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.

The Playground

On the way to the playground near the house, both Isabel and Celia fell asleep. Apparently this was a rare occasion! We wheeled them out since Zorah was still awake and eager to play, and Zorah went on the swings while Ela and I talked. I would get up every now and then to push Zorah on the swings and take these pictures.

Shortly after this one, she discovered a new playground attraction. I call it the sky track. It's a handle on a track that you run and grab, and you slide a few feet, kind of like a zipline. She got pretty good at getting the handle back to one side of the track when it got stuck in the middle, but I came and pushed it for her a few times.

I think we were there about an hour, then returned to the house. I picked up Brian at the RV park, and we all had dinner and talked, reluctantly leaving sometime past Zorah's bedtime. It sucked to be leaving. I am hoping that we can make it up there for longer next summer. Sigh.

Portland Children's Museum

On our last day in Portland, Manny was working, so Ela and I decided to take the kids to the Portland Childrens Museum. We met at the house and hung around for a while, then we took Ela's car to the museum. I'm not sure why everything takes longer with kids, it just does. Besides, our family has a thing about hanging around chatting. We find it just as enjoyable as other activities.

Anyway, we got there and made Zorah and Isabel take a picture by the deconstructed cow. I think if they didn't want kids to climb on it, they probably should have encased it in lucite or glass. More effective than the "Please Do Not Climb" sign.

The first place we seriously investigated was the stage, which had a xylophone and other musical instruments, and costumes. Since there were no princess outfits, Zorah quickly gravitated to the xylophone, and Isabel followed. For some reason this irritated Zorah. I think she's used to having things to herself at childrens museums. We usually go to the one in Vegas on weekdays when there's no one else there, so she gets to fiddle with things as much as she wants with little interference. Since she wasn't sharing well, we temporarily separated from Ela, Isabel, and Celia.



This museum has a lot of places to explore because it is distributed through hallways and rooms. It's not just a big open space with different exhibits. We were surprised when we went down one hallway, ran into and open space at the corner of the building, and found this reading tree. Zorah sat down under the stairs into the treehouse and read a book. Do all kids love little nooks? I think so.

The reading time seemed to settle Zorah down a bit, so we rejoined Ela and, after a snack, went to the Bob the Builder exhibit, which was very cute. Something about round figures with little black dots for eyes. They had a cool section where you complete a stone wall with these magnetic stones. If I remember right, they were styrofoam or light plastic "stones" with just a strip of magnet stuck to the back.

Just pick one up and stick it on the wall. Fortunately they were good about sharing here.

It was getting late, and the museum may even have been closing, so we left.

Vista House

Vista House is a sort of museum and visitor center located on top of a hill on the Columbia River. It serves as a place to learn about the structure itself, the surrounding area, and the history of both. You approach it on a road winding through lush greenery, bordered by trees. Then, suddenly, the greenery opens up onto an expansive, panoramic view of the river gorge.

I think I may actually have gasped, or gone "ooh!" at our first sight of this area.

Sitting in the middle of this twisting road, was the incongruous art deco Vista House.

Unfortunately, the building closes at 6 pm, so we were only able to put our noses to the glass to see what was inside. I couldn't see much. Outside, however, were the breathtaking views, so it wasn't too much of a disappointment.

Also incongruous, perhaps even more so than the Vista House itself, was this tourist trio, dubbed "The Russian Hookers" by Manny. I had mixed feelings about the ladies' choice of outfits for an outing to the waterfalls near Portland. I was both amused and horrified. Would Zorah's flower girl hiking outfit soon graduate to iron curtain chic?

We still had a laugh and a gawk despite my internal maternal worries. Once everyone was ready to continue, and Mojo, who rode with us, returned happily to his family, we went to Ohana Hawaiian Cafe for dinner. It was good! Since I've only been to chain Hawaiian BBQs such as Ohana and L & L, it was nice to go to a real Hawaiian restaurant. Zorah and I shared the Kalua Pig and the Yakisoba. Yum!

Afterwards, we were all tired from our long day, so we parted ways at the restaurant. I wonder why it's so much fun to watch toddlers eat.

Latourell Falls

Yesterday Manny and Ela returned from the tradeshow in Seattle, but since they were tired from the trip, we planned on meeting up today instead and heading to the waterfalls surrounding the Portland area. They met us at our noisy campground, and we headed off to Latourell Falls, which is one that none of us had yet visited. We parked, got all our stuff, and saw that there were two paths we could take to either the base or the head (?) of the falls. We chose the former. Zorah and Brian went ahead a bit, and climbed up a trail which wound above the path.

As we walked down the path we could see this huge stream of water crashing down in front of this cavern that looked sort of like a gigantic fossilized hornet's nest.

I hadn't thought about it coming here, but of course at the base of the waterfall it was cold, windy, and damp. The water pounding on the rocks sent off this constant cold mist, which would have been nice in 90 degree weather. In 70 degree weather, in the shade, it was unpleasant. Zorah didn't seem to mind it too much, however, dressed as she was in appropriate hiking attire.

We decided next to walk up to the top of the falls, hoping it would be warmer. After about a half an hour of hiking, we still hadn't seen the top of the falls, but we knew that the path was a loop, and that if we kept going we must run into it somewhere. Brian picked up a walking stick along the way. With huge moss-covered trees, ferns as big as banana leaves, and clovers as big as the palm of my hand, those woods felt like a prehistoric rainforest.

We ended up walking separately some of the way because Celia got hungry. Eventually, though, we met up and walked the rest of the way down the trail.


It was indeed a loop, though we had to cross the road to complete it. We ended up back at the base of the falls, a welcome sight not only because it meant the end of our three-hour hike. I mean, look!




We took one more picture climbing up the path, then headed to Vista House, which we had passed on the way to the falls. I think at that point we were all tired and hungry (with the exception, perhaps, of Celia), though also invigorated by the hike. At least, I was.

If you asked me what I wanted to do with my time, I would probably say read and eat a snack, play a video game, or dick around on my computer. But if you asked me what I have enjoyed dong most on this trip, it would be walking through the woods and gardens of this land. Curious.

The Portland Classical Chinese Garden

One might think that Zorah and I had had our fill of gardens, but we had not. Today we headed to my third goal, the Chinese garden, and Zorah happily and enthusiastically agreed that it would be great. Brian, however, had had enough of gardens before we even started. He likes the outdoors, but he's less about the flora and more about the water that gives it life.

When we got to the garden, I was somehow surprised to see that it was in Chinatown. Duh! I guess I assumed it would be in a similar setting to the Japanese Garden. Live and learn. Had we known its location prior to our visit, I think Brian would have come with us in hopes of eating some good Chinese food. Oh, well.

The Chinese Garden is in a comparatively small walled compound in the downtown Portland Chinatown area. White walls surround it, with windows cut into them, offering the pedestrians outside tantalizing peeks into the garden itself. Foliage escapes and beckons.

I suppose you miss all this if you park in front of the garden. We drove past it and parked around the corner and further down the road so we got to walk around the whole compound before being greeted by the stone lions by the front entrance. Are they really lions? They don't look like lions...

This garden was lovely as well, but it didn't have quite the same appeal as the Japanese Garden. I suppose that this one was more constrained both by space and by structure. One of the strange features here was this courtyard, which you weren't supposed to enter. It was made solely to be admired from this oddly shaped opening. Apparently all the tiling and placement of things had a special significance, hinted at by the lengthy names of the various areas of the garden, like "Painted Boat in Misty Rain".

To one side of the garden is the "Tower of Cosmic Reflections." Here, they have a Chinese teahouse operated by Tao of Tea, an uberteahouse in Portland. They have a tea menu describing teas and their origins, how they're grown, the best way to drink them, etc. It was really quite silly, but Zorah and I decided to go there for a little snack anyway. We were seated on creaky Chinese antiques, charming and authentic, and ordered hibiscus tea and peppermint tea, with a lotus seed mooncake. A mooncake is a traditional Chinese pastry, usually served for the Moon Festival. A light dough is wrapped around a filling of beans, lotus seed, or what have you, then the little package is pressed into a mooncake mold, removed from the mold, and baked.

By the time we were done sipping our tea and nibbilng on lotus root paste, it was almost closing time at the garden. They rent the place out for weddings, and one was scheduled for that very day. So we left, but not before taking a picture from the window of the teahouse. If I could only visit one place in Portland, however, I would go to the Japanese Garden, which seemed to be more organic, serene, and less fussy.

Washington Park

Yesterday the Portland Velosos left for Seattle, so we Salkes were left to our own devices in the area for a few days. That's what happens when we don't make concrete plans, I suppose. Of course, it's hardly a tragedy to be in Portland without one's family. We made do. I had Googled "things to do in Portland" and found a few places I thought Zorah would be interested in visiting. Three points of interest were gardens, since she loves flowers. We found out from Manny that two of the gardens were right next to each other, so we decided to go to those today.

The Portland Japanese Garden and the International Rose Test Garden are both located in Washington Park. Zorah and I drove there in the truck. I didn't even think about the fact that it was Saturday, and that Portlanders are outdoorsy types, so we had some difficulty parking close to the gardens. We actually looped past them down a very windy road, and -- maybe a half mile from our original destination -- finally found several open spaces so I could park the truck without worrying about causing damage to other vehicles.

We weren't sure of the best way to get back up the hill to the rose garden, but against all logic, we decided to continue downhill to see what we would find. Not too far from our parking space, I saw a narrow path going straight up the hill.

It started out okay, but then got steep enough that we were using a vertical crawl to ascend, grabbing roots or bushes to keep from sliding down. We reached a path running perpendicular to ours, but decided to keep climbing (or crawling) straight up the hill. The light just at the top suggested we would be out in the open soon.

Finally, we burst out of the bushes into a clearing where, rather incongruously, we saw a pale, skinny, barechested man sunning himself on a lawn. A gravel path curved to the left and up, right to the rose garden. Perfect!

We happily wandered through the rose garden, taking pictures of particularly beautiful new hybrid roses. Unfortunately we were still a bit early to see all of the roses in bloom, but there were still plenty to see, like this one, called the Rose des Sylphes.

Apparently, during World War I, hybridists sent samples of their roses from all over the world to this garden to save them from the ravages of war. Since then, people still send their roses there to be observed and evaluated for four years in hopes of achieving the approval of the All-America Rose Selection. Interesting history, but, really, they smell good and look nice. That's enough for me.

After admiring the roses, we crossed the street to the Japanese Garden, which was truly a wonder. Whereas the Rose Test Garden was a straightforward nursery type of garden with even rows and terraces, the Japanese Garden was a place to explore, with shaded twisty paths and tunnels of foliage, opening into surprising clearings with fountains, pools, ornaments, and benches where we stopped for snacks.

I really could have filled a lot of space here with photos of it, but didn't want to use up all my blog's storage space. The care involved in creating this place, which is a hugh 5.5 acres, is awesome.

I think this may be one of my favorite places that I've seen in our travels. It would have been better if there were less people around. If I lived in Portland, I think I could be found there on most days. I'd love to see what it's like in all seasons.

So at this point we had done plenty of walking, exploring, and admiring of things and decided to head to the playground, which we had passed on our search for a parking space. It was a huge play area with a stone elephant Zorah honored with a flower on its head.

We headed down a similar path to the one we climbed to get to the gardens, and went back to the trailer for dinner.

Now Entering Portland

As we were driving through Oregon, approaching Portland, I was amazed by how fecund and lovely it is. Even the rest areas had rosebushes, beautifully manicured lawns, and picturesque views, as shown below.

Another thing I noticed as we approached Portland proper was that people here don't speed. I think the fastest I saw anyone traveling was maybe five miles over the posted limit. Amazing! My theory is that when the drive is so scenic, there is no need to rush. I don't know.

Anyway, we drove around for a lot longer than anticipated trying to find a good RV park. We finally chose one and went to eat a late lunch at a restaurant close to the park. It was a lovely, sunny day, so we sat outside on their patio. As the waitress was taking our order, we felt this rumble and heard this incredibly loud noise, which only (impossibly) got louder. It was a fighter jet of some sort flying over. Of course, the first thing I thought of was that we had just paid for a week at the RV park located a stone's throw away from the restaurant. "Does that happen often?" we hesitantly asked. "All the time." Fortunately, they only fly by in the afternoons.

After lunch, I finished setting up our trailer for the week. Manny and Isabel picked Zorah and me up, and we drove to their house. I hadn't seen Isabel for almost a year. Of course, she grew a lot, but it is still a surprise when you see how much they've grown. The last I remember she was stumbling around banging on things and waving them in the air. Now she's talking and running, showing her personality. Very cool.

When we got to the house, we got to meet Celia for the first time. Round, happy, hungry baby. Then Manny and Ela's friends came, so we all hung around and talked and watched the kids play. Got back to the trailer around 11, tired but happy to be around family again.