The run to the West got us in to the Seattle area on August 7th for a visit with our daughter, Kasey, who took the week off to hang out with her mom and I. The initial challenge was what do do with Mondo the Magic Bus while we stayed for a couple of nights at Kasey's house. It all worked out as I was able to squeeze our 37' Class A motorhome into the space on the road in front of her house.
It was a bit of a rush the morning we got there because we went to a Mariners v. Blue Jays baseball game with a noon start on the day of our arrival. Before the game we met some of Kasey's friends (Jami, Mirka and Bryant) at Pyramid Brewing Company (across the street from the ballbpark) and missed the first 1-1/2 innings because the beer was so very good and also MUCH less expensive than inside the park.
We had a great time at the game, although I am a National League guy and it's interesting to watch a game where you really don't give a hairy rats rear end who wins, but we cheered for the home team and in the end the Mariners prevailed (Mariners 9 / Blue Jays 7).
Our post game celebration took us to FX McRory's Oyster Bar and Chop House. Great beer selection and one of the worlds largest collection of premium liquor.
We had a fantastic plate of oysters and a few (ok several) tasty beverages to finish off our day in the City.
Our plan for the next day again took us in to downtown Seattle for a visit to the Pike Place Market and a mandatory lunch (according to Kristie) at
Pike Place Chowder where we had our bowls of chowder and a crab sandwich. Pretty freakin' yummy.
We could have spent all day roaming through the market but our RN daughter really hadn't slept more than a couple of hours over the past three days so we headed for her house so she could get some much needed rest. It was really very nice to get the afternoon to just relax with no place to go and nothing to do.
On Friday we were rolling out in full on "crack of noon club" fashion for our planned trip across to Port Orchard for four days at the Manchester State Park campground. We hit the grocery store and then loaded up the gear, the dogs, the bicycles for the four day excursion. I took Mondo and the dogs on the land route down to Tacoma and then back up to Port Orchard while Kristie and Kasey took the ferry across the sound. I was able to get to the campground and set things up sit down and quaff down an ice cold PBR before the girls arrived.
Manchester State Park is set in a deeply wooded area that in a past life was an artillery harbor defense site during WWII but is now a great place to get away from the big city without really ever leaving the big city.
Giant evergreens, ferns and moss covering everything.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny, as did every day while we were in the Northwest, and I was up early for a solo motorcycle run to Poulsbo, WA to the check out the Northwest Cruisers Festival that was running for the weekend. I had intended to run up and check things out and then come back and get Kristie and Kasey to bring them back for the afternoons festivities. (music, sailboats, pirates and all that stuff) but as is my norm, I
always try to cram too many things in to
too little time and after I made the run up to Poulsbo (a beautiful town by the way) I made the decision that, while the festival was way kewl the 70 mile round trip would be a bit more than my lovely bride was gonna be up for so we'll save that part of our life journey for another day.
While I was in Poulsbo I did get to meet Bob Bitchin (Lipkin) and his wife Jodi. They are the publishers of Cruising Outpost Magazine which was resurected after the untimely demise of their original sailing magazine Latitudes and Atttitudes. Bob and his magazines have given me more than a little inspiration for my life dream of living and cruising aboard a sailboat, but that is a blog for another day.
