Driving Trip: Day 1: Washington State

Having never driven through central Oregon before, that was one of my goals for this trip. To get there I first had to head down to Yakima, Washington in order to link up with Highway 97.

Journey Overview

I've been working a lot the past few months and was developing a tech version of "cabin fever". So I wanted to (read "needed to") get away, by myself, for a few weeks. Where to go?

Well, I didn't want to go too far on this trip so Washington & Oregon states seemed like great destinations. Plus, there were certain parts of Oregon that I'd never seen before and decided to incorporate them into an interesting driving trip.

My June 17th departure was timed to coincide with a longtime friend from Chicago, Melissa, visiting her sister's family in Seattle. So I rented a car that afternoon, drove down to the Emerald City and stayed there over the weekend.

Then on Monday, June 22nd, I ventured out on my own southeast on I-90, and then south on Highway 97 through Yakima, Washington and Bend, Oregon, as far south as Klamath Falls.

The major destination down there was Crater Lake, which I had flown over many times but never visited in person. After that I negotiated a path out to the beautiful Oregon Coast, stopping off at the Oregon Caves National Monument, which I later realized I had last visited almost precisely 25 years ago.

Then I headed up the Oregon Coast and just north of Lincoln City cut inland to McMinnville to see Howard Hughes' infamous Spruce Goose airplane. After that I spent a few days in Metro Portland visiting two sets of friends and finally returned to Seattle before returning home to Vancouver this morning.

Except for cold, foggy weather along much of the Oregon Coast, it was an amazing journey. In total I drove 3,500 km, with 2,000 of that over the 5-day period of June 22 - 26. Not the kind of trip that everyone likes but I enjoyed it immensely, especially the freedom to not be on anyone's schedule but mine, and to see what *I* wanted to see, at the pace that I was comfortable with.

Washington & Oregon Trip

I needed a break from work so last Thursday I embarked on a journey to visit friends in Seattle, Portland, & Tacoma. It was quite rushed but much fun!

I usually take the truck crossing but the main crossing at the Peace Arch was reported to be quite short so I gave it a try. The wait was only 2 minutes and the interview the same. Just marvelous!
I tried getting an obstructed shot of Mt. Baker but this was the best of the bunch.
Fry's is the mecca for techies. I made it there twice on this trip!
I took this shot to show my friend, Danny, what a good education & hard work can accomplish.
The girlfriend of my friend, Mike, served this fruit flan to us after dinner. I already adore her!
And here's her cat, now 14 years old.
On Saturday I drove down to Portland. Soon after arriving I went out with my friends to attend a Seafood & Wine Festival. We drove up to Washington Park, where we caught the Max train to the convention center.
There was much more wine than seafood at the event, but it was still fun. This banner caught my attention!
So did this gorgeous old restored boat.

A shameless Crackberry addict!
Here's an absolutely brilliant sign outside the convention center. You can also visit their website.
This was a huge structure hanging from the ceiling. To me the "flowers" looked like poppies.
This is the cat of my friends, Ginette & Erik. His name is "Goose". To completely confuse their kids I asked my mom to get a stuffed goose who we would name "Cat". I'm not sure how Goose feels about his new buddy. P.S. Don't even get me started about my mom's bird choice!
I just had to take a photo of their wireless router. It's for their new FIOS service, which delivers fiber-optic service directly to their home!!
While still in Portland I went to a Mexican restaurant with my friends, Phil & Denise. The chairs themselves were a work of art!
One unfortunate thing happened with my rental car. When we walked out of the restaurant someone had sheared off the passenger mirror. It was just hanging from the electrical wire so we had to cut it free in order to take it safely back to Vancouver.

I stopped in Tacoma in the late afternoon and had dinner with my friends Lora & Dave, and their kids, Hannah & Travis. We went to a neat place called The Hub.
On Monday I went out for lunch at Bellevue Square with my longtime friend, Stanton and his wife, Midori. The weather was beautiful so I took this shot from the top of the parking garage.
The last dinner on my trip was at a great Italian restaurant in Woodinville called Pasta Nova. I loved the arrangement of these colourful cans of olive oil.
And their wine bottles also had an interesting arrangement to them.

Christmas Dog Story

I have an amazing story to share with you all. It comes from a friend of mine named Lora who lives in Tacoma, Washington. I've heard such stories before but always chalked them up to Urban Legends. This story, I know, to be absolutely true!

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Sheila, the Christmas Dog

Hello all,

Sorry for the long email, but I want to share a good story with you. :)

Most of you have met our cute little Australian Cattle Dog, Sheila. And many of you know our latest challenges with her; after we moved to our new place down by Titlow Beach last year, it has been IMPOSSIBLE to keep her in the yard. Short of putting up a 6 foot chain link fence around the entire half acre, we have tried almost everything. I was considering an "invisible fence", but a friend that had a similar problem with their dog recommended against it. She said the shock was worth getting thru for the freedom. In spite of all the associated training. That would definitely be Sheila.

She seems to have an otherworldly call to run. Therefore, she would break out of the fences and hedge and all the wonderful things David did to try to keep her in the yard. We have a very dense laurel hedge that lines our steep yard, which David lined with fencing, to try and make the hedge an impenetrable fortress. She would climb the fence, go straight thru the hedge, and down the hill. Off to run on the beach (and roll in whatever disgusting dead thing she could find)! She would always come home though, after a while.

Finally, I decided that she just didn't want to be with us, so I, sadly, put a "free dog" ad in the paper. I thought I'd find her a place in the country with acres to run on. I had dozens of calls from people in Graham with a 10 acre farm, etc. Perfect. So we decided on an elderly couple who had recently lost their beloved Australian Shepherd. Very much "dog" people, with several acres, fenced. Horses next door. I checked their place out, then they came to see her and fell in love, of course. She jumped right in their car and was ready to go.

A few days later I called them, she was happy, getting plenty of treats and love. They even let her sleep on the couch (a no-no at our house). She loved driving around town in the pickup with the dad, and running in the acreage.

A few days after that, I got another call. Apparently she had gotten spooked (she is a very spooky dog) when they were dragging a bag of rock salt out of the garage, and "took off like a shot". They jumped in their pickup and chased her. They'd get close and call her, she'd look back at them and then run even faster. They knew they were getting close to highway 512, so they stopped chasing, not wanting her to try and cross the highway. I offered to come down and help look, but they said they would just wait.

Now, about a week has passed, and the temperature has plunged well below freezing. I have been losing sleep over the thought of her out in this awful weather. But, yesterday morning I got a call from my dad, who lives in our old house (the first place Sheila lived with us). He told me they had a visitor. Have you guessed...yes...Sheila! She crossed at least two highways, and God only knows what else, to find us. Over 15 miles! She spent last night on her new bed, in front of the fireplace. Very happy.

Merry Christmas to you all...Love, Lora

Fairhaven, Washington

On our way down to Seattle we stopped for a coffee in Fairhaven, the southernmost suburb of Bellingham. It's a delightful place, with lovely old architecture that is very well preserved.

Seattle Visit: Day 6

What a fantastic final day we had in Seattle! We picked up Hannah and headed to Chinatown. She selected Shanghai Gardens, a restaurant she was familiar with. The food was very good.
Then we drove to the south end of Seattle to visit The Museum of Flight. This is another one of those places that I should have visited years, if not decades, ago but never did.

The museum is mostly about aviation but a portion of it is devoted to aeronautics. This was apparently a real satellite that came back to earth and was recovered.

The Great Gallery was by far my favourite part of the entire museum. It's incredibly amazing to see so many beautiful planes so close up.






There were two simulators. Danny & Hannah tried the one which allowed them to actually control it.



The "Red Barn" contains artifacts documenting the origins of airplane building, especially in regard to Boeing.
It's pretty amazing to learn that in the early part of the 20th Century the planes were mostly made out of wood!

This is a fascinating map which you may choose to enlarge.

Here's a shot of early air travel. Note how formally dressed each passenger is. The look on the face of the 2nd passenger on the right is priceless!
The Blue Angels, performing in Seattle in the previous days, were parked just south of the museum.
I'd long been curious about the Concorde and was gratified to find out that the museum had one! Inside though, it pretty much looks like a normal plane.
This is the Air Force One plane that flew through the 1960's.
Mr. Danny, near the President's desk.



These wee ones seemed to be having a fabulous day there!
Returning to Hannah's grandparents home, we found Winston, their greyhound. A gentler dog I have never met.
Ready, willing, and able for a water fun fight!
I took a series of photos to capture the amazing panorama that is downtown Seattle. Unfortunately I didn't have my tripod so the pictures didn't line up very well.
Danny and I finally left Seattle around 8:45pm that night. With little traffic, we made it back to my place in 2.5 hours, which included a 10 minute stop at a gas station and at the border. Being away for more than 48 hours I could legally bring back 24 bottles of beer duty-free, which you can see I clearly did. If you look carefully, you'll notice that I much prefer the darker beers!