Journey's End

We are back from our annual, family RV trip. This year, we finally made it to the Pacific Northwest. We've been trying to get out there for about 4 years now, and although we've been relatively close twice in that time, we just couldn't get there. Happily, the time was right and we were able to make it. It was a really nice trip, but it was grueling at the end. Three weeks is about one week too long, but when one is so far from home, it just takes forever.

The trip synopsis: We visited friends in Denver. We spent a day at the alpine slide in Winter Park and then it was off into Canada. We drove through Kamploops, had lunch there and stopped for a short time in the park by the river. We drove to Kelowna for supper with a quick visit to the lake. We took a windy, (as in the configuration of the road - not the description of the weather) mountain road to Whistler - a ski resort not too far from Vancouver. After having supper up there, we headed towards Vancouver. We parked the RV in a suburb of Vancouver for about 6 days. We rented a car and tooled around the city. I tried to go to Three Bags Full - a yarn shop there, but it was closed on Mondays. I did go to another one down the street. I forget the name, but it was very small and the selection was not very inspiring. We took the ferry over to Vancouver Island and stayed in Victoria for three days. I really enjoyed visiting Bouchart Gardens. I did go to a great yarn shop called Beehive Wool Shop in Victoria, and I purchased the first of my souvenirs - a hank of Sea Silk by Hand Maiden. It's a really pretty stormy sea (kind of a teal) color and it's enough to make a shawl. Knitting content and pictures will be addressed tomorrow.

After we left the Vancouver area, we headed to Seattle and spent 3 days there, but they were jam-packed days. I had wanted to contact an internet knit buddy while there, but although all the RV parks where we had stayed up to that point (and for the rest of the trip, it seems) had free wifi, it was either down or all the sites were blocked. (I found that one quite odd.) It was quite maddening not to be able to access my e-mail and my contact information. While in Seattle, I did manage to go to one knit shop (there are quite a few in the area), and it is a rather famous one in the knitting world, Tricoter. (www.tricoter.com - I don't know how to add links in my text yet; so, pardon my ignorance.) It was heavenly. Both of the owners were there and were so welcoming and hospitable. The shop is artfully arranged, and they carry some really nice yarns. The owners have done quite a bit of designing, and have published several books of their designs. I highly recommend visiting this shop if you are in the Seattle area. It was nice to sit down and knit and talk to women. I had a wonderful, though short, time there. We left Seattle, drove by Mt. St. Helen's, and then headed to the Oregon coast. We drove along the mid-coast for about 100 miles and it took several hours, as we stopped many times along the way. Before beginning the journey home in earnest, we stopped at Crater Lake. It was beautiful. Actually, it was beautiful everywhere we went and the weather was awesome! It was cool, dry and sunny. Towards the end of our trip, we were hearing about the start of the 100 degree days back in Texas, and we dreaded coming back to that.

We got home late Tuesday night. I spent most of Wednesday washing (and not making a dent in the piles in the laundry room). I went back to work on Thursday. Our inpatient census went up while I was away, and it was a little crazy trying to catch up on 20 patients between the two hospitals. We signed off quite a few cases yesterday; so, hopefully Monday won't be wild. Since I never work on the weekend, I never know what is waiting for me until I hit the hospital. It's always an adventure.

Here is one knitting-related picture. I was sewing up some little mitts that I made, and the yarn broke:




I was not impressed, to say the least. I wonder what will happen when I try to wash these things.

I don't even know the name of this yarn. I've lost the ball band. I got this and the fancy yarn that I used for the cuffs of these mitts at "Stitch-n-Pitch" in May. A better picture is coming tomorrow.

(Why tomorrow? Because the pictures I took with my camera are not very good, and I just loaded the program for uploading pics from the digital camera to the computer tonight, and the lighting is not good now for picture taking.)

Anyway, I will leave you with a few vacation pics:

This view of a BC ferry boat, going the opposite way, shows Mt. Ranier in the background. That's as close as we got to that mountain. On the day that we were leaving Seattle and were intending to visit, it was quite foggy. We proceeded to Mt. St. Helen's instead.



Here is a picture of my son on the ferry. He tends to make friends wherever he goes. Mostly, they are of the female persuasion.


I am standing outside the very first Starbucks store in Seattle.














Kenny is standing dangerously close to the cliff along the Oregon coast.



I am standing far from the edge of the Oregon coast.














Can you believe this lake was formed after a volcano caved in? It is one of the deepest lakes in the world.













I now bid you goodnight. I will return (for real, this time) tomorrow.