Into Idaho and the Kahnderosa

We headed out this morning, away from Icicle River RV Park, Leavenworth, and RV park managers who direct you into collisions between your truck and trailer.

Zorah and I headed to the river for one last time after breakfast. Sparkly!

After a few pictures, we headed out of Washington State and into Idaho.

Idaho is not just a big potato farm. It's lush, mountainous, and green. We only stayed one night here, at a park called the Kahnderosa. The sky was getting dark like a heavy rain was coming, and we'd rather be parked for that then not. The camp host assigned us a spot away from the trees. Apparently, cottonwood branches have a tendency to fly off during storms.

When the air cleared, we ventured out into the night, braving mosquitoes to observe the more pleasant local wildlife.

Zorah ended up playing for the rest of the night with a little girl camped not too far away. She left this goodbye note for her friend the next morning since they were already away from their site.

Leavenworth, WA

Leavenworth prides itself on being this Bavarian town nestled in Washington State.

It has old world charm,


buildings that evoke a happier, simpler time,


and some of the ugliest dolls ever to be created.

Icicle River RV Park

Any time we told people in Washington that we were headed east, they told us we had to drive through the Cascades on our way, and to stop in Leavenworth, a Bavarian village incongruously set down in the middle of the state of Washington, USA. So we did.

We checked out of our park and headed east on Route 2. During one stretch of our drive, "Tales from the Vienna Woods" was playing on the radio. I listened to it as I looked out the window at the deep, thick vegetation that bordered both sides of the road. The mossy trees were draped in shadow. No direct sunlight made it through their branches. I was happy to be on the road.

As morning brightened to day, we reached Icicle River RV Park, located on the road approaching this lovely mountain.

The camp hosts were a friendly couple, and the husband offered to help direct Brian as he backed into our spot. As he was "helping" direct us, Brian told him he was worried that if we kept backing up at the angle he was indicating to us, the front corner of the trailer would hit the cab of the truck. "Oh, I'm watching that," the man said. Ten seconds later, crunch! The corner of the trailer hit the back of the truck. Brian told the guy to please leave. When we looked at the corner, it was really no worse than any of the other damage we've done to the truck.

Meanwhile, Zorah was running around the park chasing swallowtail butterflies. For some reason, there were about fifty of them drinking water from a puddle in the middle of the park. The guy had also steered us over them, so there were probably about sixty before we came in.

To back into our space, I got behind the wheel and Brian directed me without further mishaps. We unhitched, unpacked, and rested a bit before heading out to see the town of Leavenworth.

Bainbridge Island

After Archie McPhee we drove over to the Bainbridge Island ferry. There, we lined up behind dozens of cars to board. I think the last time I went on a ferry in a car was over 30 years ago, so it was quite a treat for all involved. It's a strange idea to me to be able to take your land vehicle across the water. Stranger still were the police K-9 units sniffing about the ferry parking lot. I mean, seriously, is the Bainbridge Island ferry or any of its passengers significant to national security? What do I know.

Anyway, we drove onto the ferry, parked, got out, and went upstairs, where Zorah proceeded to blow bubbles on the deck. She had brought them in a special little bag just for that purpose.

Then she and Brian chased each other around the top deck.

We didn't really have any idea of where to go once we got off the ferry, but our waitress at lunch told us if we drove down to a certain road, we would find the beach. You would be surprised at how difficult it can be to find the beach on an island only five miles wide and ten miles long. They try to conceal it with winding suburban roads and beach clubs. We triumphed after about an hour, finding the beach and dock where the high school kids like to hang out after school. how do I know? Because they were all beginning to flock there shortly after we arrived.

Zorah played on the beach for a minute or so, until she heard that the teenagers were jumping off the end of the dock. Not the one pictured above, which was a modest and very six-year-old-friendly two or three feet from the water, but the one below, which was a very sixteen-year-old friendly 10 or 12 feet up.



As Zorah was running down the dock with her towel, she saw two girls in front of her, blocking the way as they slowly strolled to the end. "Excuse me, ladies!" she shouted as she ran by. The girls parted and turned around in surprise as Zorah ran between them.


It took a little while for them to coordinate it, but after about half an hour of Brian gathering up the nerve to jump in to the still icy waters, they did it.

I was glad Brian was there to jump in with her. I don't think I would have. Being a parent you expect to make certain sacrifices for your children, but plunging into near-Arctic waters just isn't one I'm prepared to make.

Mecca

Almost 15 years ago, I somehow discovered a company called Archie McPhee. I'm not sure how, maybe from a banner ad on the internet. Anyway, I fell in love with their weird items -- such as Jesus action figures, Senor Mysterioso, and Squirrel Underpants -- to the point where I even got all my Christmas presents there one year. I was thrilled to find that they actually had a physical location, even if it was in Seattle. So I vowed back then that if I were ever in the area, I would go to the store.

Entering Seattle, thoughts of Archie McPhee loomed large. At the same time, it seemed somewhat ridiculous to make a special trip to the store, which was half an hour away from our campground. But it seemed more ridiculous not to go thirty miles when I had already traveled more than a few hundred. So on our way to the Bainbridge Island ferry, I plotted our route to take us to Archie McPhee.

I think we spent about half an hour in the store, and I was laughing for pretty much the whole time. I think the Stress Weiner set me off.

No regrets, and fond memories as I fulfilled an early adulthood dream. I only wish there were some way Michael could retrieve the Bibo alarm clock and give it to me.

Beach Quest

Today we wanted to find a good beach at which to spend an afternoon. Our strategy: pull up a map of the area on Mapquest and drive around. We found Des Moines Beach Park. It looked like a beach on the map, but when we walked down a path to a pretty expansive beach, we found that it was fenced off, and the only place to lie out in the sun (not our goal in any case) was the grass.

Zorah had fun anyway climbing the rocks that bordered the path on the ocean side. She sang and climbed and crawled all the way back down the path.

We went to the small, rocky beach closer to the parking lot for a little while. But it just didn't seem like a nice place to spend a long time.

We headed back home, stopping first to eat at a mexican restaurant called Azteca. Apparently it was one of a chain. These restaurants are light, airy, and decorated with all sorts of tile and plates. Zorah said it looked like a Mexican palace. She took this picture because she was so impressed with the decor.

Not a very eventful day, but a good one.

Kubota Gardens

As we were approaching Seattle from Portland, I saw the words "Kubota Garden" on one of those attraction signs by the side of the highway. When I googled it, I found that the Kubota Garden is a public park. It was initially the private project of one Mr. Fujitari Kubota, who immigrated here from Japan and in 1927, bought five acres of swampland to convert into a Japanese garden. Eighty-two years later, it is a sprawling, stunning, winding twenty acres.

Even when it was privately owned, it was shared with the public. The serenity of the place is apparent at the first glimpse of the gate. Of course, I then noticed the sign warning visitors not to leave valuables in their cars. After returning to the car to remove the faceplate from our stereo, a week-old replacement for our old one, Zorah and I proceeded to passs through the gate.

Immediately to our right were some artfully placed rocks which Zorah climbed for a while.

We wound down some paths that I think may have been strictly for maintenance of the park rahter than for exploration, when we heard someone coughing the sick, hacking cough of the unsavory. Now traveling in the opposite direction, we came to a stand of pines and saw this bumblebee trying to burrow into the ground. I have never heard of that before, and we were fascinated with watching it. I guess this was the queen bee trying to find a new nest? It seemed like it kept digging.


We went down and up more narrow and windy paths, shaded by huge rhododendrons that had been growing here probably for 80 years or more. Each clearing led to a beautiful surprise, be it a red bridge or one made of stone slabs.






We began walking up a hill and ran into a little girl and her grandmother. They were at the park searching for letterboxes. If you've never heard of them, as I hadn't, they are little boxes people hide on the grounds of parks/points of interest around the world. Clues to their locations are posted on a website. You take a stamp you have made and a notebook with you to find the boxes, in which are contained a notebook and a homemade stamp. Each notebook gets a stamp and a note on who you are and where you're from. Pretty neat. And a little bit of a motivator to go out and explore your world. Zorah and Ellie had fun searching for them.




When Ellie and her grandmother had to go, Zorah and I walked around the park for a little while longer. Being hot and tired, though, we didn't stay for long.

Just long enough to figure out that I can use the timer on my camera fairly successfully.

And to take a picture of this tree with leaves like fans.

Edmonds Rotary Waterfront Festival

Friday we also had dinner with and visited the house of a friend of Brian's. While at his house, we made a plan to join them at a festival in Edmonds, a short drive from Everett, WA, where we were staying. We drove out there for a late lunch at Anthony's Waterfront. Little did we know it was a restaurant with two separate dining areas. One, more upscale, was upstairs. This is the one we ended up in. The other, located below, was their Beach Grill, which had a nice sandbox, which Zorah played in while we were waiting for the upstairs restaurant's kitchen to open.

It was worth the wait due to the half-price appetizers and the view of the water. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, Brian intoduced Zorah to Hangman. I don't know why we have to include the noose. Next time I think we'll leave it out. Her favorite part of the game was actually finishing out the drawing of the effigy.

After we ate we wandered around the waterfront festival, which is another way of saying "people in tents trying to sell you things". There was one booth for a local preschool where they had free arts and crafts activities for the kids. Zorah made a bead necklace with big wooden beads and drew a picture with big wax crayons.

Interestingly, Zorah gives a similar look to that of her creation when she feels she's looking or acting particularly appealing.

After the preschool booth, we wandered the stalls until we found our friends. They were in an area enclosed by a chainlink fence, which the Rotary Club had dubbed the beergarden. Inside, a band was playing and beer was being sold. Minors were not allowed in there, but they did have tables set up on the outside, pushed up against the chainlink fence, so that family members under the age of 21 could enjoy the fun as well. Nothing like waving at your family or giving them the thumbs up through a chainlink fence, right?

Brian stayed there and gave Zorah twenty dollars to spend on pony rides, a climbing wall, and any other entertainment contained outside the walls of the beer garden. We waved goodbye and went off to see what fun could be had without beer.

The pony ride was five dollars, which is pretty much the standard fare for pony rides we've encountered; that wasn't the strange part. What struck me was the staff.

The ride was run by a mother and her two children, who I'm guessing were about 11 and 14. The ponies were attached to spokes on a hub, and one person would take a pony by the bridle and walk it around the circle. It seemed an easy enough task, and the day was slightly overcast, breezy, and cool. Nevertheless, the children looked so beleaguered as they trudged around in the circle. It recalled Conan the Barbarian prior to his escape from slavery. The highlight of the ride, according to the sign, was that you could stay on for a long time. Zorah and another little girl went on, and with each revolution, you could see their expressions shifting slightly from "Isn't this fun?" to "Get me off of here!"

Zorah decided to spend the rest of her money on a necklace. It was originally $20, and she bargained it down to $15. We wandered the stalls for a while longer and had some gummy siao pao and some pizza. By that time, the biergarten show was over, adn we headed home. Good times.

Lakeside RV Park

Today, sitting outside the trailer "enjoying" a cigarette, Brian came across this fuzzy caterpillar. Zorah wanted to keep it as a pet and dubbed it Anecia. We put it in a Mason jar without the lid and with a few leaves from the shrubbery outside our door.

It didn't seem to be eating the leaves, so we walked down to the duck pond at the park to try to find some that the little thing would eat.

There was a disturbing number of ducks there, more than I had seen at any pond before. I think there were probably about 50 of them. They weren't menacing, but they were legion.

Anyway, we found a few new types of leaves and brought them home to Anecia.

Alki Beach, Seattle, WA

Yesterday when we had asked the park staff if we could stay longer without moving spaces, they gave us an unqualified no. There was someone scheduled to stay in our space, and they couldn't be moved. Had they requested that space in particular? No. They just couldn't move him. It didn't make much sense to me, but it did mean that we had to try to find a better place to stay. First, however, we decided to go to a nice place for lunch. Being on the ocean, Brian felt that seafood would be a great choice, so he picked out a restaurant called Duke's on Alki Beach in Seattle.

We parked at the beach and crossed the street to the restaurant. As we were walking down the sidewalk, we passed this stand renting surreys, tandem bicycles, and other beachy vehicles. Brian said he would have preferred one of those things where the person pulls you in a cart, but we couldn't remember what it was called. So I asked Zorah. For some reason, I thought she would remember. Without hesitation, she answered "Rickshaw." Of course she was right. Brian was amazed. He loves it when she knows words that he doesn't. She claims to have learned it from the Amazing Race, showing once again that TV has its uses once the commercials are removed.

After lunch, which was delicious, we decided to take a walk on the beach. It was unique in our experience because of the surrounding landscape of mountains ringing the beach. I wanted to check our parking situation because I thought we were in a handicapped space, so I walked back up to the truck while Zorah and Brian went down to the water.

I came back to this, a sopping Zorah gleefully splashing through the ocean. "Shouldn't you have had her take her dress off first?" I asked Brian. "She didn't want to," he replied.

There you have it. This wouldn't have been so bad if we had brought a towel or an extra change of clothing.

I wasn't going to make her get out. She was having too much fun.

After a while, we went back up to the truck. Zorah was freezing by now, so we had her remove the wet clothes, which we hung on the handle of our hitch in the back of our truck so they could dry. Then we pretty much headed home.

Seattle Bound

Much as we hated to, we left Portland. More people to see and things to do, and a deadline of August 1 in which to see and do it all. I think of all the places we've been so far in our travels, Portland has been the place I felt we hadn't come close to exploring fully. The forsythia were of course in full bloom, a nice contrast to the snowy peak in the distance. Mount Rainer, perhaps?

As we drove, these strange three towers loomed in the distance. I turned on my camera and was able to get a closer shot. Apparently, this is the Gospodor Monument Park, built by a millionaire in the Olympia area to commemmorate events, ideas, and people. Here's more information if you care to know it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seawallrunner/32825160/

I suppose it's just as good a use for $500,000 as any.

It certainly adds an air of mystery to Interstate 5.

As we continued down the highway, we saw a sign for Mrs Beasley's Burgers. The name was immediately recognizable, conjuring up images of a doll in a blue and white polka dot dress with square black glasses. Why I thought a doll from a 1960s television show would equate with yummy burgers I don't know. Fortunately, we were not disappointed. The fries were crisp, and the burger was tasty. Zorah happily ate hers while reading about Earth and space.

We finally pulled into the RV park we had chosen for at least this night. It is hard to find an RV park in Seattle itself, so we had to settle for an outlying area close to the foosball tournament Brian was planning on going entering. We got unhooked and mostly unpacked, then Zorah and I ran to the nearby Trader Joe's for groceries. It took a little longer than we thought, so once we got back and unpacked, we went with Brian, he on his bike, to the tournament location. Supposedly it was a bar and grill where we would all be able to share dinner before he played.

We pulled out front, and it looked like a bar. No frills, no grills, no kids. And it was. No surprise there really, since foosball has only recently turned into a family sport. Anyway, we went to a Chinese restaurant instead, right across the parking lot from the bar.

For some reason, in new and predominantly white places, I feel uncomfortable walking into an Asian restaurant. I feel like customers there will be thinking I had to have Chinese food and made Brian and Zorah tag along with me. There is really no rational explanation for either why I think this way or why I should care. Anyway, we ate, we ordered, the food was good. We gave Brian a kiss and good luck wishes and headed back to the RV park to relax and settle in.