San Juan to Sequim

Our ferry back to Anacortes leaves the dock at 8:05 a.m. so we had another early morning.  We got our car in line and then headed into a coffee shop to drink coffee and watch for the ferry.  The ride was beautiful.  This was our third and final ferry ride of this trip.

We could see Olympic National Park in the distance.

Matt read and I listened to iTunes.  It was a short ride. We headed back to Seattle.  It takes an hour and a half to get back to the city.

I spent my time in awe of the clouds.  It is what I miss most about living in Indiana.

Matt is flying out of Seattle and back to Oakland at 4 p.m.  We had some time to kill and hadn't decided what to do with that time.  Matt had read about a bookstore in Capitol Hill so we went in search of it.  It is called the Elliot Bay Bookstore.  It was a cool place and we both made some purchases and then found a ramen shop for lunch.  We walked around the neighborhood and then drove down past Pike Place.  We didn't stop this time.

We went over to West Seattle and parked near Lincoln Park.  We took a walk in search of more views of Olympic National Park.

By then it was time to get Matt to SeaTac airport.  I dropped him off and began the 2.5 hour trek to Sequim, Washington.  Kathleen, my friend and former church secretary, lives here with her husband Jeff.  I arrived around 5 p.m.  They have a lovely home.  They took me to dinner at a restaurant called Blondie's that is in a former Episcopal church building.  The food was fantastic!  Then we took a drive down to the water in search of bald eagles.  We found a nest and one eagle.  Jeff drove down to the water's edge where I could get a better look at the lighthouse out on the Dungeness Spit.

Tomorrow, Kathleen and I are headed up to Hurricane Ridge.  I hope to see close up what, up until now, I have only seen at a distance!

Friday Harbor

We leave Victoria today on a noon ferry.  We had another leisurely morning.  We headed out to get breakfast and get some steps in.  The restaurant we had chosen was packed so we walked down the street to the Artisan Cafe.  The food was lovely and the place was beautiful.  When we headed back to the hotel we walked past Christ Church Cathedral.  I wanted to duck in to look around.  I said to Matt, "It really isn't a trip with me unless we stop in at least one church for a look around."  He said he liked to go inside churches.  It was okay.  I actually thought the back of the church with the rose window and impressive pipe organ was more beautiful than the front of the church.

They had used modern art around the outside wall to mark the stations of the cross.  I found this one of Jesus in the tomb to be so bad I had to take a photo of it.

Back outside we hustled to our hotel to check out and make the half  hour drive back to the ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan island.  On the way there I noticed that a touring group of Jersey Boys is coming to Victoria.  In the cast is a young man that Matt grew up with in N. Manchester, Indiana.  We took pictures of the poster.

Once on the ferry, Matt slept and I did a jigsaw puzzle.

When we arrived in Friday Harbor it was too early to check into our hotel and so I suggested we drive south so I could see Olympic National Park in the distance.  We went to South Beach.  The beach is absolutely covered in drift wood.

It was cold and windy.  Matt tried to skip some rocks with limited success.  We got back into the warm car and took off.  We checked into our hotel, the Earthbox Spa and Hotel.  It was around 3 p.m. and I needed some sustenance.  We walked down and found a restaurant near the ferry entrance.  We ordered a whole trout and shared it.

Then we poked our head into some shops.  Nothing held our interest and so we decided to go bowling. Matt slaughtered me.

The cherry blossoms are everywhere on the islands.  I played in them.

Back in our room we took a nap.  We had reservations for 8 p.m. at a restaurant named Duck Soup.  It was excellent.  I tried oysters in the half shell for the first time in my life.  Loved them!  I have decided to be food adventurous on this trip.

Butchart, Bryan and Beauty

This was the morning we got to sleep in.  Unfortunately for Matt I started sawing logs early this morning and he couldn't sleep after that.  We didn't rush around but took our time getting ready this morning.

Then we went to the Empress Hotel. We were hoping to eat breakfast on the Veranda but that wasn't an option this morning so we settled for the Q Restaurant.

Well-sated we retrieved our car and headed to Butchart Gardens.  We walked through the sunken gardens...

took way too many photos of flowers...

enjoyed the Rose Carousel (without getting on)...

experienced the Dragon fountain....

walked through the Japanese garden...

all in time to enjoy high tea on the veranda of the dining room.

When we left there we drove West in search of a place to leave some of Bryan's ashes.  We drove to  end of the road, parked and started hiking down the trail.

We found this idyllic location and left some of Bryan behind.  Matt commented that Bryan would have liked it there.  It was completely quiet and there were no people around. Matt obviously understood his father.

When we got back to the car we opened the sunroof, rolled down all the windows, turned on some beautiful music and stayed quiet.  We both sighed at one point.  I think it just felt good to commemorate Bryan's life in beauty.

Zodiac Killer Whales

I was up by 5:30 this morning.  It is Wednesday and we don't get to sleep in until tomorrow. We are suppose to line up for the ferry by 7:30 and it turns out it is a half hour drive from where we spent the night.  We got ready in record time and were out the door and in line by 7:15.  It was a long wait before we got onto the ferry.  It wasn't a crowded ferry ride.

Matt read from Roberto Calasso.  I worked on a puzzle and blogged.  We arrived in Sydney, BC shortly before noon.  On our drive to Victoria we stopped at a Walmart to buy binoculars and medicine for Matt's eye.  We had reservations to go whale watching on a Zodiac boat.  We arrived in plenty of time.  Down on the dock we discovered that we all had to wear suits that keep us warm and serve as life preservers.  Matt looked rather dapper in his.  I looked like I was wearing a hand-me-down snowsuit from someone several sizes larger than me.

When I put the hood on Matt said I looked like I worked at Conner Prairie in Indiana.

We sat in the very back of the boat, where it was less bumpy.  Once out of the harbor the boat sped towards a pod of killer whales they heard were over near Friday Harbor.  It took almost an hour to get there.  There were five or six of the whales but they were far apart and spending many minutes underwater. We spent a good hour following them before heading back.

On the way we stopped by an island that had sea lions....

...and bald eagles.

The ride back was freezing.  We pulled back into the harbor around 5:30 p.m.  I felt like my limbs were too frozen to move.  We drove to our hotel, freshened up and walked to a nearby sushi restaurant for dinner.  The goal was for Matt to teach me to like sushi tonight.  The restaurant told us there was a 40 minute wait.  They took Matt's cell phone number and said they would text us when our table was available.  I told Matt there was a place called Fan Tan Alley that I wanted to visit while we were here.  It is just an amazingly narrow alley filled with shops.    We found it!

After visiting Fan Tan Alley Matt got the text and we hustled back to the restaurant.  The good news is that Matt succeeded in helping me learn to like sushi..  I found out I'm a fan of tuna nigiri.  Who knew?  On the walk back to our hotel Matt said he wanted to stop in the 7/11 and see what different products they carried in Canada.  The answer is lots of ramen noodles and ketchup potato chips!

On our way out a woman in bootie shorts and a sweater (whom we had never met before) said, "Hello, you two!" We said hello back.  She said, "Please stop following me."  Matt said, "Okay!" She said, "You thought I wouldn't notice."  When we got outside Matt said, "In Canada, even the crazy people are nice."  Back in our room we looked at photos from the day and then crawled in bed.

We don't have to set our alarm to get up early tomorrow!

Anniversary and Adventure

Today (April 23)  is the third anniversary of Bryan's death. One of the reasons for this trip at this time was so I could be away from home on this date. We got up early so we could get to Seattle by noon. As we were scurrying around the hotel room Matt said, "When does the vacation begin?" I said, "You get to sleep in on Thursday." We made it to Seattle by 11:30 a.m. We were scheduled to drop off the artwork in my backseat at noon. It turns out the Jen's brother lives at the waterfront near Pike Place in a penthouse apartment. He was tickled to have this piece of art in his living room. 

We went to Pike Place and found a delicious deli where we bought soup, strawberry and rhubarb salad and a sandwich we could share.  We found a table looking out at the water and finally felt like we were on vacation. Then we strolled through the market enjoying the flowers, wares and fresh seafood. 

We bought some coffee and headed over to the large ferris wheel on the waterfront. It was a good view and worth the price. 

Our next destination was the Chihuly Glass Museum and Garden. It was a much longer walk than I realized. When we got there we found a little cafe with a ceiling covered in accordions. We got some cold drinks while I recovered.

I expected the glass museum to be stunning. It was even cooler than I imagined. 

When we were finished indoors we enjoyed the glass house.

Then the gardens.

The plants were almost as cool as the blown glass.

We rode the monorail back downtown.

We still had several blocks to walk when Matt came up with the idea that we should rent electric bikes and ride them back to Pike Place. So much fun!  We sat in the bar of a nice restaurant and ate seafood and talked about Bryan. We miss him so much.

We retrieved the car and headed north to Anacortes. We will take the ferry from there to British Columbia tomorrow. I brought some of Bryan's ashes along with the idea that we would spread some on the anniversary of his death. We walked down towards the water's edge. But it was muddy, smelly and next to a train track. We knew Bryan would hate the idea. So we will look for a different opportunity.

Our hotel has a casino attached. We decided to walk through it. I sat down at a couple different slot machines and won $200.  We made it through this painful day by filling it with adventure and love.

Pacific Express

I left church on Easter as soon as worship was over and I got to hug everyone.

I jumped in my car, already packed, and headed off on an adventure to the Northwest.  I left my Easter dress on and drove as fast as I could up the 5 to Oakland, CA.  I picked up my son Matt.   He was ready.  We were gone ten minutes after I arrived.  One of the things we have planned for this trip is to take a piece of artwork to the brother of Matt's former housemate, Jen.  She died in 2016, one month before my husband.  She was an artist and Matt knows her brother would love to have this piece of hers.  So it is rattling in my back seat until we reach Seattle.

We drove three more hours after we left Matt's place.  We spent the night in Red Bluff, CA.  Everyone else in the hotel seemed to have just returned from a rodeo.  We watched John Oliver and Game of Thrones.  I had gotten up at 5:30 a.m. because of all the extra events of Easter morning.  I was tired and fell asleep by 10 p.m.

We got up early and had breakfast in the Rockin' Restaurant next to our hotel.  We could tell as soon as we entered that we were the only liberal, non-cowboys in the restaurant.  The seal for the State of Jefferson hung from the ceiling.  There is a large contingent in this part of Northern California and Southern Oregon that want to succeed from their states and form the State of Jefferson.  We felt out of place.  When the bill came Matt insisted on paying.  He said, "In the State of Jefferson men pay!"  They brought him a pen with a flag attached to sign his bill.

The scenery in this part of the state is so beautiful. Around every corner was another gorgeous view of Mt. Shasta....home to seven glaciers.

Signs along the way made sure we knew we were in the State of Jefferson.

We checked into a hotel in Beaverton, Oregon.  We stopped here to visit my Uncle Richard.  I haven't seen him since 2010 at a family reunion.  There were six of us at dinner.  My uncle, his first wife and his fifth wife, my cousin David, Matt and I.

Tomorrow we head to Seattle.  It will be the third anniversary of my husband's death.  I am hoping it is a packed day so I don't have to wallow in my grief.