Probably my last weekend in Western Washington

What a great weekend. It was nice and cool so even though I had to work Saturday morning, I took advantage of the afternoon and rode up Hwy 101 on the eastern side of the Olympic Peninsula. The road was a winding path along the Puget Sound which inspired several little side trips that presented the beginnings of the change of fall colors.

Sunday, I rode back up to Seattle so I could exchange my car to take advantage of a promotion that would yield some more free days on my rental program. Again, the sun was out so that drew out a lot of people making the traffic especially nasty. I fought my way downtown to the Public Market, paid an unbelievable amount to park and got out with my camera and bag to do a little people watching.

One of the first things that got my attention was what seemed to be an inordinate amount of teenage street children. Even though the sun was shining, the temperature was in the mid 50s and a light jacket was needed by most. I walked by three of them huddled up against a wall having a grand old time. One of the boys was shirtless and the cool breeze didn't seem to affect him in the least. You have to wonder what kind of chemicals he had coursing through his veins.

There were lots of people, young and old perusing the sidewalk cafes, small shops and pocket parks. Old panhandling vagrants sat next to couples with children and pets. Entire families seemed to enjoy the sun and bicyclists and scooter riders negotiated the hoards of human traffic. It wouldn't be Seattle if there wasn't at least one group protesting something, this time it was human rights abuses in China. Just wait until the conservatives are back in power and it will turn viral toward them again. Five years ago, I was here and it seemed there was some kind of protest against the administration every few blocks.

After an hour I began to get bored with people watching, so I began to make my way up the very steep incline toward where my car was parked. I'm so out of shape!

I might mention, Mount Rainier is a very prominent part of the landscape here but the climate is so wet, it takes a really bright day to burn off the mist so it becomes visible. Today was one of the best days to see it since I've been up here.

Coffee

From St Louis, I had to come back to Olympia for another two weeks, so this morning I was out scouting for a good cup of joe, when I saw this woman in her electric wheel chair in the drive through lane at a local coffee shop.

I realize handicapped people have wants and needs like everyone else but just thought the irony of a wheel chair in the drive through was kinda funny being here in the Pacific wet coast where you can stand in the doorway of one Starbucks and see another across the street in some places.

Sick and twisted, I am.

Bean

Finishing up in Olympia last week, I enjoyed a long weekend at home using it mostly to catch up on things I had been putting off for months.

Wednesday found me scrambling for plane rides again for an annual conference in St Louis which I partly dread and partly enjoy. What I enjoy is getting together with people I speak with often but only see once a year. The part I do not look forward to is the seemingly endless one hour talks by some department leader who probably would rather be doing something else too.

So, as a certified bean, I have been counted and analyzed by those whose job it is to do so and can be thankful it's over for another year and can go back to doing my job as well as I can.

Pacific Wet Coast

I had uttered a preference for working west of the Mississippi River so for the second time this month, I find myself flying west. This time to Olympia Washington. My only experience in working Washington was over in the Tri-Cities area of Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland, an intirely different experience politically as well as geographically. While over there, I did have the chance to come to Seattle for the usual tourist traps.

This being a pretty short gig of two weeks, my only chance to really get out was Saturday so I immediately headed to Seattle for another glimpse at the areas I had checked out before. Although I'm headed out in another day, I look forward to the chance of getting back, hopefully in drier weather.

Sunday, I had hoped on riding down to Cannon Beach in Oregon but with it raining most of the day, I didn't want to deal with traffic on wet roads. Instead, I took a walk through the Tumwater Falls park near where I'm staying. Although there was a light rain, people young and old were on the trails. What you do notice here is there are no umbrellas to be seen. Some wear hats and perhaps a hood on their sweater but an umbrella salesman would starve here.

The Falls were modest but nice and scenic. Chinook Salmon made their way upstream where they are trapped and sorted. If the Chinook has an adipose fin still intact, it is permitted to continue upstream. Those without adipose fins were raised in the hatchery here and were clipped before they were released to go downstream and eventually into the pacific. The unfortunate fish I took a picture of (click to enlarge) has no adipose (rear back fin) fin, therefore when she gets to the top, she will be sorted out and gutted for her eggs because she was a hatchery Chinook. All that work going upstream only to be trapped and gutted. Sounds like life in general.

Just an observation and not being political.... BUT...I've never seen so many street corner beggars in my life. While I am given to helping out people in need without question (and I've been taken a few times), a person would put himself in the poor house if you gave a couple of bucks to every street corner bum you come across in this area. They're all over the place, some old, some female, some fat, some skinny, some dressed nicely and some look like real bums. Some have dogs and the occasional ice cooler. While some are truly down on their luck or out there through no fault of their own, to me, it appears that it is a choice to many of them.

Now, since Ive brought up the subject of street beggars, what I don't see.......is black bums, Asian bums or Mexican bums. Go figure.