Western Washington State

We made 2 stops on Washington's Puget Sound, first north to Bellingham then to Seattle. The trip to Bellingham included fruit stands, bike rides and a day trip to Vancouver, BC. We enjoyed the towns of Ferndale and Lynden, suburbs of the larger city as well. Lynden is near Mount Baker, a snow-capped volcanco peak that watches over the valley. We drove up during a bike event. Our car was working to make the steep grades, we were most thankful to not be peddling. Actually, the free fall  trip back down would have scared me too. We took a short hike and picnicked next to a series of small lakes that were crystal clear and beautiful.

We enjoyed several bike rides, but the hate we have long held for out bike carrier grew with each trip. We finally bought a new one that is so much easier to handle, what took us so long? Each ride was unique and eventful, through town, forest, coastline. The one common element was UP. I don't do UP very well, so trips were fairly short, I'm afraid.

We drove to Vancouver to see my cousins and have an early dinner prior to their Alaskan cruise. We walked downtown and enjoyed the street performers on a Sunday afternoon and got to walk a bit in Stanley Park with dinner at the Fish House. We got dessert at the water-side market. The border crossing was eventful coming and going. It seems that border agents are suspicious of Texans. We are all "gun toting" apparently; well Russell is actually. Anyway, they searched our car on the north bound trip and we must have passed. South bound, the agent asked to see our 45's. He believed us when we told him they were at home.

We stayed at an interesting park in Seattle near the intersection of I-405 and I-90, easy access to just about everything. We spent time at the Bellvue Mall, movies, shopping, food, art all together. We also met up with the Rutherfords and walked downtown, including Pioneer Square and the Market. The Rutherford's have gotten out of RV mode and had rented a house across the Sound in Bremerton. We spent a day bumming around the University of Washington area. Another day we enjoyed a drive to Tecoma and the shoreline at the southern end of the sound.

This trip, from the time we left Vegas in May, has been one of breakage. In Bellingham, we had to replace the RV alternator. Russell found a great truck service shop that took good care of us. In Seattle Russell's computer gave out. Office Max saved that day. A nice lady, Pam, was able to recover and transfer all of his data to the new unit. So when talking about our next stop, we decided that home was a good destination.