Bellingham
After all the excitement of the trip, it was kinda nice to settle in and relax a bit in Bellingham. The kids are renting a beautiful house in a nice neighborhood, with plenty of nearby amenities.
I parked myself on their comfy fold-out sofa, and slept well -- except for a short interruption when 3rd roommate Austin returned with the other former bandmate, Phil, around midnight.
As you might expect, I woke up 4 or 5 hours earlier than the kids did, so I checked my email, read the latest online news about the Colorado floods, and then went for a walk. After exploring the neighborhood and fortifying myself with an Egg McMuffin, I came back to the house and finished unloading Tanner's stuff out of my car.
When Tanner and Caitlyn finally emerged from hibernation, they agreed to give me a brief tour of the area. Caitlyn was on crutches with an injured leg, but didn't let that stop her from leading the afternoon's activities.
OK, I guess she did get a little bit of help...
We had brunch at the Horseshoe Café, which boasts of being the oldest continually operating café west of the Mississippi, open 24 hours a day. The French toast was pretty good.
After that, we went to Larabee State Park. (No, it was not named after the character on Get Smart, but you only missed it by that much.) Cute place, with lush, abundant greenery hiding a short path that takes you right down to the water.
It wasn't exactly cold...but it wasn't warm enough to convince us to remain at the water's edge for all that long. We then drove by the campus where Tanner will be working (and probably going to school), and then went for some ice cream.
I really enjoyed hanging out with the kids. They are a cute couple, always entertaining; and they didn't seem to be too awfully mortified to be seen in public with an old guy who was not only clueless about the local ultra-liberal hippie attitudes, but also had trouble figuring out his newfangled cell phone. I was thankful for that.
Our last stop of the day was to visit Whatcom Falls Park, which is about a mile from their house. Unfortunately, Caitlyn had some stuff she had to do, so we dropped her off at home, so it was up to just myself and Tanner to explore the woods.
Dusk was rolling in, but there was still plenty of light to see on the streets and in the parking lot. But the wooded canopy of the park was so thick that we were nearly blind wandering down the path, trying to find the falls themselves.
This is the best picture I could get in the forest darkness.
It was kinda creepy, standing on the edge of a 20 foot cliff (maybe higher) in the dark, listening to the waters crashing below. I don't know if Tanner will someday want to plunge off the cliff, but I'm pretty sure I won't. What do YOU think?
That was pretty much it for my adventure in Washington. I did get the boy to pose with me for one family photo before I left:
I decided to make my solo journey home a quick and direct one. It involved napping at rest areas, eating at gas stations, and seeing sunsets, sunrises, fog, rain, and more beautiful mountain scenery.
I got home about 5:30 in the morning on a Monday. I could've gone to swim practice, I suppose, but chose instead to go home and sleep soundly in my own bed. Frankly, I was happy to have an uneventful return trip. My one big accomplishment on that part of my vacation was that I picked up an adapter at a truck stop and figured out how to play music from my cell phone through my car speakers. Was I rocking out as I crossed the empty spaces of Wyoming? Why yes, yes I was.
Anyway, I do appreciate you taking the time to browse through my reports. My weekend activities since returning have included a long-course swim meet, a long hike in the mountains, and all sorts of laundry and housecleaning chores. But I doubt I'll bore you with any of that. Upcoming posts will most likely contain some nerd trivia challenges...if I can stop myself from ranting about the pinheads in Washington. For now, though, I shall once again thank you for your patronage, and wish you a fabulous day!
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home