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August 19, 2005

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Last Thursday, on our way to the Steam Meet in Port Angeles, Washington, we spent the night with our dear friend, Sherry DeBoer at her beach house on Hood Canal. We met Sherry and Herb at a steam meet several years ago. Herb passed away a couple of years back and we still keep in touch with Sherry as often as we can. She recently had her place remodeled, so it was fun to see all the new changes. There was a whole new upper story built on the house, which she has turned into a master bedroom and bath with windows overlooking the canal. We had a really nice visit with her and left the next morning to continue our trip to Port Angeles. The trip from her place up through the beautiful National Rain Forest to Port Angeles took about 2-1/2 hours. It should have only taken half that long, but the bridge across the lower part of Hood Canal was closed that weekend for repairs. So we had to go clear back around the southern part of the canal. Now if they knew that the bridge was going to be closed, you'd think that the detour would be clear, wouldn't you? No way. The detour had construction and had it's own detour! And everyone in that part of the state was on the same road because of all the closures. It was slow going, but we finally made it to Port Angeles by mid afternoon. The town is situated on the Olympic Peninsula in the northern-most part of Washington and it is where you can catch the ferry over to Victoria, B.C, Canada.

After getting settled in our room, we went down to the dock and checked out all of the steamboats that had arrived for the meet. While Dave was talking "steam" to all of the guys, I took off into town and shopped at the local Saturday market and shops. We didn't bring the Captain Bell, but we had plenty of offers for rides on other boats. There were about 25 boats that showed up and we had a great time visiting with all our friends. It was kind of a "good news/bad news" kind of trip for us. The bad news of course being that we didn't have the boat. But the good news was that because we didn't have the boat, we had lots of time to visit and ride other boats, so all in all, it was a lot of fun. We had a hamburger/hot dog social on Friday night and a formal dinner on Saturday night. The weather was great once the fog lifted. As they say here, "August is always the foggiest", so if you are planning a cruise up the Inland Passage to Alaska, you need to keep that in mind and plan not to go in Foggest...er...August.

We had a really cute room that overlooked the ferry terminal and Dave enjoyed watching the ferries as they docked and unloaded and loaded their cargo. It was amazing how they could maneuver those big ferries around. Of course we were always awakened at 5:30 a.m. with the sound of sea gulls claiming their territory around the town. That is one thing that we don't have a lot of down at our place at the coast is the sound of those noisy sea gulls.

I also looked up a cousin of mine that lives in Port Angeles. I hadn't seen Kevin in years and it was fun to get together with him and his family. When I first called him on the phone, we arranged to meet at the dock and since we wouldn't recognize each other because I hadn't seen him since he was very young, I told him where I would be sitting and what I would be wearing so he could find me. It was funny watching all the people going by and wondering if that could be him or not. But the minute I saw him, I recognized him. He had brought one of his twin sons along and we took them for a ride on a steamboat. The next day, we had a nice visit with his Mom (my aunt) who lives in an assisted living place right there in Port Angeles.

On Sunday, after breakfast we decided to drive over to Lake Crescent in the National Rain Forest. The lake is fed by glaciers and is the most beautiful shade of green. It was beautiful day so we went on a short hike through the forest. We saw many of the old growth trees, some of which were over 250 years old. The lodge by the lake was really nice and Dave and I decided that we would like to come back some day and spend more time there.

Late Sunday afternoon we met my sister and brother-in-law, after they crossed over from Canada on the ferry. Jeanne and Bob are from Phoenix and had been vacationing up north on Vancouver Island. The plan was for them to meet us in Port Angeles and then come back to our place in Wheeler for a couple of days. They are going to use our car while they attend a reunion further down south in Eugene, Oregon. So they got a room at the same hotel and we spent Sunday night in Port Angeles. Monday morning, the four of us started our 6-hour drive back home. Thank goodness the bridge had re-opened and we didn't have to deal with "detour" traffic on our way back south.

On Wednesday, I rode into West Linn with Bob and Jeanne. While they use our car to go to Eugene, I will be babysitting my two youngest grandchildren, Jadyn and Jaysa. Mommy asked me to fill in, as her part-time job has become full-time for a couple of weeks while a co-worker goes on vacation. So far, so good. The girls are easy to care for and Mommy comes home at lunchtime to "fill" the baby up. They take naps for most of the afternoon so that gives me a chance to get myself organized. I will be babysitting until the 1st of September.

Meanwhile, all the projects at home...the deck painting and weeding...have been put on the back burner until I can get back down there. I won't be home for a couple of weeks and I miss it already!