Backpacking Bill

Got an email from Amtrak. Instructions for crossing the boarder. We will be taking the train from Bellingham to Vancouver BC in order to start our trip across the Canadian Cascades. Amtrak sent two pages of fine print to say “bring your passport”. We would be in a fine fix if we had left them in SC.

Came into Burlington to go to a coin op laundry, there is no facility at the Airbnb to do laundry. Burlington is my hometown and the laundry is near where I live in elementary school. It’s become a somewhat scary place. A lot of boarded up buildings. Not at all like where we are staying. Bow is upbeat, thriving and becoming a destination for “with it” people from Seattle.

Walked past my old elementary school and house. House looked tiny, little different from when I lived here nearly 70 years ago. Except, the willow tree is gone. Mrs. Stensrud’s store where I got ice cream cones with a candy on top, is gone. The bank is now “Terra Nueva del Norte,  Skagit County Jail Ministry”. One, I’m glad I left my cash at home; two I’m glad I left Tina at home.

Later we visited some shops in Edison; then did a short hike on the Padilla Bay trail. This trail is flat. It runs along the top of a dike that keeps the Pugit Sound water from the farmland.

In the evening we met friends for an outdoor campfire dinner. A unique and very entertaining evening. We were joined by Barbara, our neighbor from Samish Island and Addie, Kveta and Jim’s daughter. Addie had this day returned from an adventure in Japan and was on her way home on the Olympic Peninsula.

I have continued my tradition of making coffee for Tina this morning. She likes a little half and half in her coffee so I bought some yesterday at the Co-op. It has been many years since I had seen separated milk in a glass container – I had forgotten how to deal with it. I initially made a bit of a mess but eventually got it mixed.

We started the day with a hike to Squire Lake with Kveta and Jim. They have taken the responsibility to be our hosts, much to the delight of Tina and me.

After the hike we met some old friends from the time we had the place on Samish Island. Rosalie and Glen had also been close friends with my mother. Both in their 90’s and living independently. Truly inspirational.

After the visit we stopped at our old summer place.

We then joined Rosalie and Glen at a local pub for an oyster dinner. The place was a real treat, far away from the tourist places. The food was great but not as good as I remember my mother’s oysters

Tomorrow morning we are planning to take it easy. We bought a huge sticky bun from the Farm to Market bakery for breakfast and plan to stay close to the Airbnb for the morning. The Farm to Market bakery has always been one of our all-time favorite places for pastries.

Tomorrow afternoon we are joining Kveta and Jim with other friends from Seattle who have a part-time place on Samish Island. We are planning an early dinner at the Chuckanut Manor. On Samish Bay, the Chuckanut Manor is an old time roadhouse. Originally we were planning for the Oyster Bar further up Chuckanut Drive where the food and views are spectacular. However, a landslide on Chuckanut Drive closed the road from our end.

Well, plans have changed. Our hosts were told that it would be difficult to get an outside table on a Friday afternoon at Chuckanut Manor. So even better plans were made. We will have an outdoor dinner cooked over a fire at Kveta and Jim’s.

This morning started in a grand way. There was a beautiful sunrise introducing a clear sunny calm morning:

This was the day that I visited my parents gravesite. My purpose is to clean the stone and sweep the area. The site was a lot better than I anticipated. I had thought about planting something next to it but the cemetery rules prevent that. I was able to give the stone a good cleaning and I borrowed a broom from the caretaker. She happened to arrive to mow grass shortly after I got there.

I came to the gravesite while Tina was at a yoga class with a friend.

On the way to pick up Tina, I had a great view of Mt Baker.

After I picked up Tina we went shopping for groceries as we had invited friends for dinner. This area is quite a foodie place. There are rural specialty shops for all kinds of food. We went to The Bread Farm in Edison has wonderful breads, Del Fox Custom Meats provides steaks directly from their farm (can hardly get fresher than that. Besides, the owner helped us pick out exceptional steaks with just the right marbling). The Skagit Valley Food Co-op was the source for local vegetables, beer, wine and what looks like fabulous pastries just out of the oven. I just hope I will be able to get the grill to work at the Airbnb.

On the way to the co-op we stopped at Sonofresco. They are the fabricators of Tina’s coffee roaster. Last year I had to make some repairs as the roaster malfunctioned after the trip south. They were great, walking me through every step. We got a tour through their facility and got the lowdown on the state of the coffee industry. Hold on to your wallets – the price of a cup of coffee is going through the roof. And, it is not all due to tariffs. The Brazilian crop is in trouble, supply ships have to go around the Cape of Good Hope and there are a number of other supply issues. And, yes, tariffs.

Today we visited the tulip fields in Skagit Valley, they are truly spectacular. We started the day with a wonderful breakfast at Kveta and Jim’s farm. They then guided us through the tulip fields. We are catching the last of the peak of the tulips. We joined by our friends, Kveta and her husband Jim. They are both involved in agriculture here and know the best places and a lot of the background of the tulip industry here. I will let the photos tell the story, there is not much I can add.

No, we are not in Holland. Factoid: many bulbs are shipped from Skagit Valley to Holland, repackaged as Dutch bulbs and sent back to the USA.

Next we had a delightful lunch in La Conner, a picturesque town on the Skagit River near where it enters Puget Sound.

Tina and I returned to our lodging and took a walk. Many of the houses here are architecturally modern.

Well, we made it to the airport in plenty of time. We checked our bags and made it to the plane to Atlanta. We have a little over an hour layover. This should give us plenty of time. They did mark our bags with a note that said rush. The plane was packed.

Made it to Atlanta, looks like another packed flight. This one will be over five hours.

Noted that the Roman Catholic Pope has passed. A few years ago we were visiting Jim who was doing a semester abroad in Rome. It was Easter. Tina finagled passes to the Easter service in St Peter’s Square from a Swiss Guard. We were really close to him when he made a round of the square in the Pope mobile. Since I am not Catholic, I cannot say plus or minus about his papacy but, he seemed like a decent person with a tough job at a challenging time.

The flight to Seattle was without issues and arrived early.

We are now waiting for the shuttle bus to Bellingham where we will pick up our rental car. As the flight was early, we were able to get on an earlier bus.

It has always interested me that the people at the Seattle airport dress in dark colors. Mostly black and dark blue and grey. I’m not in Savannah anymore.

Well, we made it.

This area, adjacent to Puget Sound, has a lot of recreational activities. We stopped to chat with some friends at their farm. Adjacent to their property is an area where parachutists land. They don’t jump from airplanes but from a ridge on an adjacent mountain. The wind currents keep them aloft for some 45 minutes. We saw as many as 4 in the short time we were there but there are as many as 25 in the air at one time.

We are starting an adventure to the West Coast. We have a number of goals for this trip:

• Attend the Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley. Although tulip farming was happening when I lived in the area as a lad, there was no festival. When we had the summer place on Samish Island, we were never there in the early spring when tulips were in bloom. This trip will allow us to experience one of the highlights of the area I was born. Acres of tulips in bloom will certainly be spectacular.
• We’ll visit my aunt Georgia, the last living relative from my Mother’s generation. Her daughter, cousin Nancy, is putting together a family gathering. Nancy’s husband is editing a copy of the 8 mm family films that my father took and I had digitized.
• I will spend some time sprucing up my parents gravesite. This may be my last opportunity to do so.
• We plan to visit a number of friends in the area as well. People we became close to when we had the Samish Island place.
• After Skagit Valley, we will travel to Vancouver BC and take the Rocky Mountaineer over the Canadian Rockies to Banff, Lake Louise then Calgary.

The challenge will be to get to the Savannah Airport in time for our 5:30 am flight.

I have been neglecting my posts this year. It is April and I haven’t posted since the oyster roast in February. I guess there hasn’t been much happening.

Last week Tina and I went on a ” Drive and Dine” with my car club. We went to the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort.

At lunch some of the other car club guys talked about the Air Show at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort the following weekend. So, this morning Tina and I are off to buy some ear protection and see the Navy Blue Angels flying team. But this time we will not be driving the Jeep.

Getting to MCAS Beaufort (Merritt Field) was an ordeal.

We first stopped at Walmart to buy ear protection as recommended. In the sporting goods area every piece of ear protection was sold. At checkout I noticed that a guy had a container of disposable ear plugs. He got them in the pharmacy section, I lucked out as there was another container. Now I am set for life ear protection wise.

It took us over two hours to make the 20 minute trip to the MÇAS. We then had a mile and a half walk to the entrance to the air show. It was worth the inconvenience. The Blue Angels put on quite a show. And there were a number of other air and parachute demonstrations. Needless to say, there was quite a crowd.

Over 100,000 people attended the Air Show

Evidently an oyster roast is a traditional event in the southeast. We were invited to our first Oyster Roast by our nextdoor friends. It took place at our friend’s family estate south of Savannah. It is now a private event space owned by what was the family enterprise and is now an international corporation.

We started with a tour of the home.

We started with roasting the oysters.

Then eating the oysters

Little did I know that there was a full barbeque brisket dinner to follow

Beautiful event in a beautiful place

The site of the venue was where the movie “Cape Fear” was filmed in the 1960’s. We watched the movie that evening.

We decided to drive to the beach Monday. A day like this is a great advertisement for South Carolina.

Tina and Bill

We made a short trip to Jacksonville and St Augustine. Jacksonville for shopping and St Augustine to see the Christmas lights. I was not expecting much but they turned out to be quite a sight to see.

Ran into many tourists from all over the US and Latin America. After dark the restaurants were really crowded.