Greetings from the Cascade Mountains!

Greetings from the Cascades Mountains in Eastern Washington, about two hours north of Spokane.

 Paul and I are visiting his brother in law, Scott, who lives in a beautiful spot.  We arrived yesterday mid-afternoon, and I'm going to back-track a bit so that I can tell you what's happenin' in this neck of the woods. 

Our cruise stopped in Victoria, BC, for a really beautiful evening tour on Saturday.  The ship docked at 6 PM, and at 6:30 we were off on a two hour bus tour.  Victoria is a beautiful hilly Canadian city - full of hanging baskets, colorful flowers and lots of beautiful homes.  We saw such beautiful places - up and down the mountainsides.

 Unfortunately, our bus broke down 20 minutes into our tour, and we stopped at a marina to wait for a healthy bus.  It took a half hour to get there and then we were off again.  Another, unfortunately, the sun was going down - but what a gorgeous sunset overlooking the water.  We stopped at a park overlooking the city.  We took some more pics but I could have done better if the sun was not going down.  We got to the city, itself, in the dark, but still got some pics.  I'd rate this city number one right now.  Truly beautiful.  I'd love to come back and spend some time. 

The next day was Sunday, our day to leave the ship. 

So we packed up Saturday night, sending our luggage out to the hall.  We had a tour scheduled at 8:30 AM of Seattle. So our luggage was marked and placed in a special spot near the tour bus.  It made it very easy for us to get off the ship.  

Sunday:

The tour  was very informative.  Our guide left us at the beautiful Pike's Farmers' Market, for an hour.  They had such huge beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers for $5, or $10.  And the food stalls were just a pretty.   If I lived there, I'd certainly have fresh flowers every day!  There were street performers: guitarists, along the way, even a piano player.  The guide says that there's a four-year waiting list for street performers, and to get a produce Stall takes even longer.  The market was huge.  It went on for at least a mile.

 Nearby -   There are Starbucks coffee shops every other block.  (Starbucks began in Seattle.)  Our guide said there are 575 Starbucks in Seattle.  The lines were huge at each one near the market! But we managed to get some decaf to take on the bus. 

After the market, we went to the Space Needle and got up to the top for the view.  Bad news:  I really damaged my knees with all this walking on the tour.  My cane was good, but now it helps only somewhat.  I'm very good when I'm sitting.  Haha.   Like now.  My knees feel fine.  LOL.  The Space Needle had a ramp and I was on my feet for at least 30 minutes going up to the elevator.  On a slanted floor.  Not good. 

After that we were dropped at the airport, we got our car, a Subaru Outback, and we went on our way to get to Leavenworth, WA.  If you've never heard of it, it's a little town in the mountains - three hours out of Seattle.  They decided they'd market themselves as a German town, and was truly beautiful.  Paul had been here with Donna in 1996 when they'd gone to Alaska.  He said it had grown a lot - more hotels.  But still - Lots of flowers, very green, little windy cobblestone streets with shops, restaurants.  I got a lot of pictures. 

 We found a hotel - really big - five or six stories - and so beautiful.  We found it  on the main street through town.  It had been built in 2005.  Looked very Germanic.  White walls outside,, Window boxes with flowers, at each window, and flowers out front.   Our room was very large and decorated in a European way. 

We  had sauerbraten for dinner in a little shop across the street . . .  that's something I've been wanting for a long time!   The whole town was filled with flowers. Lots of petunias in purple, pink, white. Lots of dogs on leashes.  When we finished our dinner, we came outside and there were two patient Bernaise Mountain Dogs being hugged by a little toddler. Those dogs were as good and patient as could be.   Made us think of Lue's Greta, of course.

Monday

 The next morning we and other tourists staying at the hotel, had our free breakfast on linen tablecloths and cloth napkins.  Wonderful, anything to eat.  Marvelous coffee. 

I wish my knees were better and that I could have toured the town more.  We did get to see most of it from our car.   I guess my prayers were answered, and the cruise was delightful - due to my cane and my cortisone shots.

 Now we have to think about the next step with my knees.  I still have an appointment on Sept 4th with the orthopedic surgeon.  I'm glad I didn't cancel that after the injections given by his physician's assistant.

Our trip across the state was beautiful - Paul took us through the Cascade mountains, and then the middle of the state, that's really arid. Then back into the mountains.  Gorgeous lakes and rivers. 

 Every view from Scott's house is beautiful.  Paul said Scott cut down trees to enhance the view of the mountains.  Each side of his house has a deck to sit on and take in the view.  He has a reflecting pond with a marble bench, and a couple of totem poles.  One is about six feet tall  and is close to the pond and the other one is about twelve feet tall off in the distance.   Scott has 20 acres of land.   There is a deer lick off in the forest that you can see from the house.  Paul took a walk this morning and got some huge turkey feathers for the little grandkids.

Scott has a very nice dog he's adopted, called Lucille.  She's about 40 pounds of gentleness.  She really is very even tempered and easy to love.    And he does . . . you can tell.  She stays right nearby him.  You can tell the feeling is mutual.  What a sweet dog. 

Tuesday

We took Scott out for dinner last night for his birthday. (which is Wednesday, the same as Sharon's Happy birthday, Sharon.  We'll be thinking of you on our trip back to Seattle. )  Scott has many many friends here, and all the waitresses give him hugs.  Tonight we're going out again, and I'm sure this place will have waitresses as demonstrative as the last night.

I got an e-mail from Carol, our pet sitter, saying Gracie is doing wonderfully. We'd been wondering how she was doing, of course.   Carol said became good friends with one of the larger dogs and liked to walk near it when they were taken for walks.  That's what I like about Carol - she keep us informed. 

My camera has been taking beautiful shots, but I had trouble getting ones in the car because when I'd open the lens and didn't take a pic for a while, it closes.  Then when I saw a pic, I'd have to open it up, snap the pic and by the time I did that, the view was gone!  Slow reflexes, I guess, on my part. 

Tomorrow we leave in the morning for the complete trip to Seattle.  No stopping this time.  Approximately a six hour trip. We drop the car off at the airport, then onto the hotel, get up Thursday morning at 3 AM for the shuttle to the airport and on to our flight back to NY.  What a wonderful trip it has been.