BIG MAMA, THE HUMPBACK WHALE

When we got into Anacortes and talked with the folks at “Visitor Info”,  we discovered that we had not done our homework very well.  We knew the ferry to Victoria was pricey, but the times were the problem.  It was NOT a day trip like we had thought and "planned" (nothing is very planned with us this trip!!).  By the time we would get there, we would only have time to drive 30 miles down to the city proper, get a beer and then hoof it back to the ferry, OR spend the night.  We decided that would be a very expensive beer and we really didn’t want to have to find a room, etc.  And there was a “guaranteed” whale watch here in Anacortes.  We ditched Victoria and signed up.

The boat only held 11 people and we got the last 2 slots.  Thank goodness the bay was calm that day!  With such a small boat we had a real up close and personal experience!  LOL…And their guarantee was good.  We watched “Big Mama” (their name, she comes every year) feed and dive for about 45 minutes!!  Dave was surprised at the pictures he got.  Catching her surface and dive is sort of like photographing lightening.  And the conditions were complicated by a grey day (started out with misty rain)  so the sea and horizon would tend to blend together.  Several times we came within 200 yards of her and had to kill our engines.  Later we saw Minke whales feeding on bait balls.  These the captain found by watching for swarms of birds. The birds would swarm feeding on fish and the suddenly fly up as the whale rushed in a took a gulp of fish and water to push though his baleen "filter."  They were smaller (30 ft vs 60!) and very fast.  Impossible to photograph, but fun to watch.  We also saw the proliferate harbor seals and a bald eagle nest, but no eagles.  Several times we had to veer the boat quickly to avoid large logs and  floating debris.  This had been caused by the supermoon tides.  Matt (the captain – cute young thing about 30!) said that they had had several things float up lately from the Japanese Tsunami – a refrigerator, motorcycle, tires and a car!

 

One other funny thing happened on the boat... here we are out of sight of land and suddenly we have great cell phone and data!  I took a call from Clay and Keith and I texted several times!! LOL... at the campsite... nothing... out in the middle of the bay... great service!!  LOL  BTW... I'm turning off my cell phone while in Canada the next 4-5 days.  Dave's will still be active.

The next day we started for Canada.  It is Canada Day weekend (their 4th of July) and many of the campgrounds are full, but we have bookings for the next 2 days - the most we've planned!!  On the way to Kamloop, we saw waterfalls and mountains that were amazing!  Bessie did the climb really well!!  One more "stop and drop" and we should be in Banff and Lake Louise, but may hold off til the crowds leave on Monday.  We saw signs on the way up here announcing that the construction was finished and the flood roads open!  So far everyone we've talked to who has come from that way has had no problems.

 

Dave came back from Indianapolis upbeat about their presentation and I survived 2 days in the RV without him…. Almost everything worked for me and what didn’t,  didn’t matter!! LOL  I spent the 2 days shopping for a dress/jacket for Clay’s wedding, but folks kept sending me to malls.  I can do the Macy/Norstrom/Chico thing at home!  If I’m going to buy something on this trip, it needs to be different, and exactly what I want.  I also did some maintenance, laundry, and grocery shopping. 

We have been monitoring the flooding in British Columbia and Alberta.  Unless they clean up a lot by the weekend, it looks like that area might have to be another trip. If the roads are washed out, what kind of shape are the campgrounds in?

TWO CONVERSATIONS THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN…..but could have!

We were waiting our turn at the gas pump in the RV at Costco, and I began reading aloud the many bumperstickers on the car beside us…. McCain, Romney.  OBAMA = Obama Black Ass Mistaken American… I laughed when I realized I was wearing my DNC Volunteer Shirt… I told Dave I ought to go out and start up a conversation with the guy…. Then I read “I have a gun and I love to use it!”…. got out on the OTHER side… lol

We are in Anacortes, WA… Dave keeps saying we are in Anaconda… especially after our hunt for beer and seafood together was fruitless.  I was calling about a harbor tour/whale watch and the guy on the other end of the phone said, “Where are you now?”… I fumbled and almost said “Anaconda.”… but didn’t.

We have just finished spending the morning in The Penguin Coffee Shop where we FINALLY got internet access.  We planned our trip to Banff.  We got RV sites for Saturday and Sunday and the roads seem to be improving.  So we plan to forge ahead to the foreign country of Canada despite floods and hopefully no pestilence!!  Just pray we don’t get stuck in the mud!

Tourists in Seattle

Sunday was a typical NorthWest day... warm and misty rain.  We drove into Seattle and did the "tourist" thing... Pike's Market, the Big Wheel (like the London Eye), etc.  We gave our segways another workout and Deb's seems to have recovered from its "frowny face flu."  One nice thing about being here in our RV... we could buy flowers and produce instead of just admiring them!  We ate great seafood down on the wharf:  tempura salmon and oysters with granny smith apples and applewood bacon!

The gray day didn't help our pix!



We came back to our segways to find a mime was "guarding them!!


 

Dave left Monday morning for a business meeting with Ben in Indianapolis, so I'm exploring on my own.   We plan to go to Victoria on Wednesday upon Dave's return.  We might as well go as far west as we can before we head east!! LOL... We are monitoring the flooding in Calgary and British Columbia.  We found a good DOT type road site and will make decisions about Lake Louise and Banff later on in the week.  The bad news right now is several of the roads we would use are washed out... the good news is we don't plan on going that way until next weekend, so hopefully they will have time to dry out and recover.

If you want more....

The Seattle Times had a fun article and pictures this morning.... and their pics are a little tamer than ours!! So no one should be offended... probably.... LOL...Here are the links...

http://seattletimes.com/html/photogalleries/localnews2021250545/1.html

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021250347_solsticeparadexml.html

PS.   I'm pretty sure the bubbles in photo #6 were photoshopped to cover up the bicyclers!!
And the big beach ball roll occurred all along the parade route but in front of us too....the gal beside us ran out and got under it and I would have, but the getting up and down is just not pretty!!  Dave has video....

The Freemont Fair - its Fairly Racy!!

An X Rated Day  - If you are offended by public nudity, do not read this…. But don’t worry Deb and Dave are not in it!!

After settling in close to the Seattle airport, we decided to drive into town for the Freemont Fair.  We had heard about it on TV and the website declared it was Seattle’s quirkiest festival.  We knew it was going to be fun when on the website they warned the parade participants that body paint does not protect you against the sun.

Going into Seattle, what should have been a 30 minute drive became almost 2 hours due to some unknown “issue” on I-5.  Dave handled it well, but by the time we parked the truck about 10 blocks from the festival, he was ready for a beer!

As we segwayed down to the action things seemed fairly calm…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got our beer, just as the parade was starting.  This is June 21^st… the Summer Solstice…. And they celebrate just about in the buff!!... The parade starts with the bicycle riders.  Their body paint is extremely creative!  We decided, however, there was not enough body paint or creativity for us to join in!! LOL…. The pictures, just about say it all… except, they estimated that over 100,000 people attend!! While I’m sure many of the participants were “mellow”… we were surprised by the lack of pot in the crowd, especially since Washington has recently legalized it.  Neither of us saw or smelled a smoker!  And these are some of the calmer pictures.... lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hands on the tushie were very common!!

 As the parade was finishing up, we walked down one of the vendor streets.  Most of the booths were heavy on tye dying and beads.  The “crafts” were minimal.  In fact, I felt a little sorry for the half dozen or so true artists that were there.  A juried art show it was NOT… but it is amazing what all you can make out of duck tape!!

One of the most fun blocks was the ART CAR FAIR.  Painting and decorating cars is a true art form in this community.  Several of the cars reminded me of my poster from the American Craft Museum of the  “Game Fish”…. But the guy with the computerized bass and lobsters took the cake!!  Your life is not complete until you hear the singing bass dance and sing the Halleluiah Chorus!!  LOL… It was hilarious.

 

After the parade, you would meet many of the bike riders in the crowd…. Some with a few clothes on, others, still au naturalle…. Also on the website, it asked the riders to please bring a towel so that they would have something to sit on in the restaurants.  Supposedly in years past, the waitresses spent waaay too much time cleaning up body paint!  Yuck!

We got back to the campsite to grill steaks and watch the super-moon.  There was no rain today, and we were a little sun and crowd weary… but happy!!   It was a fun day!

Maintenance Day in Portland and Carl and Chiluly in Tacoma

Portland and Tacoma  Tuesday – Friday  June 18-21, 2013

After the relief of “crank day”… Wednesday was  “maintenance day”.  There was still enough small jobs to keep us busy all day.  So far we have only 2 “chronic” problems… the new brake system Dave bought for the truck while it is being towed has some electrical “issues”… He bought some MORE parts at an auto store today (Saturday) and is on a first name basis with the gal  at tech services. (I call her “Jake”.)  Hopefully he will get it fixed in the morning.  He definitely wants to have it working before we drive into the mountains next week.  My segway has gotten a “frowny face” several times right after I go down hill… we think it has something to do with the batteries but it is fairly inconsistent and we can’t quite diagnose the problem.  The result is I go very s-l-o-w-l-y…. just like  I walk!! 

The picnic table littered with Dave's tools!

For our friends in Charlotte and Greenville…. We’ve been delighted with the weather.  Though it has rained everyday, it has also been sunny.  And we are wearing sweaters and “spooning” to keep warm at night.  We finally broke out the heater on Friday.

 

We ended our time in Portland by driving into town and checking out the apartment Dave has rented for Clay's Bachelor Party.  The neighborhood looks great, but Dave is trying to figure out how he can avoid biking up the many hills!!  We revisited our favorite sour beer pub (for Deb) and then Clay suggested we walk across the street for great IPA's for David.  It's hard to find a bad pub/brewery in Portland!!

Dave calling Clay for IPA suggestions

Thursday morning we moved to a campground on Gig Harbor.  We were hoping for a quaint fishing village…. Ummmmm,   not so much.  But the campground was nice, though it lacked David’s coveted fire ring.  It was a good base for going into Tacoma and continuing to test out and clean out the RV.

Friday, we spent the day in Tacoma.  We went to revisit the Chihuly exhibits and got enthralled with an Eric Carle exhibit at the art museum.  It was similar to The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss, except it was the “art art” of Eric Carle.  Deb could have spent hours there!  Though he is American, he was conscripted into Hitler’s army to dig trenches while living in Germany!  His explanations of his love of color and technique were fantastic.  Unfortunately we could not take any pictures in the exhibit.

As we walked around, Chihuly was everywhere.  We had fun rolling around Tacoma on our segways.  Unfortunately Deb’s didn’t like the  hills.

Chihuly's in Union Station

 

IT WORKS!!!!

So far our only crisis has been the weather!  As we were getting on the plane Monday afternoon, the crew kept trying to hurry everyone along because our window to Atlanta was closing.  Well.... it slammed shut and stayed shut, and our Oregon flight took off from ATL without us.  Luckily we figured it out and we decided to sleep in Charlotte one more night.  Clay was our knight in shining armor and saved us from another taxi fare!

Tuesday morning the alarm went off at 3:30 for us to make our 6 am flight.  While we are tired, we are tired and happy so far.  The flights were uneventful (the best kind!) and the truck and RV both started on the first crank!!!!!!  As Dave said on facebook, I was amazed at how clean, and virtually dust and dirt free the RV is.... the truck's cover came off so it is another story, but hey!  Its the TRUCK!!.... How we will get the covers back in their sacks is yet to be determined!! LOL  Right now they are like a Chinese lantern crumbled up behind the truck seats. 

We have settled into the RV campground and the bags are unpacked, the fridge and air conditioner work and we are making lists.... mainly a grocery list! 

Tomorrow we will tackle getting the segways up and running and sorting through the maintenance checklist.... but the biggest hurdle has been jumped!

The internet calls!!!!
Old Habits Die Hard!!!!

AAAAAAnd We're Off!!.....

When the kids were little I used to hate the last 10 minutes before we left to go anywhere.... it didn't matter how much I planned ahead, there were always last minute crises!  We're at that point in our leaving to, as Dave says, "bring the machine home."  So far the packing has gone fairly smoothly, the big suitcase that we will check is at 49 1/2 pounds so I can still add 8 whole ounces!!!  So far our only hitch is the disappearance of Dave's sunglasses.... let's see he had them after the wedding, but has found the empty case so they are SOMEWHERE!!!

This will be an amazing trip... I KNOW we will be amazed because we have made absolutely NO plans past this Wednesday's reservation in an RV park in Portland, Oregon.  We may go to Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, Lake Louise, or none of those!  Dave is finally relaxing; and though he has plotted a few places on his beloved Googlemaps, and has bookmarked some interesting places,  we will be planning this trip day by day! One reason is, we aren't sure how long we will need to get Bessie "up and running".  But that is what Good Sam (the RV equivalent of AAA) is for.  My only fear is that we will get within a few days of needing to be home and still be thousands of miles away! But that will mean that we are REALLY exploring and having a good time.

IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW US ACROSS COUNTRY, YOU CAN PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE FIELD AT THE TOP RIGHT OF THIS BLOG AND YOU WILL GET AN EMAIL ALERT WHEN I'VE POSTED.  As usual, I hope to post 2-3 times per week.

So.... lets see... the pet sitter has been hired, some of the neighbors are coming "grocery shopping" in my refrigerator to take away any food I don't throw out, and I just have to do one last vacuum, Dave just found the directions for accessing the answering machine remotely.... what have we forgotten?...stay tuned!!