The Pacific Northwest

We have been bopping around the Seattle area and the Olympic Peninsula for the last few days.  It has been lovely.  The weather is in the 60’s.  It sprinkles now and then, but doesn’t last long.  I wouldn’t mind if it was a little warmer, but I prefer this over the searing temperatures in other parts of the country.  Dart is happy with the weather.

I have noticed that occasionally you can see a glimpse of the Olympic mountains.  While driving down the road, you get a glimpse and you are reminded that they are there.  Then, you go a little further and round the corner and the glimpse is gone.  It is as though the curtains were parted briefly for you to see they are there, and then closed again just as fast.  Basically, the clouds are usually covering the mountains and every so often they part long enough for you to realize they are there.  As quickly as you see them, they disappear again.

We played a round of golf.  I  was nostalgic for Florida because I spent so much time in the sand traps.  I can’t remember ever spending so much time working on my sand shots.  The hills out of the sand traps were very steep.  I spent too much time getting out of the bunker to have my ball roll back in again.  On one hole, I picked the ball up and tossed it on the green.  It was beautiful and I had enough decent shots to not give up.

On Saturday, the Fremont section of Seattle had a celebration and parade for the summer solstice.  The parade starts with naked folks on bicycles.  Many of them have body paint.  Some of them paint clothes, some paint animals, some paint fruit, and some are left to your imagination.  The parade was very unusual and, therefore, delightful.  I had a great time.

This is a very artsy part of Seattle and they have a troll under a local bridge.  We had to visit the troll.  Apparently, others had the same idea!

Afterwards, I told Jason I needed a beer so we headed to a brewery.  It was so cool!  We shared a table with someone celebrating their rabbit’s birthday.  Pets were allowed in this brewery.

While we were out watching parades and drinking beer, we left Dart and Coco in Jason’s place.  This is a picture of Coco’s spot.  I see her as a Duchess surveying her domain from her spot.

We stayed in a campground on the Kitsap Peninsula which was very convenient to the Bainbridge Island ferry.  When we visited Jason, we hopped on the ferry.  Dart got used to it.  The views were beautiful.  I got better at walking from the ferry to Jason’s place and going back (downhill) was a breeze.  Once, we took the car because we had to pick up some stuff we had delivered to Jason.  It is much better without the car.  The time we took the car took 3 hours to get back to our campground.  We arrived at the ferry ahead of schedule but the ferry filled up and we had to wait for the next ferry.  Walk ons never have to worry about that.  We were amazed at how many bicyclists get on the ferry.