Kidnapped for the afternoon...

    I had a few errands to run in the north part of Seattle, and about the time I was winding down from my appointment at the Apple store (to try and get a problem resolved with my MAC), I got a breathy call from the Mystery Man (Jey-hu actually) inviting me to meet him at the Northside Mall. His plan: to kidnap me and take me all around downtown Seattle to see, taste and experience some off-track places.

First Stop: The Hirum Crittenden Locks (and botanical garden) where we watched several ships and boats navigate the locks and where we had a picnic lunch, albeit a little later than usual, on the banks in the sunshine. What a treat! There were geese honking in formation overhead, a grey heron under attack by starlings, a man swimming his dog on a leash, a seal looking for his fish dinner and a man and his wife who fell for my "Do you know how to do a Dragon Bowline?" question as we watched the ship's crew quickly do a tugboat bowline for their lines as they entered the lock. I learned that about 7.5 million gallons of water are used each time the locks are filled up... that's a lotta loads of laundry!!!

   I think my granddaughter would find the activities very interesting, but the salmon are not going up the fish ladder until later in the year, so perhaps she will get a chance to visit this spot in the fall.

Second Stop: Jey-hu drove me to Pike Place Market on the waterfront and we watched the very entertaining fish mongers fly 8-10 pound fish through the air, bought some Market Spice iced tea to drink right then and some of their regular tea for our morning cuppa, found a place that sold local lime jelly and walked past beautiful pots of floral bouquets and lush fruits and vegetables.

Third Stop: It was on to Capitol Hill to a place called Dilettant's Chocolates and Mocha Bar where each piece of chocolate runs about $4 apiece, but it's the richest and most delectable flavor since apparently the originator of the recipes was the Confectionary to the Czar of Russia. Jey-hu bought me a couple of pieces and some awesome chocolate sauce for the vanilla ice cream we enjoy from time to time. Yum!

   It turns out that one can ship or order these special treats from the website, so I think I know what I will be sending out this next holiday season to my buddies...

   All in all, it was a glorious day walking all around some lovely locations, sampling jams and jellies, teas, and ending it up with chocolate!

Tahoma for Tea and more

    Saturday started out quietly and then Jey-hu reminded me we had an 'afternoon tea party' to attend. His business is installing entertainment systems (home theatres, intercoms, security, etc.) and a client of his was opening up a Chinese Tea Room so we were invited to attend. It was a lovely event featuring the Chinese artist, Liang Wei, who has developed quite a following internationally. (You can see his website by clicking on his name.)

    After the tea, we drove a short distance down to a viewing spot to see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and watched a couple who had recently gotten married have their pictures taken among the old pilings. An interesting choice for such an event. I captured a shot of the groom checking out the time on his watch and I wondered if he was concerned about making a honeymoon airplane deadline, or was he getting bored with all the women directing him to stand in certain places while the photos were being taken? Or both? But we had our own agenda for the day, so we left the happy couple on the wierd beach and headed over the bridge and up the island. There are now two bridges over the Narrows and there is a toll for those who wish to leave the Olympic Peninsula heading east. "Galloping Gertie," the original bridge renowned for its undulations and sometimes even violent movements, constructed in the late 1930's, twisted itself into oblivion in the high winds of November 1940 and ended the joy ride that many people drove miles to experience - that of driving on a bridge in motion.

    After lovely scones and cookies, there was no reason to stop for anything else to eat, so we just zipped along under clear and sunny skies to the ferry boat at Kingston which would deposit us in Edmonds. 

We saw two "Cobras," the AC Cobra sports car popular in the 1960's and one was a red one with the white stripe down the middle of the hood and the other was a traditional dark blue. 

The occupants of that one were cheerful and waved at us. So Jey-hu waved  back. We arrived at the ferry just after one had filled up so we had a little bit of a wait. We used the time wisely taking pictures of ships transiting Puget Sound.... There were three (3!) of these behemoths heading out - probably for Alaska - all within a short time of each other. I pondered the numbers of people who were on board and whether or not this was their first shipboard experience. As Jey-hu and I were discussing cruising,

an older fellow approached us and wanted to talk about the camera and the telephoto lens we were using. He was originally from Holland but settled in the U.S. long ago and then to Whidbey Island about a decade ago. He shared his sailing experiences with us and he apparently was a photographer himself at one point in his life. He might not have been much of a sailor,

by his own report, but he was interesting to talk to and that's what this journey is all about... making contact with other life forms!

A Sushi Treat

    Yesterday I was able to find my way from Everett to the Greenlake area of Seattle to meet up with my oldest daughter and her daughter for a sushi dinner. I am not sure who was more excited about our get-together - me or my grand! We shared some of our adventures since last summer...  I got to hear about some horseback riding and swimming trips and I was entreated to tell more about my journeys across all the states between Florida and Washington. I showed her some of the pictures we took recently at Rosario Beach (see profile of me above taken by Jey-hu) and on top of Mt. Erie.

   But the dearest question my little Grand asked me was just before we parted: "Granny, how many more days do we have before you have to leave again?" And I was very happy to see how big her eyes got when I said, "Too many to count because I'm going to be living here... we'll see a lot more of each other now."

A Ferry Nice Day

   With remarkable sunshine pouring down on us, it didn't take much to convince Jey-hu it was better to spend the day showing me around his native Washington than to roll logs off his front yard or sort through auto parts in the back garage. "Let's go to Anacortes," he announced just after 1 p.m. "OK," I replied, being the difficult one.

   We weren't alone. This lovely '58 Edsel (I'll admit I thought it was a '57 but was corrected by the professional antique car collector I was riding with...) was being given an outing by a senior couple and we followed them on some back roads for quite awhile. The drive north on Route 9 took us up to Marysville and then over to Mount Vernon, a slightly different version from the eastern village of the same name. Located at the edge of the Skagit (Skah-ghit) Valley where a lot of crops are grown and shipped out, it is home to a large population of immigrants, primarily from Mexico, and the green-white-red flags were flying from many front porches as we drove by. The mountain, hard to see in the haze but rising up behind the other mountains, is Mt. Baker, one of the four highest mountains in Washington. A quiet volcano, it is considered part of a glacier and has snow on it at the top (10,780 feet!) most of the year.

   From Mt. Erie, a considerably smaller hump in the earth by comparison, we could see for miles and miles, and on a less hazy day, the impact of Mt. Baker might have been even more impressive. Still,  Jey-hu was trying to cut through the haze to

get a close up shot with his telephoto lens. After awhile we walked around to the other side of Mt. Erie and got this wrap-around view of the rest of the peninsula - huge! This is a must-stop-and-see spot if one is anywhere near Anacortes.

It's not that hard to reach, and is not very well advertised. The road up to the top is narrow, steep and curvy - 15 mph all the way. 

   Then it was on to the Deception Pass and Jey-hu took me to Rosario Beach first where we could walk around the point to a place where we could see the bridges over the pass from below. Some scary paths, if you ask me, but the view was well worth the challenge. This is one of Je

y-hu's shots. I was breathless watching him take it as he was standing on a path with little edge and it was slanted precariously toward the ocean. Jey-hu said he used to come over to this area to visit relatives when he was growing up and remembered an uncle who had a horse that used to come over to the house when he was ready to have his feet trimmed and just waited for the uncle to do it. As we have been driving around, Jey-hu shares a lot of his memories of his Washington childhood and like so many places, much has changed, but it is wonderful to hear about 'those days.'

Mountain Loop Highway is closed

   After pretty nearly waxing the paint off the M3, Jey-hu said it was time for us to take a jaunt for the afternoon on the Mountain Loop Highway. The road out of Lake Stevens (WA) heads easterly toward Granite Falls and Silverton (so small you'd miss it with your eyes open!) and although we tried to get to Darrington, the road was still snowed in.    It was chilly, but the sun was really warm and up until about 4:30 p.m. we were enjoying riding in the convertible. Then suddenly it got a whole lot colder and we gave up stopping for what might be good photo ops and headed for home. Still, we got a few good ones.... the snow-capped mountain peaks here are called the "Big 4 Mountain" because when the snow melts, some of the remaining snow sticks to the edges and lays out in the form of a number "4" on the western end of the slopes. Long ago, in the early part of the 1900's, there was a hotel called the Big 4 Inn on a railroad line purchased to provide this unique vacation experience. But the destination resort failed after the 1930's and ended up burning to the ground. Today all you can see is the remains of the lodge's fireplace. While we were there, a bunch of children were seated up inside the old fireplace watching their parents prepare the Memorial Day weekend cookout nearby. What amazes me is how many people were up on this highway, even camping in spots where there clearly was more than a little snow on the ground!

It was delightful to see the Trillium blooming alongside the road and to hear the melting 

snow brooks chase down through the fir trees to meet up with the Stilquamish River (Don't hold me to the spelling or the name - I'm still learning them.) I saw a man carrying his ice chest across the river, walking IN it and wearing only a t-shirt! Hardy souls up here in these north woods!!

   And just as we were driving out of the high mountain range, we saw a black bear run across the road and up into the woods. (If you want to learn more about this creature, I've provided a wonderful link to help. This is a family-oriented blog, after all.) He (or she) stopped and looked back. We stopped and Jey-hu grabbed the camera. Then all we saw was the back end of the bear hightailing it for deeper woods. Fun!

Still Retired... but barely

Today Jey-hu took me to work with him. He had some wires to run on a boat and with my nautical experience, he thought I might enjoy the day and be of some assistance to him. As the sun was timid in the morning, I had no idea how lovely the day would become and by the time we finished at the marina, we had a lunch at a place called "Scuttlebutt's" where the clam chowder would make a Cape Codder blush!

Then it was off to Mukilteo (it is pronounced

moo-kit-ee-oh - I think the "l" is silent) to run some more line in a private home under construction. On the way, Jey-hu stopped at the park so I could get out and get my bearings. The view you are seeing here (the second picture to the right) is a little south of the Everett Naval Base station and the marina we visited can be seen just to the right of the jetty. Aren't the clouds magnificent?

After all these days of clouds and drizzle and then rain, it was really nice to have some sun again. Jey-hu says, "There's no place nicer than here when the weather is pleasant." I'd have to agree - today at least!

The worksite is along the waterfront with a view very similar to the photo above. The owner, a woman, wasn't there, but the site was bustling with men working on various projects. Jey-hu and I started running the lines and I wrapped the finished connections with electrical tape. Then he showed me how he installs the security lines for various doors and windows. Gee, I never realized how that was done!

As we headed for home, we drove past Boeing Airfield and he pointed out the large jet which is being used to ferry back to Everett the fuselage of the new 787 "Dream Liner." If you look at the large fin in this shot, you can get a sense of how huge the aircraft is they are building, never mind how enormous the one is they are flying it back in.

All in all, it was a most interesting day for this retiree, and while I actually did a little 'work,' it did not require me to turn in my retiree badge.