Back to Washington – Day 11

My last day in Washington. We had decided to have lunch at the Rockfish Grill, since my shuttle wasn't leaving until 2:45pm. So we had a nice lunch, then headed back to the boat. I actually only had about 30 mins at that point to finish my packing, so I did that really quick. Then I headed up to meet the shuttle. It was the same lady driver I had back in June. Nice lady. I was the only one on the shuttle with her all the way to where you change buses, so we chatted the whole time. She was telling me about how she lives in a very rural area, and that her family likes to shoot off crazy fireworks for New Years and stuff. And that they will shoot prairie dogs and stuff for digging up their property. I am for sure not pro-killing animals, but the way she told the story, it was pretty funny. I got on the other bus at the transfer station, and we continued on to Sea-Tac in the dark and rain. We got there around 6pm (a little late) and I had 2 1/2 hours to kill before my flight (it was delayed 30 mins). So I wandered the shops, bought a book ,magazine and 2 bottles of wine. Not sure why about the wine, I just thought I'd buy some on a whim. Then because of my stomach issues previously, I was too worried about eating anything too creamy, fatty or fried, so I skipped my normal trip to Ivar's at the airport for my usual fried shrimp and clam chowder. So I stopped at the place next door and got some couscous salad to go to eat on the plane. It was delicious. The flight was uneventful and I arrived in around 10:30pm to the puring rain. I thought I left that stuff in WA ;-)

Back to Washington – Day 10

So today was a much better day to take the ferry to Friday Harbor. We headed over to the terminal in the morning and waited to board the boat. Once we got on, Fred stayed in the car with Merlin and my Mom and I wandered, since I've never been on a car ferry before. Once we got over there, we made a few stops then headed to the Pelindaba Lavender Farm which was cool, but being the time of the year it is, nothing was really pretty lavender colors. Only a couple of plants.

Then we headed over to the Krystal Acres Alpaca Farm which was really cool. You could walk along the fence line and look at all of the alpacas. Then they have a really great shop on site where we chatted with the daughter in law of the owners of the farm, for a while. They had this really cool alpaca felted hat I wanted. But for $99, I couldn't justify it.

After that we stopped at the Lime Kiln Pt State Park. I decided to take a little trail down to the water to get a view of the lighthouse. Very cute.

Then off to Roche Harbor to have lunch at our little spot of the dock, The Lime Kiln Cafe. And as we were walking around, I even say an otter sitting on shore for a few, before it swam away.

We had to get back to Friday Harbor to catch the ferry to come home. This time we just stayed in the car. And for fun we turned the GPS on to watch us "driving" in the water.

We then just chilled the rest of the night, had dinner, and watched some TV.

Back to Washington – Day 9

I woke up around 8am to some of the more insane sounds of wind and rain, and the boat bouncing back and forth. After only having about 5 hours of sleep, and then the weather on top of it, I decided it may not be the best day to take the ferry over to Friday Harbor. So we postponed. My Mom and Fred took off to go grab breakfast in town, since they were already up. I got up to take a quick video of the waves outside, as they were crazy for inside a marina. Then I went back to bed, and didn’t wake up until 3pm. I didn’t plan to sleep that long. I got up and we just kind of lounged around. Eventually we had dinner (curry chicken, pasta and peas) and watched the news. We took Merlin for a walk, and I brought my new little tripod so I could take pics of the boat at night. I got one decent one at least. Then we watched ‘Letters to Juliet’ which was really cute. I decided to update my blog, then I’m going to crash. We’re going to try to take the ferry tomorrow.

Back to Washington - Day 8

I slept in until about 11am, then got ready to go into town to get lunch. We went to the Calico Cupboard, and I had a great club sandwich. It was a pretty mellow day. Gloomy as it has been, but just popped into a handful of stores downtown. Once back at the boat we did more nothing and just chilled. We had leftovers for dinner, and watched the Discovery Channel show on Jordan (that I have on DVD). Then my Mom and I watched NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles, neither of which I normally watch, but are good. Then I went to bed and watched some old Big Brother episodes. But once I started to go to sleep, I started feeling sick again and couldn’t fall asleep until after 3am. So one of those leftovers was something that didn’t agree with me now, and the first time I had it. Wish I knew which thing it was.

Back to Washington - Day 7

I slept in today, but then we headed to La Conner to have lunch and wander the shops. It was only about a 20 min drive to get there, and we stopped at the La Conner Pub. It was right on the channel, and I had popcorn shrimp and a salad. It was really good. The town is full of cute little galleries and shops. My favorite was this wood art shop, The Wood Merchant. They have some great stuff. Everything from pill cases, to sculptures, to utensils, to artwork. And they had these cool 3-4’ playing card art pieces all made out of pieces of wood. Really neat. It got dark really quick, so we headed back. After we were back at the boat for a while, the wind started whipping (23+ mile per hours gusts), the rain started pouring, the waves got crazy, the boat started rocking, and the wind was howling loudly. That lasted a couple of hours, and I was on the verge of seasickness. It was crazy. My Dad called earlier to check in, and all is well at home. Then my Mom and I made Ivar’s clam chowder and salad for dinner while watching ‘First Knight’. Now I’m writing this while watching the TV show, ‘What I Like About You’ and am going to crash soon. Not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow.

Back to Washington – Day 6

My Mom woke me up to say they were going to go have breakfast at the café on the dock, so I could join them, or sleep in. I got up. When we left the boat we could hear the church playing "church music" loudly outside. Then I realized it was 'Yesterday' by the Beatles, then 'We've only just begun' by The Carpenters. That was kinda cool. So we went and had breakfast (eggs over easy, bacon, english muffin and coffee for me) in the dreary weather. We headed back to the boat and took off to go back to Anacortes. We saw an eagle on a little rock island, and a tug pulling a log boom on the way. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. We had some downtime when we got back and saw ‘King Arthur’ was on, so we watched that. Then we had sausages, rice and green beans for dinner, using the dining room for the first time. Then just chilled out and watched some tv and I crashed early. Unfortunately though, I started feeling sick and started tossing and turning for 2 hours. Felt like a minor gall bladder attack, which sucks. But I eventually crashed.

Back to Washington - Day 5

So today they woke me up because we were heading to Roche Harbor (I was here back in June too, as well as Friday Harbor). And I like the parts of the trip where we are cruising and watching the scenery go by, so I got up. We just hung out in the pilot house/galley and watched the world go by. When we arrived, we made breakfast for lunch. Scrambled eggs with cheese, onions, and other good stuff I can’t remember, and bacon. Then we headed up to shore. We were up there maybe 20 minutes before it started raining. So we wandered a bit more, and went to the Harbormaster’s office to pay up for the night on the dock, then back to the boat. My Mom, Merlin and I were quite drenched when we returned. But a little rain isn't going to hurt us. We knew the Cal game was on today and my Step-Dad wanted to watch, and my Mom too. So we put that on as I got their Directv remote programmed and working. My Mom made this yummy hamburger, bean, onion, etc casserole that she does for dinner, and I picked up some cheesy bread at the store this afternoon to go with it. So had that as we finished watching Cal lose. Eh… I didn’t care. We checked to see what was on TV tonight and saw Hawaii Five-O. I never watched the original, nor had I caught any of the new series. But we watched it and I enjoyed it. If I start watching it, does that mean it’ll be canceled? ;-) I kinda had the Yahoo feed of the Sharks game on at the same time. Wasn’t paying too close of attention, but YAY, they won. We hung out a little bit longer, and I updated my Amazon with list, and checked out the wish list’s of family members. They crashed and I sat here and wrote by blog. I’m exhausted, but figured I’d get it out of the way while I still remembered the details of today. Tomorrow we head back to Anacortes, because they have a Monday am appt to get something on their car checked out. So hopefully Monday afternoon or Tuesday we can head out again to do something, as I fly out on Friday.

Back to Washington - Day 4

I got out of bed around 8:45am this morning, surprisingly. And it was sunny out… with some clouds though. We had thought we were going to take a drive to La Connor to bum around. But we soon decided, after checking the upcoming weather forecast, that today may be the best weather we see while I’m here. So we decided to go for it and take the boat out, for the first time since they bought it. We went first to get 400 gallons of fuel put in it, then headed to Friday Harbor. Much faster than Aquila would have taken us. So we got there in an hour and a half, and had some lunch on the way. When we got there, we just wandered around town a bit. We also saw Popeye, the seal who is blind in one eye and comes to the docks every day for handouts. And I found a great candy store. One that carries all sorts of random candies from the 60’s, 70’s, etc that you can’t get everywhere, so I bought a few things. Then we just headed back to the boat as it got dark. Fred got the idea in his head to transfer his Directv account from their old house, to the receiver on the boat. So after about 90+ mins on the phone with them, we now have satellite TV on the boat. So we watched some TV while having pork loin, mashed potatoes and fresh asparagus for dinner. Then I continued to watch some TV after they crashed, while writing this blog.

Back to Washington - Day 3

So last night I was laying in bed watching a TV show on my iPod, and it was freezing! I know it was 37 degrees outside, and it felt like that inside here too. I definitely turned off the heater in the boat too soon. It was pretty much just my hands and face not under the covers, and boy did I have to warm them up. Plus I ended up sleeping with a sheet, comforter and 2 blankets. Once I warmed up I was good though. Brrrr before that though. And something else I remembered while I was laying there, was that we had checked the info on the car when we came into town yesterday, and we had driven about 930 miles, and about 15 ½ hours of driving over the course of the 2 days. Wow!

Anyway… I definitely needed to catch up on my sleep last night after waking up every 2 hours at the hotel the night before. So I ended up sleeping until 11am, which definitely wasn’t planned. Today was an errand day, so nothing major happened. We got ready to head out, and went to West Marine to get their new stove top for the boat. We had some really great Chinese food for lunch, then went grocery shopping. When we got back we checked in the Harbormaster office for some packages we were expecting. One being my new Otterbox case for my phone, which did arrive and I’m happy with. Unfortunately though, we had to cart all these things back to the boat in the rain. We just unpacked everything, then relaxed for a bit and read magazines and such. Then we had pulled pork, mashed potatoes and peas for dinner as we watched Princess Ka’iulani. I really enjoyed it, great historical story that I didn’t know.

I have also been pondering a job that was suggested to me by a friend the other day, and decided to apply for it. Unfortunately being out of the state though, I had to search my e-mail for my resume and try to come up with a cover letter (which I am actually taking a break from to write this). So I’m going to chat with my friend tomorrow, who happens to work at this place, about some specifics. We’ll see what happens. Tomorrow’s plans are up in the air depending on weather. We may go drive to a little town and have lunch and check out the cute shops, or we may actually take the boat out for the first time ever (since my parent’s have gotten it). If we don’t take it out tomorrow, than maybe another day or two when the weather eases up.

Back to Washington - Day 2

Got up at 7am again for another long day. Went and had the free breakfast at the hotel, including biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, bacon, cereal, yogurt, waffles, coffee juice, etc (no, I didn’t eat all that) and got on our way around 8:30am. And it was another gloomy day as we headed out through more of Oregon. We stopped at one rest stop (mind you we also had my mom’s dog with us) and continued on. We planned to stop at the Mount St Helens Visitor Center on the way. We knew due to the weather that we wouldn’t see the mountain, but wanted to stop anyway. It was a nice center with a short but good video about the eruption. I was five when it happened, so only vaguely remember it being on the news, but watching the video was freaky. Remind me never to move close to an active volcano. The grounds around the center were pretty and the sky was amazing, so walked around and took a few pics. When we had gotten off that exit, we noticed a sign that said Burgers and Espresso that caught my eye, because how random is a burger and espresso joint? So we stopped there for lunch before getting back on the freeway/highway. Total hole in the wall place with a really nice early 20 something girl working there. The burgers were great, and we even got some ice cream for the ride. Surprisingly as we approached Seattle, the weather started clearing up and there were pretty blue skies. I checked the GPS on my phone and noticed 2 strips of high traffic areas, due to major accidents, coming up past Seattle. UGH… no fun. Probably added an hour to our trip, and it turned dark at this point. We just wanted to get to Anacortes. Think we arrived around 6:30ish. Then their boat (sorry… motor yacht) is docked about 1/5 of a mile down a couple of docks, so had to load up all of our stuff in carts and lug it down there. This is my first time seeing their new boat, since they just bought it last month I think it was. It’s beautiful and has so much more space than their last boat, more staterooms, more heads, more closets, more stairs, etc. They showed me around, and instead of being stateroom door to stateroom door with them, like on their last boat… I go from their stateroom, up the stairs to the salon, up the stairs to the galley, down the stairs to a hallway, then are 2 more staterooms and a head. My Mom jokes that I have my own wing, and that’s what it feels like. I’m on the opposite end of the boat. It was too dark to check out the upper helm or the bow, so that will wait til tomorrow. And we were too exhausted to fully unpack and straighten up, so pics of the boat will have to wait until tomorrow. So after we chatted a bit, I uploaded a few pics and wrote this and yesterday’s blog entries. Now being 11pm, I think I’m about to pass out. Night!

Back to Washington - Day 1

My Mom and Fred were picking me up at 8am, so I reluctantly got up at 7am after a few hours of sleep. It was an uneventful start of the drive, and made our first stop after a few hours, at a rest stop. The same one my Aunt and I stopped at a month ago on our way to Redding. We then continued for a few more hours as it started getting rainier and rainier. Our goal was to stop at a Big Bear Diner in Redding for lunch, just to find the place surrounded by cops and a fire truck. We tried to go in anyway, only to find a water line broke at the restaurant and they stopped serving people. We knew there was another one an hour up the road in Mount Shasta City, so we decided to stop there instead of finding another place to eat. As we got close, the rain started coming down and my Step Dad was noticing the temp outside was going from 35 to 34 to 33… and then we noticed that the rain seemed to be floating through the air. It was actually snowing. When we parked at the restaurant it was still snowing, but nothing heavy as it wasn’t sticking. I thought it was cool, because I love snow and rarely get to se it, while they were more worried about the pass in Oregon. After lunch we headed on into Oregon and made it to the pass. At this point there is snow on the ground on both sides of the freeway, and it was coming down pretty good. So much that the visibility sucked, and we even saw an over turned truck on the side of the road with emergency vehicles. Yikes! Once over the pass, the snow turned back to rain and we made it to Roseburg, OR. We checked into the hotel around 5:30pm, then my Mom and I wandered next to the hotel to a Petco and stuff. And they were actually selling ferrets. Unusual to see them in a pet store. We then decided to order a pizza to be delivered, as we were exhausted from the long drive, then just crashed.

Fleet Week... awesome day!!!

So my Aunt and I the other day made last min plans to head to the city for Fleet Week. We thought that taking the ferry would be best to save the headache of traffic and the headache of parking fees. So we took the 12:10pm ferry out of Alameda with perfect blue skies out. There was fog in the vicinity of the Golden Gate Bridge, but that wasn't going to affect us. We got to Pier 41 around 1:15pm and the air show had started. We saw the Coast Guard helicopter and one jet doing their thing while we were still on the ferry. When we got off we decided to walk past Fisherman's Wharf and down toward the Aquatic Park. The place wasn't too bad, because the hoards of people were mainly at the end of all their piers already watching the show. So the streets were full of people, but not as bad as I was expecting. We eye-balled some of the food on the way, but we hate eating and walking, so we wanted to find a place to settle first.

We wound up down the Hyde Street Pier which is where the vessels of the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park are docked. We saw how packed the lawns were at the Aquatic Park, and this pier wasn't bad. We saw what I think may have been the Patriot Jet Demonstration Team do their formation flying as we were scoping out the pier. But we were getting hungry and had about 45 mins until the Blue Angels did their thing. So we popped into Capurro's to have some beer battered shrimp and a soda at the bar. Then we headed back to our spot at the end of the Pier right next to Balclutha, which one day I'll actually step foot on. And a little while later the Blue Angels started doing their thing. They are always super impressive, and it's all the more exciting when they are flying right over your heads and crossing right in front of you. I also love the loud roar they make, it just gets your blood flowing. It made me miss when the Alameda Naval Air Station was still active and you would hear jets take off and land every day. I grew up listening to that and I loved it. The show lasted about 45 mins and we let the crowd disperse before thinking about our next plan. We played tourist and had someone take our pic with Alcatraz in the background and watched at several tugs turned the SS Jeremiah O'Brien around and put back onto it's dock after it's final cruise of the weekend.

We walked up to Ghirardelli Square to check it out. But really not a lot of shops to wander these days, it's more about the restaurants. On our way out of there, we started hearing a lot joyous hollering from a group of guys telling everyone that the Giants had won. Clapping was heard from all around the park. Anyway... I was starving at this point, so we decided to have dinner upstairs at Alioto's, which I love. Plus I've been having a craving for clam chowder lately, so that was going to get satisfied today. It was about a 30 min wait, but that seemed to fly by. We got a table by the window overlooking a marina and the Golden Gate Bridge in the background. At the time, the shades were pulled low because the sun was shining in. But by the time we finished our clam chowder, the sun was setting and they raised the shades. We couldn't have had a better table. Then I had the shrimp louie, which was delicious.

After dinner we had almost an hour and a half to kill until our ferry. So we popped into the Musee Mechanique to see Laffing Sal (seen in Princess Diaries among other movies), and play a few of the toys. Then we headed down to Pier 39 to say Hi to the sea lions, but too dark at this point to get any pictures. Then we just quickly walked up the pier before getting in line for our 8:20pm ferry back to Alameda. We sat on the very back of the boat, outside, and had beautiful views of SF and the Bay Bridge on the way back. Really nice day, but had to slather my face with lotion when I got home... the one place I didn't put sunblock on. Dumb I know.

Oktoberfest

So I went out to my friend Monica's on Sunday so we could go to the Clayton Okoberfest. It was fun, but a little disappointing. They did have a German band who sang and yodeled, but they didn't bring in a lot of German food or other vendors. So that was a little bit of a bummer. But it was nice to be outside and wander around. And gotta love fried zucchini, mushrooms and cheese, and a terriyaki chicken skewer. Very German don't you think? ;-) There is the Clayton House Museum on that street so we poked our heads in. It was pretty cool with all the old bedroom stuff, clothing, piano, a bunch of old kitchen stuff which reminded me of stuff of my Great Grandmothers.

Then we headed back to Monica's and took her dog Bella for a walk around her neighborhood and park before I headed home. Once I was 20 mins from my house, the sky turned overcast and it was freezing out. I had been in 90-106 degree weather since last Wednesday and that was a shock to the system, but nice.

Redding - Day 4

I slept in until 10:30am today because I was exhausted. Pam made some great cheesy/bacon scrambled eggs and toast with freezer strawberry jam for breakfast, so we all sat down and ate before hitting the road. I wanted to leave by 11am, but we packed up, said our Goodbyes and ended up out of there by Noon. We stopped on the way to pick up a thank you card for them and a gift bag I needed for Abby's Bday gift. While in that little shopping center, there was one of those guys holding a sign directing people to Quizons, and he was wearing a cheesehead, so had to take a picture of him to show Claire. So the ride was uneventful, and we arrived back at my Aunt's at 4pm which was on track. Because I needed to turn around from there and head straight to Heather's for Abby's Bday dinner. So got out there by 5pm and we headed out to meet up with all the other family members at Chevy's at 6pm. We had a really nice time at dinner, then headed back to their house. Tony went to bed and Heather, the kids and I watched Fantastic Mr Fox. Which I lost interest in at the end and just went and crashed by Midnight.

Redding - Day 3

Got up at 9:15am again so we could be out of the house by 10:30am to go kayaking. We had to load the kayaks in the car, then meet up with Pam's friend Claudette. She packed up 2 kayaks in her car, then we went to Holiday Market to pick up deli sandwiches for lunch. Then just a short drive to Whiskeytown Lake. We got there and unloaded, then had to inflate the 2 inflatables. Then we packed up our gear, lunch, etc and launched from the boat ramp by Noon. We headed in one direction where there is this metal tube in the water that you can paddle through. There is just a small cove on the other side. A handful of ducks became our new friends and followed us around. Then we spotted 3 turtles on a log, very cute. We headed back through the tube and shortly after the ducks flew over to meet us. We rounded a corner into another cove and watched a blue heron fly from tree to tree for a while. After a while we were hungry so we went over to this beach, pulled up onto shore and unloaded lunch onto a picnic table. Not long after, 2 of the ducks found us again and hung out waiting for food. Which we obliged. So we hung out and ate for about 30 mins, put our feet in the water to cool down, and just take some pictures. Then we paddled across the lake and back to the boat ramp at about 3:30pm. We deflated the 2 kayaks and packed up the car and got on our way around 4pm. We decided to just go directly to the Sundial Bridge again instead of heading home first. So we did and took a bunch of day time pictures before heading back. On our way into the Turtle Bay area though, we looked across the intersection and saw about 5 cows/steers running across the road with 3 white trucks following close behind. They headed towards this fence line on the right and luckily didn't run down the freeway off ramp side of the fence.

We headed back to the house and had BBQ'd steak, with pasta and veggies this time. We sat around for a while telling old family stories and such for a while, then Don went to bed. My Aunt, Pam and I moved outside with our wine and continued to get a little tipsy. Then we decided to take some silly pictures. We had a really nice evening chatting and laughing. At one point they asked me what time it was and I said 2am, to a reaction of "WHAT?!?!?!" out of both of their mouths. So we all headed to bed.

Redding - Day 2

So we planned to get up by 9:15am to get our day started. So I did, and got ready to go. There was a group of turkeys outside my bedroom window when I got up. That was different. We (my Aunt, cousin Don, his wife Pam, her friend Cookie, and I) drove out to the Shasta Caverns tour area on Lake Shasta. There were a ton of kids there when we arrived. We were told that there were 2 groups of kids that were going to fill up the next 2 tours at 11:30am and Noon. So we decided to buy tickets for the 1pm boat and just hang out and wait. We got a hot dog, wandered the gift shop, hung out at a picnic table, then headed down to the boat at 12:45pm. It was a quick 15 min ride across the lake, then a steep climb up a hill to catch the bus. Then it was a quick trip to the entrance to the cavern.

There was a guy on our tour with a Team Canada Crosby shirt on which made me laugh. We entered the caverns which were 72 degrees inside, which was much better than the 106 outside. We passed a very steep and long set of stairs and thought we weren't going to have to climb them. Well, we were wrong. After we viewed the first couple of rooms, we came full circle and had to climb the 800 steps to the top. Yikes. But well worth it to see all the magnificent rooms once we got up there. It seemed right out of Indiana Jones. We were in there for about an hour, and then exited the caverns at a higher elevation, and had to climb down a crap load of stairs once on the outside. We hopped back on the bus, then boat to get back to our car.

We headed back to the house to take cold showers (super hot outside) and relax and have dinner. Don BBQ'd pork steaks (as they called them) and had some pasta and veggies. We just killed some time before heading to the Sundial Bridge. We wanted to see what it looked like at night as well as the day. And it was beautiful all lit up at night. Really a sight. We wandered around there for an hour or so. Then we stopped on the way home for some ice cream bars and wine.

My Aunt and Pam were ready for bed after a glass of wine, but I wasn't. So I stayed up a while longer an watched a couple of TV episodes on my iPod before crashing.

Redding - Day 1

So we finally got out of town around 3:30pm I think. We intended for 2pm, but time got away from us. The Tupperware part Pam was having was at 6:30pm, but we knew we weren't going to make it in time. We stopped at Safeway to get some deli sandwiches and sides to eat on the road. Then stopped at Starbucks a little later. We stopped once again about an hour out from Redding at a rest stop, then just continued on our way. We arrived around 7:30pm as the Tupperware party was in full swing, but we basically just chatted with Pam, and Don when he got home. We drank some wine, and just chatted into the night after all her guests left. We settled into our rooms and crashed around 1am.

Where does the time go?

Yesterday I looked at the Arena and saw the scoreboard widget showing a game schedule. I completely oblivious that Pre-Season started today. I just had the October regular season dates in my head, so I wasn't paying attention. Then I just read that the Teal and White game was tonight. I have gone to it the last 2 years, and it was planned far in advance. How did I not know this year? Guess it was because no one posted about it, and since it's a STH event, it's not widely publicized on the Sharks site or anything.

Anyway, I was just shocked that hockey is here already. Now I just need to get my satellite TV working again (dish realigned) so I can watch on my nice TV and not on a 6" x 4" video screen on my PC. I'll get that done before the regular season at least.

A helping hand...

I was spending the day with my Great Aunt taking her to the doctor and running some errands. Our last stop was Rite-Aid so I could run in and grab 2 things of ice cream for her. There was a man sitting on the curb out front who started talking to me as soon as I got out of the car. When I see someone like this, it depends on the situation, location and the person themselves if I decide to converse with someone who looks like they are going to ask for money. I couldn't understand him at first so I got closer and asked him what he said.

He was trying to hand me his Rite-Aid Wellness (discount) card and asked if I could buy him some headache medicine. I was kind of caught off guard by the question and stupidly, but politely, asked, "Why don't you just go in and get some yourself?" to which he replied, "Because I don't have any money.". DUH?!?! I think the fact that he had a discount card, wasn't asking for cash, and wasn't dressed like a homeless person (but possibly disabled), it kind of threw me off.

I told him I would give him a dollar, and he was very thankful. Once inside getting what I needed, I thought to myself, why didn't I just offer to buy him some? So I went and grabbed a 24ct bottle of Excedrin and added it to my cart. When I went to go back to my car, he wasn't around though. Oh well.

But then my Great Aunt, who had been waiting in the car, thought of something else she needed so I went back inside. The man was inside and approached me with an outstretched hand full of change when he saw me. I was very surprised, but just told him Thanks, but just to keep it. And I asked if he got some medicine like he was wanting, he said yes. I had already put the Excedrin in my trunk, or I would have handed it over. According to my Great Aunt, he had received a little money from some others after me, so must have gotten enough to buy some.

By the time I did my quick second shopping trip and got back in my car, the man was crossing the street in front of me after going to the gas station across the street. He had some packaged donuts/cookies/candy/something in his hand and again reached out toward my car as if to say, would you like some? I just shook my head No, smiled, and waved.

So it just made me think that sometimes there are people out there that just need a little help for whatever reason. He wasn't asking for a handout to buy drugs, he just had a really bad headache and needed some medicine. I guess the moral of the story is to not treat everyone asking for help as a second class citizen. Some of them legitimately just need a helping hand.

Another crazy dream

Last night I had another crazy and vivid dream. I was in my town visiting with some people, and when I went to leave, my car wouldn't start. So I called AAA for a tow truck. But within 10 mins or so, a helicopter landed on the street to pick my friend and I up instead. I found this rather odd. As we were flying over my town, I started noticing many buildings on fire and a ton of black smoke pluming into the air. I commented on this, but no one seemed phased.

My town has an old Naval Air Station at one end of town. It is used by some other businesses now, but still has a ton of open land. Once we landed over there, I looked back toward the city and it was more full of flames than ever. I yelled to everyone to gather what they could and head toward the water. There were some houses there that were abandoned and had no doors or windows, but we used them as shelter. I had my camera with me (as I always do in life) and a chain about 3' long with a snap hook on each end. I had the camera in one front pocket, then took the snap hook from one end of the chain and put it around a belt loop, then the chain filled up the rest of my other pocket.

We then heard a loud explosion from the city and a tsunami resulted from it. The waves were at least 30'-40' high and completely engulfed the houses we were in. I had handed the other end of the chain to my friend before this happened so we wouldn't get separated. So we swam out of a window and up to the surface. The water seemed to quickly subside. We knew we had to move on to a new location. But instead of just walking somewhere nearby, we seemed all of a sudden transported to a tropical locale. We were standing in a lush rain forest at the top of a very tall and beautiful waterfall. I remember taking some pictures, thinking if my camera survived this, then at least part of this journey would be documented.

But the explosions and tsunamis followed us where ever we went, so this was some sort of global event that was taking place. I never saw people attacking, or planes flying over, but I knew it was some sort of war situation. We found more houses to hide in, only to be forced out all over again by the waves. I remember thinking that my chain was a great resource to have and helped keep my friend and I together.

And like most of my dreams, I woke up before it ended. I actually tried to go back to sleep to see how things turned out, but didn't happen. It was very real and vivid though. Maybe that's what I get for watching 'The Colony' before bed.

Dream... Cheechoo and a work camp

I had 2 dreams last night at the completely opposite end of the spectrum from each other.

The first, I was apparently dating Cheechoo (don’t get jealous ladies). I don’t remember much of the dream except that we were at some amusement park for one part of our date. Then we ended up at some really high end restaurant, where the chef kept bringing us tastings of the food. I remember looking at the menu and it was really pricey, and even Cheech raised an eyebrow at the $40ish entrees. But we had an amazing meal with appetizers, entrees, wine and dessert. I felt bad it cost so much and offered to go dutch, but he wouldn’t let me. I was never one of the ones to pine for Cheech (so not sure why I dreamed about him) but he did look rather hot in my dream :-)

The second dream had me waking up with my heart racing. I was walking past barbed wire into some kind of work camp. I saw people dirty and in pens like you would see animals in at a farm. I had to walk with a line of people over these back to back ladder like things hovering like a bridge over water. I slipped and the last ladder came loose and fell into the water. The guard watching screamed at me as I apologized over and over. We kept going and we ended up inside and I saw a room that looked like it was framed out of bamboo and just had tarps over it. A bunch of people were inside wearing those old style military helmets watching something on a screen on the wall. Then there were bomb sounds and orange glowing lights just to make people scared. Inside were a bunch of offices, it looked like, and I just kept looking for a way out. I ended up outside back where those pens were and hiding under some tarp lying on the ground. I remember being muddy and wet and only one girl saw me go under there and was going to keep quiet. But eventually there was this lady guard that found me, and was sort of being nice by explaining what I was in for. She said the women were passed from guard to guard and then their fate is unknown. I was freaking out. Then I woke up just very uneasy and jittery.

Dream... The Amazing Race

Last night I dreamed that I was a contestant on The Amazing Race. My partner was a 40 something woman I didn’t know, which was odd. (That might make for an interesting season, to pair people with people they don't know.) And almost all the pairs are over 40-50 year old people. The game hadn't officially started yet. It was like a period of time before the game starts where they go over the rules, production, etc. At one point we were all gathering in a room with big round tables, and we had to dismantle tables from the walls in a contest. Maybe just getting us hyped up or something. And at one point one person from each pair had to go into a body of water and collect lobsters. My partner did this. This is all I can remember right now though.

Dream... fireworks, storms, beach, diapers...

So, I have no idea where I was except in some fancy beach area with a lot of hotels and stuff. I went with some friends and we checked into our room. And it was some big festive holiday like 4th of July, Mardi Gras or New Years. I'm leaning toward the 4th of July. Somehow my friends and I got separated, and cell service must have sucked there because I was never able to get a hold of them. And for some reason I wasn't able to remember exactly which room number was ours, or who's name it was under to check. I had a room key (those plasic ones) but it had no number on it.

So I decided that I should at least go down to the beach and enjoy the festivities while looking for my friends. It was probably late afternoon, early evening at this point. It was a very large beach, and several resort people were walking around getting things set up for games. I watched them set up rows of those little traffic cones in the sand for some relay races. I kept wandering and went inside some building (hotel or mall) and they had a bar in there. It had huge, maybe 15 foot stucco walls around it, with a cut out where you order. On the outside of one of the walls was painted with the names of about 50 mixed drinks that you could order. Impressive. I was going to order one, but had to run to the bathroom first. There was this other woman looking for the bathroom as well, so we started looking together. They weren't marked well. We ended up finding one, which was disgusting. There was a girl in there who noticed our disgust and bent over and said "That's why I have this". and we saw a diaper poking out of her underwear. OK, strange. But we went on our way to find another.

At one point I must have told this woman about not being able to find my friends, so she said I could crash later with her and her friends in their room if I needed. We headed up there so I could see where it was. There were probably 8 guys and girls up there just laying around like they were exhausted. So I did too. A last minute rest before the festivities. I remember thinking, as I looked over the balcony at the beach, about how crowded the beach was getting. If I had a chance to find my friends, it would have been earlier when things were getting set up and it wasn't so crowded, so I gave up the idea.

We headed back down to the beach, and somehow stumbled upon a group of people I went to high school with. I ended up talking to this one guy for quite a while on the beach. Don't remember what about. A bunch of us from both groups ended up going to a different hotel room that someone said would be perfect for watching the fireworks from. We get there and it has this part that is like a large box sitting off the side of the room. All 3 walls and the ceiling were nothing but floor to ceiling windows overlooking the beach. There was also a small, but busy, airport next to the hotel on one side. We kept watching small planes and helicopters take off and land. It was getting dark at this point, so all the runway lights and stuff made it pretty to look at.

We then noticed a storm brewing and coming towards us. It was going to pass directly over us, so we were a little freaked being in a glass room. As is got closer the rain started pelting the windows and the room shook a bit. Then it approached faster and then it was all of a sudden like we were in the eye of a hurricane or tornado. It was something kind of like Twister. We were all looking straight up at the inside of it and could see some clear sky all the way at the top, and a funnel cloud inside. It was a trip, but scary at the same time. It passed quickly though, and in time for the fireworks. The show was amazing, like every moment was the finale. I kept think about how much money they must have spent on this display. It was awesome, and glad I had the view I did.

I'm not sure how the evening ended, and I don't think I ever found my friends. But it was an interesting night.

Leaving Anacortes

I have to leave today, boo hoo. I just made sure everything was packed up this morning, including Fred having to sit on my suitcase to zip it up. I bought a thank you card for my Mom and Fred, and a sea salt and a chili dark chocolate Lindt candy bar for them. I hid them between some pillows for my Mom to find later (which she did). Then they drove me up to the corner to meet the shuttle. I was there about 20 mins early, and so was the shuttle. So just hung out until it was ready to leave. I was the only one being picked up at this stop. Between the ferry and a gas station in town, another 8 people were picked up. We had to stop 2 more places to make sure there were no walk-ins, which there weren’t. And we arrived at Sea-Tac on time around 3:45pm. I checked my bag, and boarding wasn’t until 4:55pm, so I had time to grab my dinner at Ivar’s as I had hoped. So I grabbed a cup of clam chowder and fried shrimp and chips “to go” so I could eat it at the gate. Went and sat down and chowed down. I ran to the bathroom at about 4:45pm and they were already boarding when I got out. I was on the plane, in my seat, before 5pm. Wow, that never happens. We weren’t supposed to depart until 5:29pm. I ended up with a window seat, and a woman sat on the aisle. I looked at her and said, “You were on the shuttle weren’t you?”, which she was. The seat between us was never filled, nice! And she and I chatted the whole way about her business (horseback riding ranch, Turtle Head Farm) on Orcas Island, her daughter being away at St Mary’s which is why she was flying down, my current situation and aspirations, our travel histories, her brother being VERY into Orca protection, etc. We basically chatted until we went our separate ways at the baggage claim. Very nice lady. Then I called my Dad and he picked me up. Nala was very happy to see me when I got home, and I checked in with everyone to say I made it home safely. Just catching up on a few of my shows that I missed, before I crash.

Anacortes

We rocked and rolled pretty good last night, and the mooring buoy kept banging on the hull, so that was nice while trying to sleep. That and the sounds of jets kept going until pretty late. But we left Hope Island this morning to head back to Anacortes. We had to leave around 9am or so, due to the tides, to get back out under the bridge. But that got us to Anacortes too early to enter the marina, because the tide was too low. So we anchored out and just read for a couple of hours. Once we could get into the marina, we did, then got our stuff together to head into town. Now that my trip is coming to a close, and the sale of the Piedmont house is almost finalized, they can finally start their official trip and leave dodge. So this weekend is an errand weekend for them, so they can get out of town on Sunday. So we had to hit up a few boat stores, the grocery store, Radio Shack, Bunnies by the Bay (suggested to me by someone who used to buy their stuff for a large retailer), pet hospital (to get Merlin’s nails cut), etc. After unloading stuff on the boat, we headed back into town to have dinner at Rockfish Grill. I had the San Juan salad, mixed greens with red onion, cranberries, gorgonzola and candied pecans. Then I had the fresh crab mac and cheese. Wow, it was good, and had a lot of crab in it. We wandered the street a little after dinner checking out the old murals on the building walls in town. And checked out this ship being built in their boat yard. It has a heliport on top… interesting. Then we just headed back to the boat so I could pack. And I thought my suitcase was full on my way up, it’s crazy full now. And I bought a small World Cup USA soccer ball which is going to have to go in my carry on, on the way home. Kind of a dumb purchase before having to fly home. Oh well. So bags are packed, snacks are made for the 3 hours shuttle bus then 2 hour plane ride tomorrow. At least the shuttle doesn’t leave here until 12:45pm, so I don’t have to get up crazy early.

Hope Island

Because of the tides, we had to wait around until 12:30pm to leave Spencer Spit. So we rocked and rolled for several hours (even with the flopper stoppers) until we left. Then we had a nice ride through Rosario Straight, passed Anacortes, and on to Deception Pass. The grey skies started turning blue as they have the last couple of days. Looks like it may turn out to be a nice afternoon again. We approached the bridge at Deception Pass which was quite pretty. As we came up on it, we saw a family standing on top and the kids were waving at us and making all sorts of noise. So we waved back and I took some pictures of them. The Bay beyond the bridge was really pretty with a lot of islands. We found the moorage on the side of Hope Island we were looking for. Fred and I tied up to the mooring buoy, then we got the kayaks down. As we were doing so, we saw 2 planes fly over in formation. Apparently one of the adjacent islands has a military base on it. My Mom and I hopped in the kayaks and started circling the island. The water was really clear and the coastline was very pretty with lots of trees, logs and little beaches. We beached the kayaks to see if Merlin would hop out and go pee, but he wasn’t having it, so we went on our way. While out there we saw a handful of military jets go over, which was pretty cool. My Mom thought we should maybe try to circle the island. But after what we later found on a map to be about ¼ the way around the island, we had to turn back because the current changed like crazy and we didn’t want to get caught up in it. So we headed back to the boat. We watched a little of the local Vancouver news again, which is always interesting. Then my Mom started making dinner, chicken dijon over rice, with corn. Then they we watched an episode of Star Trek (surprise surprise) and beauty and the Beast. Although I got up during Beauty and the Beast to watch the sunset, and take a bunch of pics. Really pretty one tonight. Back to civilization tomorrow.

Spencer Spit

We left Friday Harbor around 9am, and it didn’t take long to get to Spencer Spit, our next moorage. It’s on Lopez Island, and has a long beach peninsula with a cove on each side. We took the dinghy into shore, and had to take our shoes off and hop ankle deep in the water to get on shore. We then walked up the beach a while looking for sea glass, my Mom, Merlin and I. I found a couple of pieces, and Merlin kept picking up random pieces of driftwood, etc. Including a spine of a small animal. Blech!! My Mom bagged it to take back and show Fred. This cove is full of crabbers coming and going on their small boats, which means we almost have constant wake. I wasn’t feeling so hot when we got back because of this, but we all had lunch. That helped a little. Fred was reading up on the topside of the boat, so I went up there and laid on one of the bench seats for a while. The sun felt nice, but got to warm after a while. I came down and took a nap in my cabin for a while, as my Mom did so on the couch. She wasn’t feeling so hot either. We got up and my Mom made pork chops, rice and broccoli for dinner and we both felt a little better afterwards. During dinner we watched the news out of Vancouver. And they actually had a LONG segment on the NHL, can you believe it? They talked about the NHL awards, the Canucks, a big trade the Hawks made, and a retired Canadian player (Robinson) having his jersey sell for $1mil. WOW! And I did read yesterday about the Sharks goalie not being resigned. Bummer, but it was speculated. Good luck to you Nabby!

Friday Harbor... whale watching

Woke up at 9am today to get ready to head out on our whale watching trip. Some people were coming in on the ferry for the excursion, which was delayed due to heavy fog. So the tour was going to start at 11:15am. We got down there and checked in and got our anti-exposure suits. They were padded and definitely warm on this gorgeous day. Made me debate why we were wearing them. We grabbed hats and gloves too as they suggested. The other people on our tour was a family of 4 with 2 girls, maybe 7 and 10 years old. And another family whose daughter was maybe 16. So we had 10 people of a boat that seats 15, plus the captain and a naturalist. We headed out and had quite the ride, going maybe 30+ MPH and over some big waves. The captain was chatting with other boats about where the whales were, and if there were any sightings. While we were waiting, we stopped to see an island full of seals, then a few eagles on this island. Speiden Island, where the eagles were, is apparently owned by the owner of Oakley. We continued on, and apparently crossed the invisible dotted line that separates the US and Canada ;-) to find the Orcas. We soon caught up with a few other whale watching boats who were all watching this family of Orcas. Apparently they are a transient group, as opposed to the J, K, and L pods who live here. There were at least one or two adults and some youths that just kept hanging out. They would swim around the top, show their dorsal fins, blow their spout, dive under, come back up, dive back in and do it all over again. We moved along watching them for over an hour and they just kept doing this. They put on quite a show for us. Even the B.C. ferries coming by didn’t phase them. I took a ton of pictures, and luckily after getting them downloaded and zoomed in, I got some nice shots. Including one of the tail of one as it dove down in front of a sailboat. Lucky shot. We actually ended up very close to the town of Ganges on Salt Spring Island, in Canada. I actually visited there 5 years ago when I came up to the boat and we went around the Gulf Islands. After we’d been out over an hour, we had to head back. We actually went quite the distance to get to the whales, so had to high tail it back. And FYI, the distance we traveled one way today in about 30-45min (at 30ish MPH) would take about 4-5 hours (at 6 knots) on my parents boat. And let’s just say that I understand now why we wore the suits that we did. It was freezing out there. Once we got back we checked out the stuff for sale in the whale watch shop and I got a sweatshirt. We went back to the boat and made some grilled cheese sandwiches for a late lunch before going back into town. There was a magnet and ring I wanted to buy. But first we went to The Whale Museum and wandered around. It was small but nice. I ended up getting a fleece vest there. I was looking at another vest in town, but liked this one better. Then went and got my costume jewelry ring that I just had to have, my magnet, and stopped by the grocery for a couple of sodas and a new magazine. On the way back to the boat we stopped at the fresh seafood place on the dock and bought a pound of tiger prawns for dinner. My Mom made a ginger, teriyaki, honey, coconut marinade for the prawns (she stumbled upon a recipe in one of her cookbooks) over some jasmine rice. YUM YUM!! Then just the normal routine of some shows on DVD (Star Trek… for my Mom the Trekie) and me downloading my pics (YAY for some good shots of the whales). Just a chill night, after much walking the last few days. After tonight, I have 3 more nights on my trip. The last will be in Anacortes, which I don’t count. And we were going to hit this town La Conner, which my Mom compares to a very small Carmel. But since we’ve been in towns for the last 4ish days, I suggested we anchor out the next 2 nights in more rural areas where maybe we can hike and kayak. So that is the plan for now.

Roche Harbor to Friday Harbor

We left Roche Harbor around 8am and got to Friday Harbor around 10. We took a walk to the ferry dock to get some coffee and some cranberry loaf for breakfast. Then we wandered around town. Reminds me a lot of Juneau or Ketchikan. Small but full of restaurants and little shops and galleries. Surprisingly I didn’t buy anything, although will probably head back tomorrow for a magnet and costume jewelry ring I liked. Fred had headed back to the boat already to do some projects, so my Mom and I stopped at Haley's Bait Shop & Grill for lunch. We wandered town a bit more as we contemplated what to do tomorrow. We had already decided to stay here 2 nights, but there isn’t that much in town to keep us occupied. We debated taking the shuttle back over to Roche, just to see the inside of the island, which we were told is all farmland and such and very pretty. Instead we ended up checking out some whale watching companies down on the docks. We found one that goes out on a 46’ boat, or a 27’ Zodiac style boat that seats half the people and is more high speed and you wear full length anti-exposure suits. We decided to book that one for the 3 of us for tomorrow morning. That’ll be fun. We just had leftovers on the boat for dinner, watched some shows and chilled.

Roche Harbor

Happy Father’s Day! And Happy Bday to my Aunt Janet! So I got up today around 10 and took a shower. We wanted to get going and head to the Island. So we hopped in the dinghy and got over there around 11. We first walked though “town”, past the little airport and to the Mausoleum in the forest. Really pretty place. It is a circle of columns with a marble table and chairs in the center. The family who once lived here is interred in the base of the chairs. Afterwards we headed back to wander the Sculpture Park. It is a very large grassy park, with grass paths and high brush that leads you on the meandering way past over 100 unique sculptures by different artists. There is a large pond right in the center. Very picturesque. We spent some time there before heading back to the Marina to have lunch on the dock. I had a wonderful BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato) sandwich. My Mom and I then wandered by the Hotel De Haro, wandered the shops, though the flower garden and picked up some snacks at the little grocery. At this time the sun started to come out and we headed back to the boat to relax for a few hours. This is a pretty cool port of call so far, I really enjoyed wandering here. The place has a lot of character and charm. I ended up making my frittata on the boat, which turned out pretty good. After dinner we headed to shore this time to watch the Colors Ceremony. It was a little cheesy, as the ceremony was performed by 3 17ish year olds in resort logo sweats. But it was still cool. Before heading back to the boat, we walked down to this one beach with a Pi, whale tail, and another sculpture that we missed during the day. It was getting pretty dark at this point so we headed back to watch a little DVD shows and head to bed.

Sucia to Roche Harbor, San Juan Island

Slept in today and woke up to have breakfast for lunch. We then right away got the kayaks down and my Mom and I went for a nice paddle for an hour and 15 mins or so. At one point we spotted a seal, so we stopped to see where he would pop up next. He poked his head out of the water about 15 feet from me and looked right at me, but I couldn’t get my camera in time before he went under again. The winds picked up and it became harder to paddle, so we headed in. My Mom thought for a min, and said, why don’t we just head on to Roche Harbor. The tides are with us, and we already stayed here last night, so we might as well move on. So we pulled the kayaks from the water and prepped the boat to get underway. About 2 or so hours later we were in Roche Harbor. Cute harbor with some really nice houses on the shore. Kinda reminds me of the Hamptons of Washington, the way the adults and kids whiz around on their boats and such. We just spent the afternoon/evening on the boat and watched sea planes and boats come and go. We had dinner, some freshly made brownies, and watched some more Beauty and the Beast (my Mom and Fred are way sucked in). Tomorrow we will explore shore. I am exhausted, and it’s only 8:15pm, it’ll be an early night. The sun doesn’t even set for another hour. Every night at sunset (9:08pm tonight) here, they do a colors ceremony. I borrowed this description I found on someone’s blog online… “Every night at sunset, Roche Harbor's Color Guard performs the flag lowering ceremony. They play the national anthems for England, Canada, and The United States before taking down each of those flags. At the end, there is a cannon fire and then a bugle plays taps. It is really neat because the whole harbor goes quiet for the ceremony and when the bugle plays taps, the sound just glides all over the water. But when Taps is done, tons of boaters honk their boat horns, and it gets a little crazy.” And that’s what it was like for us too. We didn’t go ashore for it, but we could see the flags in the distance and they played the music over a loud speaker which carried over the water. There was a wedding reception taking place in a tent on shore, and we could here all the music from the band and D.J. playing everything from Black Eyed Peas to Bell Biv Devoe to Elton John to John Cougar Mellencamp. But when the colors ceremony commenced, their music stopped and all the guests lined the outside of the tent to watch the ceremony. Pretty cool. And all the while this was going on, there was a magnificent sunset.

Rosario to Sucia Island

Woke up as we were almost to Sucia. Beautiful sunny day today luckily. We had a little lunch as my Mom made a batch of brownies. Fred got the dinghy down so we could go explore the shore. We went for a walk over to this beach where a bunch of kayakers were camping. Then up a short hike to Fox Point which had some awesome 180 degree views. We then wandered this beach where we saw some cool sandstone formations. As we were walking towards it, an otter came out of the brush and started sand bathing about 20 yards in front of us. We took a bunch of pictures then started slowly walking towards it to see if he would flee in to the water so we could get by, but he didn’t. Must be used to humans. We decided to leave him be and turned around. So we went up another path and I walked the trail over to a second dock to take a look at Mud Bay from a different angle. Very pretty island. Heading back to the boat on the dinghy, the wind had picked up, so we got a bit wet. Decided to head back to the boat instead of exploring more and wait for the wind to die down to take the dinghy or kayaks back out. So I just downloaded more pics and updated my journal again. Also watching as this bay (Fossil Bay) has now filled up with about 22 boats between the docks and mooring buoys. And I had to pop on my phone to read the sports news, and just read that our Sharks captain officially retired today. I knew it was going to happen, but wanted to read the words to know for sure. Congrats to him on a great career. So Fred decided to take a nap, and while he did so, I commented to my mom that I was sad my trip was already half over. Then she said that it was a bummer that she suggested I only come for a week. So the wheels started turning, and after talking with my Dad to make sure he was still cool watching Nala, I called the airline and turned my 7 night trip into an 11 night trip. WooHoo! So now I have a whole week left. Nothing like being spontaneous. And since the winds didn’t die down too much today, we didn’t get the kayaks down. So we decided to stay in this cove another night and go kayaking earlier in the day tomorrow. We made BBQ salmon for dinner, watched some Canadian turn of the century cop show that we got on tv, an episode of Star Trek Voyager, then an episode of Beauty and the Beast to wrap up the evening.

Blind Bay to Rosario, Orcas Island

I woke up at 6:30am to Merlin barking like crazy. No one else got up, so I did to see if he needed to go out. Once out, he just stared at me. So back to bed I went, actually surprised I could fall back asleep. Next thing I know it was 11:30am and we were at out next destination, Rosario. I took a shower and ate a little something so we could head to shore. We wandered up to the mansion, which is now the resort hotel. Very beautiful building with a lot of character. It has a spa on the bottom floor, common areas and restaurant on the main floor and a museum and music room on the 3rd. We wandered down to the beach and let Merlin run around. Then there is this great pond above the marina with water lilies, fountains, a bridge and little islands. Really cute. We walked further back up toward the hotel and spotted a deer just off the side of the road. It was staring at Merlin while I got a few good pics of it. There was an pipe organ concert back in the music room of the hotel at 4pm, so we went back to the boat to kill an hour. Back up to the hotel we went, and spotted another deer on the way. It was across the lawn and just kept walking straight toward us. Got some more good pics. We wandered the museum a little full of old photos, a replica model of the USS Nebraska that the Moran family built, and other interesting items. The music room what really great. It had 2 walls of organ pipes, which were apparently just decorative and hid the working ones. Between the two walls was a 1900 Steinway Grand Piano. Christopher Peacock is the entertainer who has worked at this hotel for 30 years. He played the piano, organ, played a slideshow of Robert Moran’s early 1900’s photos and told stories about the family. It was a very enjoyable hour, very glad I went. We stopped at the restaurant in the resort after and decided to eat there instead of on the boat. The restaurant is brand new, only open for 4 weeks, called The Quilted Pig (http://www.quiltedpigrestaurant.com/). All the tables are right at the window overlooking the cove. Everything, except for one small side dish at the menu, is made from scratch right at the restaurant or locally grown. So everything I had from the fresh foccacia, mixed green salad, pork chop with kale and spaetzle and coconut puff pastry with caramelized bananas and cashews was amazing. Wow, what a meal. After dinner we headed back to the dock and spotted our waiter there. Guess Fred left his credit card at the restaurant and waiter knew we were on a boat, so came down to return it. Very nice of him. We watched an episode of Beauty and the Beast as I caught up on my journal and downloaded some pictures. And change of plans for tomorrow… we’re going to try for Sucia again instead of Reid Harbor.

Anacortes to Blind Bay

I woke up around 8:15am when I heard my Mom and Fred up and about. Laid there for a few, but just got up. We wanted to get on the fuel dock before 9am so we could fill up and get on our way. So we did and waited for the guy to come down and fill us up. Between the 4 gas tanks we topped them off with 155 gallons. Is that all? Not 15 mins outside the marina did I spot a couple of dall porpoises playing in the water. That was a cool way to start the day. We’re on a few hour cruise today headed to Sucia Island. They have never been and it’s supposed to be nice, and also pretty popular, so we’ll see if we can get on a buoy or anchor. Well after a little time of going against the tide and only going 1.5 knots, it was going to take several hours to get there. So change of plans. We hung a left and cruised another 90 mins to Blind Bay on Shaw Island. We anchored with no problem, then made sandwiches for lunch. After getting the dinghy down from topside, we took a short trip over to Orcas Landing on Orcas Island. They have a cute hotel, several gift shops, and espresso place and a great grocery. I needed to run into the grocery to buy some stuff for a frittata I’m going to make one of these nights. They had a great deli with awesome cheeses, specialty candy, and specialty food like herring, greek feta, blue cheese in olive oil, crème fraiche , etc. Pretty great little place. We hopped in the dinghy and headed back to the boat. On the way back there was a small island we passed with about 10 seals sunbathing on it and one swimming around. We slowed down from a distance to take some pictures. Once we got back to the boat and unloaded everything, I asked my Mom for her purse so I could get my glasses out. Well what do you know, the purse is no where to be found. So I stay on the boat with Merlin while and my Mom and Fred head back over top Orcas Island in search oh her purse. They hit the gift shop, hotel, grocery, etc with no luck. They were about to give up and get back in the dinghy when they spotted her purse at the far end of the dock, which is where we got back into the dinghy last time. Boy did she luck out. And I was thankful because I would have had to go home and order another $400 pair of glasses and go without any for the next several weeks. Phew!! So once they returned we started planning our next 4 nights out, as my final night (Monday) will be back in Anacortes in the marina. As of now, we are looking at Rosario on Orcas Island, Reed Harbor on Stuart Island, Roche Harbor then Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. After dinner we decided to watch a movie they borrow from me, Laagan. It’s a Bollywood movie and wasn’t sure how they’d like it. First of all, it was subtitled, which didn’t bother them. And it was also 3 ½ hours long, which I had forgotten. And besides fast forwarding through a few song and dance scenes, they both got sucked in and watched until the end. I was very surprised.

Travel day to Anacortes

I arrived at the airport a little before 11am to find out that my 12:20pm flight was delayed until 1pm. Not a huge deal except that I was catching a 3pm shuttle in Seattle that I was now going to miss, and was going to have to wait until 5pm for the next. I called my parents to let them know I’d be in Anacortes at 8pm now instead of 6pm. UGH! But they decided just to pick me up at the airport instead. That was nice of them. The flight was uneventful and I arrived around 3pm. They picked me up and we drove through Seattle as we headed north. This was my first time in WA outside the airport. Pretty place. We arrived in Anacortes around 5pm or so. We were all hungry, so we stopped in town at the Brown Lantern and all had fish and chips with sweet potato fries and slaw. It was delicious and I finished it all. We drove through town a little and saw a bunch of the murals painted on the sides of buildings and even some downspouts on buildings shaped like watering cans. Really cute. Afterwards we finally headed to the marina to go to the boat. The boat was at the end of a very long marina, which we later learned was about a quarter mile long. Quite a walk with a rolling suitcase. I just settled in and we just hung out. We watched an episode of the old show Beauty and the Beast while having some popcorn. They went to bed and I did my In Touch crossword puzzle before laying down and watching an episode of The Amazing Race on my iPod (I downloaded a few seasons before leaving), Think I crashed around 1am.

What a day...

I was out running errands with my Aunt, when I got a call from my Mom.

They have been up in Washington for about a week now. In that time they came to realize that their passports, boat customs docs, their satellite phone, etc were no where to be found. So to be legal on the water, and to be able to move across the border, they kind of need these things. When they packed up their house to be sold, their stuff went off to several storage units. And they thought these items were maybe put into a box taken off by the movers. So my Step-Brother was set to go to that storage facility today to have them get the crates down so he could go through them. Apparently he spent several hours there with no luck.

So the call I got, was to tell me this, and see if I could go to their other storage units and see what I could find. So my Aunt agreed to go with me and off we went. The unit probably has 100ish boxes all numbered, but not in numeric order. My Mom has a list of what each numbered box contains, but of course these items aren't supposed to be in one of these boxes. So a lot of good that does. An hour and a half after ripping tape off a ton of boxes, no luck. We moved on to the next storage unit, within 10-15 mins, guess what we found? Everything but the satellite phone which they'll have to live without. So we then sent the following picture to my Mom...


After which we received a very happy call from her. It's been a long day for all. But at least they know they can cross the border as they do every year. They were worried they would be stuck in WA for the whole summer and were bummed out. But since their house is on the market right now, they are stuck in the States until a sale closes. They already have an offer for the full asking price, so this may be a done deal soon. The listing site for anyone curious is HERE. So while they are this side of the border, I'm going to head up there for a week. I'm not sure when exactly, as they haven't figured out their plans yet. Within the next 2 weeks likely. But probably going RT to Seattle this time, spend a day or 2 in the city (I've actually never left the airport in WA before), then the rest of the time in the San Juan Islands. The last 5 years I have traveled up to the boat, 3 times were to Alaska and 2 times to Canada. So I have never done this trip in the States. Gotta change things up :-) Anyway, I'm exhausted and sore from all the heavy lifting today, Night!

My dream last night... snow, boats, old classmates

And the weird dreams keep coming.

I was in a very large room, like a hangar, which had water in it like a frozen over pond. There were boats tied up all around the edges of the room, kind of dinghy to speed boat sized. There were moments I was on top of the water with snow. Then there were other moments I remember being in the water with the dinghy upside down on top of me using it like a flotation device, and just hanging out out talking to people. There seemed to be lot's of random people coming in on their boats and hanging out. They were asking me random question like I was in the education field, etc, just making small talk.

I remember seeing a couple out groups of people walking on the ice towards an area where I know the ice is broken. At the last minute a few of us call out to warn them, but they fall in the water. LOL. 2 guys were in full suits too.

As time went on, the room started having more of a nightclub vibe to it. And some random guy grabbed me to give me a hug. It was dark in there, but I recognized some people and asked if they were Piedmonters. And they were. Turned out to be a bunch of people I went to high school with. Random encounter. And that's all I remember.

My dream last night... plane crash, killer snowballs, Phil Keoghan...

My friend and I were in a small plane and she was flying. I remember asking her how we were going to find the airport, so she flew the plane within a few feet of the ground right over the treetops. We ended up crashing, but were ok.

We started walking and shortly saw some cars and civilization in the form of a small rural town. We found this one restaurant/bar and went it. Then the next thing I know, I’m a server in the bar area. Some of the customers were giving me crap for not getting the new customers water quickly enough. I explained that I hadn’t even been shown how yet. So I went to one of the cute male worker bees and asked him where everything was. He took me to the back behind the bar and showed me a shelf with clear white and clear brown plastic cups. He explained that the brown were for the water and the other for regular drinks, then showed me the water dispenser and the ice machine. I started to get the hang of things after that and seemed to fit in.

I then somehow was hanging out with a few girls, guys and Phil Keoghan (cutie pie). And I was flirting with Phil big time and trying to get him to hang out with us. He was flirting back with a few of us, and teasing us by making up grab coins out of his front jeans pockets. (OK, guess my mind was in the gutter in my dream last night :-))

After we were hanging out with him, the weather turned bad. We were in the mountains and it was snowing, but then small avalanches started. Then what looked like meteors flying through the sky, but were really massive snow balls flying by us and crashing into the ground. Everyone started running like mad. I was flying down snowy and rocky mountain sides until I got to a safe place. I found this half broken tunnel and say 3 cars trapped in the snow in there. I looked closely and saw people alive inside. When they saw me, they came out and said they were staying in the cars to try to keep warmer.

And that’s the last thing I remember.

Stuff I put in storage

So my Mom and Step-Dad are moving and are in the final stages of packing up. The furniture and stuff is gone already, but some last minute things need to be packed up. So I had to go over there last week to go through about 8 boxes of my stuff that had been in their basement since I moved out after high school. There were some stuffed animals and stuff that mice got into and had to be tossed, but for the most part, everything was in good shape. I just had to sort through it and re-pack what I was keeping.

I found...
- Pics from my early trips to D.C., VA and MD (from '89-'92) my trip to Florida back in '87, pics of friends and I in middle school, and stuff from when I was little (camping, etc)
- Yearbooks from pre-school (Peter Pan) through Middle School
- T-shirts my Mom brought me back from their travels through Europe, Mexico, Africa and the Orient
- Baby clothes
- Newspapers/Mags. I collect them from major events and I found the 1989 earthquake, Berlin Wall coming down, the Challenger disaster, Lucile Ball and Bette Davis passing, a mag with Krissy Taylor on the cover before passing, a mag with an interview with River Phoenix before passing, and a bunch of others that I left folded up.
- Letters from the German and Japanese exchange students we had briefly when I was in high school, letters from friends when they moved away, and a few from a friend when she spent time in Iran one summer, etc.
- 6 or so diaries/journals dating from around '86 through'94
- Many other letters, notes passed in school, etc.
- Childhood books, including some signed Zilpha Keatley Snyder books like The Egypt Game, and others.
- Ceramics I made in high school
- Art projects from Middle School and High School
- A ton of school papers from Middle School book reports to High School term papers
- Souvenirs from trips
- And much more

I was in consolidate and pack mode, so I didn't really get to take the time to sit down and read through a lot of the stuff. So that will be really fun to do one of these days. The diaries for sure are going to be a trip. I wrote about everything, and usually daily (at least in my Middle School days) about boys, dances, everything. It'll be a crack up to go back and read.

Yosemite 2010

About 2 weeks ago, Claire, Bobby and I decided to head to their family cabin in Foresta (Yosemite) for Easter weekend. I headed to their place on Thursday so we could finalize the menu, etc. Which basically means that they plan yummy food to cook, and I agree to eat it ;-) Then we hung out and played Wii for a while. My first time ever touching the thing, now I want one. We played bowling, archery, wakeboarding and frisbee. Fun stuff. Anyway...

So on Friday, we headed out early'ish and were on our way. Once we hit the entrance to the park, there was snow all around on the side of the road and in the trees. We stopped so I could take a picture. But then there was more snow to see from then on. Snow banks on the side of the road, then through the forest to the left and right. It was beautiful. The last time I recall seeing snow was at the far end of Horseshoe Lake, outside Mammoth Lakes, the last time I was there in 2008 I think. Once we hit Crane Flat, it was actually snowing, so I took some video. Then we got to the cabin and unpacked. There was no snow down in Foresta, but the weather was overcast. We decided to head down to the Valley since it was early in the day still. So we stopped at Bridalveil first. The last time I was there, the water was whisping off the top like some water through a fan. This time it was gushing down, which was great to see. We walked up to the viewing spot, in the rain, then continued on. We headed to the store in the valley and bought some last min food and stuff. I kept looking at the souvenirs and was inclined to buy something. I collect magnets, but have about 5 from Yosemite, so that was pointless. Plus, I figure that I am there every one or 2 years, so I can get stuff next time.

Back at the cabin, we settled in and they made a nice fire in the wood burning stove. Played some Scattergories, Skip-Bo, etc. And they prepped the most amazing looking Enchiladas Verde, with homemade pinto beans and Mexican rice. All made from scratch, starting with the salsa verde for the enchiladas. And me even shucking some fresh peas from their pods for the rice dish. Although my main contribution was continually reading the recipes during the process :-) Unfortunately, I started to not feel well, so headed to bed without eating dinner. It was warm up in the loft with the wood stove shooting all the heat up there. But I adjusted to it.

Saturday (late) morning we headed out to the Ahwanee to check it out (not the first time of course), just because it's beautiful. Then headed to the Valley and had a chicken/mushroom/cheese pizza down there that was pretty good. Then wandered the Native American museum and village. After we went down to check out the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, which were gushing. So we walked the path to the Lower Falls. There was a ton of snow of the ground around the path which was beautiful. Then took a few customary pictures and headed on our way. We drove around the Valley just because. And in doing so, we saw a coyote in a field, so we pulled over and watched it for a while. Then saw a few deer laying down in the distance. Claire and Bobby decided to rent bikes for an hour (which we all did several years ago together) but I opted out this time. So they did that, and in the meantime I wandered a few shops at the Yosemite Lodge, got a snack and sat and watched the ever changing Upper Yosemite Falls, Beautiful!! We headed back to the cabin after that.

Instead of another elaborate dinner, we had a recap of dinner the night before. Luckily, because I missed out. So the enchiladas, beans and rice were amazing. We had the fire stocked again, and very warm, to counter balance the supposed 25-30 degree weather outside. We enjoyed many bottles of wine and sparkling wine this trip, which was a nice change from beer and liquor. Nothing wrong with either. It was just a change :-) After keeping the loft window open for a while to cool me down as I tried to sleep, I closed it and went to bed.

Then it was the ritual of getting up to clean what you had dirtied before leaving the place. So we tidied up for an hour or 2 and headed on our way. Hours later we were back at their place watching the Sharks lose in OT, and eating an awesome spaghetti with homemade meatball and salad dinner :-) A very nice weekend!

I'm bummed...

So tonight, in 15 mins actually, I was supposed to be at the San Francisco Opera House. I was going to be seeing Zahi Hawass (Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities) speak about the recent discoveries about King Tut. And let's just say I have been fascinated about archaeology in general, and more specifically ancient cultures including Egypt, since 5th grade. So seeing him speak was a dream. So my Mom, Step-Dad, 2 Aunts and I all got tickets to go. Well of course, I am not feeling well, so I stayed home. And not "not feeling well" like I have a cold, but as in some meds I am on aren't doing their job. It's frustrating, and I'm annoyed it's controlling what I can do and where I go. The last thing I wanted to do though was go all the way there, find a seat, then just want to go back to the car and lay down. OF ALL FREAKING NIGHTS!! I'm just really bummed.

Cancer, Life, Family, Stuff…

So... my Aunt Pat has been going through chemo and I’ve been sitting with her… she “seems” fine… she may sleep while I read, she may sleep while I watch my iPod, we both may sleep, we both may read, she may read while I watch, or we both may chat… although one day I got her to watch ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ on my iPod. Wasn’t sure if she’d like it, but she did. Kept her pre-occupied for 60-90 mins of her chemo at the least. Maybe next time I should have her watch Twilight, which I have on my iPod yes, just because it’s an escape and she may enjoy that.

Recently at her appointment, we got 2 recliner seats at the end of the room together (which is kind of hit or miss). We settled in and then I noticed this woman in one seat and a young 20+ something guy in the other. Well, the guy was getting chemo, and the woman was obviously with him in some capacity… as family or caregiver of some sort. My Great Aunt ended up asking and she said that she was his Mom. He was bundled up with his iPod plugged in. My Great Aunt said “I bet you wish that was you.” And she said “Yes.”. He ended up going to the bathroom part way and seemed capable. It was just my first experience of seeing a probably ‘under 40’ person there getting chemo. And to see that it was someone likely younger than me, was heartbreaking,

I have been helping her (my Great Aunt) out with these appointments of hers for a while now. My family takes turns, when they can. And when they can’t, it falls on me, as the unemployed family member. And I don’t mean that in a negative way, it’s just the fact. Sure she can hire cabs, ambulances, or other medical couriers to take her back and forth… but when she has living family, she shouldn’t have to. She has no children of her own, and her husband passed away years ago.

Spending time with her makes me think of spending time with my Grandma, who passed away years ago. She was my Grandma growing up, and I love her. But as an adult, I was never really there for her when she got sick. I was around, but wasn’t the “go to” person for these things. I was a bit younger then, and my Mom being a nurse of 30 years has always been that “go to” person. This is great for us, and the sick, because she knows best. But feel bad that her profession sometimes engulfs her life. And I don’t really mean “engulf”, it’s just that she is the phone call people make.

But anyway… my biggest memory of my Grandmother of my adult life, was spending 9/11 with her. After waking up how I did to the tragic news, I called her and headed over. I spent the day with her watching the news, and think we ordered Chinese for dinner, LOL.

Anyway… this last week I had the flu. And I haven’t had the flu in I don’t know how long. But I had dizzy spells, fever, etc. Not fun. The climax of it, was I drove to my Great Aunt’s last Wed to take her to her blood test, prior to her PET scan on Thurs, and as soon as I got there I thought I was going to get sick and pass out. I did one of the 2. Needless to say, I crawled into her bed and slept right then and didn’t leave until the next day. She rescheduled her appt and checked in on my from time to time. She gave me her bed, until 11pm or so when she was done watching her CSI and Ugly Betty, then I swapped to the couch. She couldn’t handle sleeping there, which I understand. When she and I woke up in the morning, she ushered me back to her bed. But it just made me wonder, who really was the sick one. And should I be complaining?

Then that afternoon, my Mom picked me up and took me to her house and I stayed there 3 nights, 2 of which were illness related. She, as I stated being the nurse, is great at all the “taking care of you” stuff. I needed her for making sure I drank fluids, actually ate some solid food, etc. which I may have neglected otherwise. I’m glad I stayed there. But by Saturday, I was 80% better, and so excited! I hadn’t been that happy to feel good in a while. And had Savannah’s bridal shower today, that I would have been bummed if I had missed.

My Dream Sunday night…

I was with some friends, looking across the Bay at San Francisco. Then all of a sudden I spotted part of the city catch on fire and pointed it out. Then the whole place erupted in flames. It turned out to be an underwater volcano eruption. And then it flowed into the Bay. I didn’t really notice until later when my friends said they could walk across the water. It was basically as if the lava filled in the Bay, and there was about a foot of water on top, so you could walk from Oakland to San Francisco. But by the time we got to SF, the land was too hot to touch, so we returned. We seemed to have been “camping” in what would be a sort of rock star tour bus. There were several bedrooms and bathrooms. But we still hung out outside with a campfire and stuff.

I’m not clear on this part, but I remember a house I was in, and a part of it was collapsing because the lava was reaching us from underground. And remember packing frantically, and had Nala put in one of the bedrooms so that she was safe and not underfoot. So we were actually packing up one of those 10 passenger vans with all of our stuff and I wondered how it would all fit. But it did. We left initially without Nala, then I made them go back to get her.

At this point, the lava/fires were starting on our side of the Bay. They were anywhere from 5+ feet away from us. We would drive and see the brush burning right at the side of the van. And would also see fires burning in the hills. I remember getting my camera out to take some pictures, but my vantage point wasn’t the greatest. We ended up having to turn around because the way we were going was too dangerous.

And that’s about the last thing I remember. Wish I had thought to blog this earlier today, as I may had remembered more details. Anyway, the newest saga from my brain. And no, I haven’t watched any natural disaster movies lately ;-)

RIP Lea and Zipper

My friend's cat has been missing for a few weeks. He is micro-chipped and they put out posters, but nothing. Today apparently, they find out he had been hit by a car and buried by a nice neighbor. I was very sad.

Then I find out that that the dog of my good friend's had to be put down today. She apparently started having trouble walking a month ago. Xrays determined Cancer and she wasn't doing so well. And they have a 6 and 8 year old. I can only imagine how they are feeling right now.

I have been crying for 2 hours now. I love you guys!

Lea


Zipper