingredients.

We made a wonderful melon fruit salad, cleaned the veggies and put together the Peach Sour Cream Pie.  I won't go into details about the pie assembly, but let me just say it was very very messy and frustrating.  Dave and I put a lot of effort into that thing, dealing with a few sloppy missteps.  All was forgotten when we cut into it later at Jesse's house.  It was wonderful and I'll make it again, learning from my mistakes.

After the pie came out of the oven, Dave and I took the dogs for a walk in the woods and gave Lewis some ball time.  We even walked them along the river for a bit before getting cleaned up for dinner.
Jesse wasn't back from the store when we arrived, so we let ourselves in and communed with the dogs while we waited.

three friends nap in the sunshine

I read while I waited for Jesse to get back, Dave and the girls passed the time in their own way.

Delicious Chicken Stir-Fry, Caprese salad (heirloom tomatoes and basil from Jesse's garden), peach pie, a bit of  cool white wine and the men I love most...what more can I ask?

Monday

Early, early....take care of Ruby and Kikan this morning.  They were such good girls, alone all night on Ferry Street.  Dave and I stopped at the Humble Bagel for take away breakfasts and then on to Jesse's house to let the dogs out and feed them.  After breakfast we did a few loads of laundry while we visited with the girls. Dave took the tv to UPS and sent it off and then got the jeep's oil changed and body washed.

Lovely Kikan

Miss Ruby

Jesse took the GMAT this morning, in Salem, Or., and  was satisfied with his score, so..... let the summer vacation begin!  He's looking forward to a visit from an old friend  later this week and then the first Duck's game on Saturday.    He and Dave went to the driving range this afternoon and then came back to Beluga for a Dry Fly gin and tonic (Thanks Erin!)  before a casual meal from Coburg Pizza Company.

Tomorrow Jesse is making dinner for us at his house and I'm going to make and take Judi's special peach pie.  I was going to bring the little yellow cucumber, but....we ate it tonight!

Quiet Sunday

Bye Bye Geneva, have a good year!

Today was a little cooler in the morning than we've been experiencing.  As soon as the sun came out, however, it warmed up nicely.  The campground emptied out by noon and thats how I like it!  We took the dogs for a walk in the woods and let Lewis off leash to play ball a bit.  Thats how HE likes it....

Funny Lewis story - I offered him his usual piece of banana this morning, while he was on the bed watching things out the window.  He didn't take it, as is sometimes his custom, so I put it down on the bed.  We keep his "spot" covered with a sheet, so I placed the tidbit on the sheet and went about my business.  Later on I went into the bedroom to change clothes and found the sheet all messed up.....he had very carefully gathered up the sheet and covered the unwanted banana...out of sight, out of mind.

After lunch we went to Home Depot to buy some ropes so that Dave can tie down the big awning. Now we can leave it out even when its windy.  It got to be a chore putting it up and down throughout the day.  We've seen other people's awnings fly up over their motorhomes during a sudden gust of wind and its a costly repair.  Something we should have done a long time ago, but necessity is the mother of invention I guess.

 We dropped the old golf bag off at Goodwill, tried to check out a golf course near us (never did find it), went to a nice farm stand and got a few things.  I found some beautiful, fragrant peaches to make Judi's Sour Cream Peach Pie on Monday or Tuesday.  Also, we bought a new type of cucumber, new for us at any rate.  It is bright yellow and round as a tennis ball!  Can't wait to try it.

Dave spoke with niece Lisa tonight.  She's all moved into her new home in Rush and we're looking forward  to seeing pictures.

We're taking care of Jesse and Erin's dogs tonight (taking care of, as in letting them out last thing and feeding them in the morning - with a little love and some cuddles thrown in.   Erin is in Ecuador - Hi Erin - and Jesse is in Salem getting a good night's sleep for his GMAT early tomorrow morning.

To keep us awake til we have to go over to Jesse's house, we rented a movie.  We'll see how that works....Dave is doing the dishes, then on with the show.

Saturday

Hey!!!!  I got a picture from my phone!  Those are Dave's feet sitting in the McKenzie River this afternoon.
About as great as it gets, as far as we're concerned.  We took our beach chairs down to the river, right behind our campsite, and plopped them down in the water.  We sat in the sun, feet in cool water and talked about how lucky we are to be able to do this, right here, right now.  I hope the weather holds, because this is where we'll be every sunny afternoon for the next 11 days.

Back to the beginning of the day...Saturday is Farmer's Market in Eugene and its a not to be missed venue.  Except we opted to miss it today.  Seems it is  "Eugene Days" or something like that and it sounded like lots and lots of people, so we decided to try the Tuesday market instead.  You all know how I feel about lots of people.  Besides, it was nice to take it easy, sleep late, eat late, morning coffee/tea  in the sun, etc. Later  Dave installed the replacement tv and packed up the old one so we can send it back.  He emptied his old golf bag and refilled the new one that we bought yesterday.  When we take the tv to a UPS outlet, well  drop the old golf bag off at a Goodwill store, recycling, you know!   I made a lame attempt at a mani/pedi but lets not talk about it.

After sitting in the River til we were chilled, we ordered a pizza from Coburg Pizza Company, a few minutes up the road from our park.  We were delighted to find out that they also rent movies, so maybe tomorrow night we'll drive over and get something to watch.  Coburg is a  little town, about 1000 people, just north of Armitage County Park so we were happy to find this good pizza/movie joint while Jesse is busy.

I'm going to try and take a few more pictures with my phone, now that I remember how to get them to the blog.  I tracked the camera's progress today, and it was delivered to Nikon (California) yesterday, so I hope they get a new one out to me very soon.

Friday, BCA

We just got back from a enjoying a good Mexican dinner with Jesse.

 Today was a beautiful summer day and we didn't do very much at all.  A few errands, a  couple walks, checking out a few sites for the future, nothing exciting for anyone other than us.  The replacement TV arrived and Dave will install it and then send the old one back tomorrow.

I warned you..... Boring Couple Alert!

Friday (oops, I mean Thursday)

Well, its Friday morning and I'm sitting here with a cup of tea.

First of all, Dave got back from his nighttime golf outing right after my post.    He was cold and cross-eyed from trying to see the ball, but he had fun. I'm so sorry if you were worried about him.  I didn't post anything last night because we got home late  from dinner and were bushed, so went straight to bed. Again, I didn't mean to worry anyone.

We left Astoria, Oregon yesterday around 10 a.m. and took 101 south to Seaside, Oregon, then turned east and eventually south on 26 towards Portland.  From there we picked up I-5 and sailed straight into Eugene.  At last!

Armitage County Park is our home for the next 14 days. (14 days is the stay limit, but I understand you can leave for the night and then come back in for another 14 days, so thats probably what we'll do)    It is about 15 minutes north of Jesse's house and just perfect for us.  Lots of room between sites, lots of trees, sun and shade, right next to the beautiful McKenzie river, with full hook-ups.  Water, sewer, good electric, cable tv and wifi, all this and a country setting too.

 We met Jesse at his house and spent a bit of time there, taking the nickel tour, and getting acquainted with beautiful Kikan (Erin's golden retriever) and re-acquainted with dear Miss Ruby. We had a quick dinner at Izakaya Meiji, a sort of Asian/Tapas place, then a little goodie at Sweet Life.  This is Eugene, after all!    By the time we got back to Beluga and took care of the dogs, I was too tired to sit down at the computer, so we went straight to bed.

The weather this morning is beautiful.  Sunny and warming up.  Dave took each dog for a good walk down to the river and I hope to check it out after breakfast.  We'll meet Jesse for dinner again tonight.  He's putting himself on lock-down this weekend because the GMAT appointment is bright and early morning in Salem, Oregon.

Wednesday

Its 8:30 Pacific time and I'm sitting at my computer looking out the windshield.  Dave hasn't gone by yet, the 9th hole is right in front of our site. Its pretty dark by now.    Hmmm.

Dave's back and neck have been giving him some trouble since we got here.  We're both wondering if this cooler, moister climate is not good for our joints.  My knees haven't felt this bad since we left!  I'd almost begun to think that my arthritis was gone...

At any rate, we'd decided to forgo golf and just do some Astoria sightseeing.  We had lunch at the quirky Bowpicker.  I hesitate to call it a restaurant, I don't really know what to call it - a food truck, a food boat?
At any rate, it is a large, old, red and white boat (called a Bowpicker) sitting on a trailer near the waterfront that only serves fish and chips.  Nothing else.  We stood in line for about 20 minutes for the pleasure of eating albacore tuna fish and chips (complete with malt vinegar) in our car!!!  Quite an experience.  One of the best things we've ever eaten.

After lunch we walked across the street to the wonderful Maritime Museum.  It is in a  beautiful building, full of windows on the river.  We learned a lot.  We learned about the terrible "bar" that is the point where the powerful Columbia River tries to shove  itself with fire hose force into the Pacific Ocean's current.  The ocean doesn't like the idea and the fighting waves are often 40 feet high!  The conditions can change from calm to life threatening in as little as 5 minutes.  The ocean going vessels need a "bar pilot" aboard to navigate  the area.  The bar pilot boards the freighter while it is under power, coming alongside  in a small, powerful boat and climbing up a "jacob's ladder" to reach the outgoing ships bridge.
The Columbia Bar's  nickname is 'Graveyard of the Pacific" because, since 1792 there have been 2000 large shipwrecks.

On our way back to Beluga, we drove up to the Astoria Column, high on a hill overlooking the river.  From that vantage point we could see the river, the ocean, all the bays and surrounding inlets, Tillimook head, Mt. St. Helens, the Saddle Mountains, Clapsock Spit and Cape Dissapointment.

Quite a day.  We're on overload.

Now  its 9 p.m. and very dark,  Do I need to go and see where he is?  Did he take an LED golf ball?

Two beaches on Tuesday

Dave's back is a bit ouchy today, so we took it easy.  Coffee/tea in the sun in front of Beluga looking at the golf course - all organic, JoAnn, no chemicals used here.  We were planning on going to Bowpicker for lunch, but it is closed on Tuesdays - what are the chances!  I look forward to it tomorrow.

So, after lunch and exercises we left the dogs in Beluga and set out to look for a UPS store where we could pack up the camera and send it on its way to El Segundo.  I feel positively naked, gnudi, without the little silver box attached to my wrist.  I see wonderful shots to take and share everywhere...Sigh.

Thirty five dollars later, we were off to explore.  The mouth of the mighty Columbia River was our first stop. We climbed an observation deck on a long jetty between the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia.   Quite a vista on a sunny day.  We walked a long way back along the river on a wide sandy beach and watched fishermen (and women) search the waters for salmon.  Perfect weather, warm in the sun and cool in the shade with quite a fresh wind.

Next, we drove a bit south on the Clapsock Spit to an Ocean beach access.  We left our shoes in the car so we wouldn't have to carry them along the beach.  Mistake.....To get to the water we had to climb up a sand path over a huge dune (Dave says 50 feet high)  The sand is so beautiful, taupe colored and very sparkly in the sun.  Taupe in the sun equals HOT.  Blisters on the feet HOT and no where to go but forward and up over the dune to the cold water.  Now I know I can pass a treadmill stress test.  I could barely breathe and my heart was beating like crazy as I raced for the ocean to cool my feet....

The wide, empty flat ribbon of sand didn't disappoint - no one in sight, sun sparkling on the waves, soft powdery sand and cool water.  My favorite thing.

Tomorrow we'll try to play a round of golf and get lunch at Bowpicker. (There is only one thing on the menu - Albacore fish and chips with malt vinegar, Mmmm)  The waterfront in Astoria is calling us, ships, fishing boats, a great maritime museum.  We've only one more day here, so we'll absolutely have to come back to do all the Lewis and Clark things.

Monday drive

We got a bit of a late start on our drive to Astoria, Oregon.  Nothing earth shaking, we just slept a bit longer than we should have.  How nice....

At any rate, we pulled out of Poulsbo around 11 a.m. and made the 4 1/2 hour drive to Astoria in 5 1/2 hours.  Lots of the driving was on small roads, up and down hills and on "jiggy" roads, so that slowed us down a bit.  Our fuel stop took longer than usual, truckers aren't always the nicest people, at least at the fuel pumps.  They often leave their trucks in the fuel fill line and go into the restaurant, store, etc. and come back when they're good and ready.   Meantime, they've blocked a pump, causing us to sit in line behind an empty truck, waiting to fill our tank.  Grrr.

 We crossed over into Oregon (on Oregon 30) and drove along the Columbia River following it to the ocean at Astoria.   As we drove along we watched it change from the normal looking river we had become used to seeing  to a very wide, very wild looking waterway.  Lots of ocean going vessels moving along, or sitting at moorings in Longview.  At niece Lisa's suggestion, I took some pictures of them
with my ipad as we crossed over the river there.   What a great idea Leese!!!    Problem is, I'm having trouble getting them to the blog.  I won't bore you with my problems, but you still won't see any pictures for awhile.  The camera will be UPS'd out tomorrow.

We're at Lewis and Clark RV and Golf Course until Thursday morning.  This is a very clean, nicely landscaped campground  with decent space between sites.   Beluga was able to drive into our spot instead of the usual back in and sits looking out over the golf course.  Pretty nice.  We're only staying until Thursday morning so we won't have much time to explore the area as much as I'd like.  Lots of history here.  A place to come back to I think.

Grrrrr... trouble comes in 3's

Lots of jobs to be done today.  Bills to be paid, laundry to be done, rhubarb to be turned into a crisp, grocery shopping and a native american celebration to get to.  Bills done, laundry done, crisp made, groceries purchased, Pow Wow attended.

We heard the drums as we approached the celebration grounds.  Dancers moving slowly, rhythmically in a loose circle in front of the tribal building on the shore of Puget Sound dancing to the sounds of the throbbing drums and stacato women's voices.   Beautiful, colorful costumes, feathers, narrow silver bells ,soft  leather, mirrored discs, raptor feet and bone.  People intent on the dancers, little children caught in the music, dancing everywhere.  Long, thin canoes each holding 10 or 15 men racing other canoes on the bay, chanting, counting, rowing powerfully.    Orange chunks of salmon smoking at the food tent, scenting and coloring the air.   The Northwest Indian version of our chicken barbeque.    We were overwhelmed.

Pictures?   No, no pictures.  I turned the camera on, tried to focus on one of the little children dancing, and...nothing.  Camera is completely frozen.  No focus, no menu, no off, nothing.  I called Jesse in a panic and he gave us a number of things to try, but nothing worked.

We had to take a deep breath, stand back and take it all in, commit it  to our memory.   Sorry you couldn't see it, the pictures would have been spectacular, but they wouldn't have captured those drums....

After two frustrating phone calls with customer service people from Nikon, people whose first language isn't English, we realized that this camera was DOA.  We need to pack it up and send it back to Nikon and wait for them to decide whether they will send us a new one.  The one year warranty is up as of TODAY!  Can you believe it?

So far, the TV quit, the new and expensive electric tea kettle's plug fell apart, and now the camera.  Lets hope three problems will end the streak...

No pictures for awhile.

Cloudy Saturday

We woke up this morning to cloudy, misty skies.  Good bye hot sunny days I think.  The plan for today was to drive north to Port Townsend, see whats there, and then follow the Hood Canal south.  It isn't really a canal, in that it isn't man-made, its more a very long, curved  fjord.

We packed a lunch, loaded the dogs and headed out.  Our lunch spot was at Fort Worden State Park on the north side of Port Townsend, right on the shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.   We ate in the car, with the windows closed because it was very cold and very misty.  The view, however, became very interesting.  As we ate, a cloud blew in and completely engulfed us within a matter of minutes....

view out the windshield as we opened our sandwiches

gone....

We continued south on route 101, eventually following the Hood Canal.  The weather was still misty and cool, so I didn't take many pictures.   It was a good day for a ride.    We stopped at another State Park and walked to the beach.  It was stony and littered with fantastic chunks of driftwood, the water very cold and very clear.    I took pictures of the wood, but I'll save them til later when I have more.

Dinner tonight was to be pizza from wonderful Bella Luna in Suquamish.  As we approached the town we heard drums....closer in the parking was impossible, tents and people everywhere. We discovered that this weekend is Chief Seattle Days - a celebration of the Suquamish tribe's culture and tradition.  I was able to snag a parking spot while Dave was walking down to the restaurant.   We carried the box down to the water, following the drums and singing.  Goosebumps.....we came upon a Pow Wow, right on the shores of the Sound.
I could have kicked myself, I didn't have my camera!  We were mezmerized by the dancing, the singing, the chanting, the clothing, and most of all, the drums... How lucky were we to stumble upon this wonderful celebration!  Festivities will continue tomorrow, so we'll go over again, this time with the camera..

Friday, last day in Seattle

Jesse left Seattle today, and we took the Ferry into the city for one last time.  We'll miss our daily rides.

Dave's shadow on the water  is waving to you,,

Before I forget - Jack, we had dinner at Toulouse Petit last night.  It was as good as you said it would be.
Thanks for the recommendation.  That dinner made 5 stellar meals in a row in the city.  Can't beat that!

When we got off the Ferry we turned down (or is it up?) 1st street and headed toward Pike Street Public Market.  Time for a little tourist watching.  It was lunch time, so we were also on the lookout for some place good to have a quiet lunch.

this is a huge kinetic statue outside the Seattle Art Museum

we had a lovely, private lunch at Place Pigalle behind the Public Market.  we sat right by the window high above the  Sound.

fish, flower, vegetable, clothes and jewelry stalls line the market.

the "cherry girl".  she even has cherry tattoos!

Goodbye Seattle, we love you!

Thursday at the beach with Sasha and Lewis

We took Sasha and Lewis to the beach at Fay Bainbridge Park.  Dave and I enjoyed our walk, enjoyed the fresh sea air, cool water and beautiful mountains in the distance.

sit Sasha, sit

Sasha and Lewis each enjoyed the beach in their own way....

did you bring my ball?

Ah, shade under a piece of driftwood

Zzzzz

Tuesday and Wednesday

Not much exciting going on during the day for us, and we don't mind one bit.  Neither do the dogs.

We felt sort of guilty because we hadn't taken Lewis away somewhere to chase his ball so we found Fay Bainbridge Park not too far from us.  It evidently used to be a State park, but the word State has been crossed off all the signs.  Whats up with that?   At any rate we found a nice place to play ball a bit then took a short walk along the beach. The water was quite cold and the beach was pebbly with lots of huge driftwood trunks along the shore.  An interesting place for another visit I think.

We took the 5:30 Ferry into Seattle to have dinner with Jesse.  Its been the highlight of our days here.  So good to see him and his part of the city.  So many restaurants.  Last night's was called Restaurant Zoe.
Wild Boar Bolognese with Tagliolini, Salmon with peach and corn relish and apricot/peach crisp with sweet corn ice cream.  Mmmm.   Just made the 9:00 Ferry back home.

Today, Wednesday, we spent quite a bit of time on the phone with the Customer Service people for our brand new TV.  It is a special one for RV and Marine use, guaranteed to handle the shaking and bumping that we put it through driving down the road at 70 mph.  Also, it is supposed to be able to handle the higher humidity often found when people live in their RV.  Installed it in March, died in August.    Completely froze, nothing would move the channels, volume, etc.      Long story short, the company will send a new one to Jesse's house and we'll pack up the defective one and return it to them in the same box, postage paid.  Whew....lots of work to get that sorted out.   Dave needed a nap this afternoon.

Once again, we took the 5:30 Ferry to meet Jesse for dinner.  Its became a nice routine for us all, but tomorrow is the last day Jesse will be in Seattle.  He'll leave for Eugene on Friday morning.  Seattle has been a good experience for him this summer and we've really enjoyed seeing a different part of the city.

If you look very very closely, you'll see the huge, lurking shape of Mt. Ranier looking out over Puget sound.  Today was the first time we noticed it from the Ferry.  I'll try to get a better picture tomorrow on our way in to dinner.   It is shockingly high from sea level.

Ferry arriving in Seattle to unload and then refill for the trip back to Bainbridge

It was very warm here today and I think we'll sleep with the air conditioning on for the first time since we arrived in the Seattle area.  Good night.

Monday evening in Seattle

No, they're not praying.  They are enjoying what we call the "heat hole".   The nights are delightfully cool, great sleeping weather.  Mornings, not so much.  When we get up I close the windows and turn on the furnace to warm us up until the sun reaches Beluga.  Sasha and Dave are heat seeking missiles...when the furnace clicks on they both quietly migrate to one of the most accessible heat vents and hang out in the hot air til they are nice and warm.  When we were in Mexico with the two cats, we'd find them both squeezed between the chair and the cupboard, right where Sasha is.  That is where it is the hottest.

bus stop near our campground

This is the restaurant we had dinner at last night.  it is right across the street from where we ate with Cara the night before.  Lots of good restaurants in Jesse's neighborhood!   Dave and I thought Barrio was the best yet.

doorway view.  the little dots you see are all candles in a dividing wall

Street side view

Seattle buildings from the Ferry terminal

part of the skyline as we started pulling away

looking out the back of the Ferry

looking towards home

Seattle!!!

I wasn't trying to be artsie....as I was taking this picture of Seattle's lights, the captain of the ferry threw it into reverse to slow us down for arrival at Bainbridge Island's terminal...this is what strong vibrations and a slow exposure to do a picture...   I like it!