Sarah's Day: Our Crazy Vacay (this might take some time)

Moving-4th and final drive.

So, the reason for the lag in blog posts is that so many things happened between then and now. I believe it’s going to take more than one blog posting. But since I’m back in Minnesota, and the boxes are unpacked (not all put away, but unpacked….) I think I have the organizational skills to get out some regular blog posts once again. Well, more regular than the past few weeks.

I actually had to go back and see where I left off, which was getting ready for Laura to come and take me back home.

She made it just like she said she would and we started what I like to refer to as our crazy vacay-because it was kind of a vacation-if you call a whirlwind trip to the Seattle area (and a little beyond) then a three day all day drive from Tacoma to Rochester a vacation.

I do, but not sure Laura is on board with the definition.

Anyway-we began our journey with a tour of Tacoma-starting at the famous Tacoma landmark Lefty’s. Famous for the milkshakes and and the Frings. Although we weren’t impressed with the Frings.

Right?

We snuck a peek at my old house (only a block or so south of here), and commenced to Chamber’s Bay, home of the 2015 PGA tournament (and a loss of huge dollars we could have made renting our house out to unsuspecting touristas)

It was a beautiful day on the water, and a bit warm.

There was lots of swimming going on by the beach-

Swimming families of geese

Swimming dogs

Swimming girl who is not complaining that the water is 58 degrees

Even Laura got into the act-

Although she had something to say about the 58 degreeness of said Puget Sound.

She spent some time contemplating it

I took pictures-and Laura took a picture of me-

We then went out to my sister’s house on Harstine Island.

We went out there because I thought, if someone comes to the PNW, they should actually see what people rave about, which is the water, forests and mountains. Not so much the concrete jungle that makes up the Seattle/Tacoma area.

It was sunny when we got there, and my sister Debbie cooked up a delicious meal. But the fog rolled in over night so the next AM was a bit grey. It was super super still on the water though.

Until the police boat came by. Not sure what they were looking for. But they made their presence known.

Debbie took a picture of me after I just got up. Nice, huh? I shouldn’t even choose to put such bad pictures in my own blog.

This one is way better than the other one she took though. That one will not see this side of the blog. Ever.

After we ate a brief breakfast, off we went to catch the Bremerton ferry to Seattle, and face the day there.

We made the ferry with 5 minutes to spare. A little closer than I like to cut it, but makes for a short waiting time before loading.

We took lots of pictures of water and land, and enjoyed the ambiance of the ferry world.

Laura, enjoying the ambiance before we even left the dock.

It was a grey day until we got around the corner, out of Bremerton and closer to Seattle. Then the sun came out.

Sun’s coming out, Seattle on the Horizon….

We off loaded and fought a little, but not much, traffic, went to park and got to the Pike Place Market. I didn’t take many pictures of that.

I did get a picture of the famous hammering man in front of the art museum. Not sure why he hammers all day, but he does.

But then we went down to the piers and my oh my we did have some fun there.

Mainly on this carousel ride.

Does that look like having fun or what?

We are danger. Don’t let our smiles fool you. It was a fast bucking ride.

We saw sailboats out on the water in the bay.

And this guy, who I think is a fisherman made up to scare little children.

We also saw some crazy skeletal remains of dead people (hopefully they were dead) and some other crazy collectables down there. Why I didn’t take a picture of the skeletons I don’t recall. It seems blogworthy now though.

(I found this picture on line-the store is the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop-it was curious)

(BTW Laura-on the list of Road Side attractions-just saying…)

Lunch was at Ivar’s Acres of Clams, where we watched people enable seagulls unhealthy behaviors of eating fries until their arteries explode.

(This seagull will need CPR in a couple weeks)

and the fireboat next door

(two more seagulls in various stages of cardiovascular disease due to massive amounts of fried food consumed by a species meant to live on a raw diet)

After this, we had to exit Seattle quickly. It’s always my intent to leave the city by 3. Blane was also there vacationing but he was coming up as we were going out. He got into the city at 5, fought bad traffic, saw an overdose collapse and seize and another drug addled person acting up on the streets. Which is why I never break my rule of being downtown after 3. Except for very special occasions. Which were very few and far between. And more likely to be in the AM, not PM.

We went down to Point Defiance park where they were setting up for the taste of Tacoma. I was almost tempted to stay. Almost.

We hiked 3 miles or so, and saw some beautiful forest land. In a city park. It’s really a nice park.

Laura heads up the trail.

The Narrows Bridge in the distance (it collapsed once so I took Laura over it so she could say she did. She lives on the edge)

And here I am , at the big sign in the Rhododendron Park-rhododendrons grow like weeds here.

There are signs all over that park saying that you should NOT feed the wildlife, to which Laura wondered what kind of wildlife would you possibly see in this park.

Well, as we were driving out we saw a deer. Sweet.

And then we saw the wildlife to which they refer.

Raccoons. A lot of raccoons. They come out and sit at the side of the road at around 5. They sit there and beg. They aren’t so sweet and friendly looking either. They look somewhat possessed. And don’t pet them. Nor feed them.