Oh Canada

Gnorm Enjoys A Canadian 7UPAfter breakfast we left Snohomish and the Countryman B & B behind and headed north on WA-9. Traffic was ugly until we got north of Arlington and then it was pretty much one black PT Cruiser and the road until we hit Bellingham. There we jumped on I-5 and hightailed it to the border. Not many people heading into Canada on a Tuesday morning, there were two lines open at customs and we were number two in line for one of them.

So excited to clear customs that easily, we (meaning me) drove right past the Canada Welcome Center and then promptly zoomed by the exit for our hotel, realizing it only as we (meaning me) drove by the building. Is this a cool country or what? On the major highways you can go 100! Instead of backtracking we just headed into downtown White Rock for lunch. We ended up at a Japanese place where I discovered that it is really hard to eat flat, slippery noodles with chopsticks. While we ate at a table outside along the waterfront we were entertained mightily by a half dozen or so teen aged boys dressed up in wild and distinctly feminine attire (later explained to us a graduation rite where the girls dress the boys and parade them around town.)

When we finally did check in, the woman behind the desk said that they weren’t expecting me until tomorrow. Ooops, I made the reservation for the wrong day. Fortunately they were not full and could put us up for tonight. After settling in Gnorm and I enjoyed a Canadian 7UP on the small balcony of our room. Donna and I did a load of laundry as we waited for Jim, Linda and Jennifer to arrive. They got in with just enough time to catch a 1 hour nap before we went for dinner.

We met Donna and Jim’s 1st cousin-once removed at a local Fish & Chips place. His name is Jim as well and although he and is wife are regulars at this restaurant they didn’t know his name matched the famous singer for the Doors until we asked the waitress if he was there yet. The seven of gathered around a table in the corner of the place and heard stories from him and his wife Anne about their lives and the lives of some distant Morrison folks. Afterwards they invited us to their small neat apartment where we took pictures of each other and shared some more memories.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 14

Mmmmm, Pizza

PizzaGnorm, Jim, Linda, Jennifer, Scott, Beth, Donna and I (Baby James stuck with formula) can recommend the Paradise Pie at Maltby Pizza & Pasta if you are ever in the Maltby, Washington area.

Donna, I, Scott and Ol’ Laser Eyes* went for a walk in the park this morning. Because Scott normally has Monday off he usually takes James with him to give Beth a little me time. Today she stayed home and caught up on a couple of projects while we went out walking. Because of last fall’s flooding rains the trail was washed out not too far in, so then we headed over to the Centennial Trail and walked for a couple three more miles.

After the walk Scott went home and Donna and I returned to the B & B where I finished my second Jack Reacher novel of this vacation, The Hard Way while Donna caught a nap.

You can see part of our dinner above, the other parts were vegetables and dip supplied by Scott and Beth, plus a second pizza from a place called Romeo’s brought by Jim, Linda & Jenn. After dinner the rest of the evening was spent chatting and watching the skydivers land at Harvey Field down in the Snohomish Valley visible from Scott & Beth’s backyard.

*Let me explain the nicknames directed at the poor defenseless 7-1/2 month old James Leslie Morrison. When Donna and I first arrived on Friday night she picked up her nephew, held him for a while and then passed him to me. James took an immediate liking to me and was quite happy to have me hold him. When I passed him back to his mother and he saw me from a distance he started to wail. He would be quiet for a while and then he would notice me and start to cry. Then for all day Saturday, Sunday and this morning he could look at me and not cry, but he would really *look* at me. He would stare at me like he was trying to figure out just who or what I was. It became a running gag amongst us. By tonight I guess he had figured me out some because it wasn’t all just starring, I could actually coax a little smile out of him now and again.

Tomorrow we are off to Canada eh.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 12

I Really Don’t Get Art

Gnorm, an Eagle and the Space GneedleDonna and I were going to meet everyone downtown for lunch and then do some walking to see a few things. You know us, we went down early.

First, even though it was lightly raining, we took a nice walk from Donna’s book. On the way into Seattle we visited North Creek Park in the town of Mill Creek. It is about a mile round trip and all on boardwalk through a small wetlands.Very interesting walk, but I called it off after about 2/3’s of it because I was getting soaked.

From there we ended up parked not too far from where we were to meet at, the Olympic Sculpture Garden. After we had covered almost all of it we stopped inside the pavilion to warm up and dry off. While we both found the pieces interesting and the park itself very nice, we agreed that we really didn’t get art. The only one we both could “understand” was a giant eraser (another of which we had seen before.)

At noon we met brother Jim, wife Linda and daughter Jennifer next to the entrance to the sculpture Garden, but instead of going to view the “art” we headed down the water front to see Sylvester and Sylvia Mummy at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Now that’s entertainment. After gawking at, but not buying any, curiosities we walked whence we came to meet brother Scott, wife Beth and evil-eyed baby James for lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory.

After lunch Jim, Linda and Jen headed off to see an old teacher of Jennifer’s and the rest of us walked up the hill to Seattle Center to check out the Folk Like Festival. Think music, arts and crafts, multiply that by 10, toss in a dallop of free spiritry and you get lots of very strange characters (and I guess that includes us.) I think if you enjoyed a particular style of music and could plan your visit around that it might be a very entertaining way to spend a day.

By three thirty in the afternoon Donna and I were toast so we all walked back to the cars where Scott, Beth and stare down king, James went their way and we went ours.

Started up, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 8

Snohomish & A Hike

SnohomishAfter breakfast we got up and walked around the small downtown of Snohomish. Lots of antique stores, lots of coffee shops and lots of old buildings.

We then went over to Scott and Beth’s to see about going for a short hike/walk. Donna has a book with a 100 walks through natural places in the Puget Sound area and Donna had picked out a couple close by ones. Scott was at work so we figured we’d take Beth and and baby James for a nice distracting walk. When Donna asked if we should wear our hiking boots, I told her, “Nah, James will be in the stroller, so we’ll pick a nice easy rails to trails type thing.”

Beth had a different book, A 100 Family Friendly Hikes, and had picked out one she had done a few years before. After loading up the cars we followed Beth over to her Mom’s house as she wanted to join us too. Cool, the more the merrier. There we all piled into her Mom’s SUV. Joanie proceeded to tell us that she and her husband, Les, have done this hike before and promised we’d love it. The trail ended at a nice little lake where we would have a great view of the 6100 foot tall Mount Baring. They read the description of trail to us from the book which told us we would start by leaving Rte. 2 in the town Baring and drive through (traverse was the word the book used) a valley to reach the trail head.

After last years visit to Washington state I mentioned something to the effect that people were different out here compared to home. When we started traversing the valley I knew I had underestimated in just how different they were. When we turned off Route 2 the road quickly went from paved to narrow gravel forest service road. After about 10 minutes of driving up a windy steeply inclined road I asked aloud when would we get to the valley. The reply I got was that this was the valley. Oh boy, apparently if the ground isn’t vertical it is considered flat. The surprises weren’t over though.

At the parking area, everyone got out while Beth strapped James into one of those three wheeled baby jogger strollers. At the trail head I noticed that this was not any rails to trail thing at all. Think backcountry North Carolina, Appalachian Mountains stuff. West Virginia gnarly single track mountain biking trails. Roots, rocks narrow wood bridges. I bet an eighth of the mile and a half trail was smooth and wide enough for the stroller, the rest of the time it was on the front wheel with the back lifted up or vice versa. There we also a dozen or so places that the stroller had to be portaged over obstacles. Incredibly enough baby James slept calmly through all the jostling, snoring away.

The lake and the views at the end were well worth the trip. Joanie even had brought in some cheese and crackers for an impromptu picnic on the shore of the lake. It was probably near 90 degrees in Aiken today, but at Barclay Lake I was cool in a T-shirt with a sweatshirt over it. There was still snow on the mountain across the way.

For the return trip Joanie decided to give her daughter a break and carried the 20lb James zipped up in her sweatshirt like a front papoose. Donna pushed the empty stroller with me helping lift it over stuff. Next time either of these women offers to take Donna and I on an easy trail in the woods we will go gladly, but we will be sure to have on our hiking boots not sneakers.

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 8

Bad Glen Campbell Song

Norm & Queen CharlotteWell we did get the 30% off the room making it almost worth staying the night. We woke up earlier than the alarm and just got moving. We checked out at 6:00 a full half hour before breakfast started, but when Donna went back into the lobby to get a Charlotte area map we had seen, she coaxed the front desk guy to let her snag an apple and an almost warmed up Cinnamon Bun. The drive to the airport took us right by the same shopping center that we got ice cream at last night and it had a Panera Bread place, so we stopped in for a bagel and a banana.

We pulled into a long term lot but it seemed like every spot was taken. We wound our way further and further back where we parked against a back fence or as Captain Barbossa would say, “You’re off the edge of the map Jack.” Our shuttle bus driver was a hoot and made whatever we pay for parking out there worth it. She stopped the bus to pick up one group of five, three women and two men. The guys were in the back and the women were up front and started stacking the luggage inside the door of the bus and the driver yelled out at the guys to come forward and put the bags on the rack as they were big strapping fellows and she was just a bitty older women. Once loaded up all was forgotten and she gave them the same spiel as she did us. “To get back here you have to get on a bus for Long Term One, but a short bus and tell them you are in the north west corner. Remember a short bus, like this one, not a long bus as it couldn’t make the tight turns.” We stopped and picked up one lone woman and when she asked what airline of her, she just sighed when the woman answered Jet Blue. Everyone so far had answered US Air. She told the new woman that she would have to get off at the US Air stop as the one she wanted was always backed way up with rubes. She could just walk back to it, it wasn’t far.

Trouble started when I tried to check in using the self service kiosk, it didn’t know me. Not by name or flight or swipe of the credit card. I flagged a clerk and he couldn’t find us in the system either. Off he went to find someone with a clue. She arrived and fingers flew. Seems that US Air stopped flying the morning non-stop to Seattle months ago. They were nice enough to offer us seats on the 5:55PM non-stop, a mere 11 hours later. When we expressed displeasure at that, her fingers flew around the keyboard in a blur (obviously she done this a few million times before.) She could get us on a flight to Phoenix

By the time I get to Phoenix she’ll be rising
She’ll find the note I left hangin’ on her door
She’ll laugh when she reads the part that says I’m leavin’
‘Cause I’ve left that girl so many times before

where we could change planes and hop one to Seattle. One 4-1/2 hour flight just became a 3 hour flight with a 2-1/2 hour layover followed by a 2-1/2 hour flight. “Oh, you want to sit next to each other? Impossible,” she says.

For the first flight we were placed 3 rows apart and the second we were 6 rows apart. But for both flights we managed to find a nice person to swap places, so that we sat right across an aisle on one flight and next to each other on the other. With the amount of other seat hopping that was going on, this seems to be standard flight operations on US Air. Judging by the long lines at the service counters, everyone last one of them, canceled, delayed and changed flights I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less.

Our next surprise was at the car rental desk. Seems that if you rent through Travelocity or Orbitz or some other intermediary company and miss your selected pick up time the quoted price doesn’t need to be honored. Our ridiculously low price for the car jumped by about 100%. After what we had dealt with so far yesterday and today we didn’t put up a fight. Plus it was still lower than the price quote we got directly off the rental car site.

Now everything is just fine. The weather was great for driving with the top down, the Seattle traffic was not nearly as bad as expected, the B & B in Snohomish is nice and new nephew James is as cute as a button. Although he took to me right away about 5 minutes into the visit he decided he didn’t like me at all (no problem, because now I won’t have to change any diapers.)

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 177

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, still up.
PT Cruiser Top Transitions since 05/25/07: 4

Stay Smart?

Stay Smart?The adventure begins. After work today we went home and had a quick dinner of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (as Rachel would say, “Yum-O”) and hit the road. I-20 to I-77 to Charlotte in about 3 hours with one pit stop for gas.

Gnorm says he sure hopes he wakes up a lot smarter for staying in this Holiday Inn Express (805 West Arrowood Rd., Charlotte, NC 28217) because right now it isn’t looking like a smart stay. First there was only a half used bottle of shampoo in the bathroom. A walk to the front desk brought a new shampoo and a new conditioner. Wireless connectivity was nearly flat lined, I hooked up, but could only surf at dial up speed. That explained the three people in the lobby area with laptops open as I passed through on my way to the ice machine. After Donna had showered and she peeled back the sheets hop in bed a little black bug hopped out, a flea. A call to the front desk brought the desk clerk to us with a couple of room keys for something on the third floor and a promise of 30% off the charge. It looked OK, so we moved our stuff. Second room has shampoo and conditioner and three out of four bars of wireless signal strength. When Donna got into bed here she only found three black specks in the sheets. They weren’t moving so we figured they were tiny meteorites, so she just brushed them to the floor.

Tomorrow morning it is up and a short drive to the airport. The guy at the front desk said it is about a ten minute drive and then asked what time were we leaving. When we told him 7:00 AM he went uh-oh. Seems traffic is stop and go around here in the mornings because we are close to both I-77 and I-485, he said better leave earlier, about 6. When asked when breakfast starts, his answer was, “6:30 AM.” Whatever the consequences, I’m getting a cinnamon bun for breakfast, so I guess we leave at seven and take an hour to drive what should take 10 minutes.

Started up, went down, back up, down again, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 175

I Can See Still See In The Dark

I Can See Clearly NowToday was Donna and my annual eye exams. Good news is that neither of us have any issues nor have our eyes changed enough to warrant getting new glasses.

We went mid afternoon and some six hours later the drops they put in your eyes to dilate them has not not entirely worn off. I think I could take a book into a closet and read it with the light off. You know your pupils are open wide when the little WinXP screensaver (bouncing logo on black background) has a bright rainbow hued halo around it.

I remember a couple of years ago we went late afternoon and by the time we left the Eye Guy’s place it was dusk. The sun was down but the sky was still light. Most cars were driving with their lights on and both headlights and taillights were giving off these awesome starburst patterns. Even the traffic signals looked like they were being viewed through a starburst filter. Very cool effect, but it was difficult to concentrate on actually driving and not running into anything while looking at all the pretty lights.

We rode the tandem into work again today. I think we are going to try and make it a once a week event from now on. Because we are working our nine hour days this week, this morning’s ride start was way early and it was still dark out. We have a nice powerful light so that was not a real problem. As a matter of fact it was actually nice that time of day, there was almost zero traffic on the road and it was nice and cool (I wore a light jacket and Donna was in long sleeves.)

Right now I’m not sure what is worse, the FRS losing 6-0 to the Yanks in the sixth or having to listen to Chris Berman call the game and Bonnie Bernstein with the sideline commentary.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 171