Washington fall foliage

My favorite season—fall.  Given that we have been able to follow the season, fall has continued for MONTHS!  Whereas the most brilliant colors in Alaska were yellows and golds, the colors that are the most impactful in Washington are the "reds"—orange, salmon, red, burgundy…

Just to share—

We did not stay in Olympia long, but I did take a photo of the legislative building in Capital Commons…

Thinking of you, Julie D.!!!

Seattle WA

Great city!  Major parking issues---smiles!  Matt and I were able to afford one day of experiences and fun; it was well worth it.  I think, when you have a chance to gander at the photos, you will agree.  Heck, they may even be the impetus needed to schedule your own Seattle discovery tour!

Seattle Space Needle











Chihuly Museum--Sorry, there are so many photos! (By the way, Matthew took many of these pictures.)  That dude, Chihuly, can really blow glass!

EMP Museum--Our favorite rooms--Science Fiction and Horror!

Superman costume worn by Christopher Reeves

Matt and Susan in the scream room!! 

The alien from Alien

The Underground Tour of Seattle--

Matt prepping for the underground tour!

Seattle's early population included 2500 seamstresses...none of them owned a sewing machine.    Wink, wink!

Note the height of the toilet (or rather the floor of the bathroom).  This allowed gravity to assist.  It also  considered the rise of the tide....smiles!

Now, given all of these opportunities, my favorite time in Seattle was with my wonderful god-daughter, Amanda, and her sometimes superhero, Jacob.  THANK YOU both for a wonderful evening!  Love you both!

AND, we love all of you!  Thank you for coming along for the ride!

Tomorrow, we head back north...

Whidbey Island WA

Dry land!!!!  It has been an excellent reintroduction to the lower 48--warm (high 50s/low 60s), sunny, and DRY!!!
The Navy campground in which we relaxed, cleaned, washed, re-organized, walked, strolled along the beach, drank coffee, read books, and watched movies--AWESOME.  The place was a total--

The beach was "littered" with driftwood, but still beautiful.  Matt loved throwing rocks and collecting bits and pieces of "stuff".

I was reminded that our military members are creative and humorous...

Flip flops collected on the beach

Ladybug crossing--smiles

Albino-Arctic ladybugs (just north of the brightly colored ladybug families)

local dragon

This campground will be going into my contacts list AND it will be starred!

Cliffside Campground on Whidbey Island--Thank you!

Hope this finds you all healthy, happy, dry, warm, and "in smiles".  Love, Susan and Matt

Haines to Bellingham

Okay, THAT is IT!  Any dream/desire/goal of traversing the globe in a water vessel--GONE!  Gone, gone, gone, and very gone!  Oh, and I will be buying stock in Bonine.

Not sure if this was a particularly rough voyage, or just the norm of an open-water crossing.  Either way, I don't care; I do not want to repeat the experience.  

Authors write about the movements and sounds that ships make during storms--I totally get it!  It is true; ships "shudder", "rock", "roll", "surge", "list", "groan", "screech", "buck"...many of these simultaneously!  The announcement was made--"Please stay where you are and do not attempt to move.  If you must move, please use all handrails provided."  Happily, Matthew and I were already in bed, and the beds had railings!  Hold on, we did!  There were a couple of times I thought I would go over the railings!  The second storm hit when we were in the movie theatre...I don't ever want to see The Great Gatsby again!  The memory alone makes me nauseous.

Enough to say--4 nights and 3 days was too much of a not so good thing.

Matthew and I are now on land...albeit an island.  (More about this wonderful place later.)

The Malaspina docked at Ketchikan.  Matt is in the yellow coat walking down into the car deck. 

What is the saying about "red skies and sailors"?

Wonderful new friends--Jeffrey and Mary Ann.  Matt was convinced; he's now a Georgia Bulldog fan!  Jeffrey gave him a shirt to prove it--"Go Dogs! Woof, woof, woof!"

Fishing ship sinks

The call went out a few nights ago--three long separated siren wails.  (Thank heavens NOT for a tsunami!)  This was the call for volunteers to help at the harbor--"ship in distress".  The ship had a slow leak, and the final pump went out.  It sunk quickly, but the clean-up will be long and involved.  The hazmat team opened the harbor just today to let the other fishing boats out.  However, each boat had to be power washed before it could leave.  I don't know if the boats will be allowed back into the harbor before it is "cleared," but the fishermen will probably just anchor outside for the time being.
I was impressed; the community and clean-up team was quickly on site.  Although there is oil in/on the water, it seems to be mostly contained.  The only question now--will there be insurance coverage?

Difficult to see anything below water...

Hazmat team member cleaning up around the other boats--white pads soak up the oil and gas.

Bear!!!!!

Okay, this was our first MAJOR, close-encounter.  Matt and I were doing "our cruise," along the Chilkoot River, when I noticed movement on the shore nearest the road.  Like any curious driver, I pulled over, rolled down the passenger window, and stretched across to look out.  

The mother had just caught a large fish.  Her cub was coming in from the right side of the frame.

She and her cub headed out toward the middle of the river.

I thought to myself--"Self, that was DANG cool!!!"  That is, until she turned around to head up the embankment toward our RV.  Then, of course, I lost it.  I couldn't figure out how to close Matt's window!!  I yelled (quietly) "Get your window up! Get your window up! Get your window up!!!"  Thankfully, as the mom grazed the front of our RV, Matt had the window up.  (Not sure it was much of a safeguard, but...)

Mom and fish through the windshield

By the time I "got my wits,"and the camera "recharged," the two were happily across the road. 

Sorry about the quality of the photos; it was well past dusk, and my hands were shaking.  It really was both a terrifying and exhilarating experience.  

So, I started to breathe again and slowly pulled back onto the road.  Matt and I turned to each other and smiled.  Then, in his typical Matt-fashion, he commented, "You know Mom, you only needed to pull up on this, and the window would go up."  I think he was lucky I needed both hands to drive.

52 and havin fun!

SMILES!!!!  What an excellent birthday!  I heard from far-flung friends, family, colleagues (who are also friends--smiles), and former students.  Had quite a boo-hoo moment watching the ISD high school students...
THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the video AND to those behind camera!!!!
You are all so loved...My life is more special because you are in it!

Video birthday link! (Thank you, Jen!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JLnzLOUr8M

I am thrilled to share--
Birthday greetings from my youngest friends (first part of the video) and my FANTASTIC students at ISD (last part of the video).
Sending you all MUCH love!