October 3

Boy did we start the day with a BANG – or rather with an ALARM! The fire alarm went off at the hotel, the elevator safety doors slammed shut and the staff immediately notified each person to vacate the hotel. We were outside for 30 minutes to an hour – a fire truck and two ambulances came. Evidently it was a shortage somewhere and they let us go back in to check out. LEFT and headed toward Seattle. As we approached Seattle we saw the Space Needle in the background. It really dominates the skyline. We finally got to the Seattle Center which not only has the Space Needle but also has a children’s museum, a children’s science playground, a regular playground (with an indoor put-put course) and a small children’s carnival. The entire area was covered with people even though the wind was blowing very hard and it was uncomfortably cool. We went up on the top of the Space Needle (520 feet) and were reminded it was built in 1962 for the World’s Fair. The view was unbelievable. The harbor is beautiful and the city is magnificent. We spotted a ferry in the harbor that appeared identical to the one we rode in Canada. We were able to see the stadiums for professional football and professional baseball. As we left, we made pictures in the park and near the Space Needle. The one in the park shows the colors that we are beginning to see. Great place to visit. We left heading toward Olympia (the capital city) and found a hotel nearby. As we ate dinner, I remembered to get James’ picture in his “game day” shirt. ROLL TIDE! Tomorrow should be another great day.

October 2nd

As we were getting ready to leave the hotel we made some pictures. One is of the water slide in the pool area. This should make the teenagers jealous! Great facility! Riding toward the ferry James spotted the “World Famous Gnome” and just had to get his picture with it. (He is really trying to find new friends on this trip.) We got to the ferry loading area and had to wait an hour and 20 minutes for the next sailing. As we waited I took a picture of some of the LARGE commercial vehicles waiting to board the SAME FERRY we were going to be on. It is unreal that the ferry can accommodate that many, and that type, vehicles. Once we approached the US border, we made a few pictures (me with the eagle at the duty free shop, the border gate (which states “BRETHERN DWELLING TOGETHER IN UNITY”), and the “Welcome to the United States” sign. I wonder about the sincerity of the “dwelling together in unity” sign. One of the news reports we heard while in Canada was about a town in Vermont which straddles the US and Canadian border. For years the townspeople have gone back and forth between the two countries to shop, visit relatives, and attend church. One of the men interviewed said that his brother lived on the other side of the road and that they were in separate countries. Within the past month, a border gate has been erected and now the people have to have passports and be cleared to go across the border. I know the world has changed since 9-11 and it appears the changes are hurting the innocent people even today! Enough on that subject - Another great sunset as we headed to Bellingham, WA for the night.

October 1

Today was our “rest day.” We have found we need one of those about ever 8 to 10 days. We slept late, did the laundry, cleaned out the car, re-arranged the bags in the trunk (DID I SAY REST?) After lunch we went downtown for a while. This is the neatest small town. They have great, unusual shops and the people are very friendly. Some of the shops are “tourist-ee” but most are aiming at the local population. We noticed that there were lots of people in town so the shops must be meeting the needs. We asked about the sign at the town entrance which depicts an eagle and learned that this area has a high population of bald eagles. There are lots of salmon in the bay and the eagles feed off them. We drove across the bay and spotted two of the young eagles sitting on a post in the water. We didn’t get any close pictures so I hope these are good. We really hated to leave this hotel and this area – absolutely one of the very best parts of our trip has been our time in Courtenay, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. If you ever get a chance, we highly recommend it!

3rd and final post for 30 Sep

This is the final post for 30 Sep – This was a short visit to the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island. The Parliament Building is beautiful and the harbor is beautiful also. We also learned that native Indians initially occupied the island and there were totem poles throughout the island representing their heritage. We didn’t stay long because we were already exhausted from the other places we visited that day.

This is the 2nd part of the 30 Sep post

This is the 2nd part of the 30 Sep post – The town of Chemainus on Victoria Island. The buildings of the town have murals painted which represent the history of the town. As you can tell, some of the murals take the entire side of the building. They are wonderful. The carving you see is at the entry to the town and the little train is used to ride visitors around town to view the murals. Hope you enjoy the tour (there are 59 murals, so I only posted a few.)

September 30 - 1st post - Butchard Gardens

I’m going to do the entries for 30 Sep in 3 parts. This is because the day was absolutely FULL of wonderful sights. I wish every one of you could have been with us. One of the highlights of the day was a visit to Butchard Gardens near Victoria on Vancouver Island. As we entered the gardens we noticed the sign, 100 years in bloom. We learned that Mrs. Butchard had designed the gardens and began cultivation 100 years ago. She eventually left it to the Island for the public’s viewing pleasure. I cannot include all of the pictures but am adding some that I hope you will enjoy. I have added names to some of the pictures. The others are self-explanatory. Just a little note about the “Sunken garden.” This area was a rock quarry that adjoined the property of Mrs. Butchard. Once the quarry was abandoned, she bought the area and designed the rock garden to overcome the ugliness of the quarry. That also explains the two deep pools of water (one with the large fountain and the other where I tried to capture the reflection. I hope you enjoy the gardens – we certainly did.

29 Sep travel

Sorry this is late in posting. Computer issues! I am behind but hope to get caught up soon. This is the information from 29 Sep.

We left Kamloops early heading toward Vancouver Island. We thought it would be 4 to 6 hours. As we were on the road, we saw our first fresh snow. None on the roads or in the valley but the top of the mountain had a light dusting. We stopped at a Best Buy because my laptop was on the blink. After discussing the issue with the “Geek Squad” we realized there was no way of getting it fixed before we got home. Since we are depending on it for our pictures, our journal, and communication with friends and family, we decided to buy another one. That wasn’t a planned expense – but well worth it. Once we got into Vancouver, we headed toward the ferry. I didn’t know what to expect but this ferry is HUGE. We read that it will accommodate 367 vehicles (and we saw a Greyhound bus get on the ferry along with other large commercial vehicles!) The view from the ferry was wonderful. The island had a beautiful fog covering the mountain tops. Again, we saw a fantastic sunset. Obviously our idea of being to the hotel within 4 to 6 hours after we left Kamloops didn’t happen. Turns out we had a 90 minute ferry ride and the hotel was 70 miles from the ferry dock. The entire 70 miles was marked “Caution, ELK.” We saw two standing by the roadside and therefore we drove much slower than the speed limit. We got to the hotel after 9 p.m. The night manager was wonderful and kept the hot tub open passed the “closing time” in order to let us unwind. We have met some really nice people on this trip. We are really looking forward to touring this island and getting some REST!