Wednesday September 5^th – We were planning a low key day with cleaning chores and an afternoon bike ride when Texting with nephew Matt we found this was there open day so we switched gears and met them for our “tour guide” Version of Seattle. I’m pretty sure it kept me from the usual Big City Rage…

The "Official" fish toss at the Pike Market

 

The "Original" Starbucks

We had an enjoyable lunch in Ashley’s old home town and saw all the downtown “things” that we had patience for. The Pike Market was great and the Space Needle was even tolerable for Linda at over 500 feet off the ground.

 

Long, but fun day – with the sun setting as we headed home.

 

Tuesday, September 4^th - We walked around the Marina to the north of us this morning and among the trees that lined the fields were blackberries, some of the sweetest blackberries I’ve ever had so we had plenty of fruit before we got back. They were picking squash or pumpkins in the field but we couldn’t get through the berries to see for sure. After breakfast we rode our bikes to town. It is a cute old harbor town with most of the buildings being used as shops and restaurants. We chose a wood fired pizza place for lunch and they had a choice of microbrews to go with it. Then we rode back to the campground and drove toward Anacortes – an island town with ferry service to the San Juan Islands. It is a beautiful area and we went to the Deception Pass area that has two bridges that link it to another Island and a scenic State Park. We really like to let Lexi roam as free as her electronic collar allows but the $87.00 fine for off leash in this park said – no water time for you dog!!

 

Then we went through the Historic downtown to see buildings that were built in boom times when they thought the railroad was coming there but it ended up in Seattle instead.

 

Monday September 3^rd – We don’t usually travel on holidays but the choice wasn’t ours. At one point we could see far off Mount Rainer and at 14,400 feet it is still snow covered. We got caught in a traffic jam about 30 miles ahead of the mountain pass that caused about an hour of stop and go traffic, and traffic was heavy all but the last 20 miles. A lot of fruit stands are in this area and fields are being picked.