Happy first birthday to our nephew Kade!!
We are still in California... this is a really big state!! We are however, very close to the Nevada state line as we are camped in South Lake Tahoe. Bambi and I came here on our honeymoon 11 years ago and tonight we were able to have dinner at the same restaurant out on the deck overlooking the lake that we did 11 years ago.
Also, tonight I want to say congratulations to my Sister. We found out a few days ago that she and Jason are getting married on May 9th. I'm still not so sure about this Jason character. I guess Kyle and I will feel better about it all if we could spend some time with him first. I'm thinking the only logical thing for us to do is to go on a trip, the three of us, so that we can spend some time getting to know the guy... I'm thinking maybe in January???
Oh, by the way. I know it's still a ways off yet but regarding the wedding... I just got this new pair of brown shoes - they look great with shorts. Can I wear them to the wedding???
Also, Congratulations to Travis and Jessica. Travis is Bambi's brother and they just announced the birth of their third child, a beautiful little girl named Tiana. With two older brothers, I'm sure she'll have to learn to keep up fast!!
Back to our story...
Thursday, September 4th.
We woke up in our Vancouver RV camp to yet another beautiful morning. Not a cloud in the sky. We asked people while we were in Vancouver (Washington and Oregon too for that matter) if it was always this warm and sunny in September. They all replied that we were there at the perfect time as the previous couple of weeks had not been very nice at all with cooler temps and near constant rainfall. Could've fooled us we thought. Other than a couple of really quick rains during the night, and that one miserable morning in Cardston AB, we'd had nothing but sunshine and warm temps (during the day of course!!).
Bambi got up early, as usual and went on a walk. It turns out that she's been living on Central time this whole time so she's going to bed relatively early and she's up at like 5:30 - 6am most mornings. Not me though... I'm just loving this pacific time.
Anyway, she got up and went for a walk throught a few close by neighborhoods. When she got to the end of a street, she noticed a walking path going off into the woods so she decided to follow it. She says she was only a few hundred yards in when she saw something move in the woods ahead of her. The looked a little closer and, yet to this point, swears she saw a wolf. Now, you and I know that it was likely just a dog... maybe even a small deer moving through the brush, but a wolf??? She swears it. Anyway, she turned around post haste and double timed it out of the woods back into the neighborhood. She kept turning around to look and says, whatever it was, it didn't follow her. I told her he probably saw her and thought it would be a waste of time. Kind of like eating chicken wings... sure they're fun to eat, but you just don't get full.
She hustled back to the RV park and by that time, I was up and about so she regaled me with her story and I believed every word of it...
Anyway, it was time to move on. So, we packed up and set the GPS for Seattle. When we neared the US boarder, we had to wait in line this time. There was quite a crowd trying to enter the country. I figured there would be some sort of special express line for a guy like me... after all, I'm kind of a big deal... I have an office that smells of rich mahogany and is filled with leatherbound books...
No such luck. We just patiently waited our turn. Now, just as before, we had nothing to hide. However, we saw a sign as we got closer that said "To avoid unnecessary fines and jail time, declare ALL fruit." Wow, we said, that sounds serious. We decided that when our time came, we'd get out and unlock the trailer and take out the 2 peaches and 3 apples we'd acquired while in BC. We pulled up to the station and the lady looked us over and checked out our passports. "Where are you from?" Iowa, I said. "Iowa........potatoes???" she said. No, IOWA... CORN. "Oh, Iowa" she said. She thought a minute and then said in a low voice... "if you build it they will come???" Just kidding, she didn't say that but the guy at the RV camp the night before still makes me laugh.
"Iowa huh?" She said. Yep, I said. "What's in the trailer?" she said. Now, I figured this poor lady is on her feet all day long asking the same questions and getting the same answers. So I thought I'd make her smile a little when I said. "What's in the trailer??? Well, it's half packed full of illegal immagrants while the other half is tightly packed with rotting peaches and bug infested Dutch Elm." "Then, in the cracks, where there was still space, we filled it in with Heroin and Anthrax."
She looked me over and in less than the time it takes to crack a smile, I found myself across the front of my truck, arms handcuffed behind me and three border agents holding guns to my skull and screaming at me. Apparently, a sense of humor is not a prerequisite for this job...
Ok, so that didn't happen either. I just told her the trailer was full of camping gear and two bikes. I was about to tell her about the 2 peaches and 3 apples (really, I was!) when she looked at me and said, "ok." Just like that we were back in the States (along with our immigrant fruit).
So, if any of you see our pictures hanging in your local post office... wait until the reward is really high. I hear they'll pay through the nose for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a couple of fruit smugglers like us.
On we went to Seattle. We hit town mid-day and decided to see the downtown area before finding a place to stay for the night. We really had a good time as we checked out the local downtown marked and saw the famous Pikes Place fish market where they throw the fish. It was fun to watch them do their work as they don't just place the fish around, or hand them to eachother, they throw everything. I'm talking throw... even huge fish, they just rear back and let 'em fly. People gather all around this shop to watch these guys work and they chant and cheer the whole time too. You can tell they are having a good time. At one point, these 5 girls were getting close to get a picture together in front of the stand when one of the guys saw it and took a huge fish (must have weighed 25 pounds) and walked over and handed it to the middle girl and just walked away. At first I think she was a little freaked out, but then they started to laugh and all huddled around the fish for more pictures before giving it back. The guy just took the fish back, smiled, and hollered something as he slung it way back over the counter to another guy who put it back on ice. Bambi says there have been many books written about this place and they even teach about in business classes because their particular type of management style is so effective. Looked like they were having a good time.
We walked on and just were amazed at what you can buy at this open air market. Fish and all types of seafood, rows and rows of fresh cut flowers, food, jewelry, and it just goes on and on. It was a really fun place to just walk around and check out.
We went out back into downtown and then down to the waterline where you can watch the boats and ferry traffic come and go from the seaport. Overhead, seaplanes were taking off and landing in the nearby lake taking people in and out of the city by air. Just hustle and bustle everywhere and we really enjoyed just being among it all.
Finally, we walked our way over to the space needle. We bought our tickets and rode to the top. Again, just an amazing view of the city and it was fun to walk around and learn about the building. For instance, it takes 40 seconds to get up via the elevator... it really moves.
Our timing was coincidentally perfect. Just as we got to the top, we had about 15 minutes to look over the whole city and then watch the sun set over the western horizon. It was beautiful as you could Mt. Ranier just perfectly behind the downtown skyline. Then, as the sun dropped, it left a beautiful shade of orange and purple across the mountain peak. It was truly awesome, like God himself was painting the backdrop in long, broad strokes. Makes you understand where the phrase "purple mountain majesty" comes from.
We watched the sun disappear and then rode back down the elevator. We walked back to our truck and then drove to the nearby city of Kent Washington where we found a KOA RV park. Again, it was a nice place to stay and we'd had another beautiful day. It was good to be home, back in the good ol' USA.
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