7/30/08

Our exit from the Super 8 Motel started ominously when Queen Bee dropped her suitcase down the stairs and bent the telescoping handle, which no longer functions that way. No pun intended, but she was as mad as a hornet. Finesse not being a word in his vocabulary, Bear jammed the handle back down as far as it would go, which was not all of the way. So, we may need to visit the Harley shop to get the thing fixed. The weather was looking like rain, so whoever needed it, donned rain gear and we headed out. It turns out that the rain held off for most of the day although we did run into a sprinkle before the next hotel. A casino stop was in order this day to satisfy the fix needed by Mary P. Uncle Eddie sat on a bench drinking coffee while Stinger read a magazine. Since we didn't make reservations for the ferry to Whidbey Island out of Port Townsend, we had to drive down to the ferry that left Kingston for Edmonds, WA. Kingston was farther south and little did we know that it would put us in heavy traffic. Trying to avoid the congestion on I5 we decided to go north on WA9. Bad idea. Gailbird's GPS took us through neighborhoods that haven't seen any tourists, ever, but not to 9. After driving around in what was in fact circles, Bear took over with his GPS. Well, we found 9, but also a lot of congestion. Losing patience with that we headed for the freeway and more congestion. Finally arriving at the hotel I looked at the odometer, which read 140 miles, our shortest leg of this trip so far. However, it felt more like 500 miles. After unpacking, Jackie and I met our good friends, Penne and Steve Sakuma for supper at Bob's Burgers next door to the hotel, and everyone else headed for a casino. This was a great place to eat, and afterwards we went back to their house for strawberry/blueberry/raspberry short cake, fruit straight from the farm, and their unmatched hospitality. It was like home away from home. I met Penne and Steve when we were in the Army 34 years ago. Penne used to feel sorry for a starving 2nd Lt and would invite me for dinner quite often. She is the quintessential chef and hostess. Steve has been the CEO of Sakuma Bros Farms, specializing in blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, since retiring from the service in 1996.


7/31/08

This was our first day off the bikes in a while. After breakfast Steve picked us up at the hotel and gave us a tour of the farm. Uncle Eddie and Mary P hadn't seen the farm before, but for the rest of us, it was our second tour. We always look forward to these tours because we get to eat blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries straight off the vine. For lunch we went to the farm store and Steve treated us to whatever ice cream we wanted. In the afternoon we came back and rested for a while trying to build an appetite because we were invited to Penne and Steve's house for dinner along with their children, grandchildren and Steve's mom. It was a great time had by all, and as usual, Penne cooked up a meal that was out of this world. We topped that off with more shortcake, so the Toads have built up a store of fat for the ride home. Thank you Penne and Steve. All of us appreciated the great hospitality, and the chance to get together, which doesn't happen often enough.

8/1/08

Another day off the bikes saw us take the train to Seattle for a quick tour of the city and a couple of activities we always wanted to do like riding in the Duck Boats and touring the underground. In its early history Seattle has had issues with plumbing because it sits close to sea level. We learned that the city was founded by a doctor who modeled its development after Cleveland, OH, his previous home, and that 33 blocks of it burned down in 1889. The city was rebuilt, but the requirement was that the buildings be made of brick and mortar instead of wood. The city wanted to raise the level of the streets from 10 to 30 feet to solve the drainage problem, but the merchants didn't want to wait the eleven years it would take to do it. So the city gave them the ok to go ahead and rebuild observing the brick and mortar requirement, and then told them they would be building the streets up to the level previously mentioned. That is what they did so the second floor of the merchant establishments were now at street level, but the sidewalks were at the original level. Because they ran out of money, the city provided ladders to get up and down to the sidewalks to cross the street for two years. Finally, they filled in the gaps next to the buildings covering the sidewalks and building new ones right up to the second floor. The duck boat tour was really good too. We got a tour of the city on land and water by a US Coast Guard Captain. These duck boats are converted amphibious landing craft used by the military. The water version was the highlight of the tour when we went out on Lake Union in the middle of the city. Lake Union is the busiest lake in the U.S. Float planes are constantly flying in and out while the lake is being used by kayakers, skullers, house boats, police boats, duck boats, and private boats and commercial shipping. This is not a big lake. There was a bit of tension when the wipers failed on the boat (it started to rain) and the tour guide/driver tried to fix it, but to no avail. The issue was making the last train back to Burlington. However, the rain let up and he got us back to the monorail so we could made the connection.