Friday, we traveled a different road, Route 2 into Washington, Lots of fruit trees near the Columbia River. Drove up into Stevens Pass, 4061 feet, snow and waterfalls. Down the other side of the pass and we discovered Leavenworth. A delightful Bavarian Village. Of course we had to stop, walk around and reminisce. We had wurst, kraut and German potato salad. It is a place we will have to visit again. Of course it will go on the bottom of the list since we have so many new places we want to see.
We arrived at Paige's brothers house in Snohomish at 3:30 and that evening we went to the Raging River Saloon to hear his band, the CD Woobury Band play. Great fun, great music.
Saturday, a second cold and rainy day, we headed to the Museum of Flight in Seattle with Don, Holly and Griffin, their son. It was a wonderful museum- too much to see in one afternoon.
Sunday, cold with some showers, We headed to Seattle Center with Don to spend time at the Folklife Festival, a three day event with amazing music, dance, singing and an Arts and Crafts show. There were many bands in a half dozen venues, lots of street performers from jugglers, musicians, belly dancers... crazy... also, food venders with ethnic foods from all over the world. We heard some great music, African, Brazilian, Middle East; saw a Chinese Dance troupe and lots of great drumming. People watching was just as fun as over 100,000 people attend each day. We saw some very interesting outfits, hair styles, and tattoos. People were zoned, stoned, doing yoga, meditating, wearing signs around their necks saying " free hugs"! It was wild.
Sunday, another day of showers. We said good by to Paige's brother's family and drove north and then on to Whidbey Island through part of Deception Pass State Park. Very Picturesque. At Fort Casey we took the 12:00 ferry over to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. After lunch we drove through part of the Olympic National Park where Dave got another stamp in his Park Passbook. We drove up Hurricane Ridge, very steep, windy, rainy and foggy. At the top there was a lot of snow and unfortunately it was too foggy to see much.
Tomorrow we get the ferry over to Victoria, Canada, where we will spend three nights. I am not sure what our internet capability will be from now on. We will try to update the blog as often as we can. Keep checking in for more adventures.
We are on Vancouver Island in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, for three days. We got off the ferry yesterday around 2:30 and because it was not raining, a rarity in the last five days, we drove 13 miles outside Victoria to Butchart Gardens. 55 acres of beautiful gardens with lots of flowers in bloom.
Today, Wednesday, we started by spending the morning at the Royal BC Museum. At the entrance is Thunderbird Park with many intricately carved totem poles that represent First Nations communities across BC. One exhibit titled Old Town was a replica of an entire 1800's village, stores, hotel, mining, lumber, a home... it took up almost the entire third floor. It was fascinating. We also enjoyed the exhibits on the first peoples of British Columbia.
In the afternoon we toured the Legislative building and learned about their parliament. Here are some interesting facts: B.C. has 60% of the world's mountain goats and 25% of the world's grizzly bears and eagles. We stopped at the famous Empress Hotel, opened in 1908 for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Many Royals have visited. We had something to drink at the Bengal Lounge ( with a real Tiger hide on the wall). We ended the day with a 90 minute bus tour of the city and some of its neighborhoods such as China Town, the really neat suburbs, and some of the beautiful parks. Everywhere there are lovely gardens. This is such an interesting place, and it so neat and clean. There is a very strong sense of pride of place here! We learned lots.
