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| Fort Worden with Mount Baker in the background |
My last post in the Rapid
Transit Saga was way last year. My
excuse for not posting is “family comes first.”
So please forgive me. I think the
Mayans are behind it.
I missed almost every bowl
game in January 2012. The result is that
I have no idea which college players are worth drafting. Never thought the Seahawks would compare
favorably with the Colts.
At about the same time I
found out my three sisters were coming to visit in February. This is good news as they live way off in the
blue states. Maybe I can improve their
outlook. We only get together once a
year so this year is special. I’m going back there this summer (maybe) which
will make it two times in one year.
Here at Lake Boren Rapid
Transit Data Central we have hundreds of sophisticated state of the art
computers. Way last summer I had a
miraculous breakthrough and the balky laptop finally decided to accept the
inevitable. It joined my home network. Inexplicably right before the arrival of my
sisters that laptop suddenly refused to accept any internet connection. “Internet device not found” or some such
“Windows” error message. Great
timing. Why did it wait until 2012? The Mayans.
That’s the only answer.
My sisters arrived as
scheduled and we began a two week tour of the vast office complex here at Lake
Boren Rapid Transit Headquarters. That
lasted a few minutes. We went to the
Doll Art Museum in Bellevue (sisters).
Road trip took us to the
Yakima Canyon where we spotted a few wild birds and other varmints. The trip eventually got as far as the Central
Washington Ag Museum in Union Gap.
That’s where intrepid farm equipment enthusiasts have built a world
class environment to display hundreds (probably thousands) of agriculture
related items. Then it was on to the
back country.
The next
venue was the Great Highway 410 slide which buried part of the road and caused
the river to take a new channel. Not a
common site in Indiana. So as expected
one of my eastern sisters fell victim to the rugged west and twisted an ankle. She’s OK now but the limp lasted the
remainder of the visit.
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| Elk Feeding at Oak Creek |
We stayed at the home of
good friends and quilting was one of the main topics. All of us had a
terrific time and we were entertained royally during our visit to Yakima.
The next road trip took us
to Port Townsend. The Victorian homes
and forts made into parks are quite interesting. There is also plenty of shopping. Lots of shopping. We had a great lunch. Indiana doesn’t have State Ferries either so
that was unique. Did I mention the
shopping? Yet another nice Western
Washington day in February. Amazing.
Following the visit to Port
Townsend we decided the next day would be a good time to visit the Glass Museum
in Tacoma. Lots of glass. The gift shop had more than the museum and it
was all for sale.
Next the crew loaded up the
heap and headed toward Long Beach.
That’s in Washington, in case you don’t know. Their two main attractions are cranberries,
oysters, and kites. OK, three. Oh, and the world’s longest beach. Four!
So far the weather had been
excellent. We had lots of sun and
unseasonably warm temperatures. Terrible
ad since we really don’t need more people out here. But it was great for traveling around showing
the sites.
While at the ocean the
Mayans struck again and a second sister twisted an ankle. Must run in the family. At least no electronic devices quit during that
trip. Now I have two limping
sisters. The Wild West is just too
dangerous for Indiana people.
At this point we went to
visit the Schoonover Farm in Skagit County.
There were an amazing number of swans grazing in the fields. The snow geese flock is enormous. Numerous eagles greeted us as well as several
hawks and smaller birds. The farm is
very interesting with various sheep, goats, chickens, and other hairy
things. They have a road side produce
stand. We said hi to the dogs and got a
tour of the fiber room. Donna has a
complete operation in which she takes fibers (wool mostly) from animals and it
eventually ends up as garments. My
quilting sisters were fastinated.
Boots were donned and we
went to visit the barn yard. Some of the
sheep and goats are friendly and some are not.
The geese didn’t seem to like anyone but they didn’t bite. It was feeding time which was also very
entertaining.
We returned to the safety of
our palatial home and the next day I planned to have a nice dinner at one of
the world famous Seattle eating establishments.
The goal was to show these folks that Seattle (the Greater Newcastle
Metropolitan Area) has some of the best food in the country. What a surprise: a third sister got food poisoning. Three out of three felled by the rugged
conditions here in the Wild West. She’s
much better now, too.
What’s left but to load them
on airplanes and send them back where they’re safe? Maybe the Mayans don’t know where Indiana
is. Or Texas. I’m not real sure myself; somewhere back east
maybe.
Result: All three are safe
in their homes recovering from their visit.
The Tivo actually had a disk
failure which is the fault of the disk manufacturer, not the Tivo people. I ordered a new Series 4 and it arrived yesterday. It has more storage and faster processing (if
you believe that… well you know).
Anyway, I got it set up and now I have TV again.
The problem with the laptop was
the protection software. It’s the very
large program that keeps malicious viruses and spyware from clobbering the
computer. It decided to take matters
into its own hands and clobber the computer itself. Did I expect anything else? Anyway, it’s fixed now. The Mayans are losing.
OK, during the tour I showed
the sisters Newcastle and Lake Boren.
Yes, they really exist. We saw
the library under construction and even caught a glimpse of Glen’s floating TV
antenna. Quilt shops were involved along
the way. We saw the farm in Sedro
Woolley (yes, it really exists) and rode Ferry Boats. We saw the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge
before it’s replaced and we saw the Alaska Way Viaduct. We saw the Space Needle and the
Monorail. We even spent a morning
wandering and shopping in Pike Place Market.
We tried to see the Freemont Troll but all the streets to it were being
worked on. Or maybe it was the troll
being worked on. Or have the Mayans
started there? Anyway, no dice. Except for the injuries these folks seemed to
enjoy the visit. I expect everyone in
Washington to pitch in and make the place safer.
Al
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