USA May 2010

Photos are beach glass that I collected near Port Townsend, starfish on beach walk on Bainbridge Island, the gum wall in downtown Seattle, and the skyline of Seattle while on the ferry to Bainbridge where we are being followed by the US Coast Guard with machine gun on the bow!

Monday 31 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
The sun was actually shining this afternoon!

Sunday 30 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
More rain so starting to get ready to leave....I will be on ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria 9 June.

Saturday 29 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
JoAnn and Jo and I drove to Port Townsend to meet Susan (from Juneau and now living in Port Townsend) for the farmers market then to North Beach for about six mile walk along Glass Beach, from North Beach to Cape George. Heavy overcast day with just a few sprinkles.....I collected a bit of beach glass which was fun!

Friday 28 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Another very wet day for our Strider walk at Rolling Bay....cannot see the full moon today!

Thursday 27 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
I had visited Trader Joe's a few weeks back when I went to see Thea in Bothel but they had forgotten to put the coffee that I had purchased in my bag so when I rang them on my return home, they said that they would send a gift card...but that was over two weeks ago and I have received no card so rang again and this time the guy said he would just send me the coffee.....which was delivered today via UPS! Wonderful Bay Blend Dark Roast...I am now set for my journey north!

Wednesday 26 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Today reminds me of Juneau....just pouring down rain for a very wet walk along Rockaway Beach Road and now I am just soaked sitting here at the library. My friend Sallie fetched me midday to visit her house in Chimacum this afternoon. We first stopped at Port Ludlow to unload some items off a boat there then to her gorgeous house surrounded by grapes and lavender (her products are here: http://lajoba.com/Home_Page.html). Mexican dinner at Poulsbo.

Tuesday 25 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
After morning workout at the gym, wonderful low tide beach walk from Rolling Bay to Fay Bainbridge Park where we saw heaps of critters!

Monday 24 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
After workout at the gym, morning Strider walk from Point White dock at Crystal Springs through Gazzam Lake Park...quite a long one today but through heaps of woods.

Sunday 23 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Back to morning routine at the gym....another very rainy day in the Pacific Northwest!

Saturday 22 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Beautiful day for a ferry ride to Seattle and load up at REI's annual 30% savings sale! Also visited Borders for a few travel books and Victoria Secrets for new knickers and the now famous gum wall outside the Market Theater at Pike Place Market....!
"Starting in the 1990s, people would stick their gum on the wall as they waited for tickets.The wall was scraped clean twice, but people couldn't seem to stop sticking their gum up and down the wall, and now it's a tourist attraction.Ireland's Blarney Stone, which is kissed by up to 400,000 visitors each year, topped the list of unsanitary vacation stops with the Seattle gum wall listed as number two."
The ferry ride back to Bainbridge was interesting.....we had a coast guard boat on each side of us with a soldier on the bow dressed in black with his/her hands clutching the bow-mounted machine gun! I did find from a worker on the boat that they do this periodically for testing purposes?

Friday 21 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
And more wind and rain....so after morning workout and Strider walk....may just watch movies. I have been getting DVDs from the library on the Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis series...BBC Mystery! Unfortunately, the latest DVD is now stuck in Susan's iMac machine and I cannot remove it...if only it were an IBM and I could fix it!

Thursday 20 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
More wind and rain so off for early morning workout at the gym then to Central Market then to the library to work on my computer. I have had some problems with this old laptop so maybe it is time to invest in something smaller and newer? One of the women on our Strider walk has a dog named Mochi which she named after the Japanese rice dish so I bought the ice cream version at the market this morning and it is yummy!

Wednesday 19 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Beautiful sunny morning for our Strider walk but then the wind and rains arrived. I had stopped at the library in the morning to catch up on internet but it was down and when I returned in the afternoon, it had gone down again...they blame Comcast! Internet is now back up and I attended the evening travelogue at the library, Walking in France by Neil Baker, which was a bit slow when you have already been there and done that!

Tuesday 18 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Another rainy day....early morning at the gym then walk at Old Man House in Suquamish.

Monday 17 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
The rains have returned! Early morning at the gym then Strider walkabout at the north end of the island for five miles! After a quick lunch, I am now doing the internet thing at the library....finally booked my flights to Iceland so hoping that by August, the planes will be flying.

Sunday 16 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Early morning workout at the gym then to Central Market for groceries then home to cook lunch then to the library to do internet stuff!

Saturday 15 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Gorgeous morning ride (although not as clear as yesterday with a few clouds) on the ferry Kingston to Edmonds to visit the Rick Steves store again for travel presentation on using Europe Rail Pass...also visited the Farmers Market in both Edmonds and Kingston. The ferry is free going east but costs $6.90 going west as a foot passenger....taking a car costs both ways (about $15 each way).

Friday 14 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Finally, a perfectly gorgeous day for our half hour boat ride to Blake Island and four mile hike. This activity was sponsored by the Bainbridge Island Senior Center and there were about forty of us for the trip. Blake Island is a 476 acres Washington State Park (since 1959) and was an ancestral camping ground of the Suquamish Indian tribe. We had magnificent views of the Mt Rainier, the Olympic Mountains and the Seattle skyline.

Thursday 13 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Spent today doing the things I had planned to do yesterday....morning workout then drive to Bremerton AAA to get International Drivers License then walkabout of downtown Bremerton....visited the Naval Museum.....then longer drive back via Keyport.

Wednesday 12 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
The rain has returned so decided to skip the walk today and get a much needed new house battery for my van. When I turned on the engine, the check engine light came on....oh no, not another thing to deal with! So went to Les Schwab in Poulsbo to get the new battery then to Liberty Bay Auto for diagnostic check and they found that I needed oxygen sensor so had to wait for the part to show up...finally out by noon after four hour wait. But then home to find that my passport with 48 additional pages had arrived via FedEx (one week since I posted it) so I was very happy to see it!

Tuesday 11 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
The sun is back for a glorious walk on the beach on the east side of the island across Murden Cove with great views of the city of Seattle. It was a low tide so we enjoyed exploring the wildlife of the sea such as the very large geoduck (pronounced gooeyduc and is a saltwater clam) that spits water in the air at you but you cannot see it because it is about three feet down and the moon snails.

Monday 10 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
A rainy day for a walk through the forests near Hidden Cove!

Sunday 9 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
HAPPY MUM'S DAY!
After stocking up at Trader Joe's, I returned to Edmonds and took the ferry to Kingston and returned home via Indianola....a gorgeous day today. The kitties were happy to see me return so that they could get outside and enjoy the sunshine.

Saturday 8 May 2010
Road trip via the ferry from Kingston to Edmonds for morning farmers market and to visit the Rick Steves travel store and to attend presentation on Italy by Julie Coen at the old theatre....then onto Bothel to visit Thea and her family. She did my perms in the 1970's at her shop in Sausalito....she now has a hubby and two beautiful college age daughters! Thea and I did the KAST Kirkland Artist Studio Tour and returned to her home for delicious salmon dinner with her family.

Friday 7 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Beautiful walk with the Striders on east side of the island to Olson Nature Preserve and the Cabin Fever B&B. Spent the afternoon at the gym working out and the library doing internet.

Thursday 6 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
The sun is finally shining again! My friend Sallie who was my roomie in San Francisco many years ago drove over from Chimacum and we had pasta dinner at Streamliner Diner in Winslow before she took ferry to Seattle airport to fetch her hubby

Wednesday 5 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
So I had to skip my walk this morning and head to the post office to mail in the proper form with money and my passport and hope that it shows up in the mail in the promised 2-3 week timeframe! I also finalized the booking for my autumn flights to Europe. I am using my Alaska Airline miles to fly to London in August and return via Paris to Dallas in November....now to find a place to stow my van in Dallas!

Tuesday 4 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Morning walk at Fort Ward State Park. The Tuesday walks are led by Ron Williamson and are not as brisk as the Strider walks. Ron really knows the area and we stopped along the way to learn the history of the area. We visited remnants of the old Fort such as the reservoir.
I spent the afternoon on the telephone with the passport office. I do not have many pages remaining in my passport so I intended to just visit the Seattle office and have pages added like I have done in the past....but no, this is not the way it is done anymore and I must mail it in to Philadelphia and it takes six weeks to process...unless I pay about $100 for expedite and overnight postage fees.

Monday 3 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
The sun is shining and it is a clear crisp morning for our strider walk at Gazzam Lake. Dinner with Bonnie and Walt...we had shrimp caught by Walt earlier this week.

Sunday 2 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
Early morning workout at the gym and no one has yet to turn in my spectacles that went missing on Friday (pinched by someone!) then home to catch up some telephone calls before heading to the library to do internet stuff.

Saturday 1 May 2010 (Bainbridge Island WA)
A new month and still overcast here! I had last housesat here in the autumn of 2008 and had hoped by housesitting in the spring that I would see more sunshine...but not yet...but there are heaps of flowers in bloom!