Leaving Seattle Friday, I received a call while at the airport directing me to St Joseph, Michigan and the catch was, I would have to be there Sunday. That meant any long weekend plans were now compressed into Saturday and Sunday morning. That would be seeing children, grandchildren and accomplishing a couple of minor "honey-do" items on the list.
Saturday was the 2010 Gulf Coast Motorcycle Championship Skills competition in Gonzales. There was a lot of great riding from officers all over the south. They were so good, I had the feeling I should just call a tow truck and have mine hauled home never to ride it again. These guys are simply good. There was a small window of time that I took a long ride out of the way to Alligator Bayou to check out a gang of old friends. I'm pretty sure they would have loved for me to join them but the water looked a tad nasty.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On my way to the Denver airport from Boulder, Darlene called me as the event were happening. I was able to hear the entire delivery and birth of my 5th grandchild, Davis Andrew Bourgeois. He was born approximately 10:37 a.m. CST, weighing 8 lbs and 11 oz. He was 21½ inches long.
Parents Laurie & Blaise along with big sister, Hadley welcomed him into the world.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. ~ J R R Tolkien
Thanks
Hi, I'm C R and thanks for the visit. I travel quite a bit and hopefully, this way, I can give you some photos and tales of my travels without you having to download them all.
Living on the road over 300 days a year absolutely destroys many a road warrior's dietary discipline.
Here's a few things I believe are detrimental to you and avoiding them are helpful in the prevention of packing on the pounds.
1. If your restaurant features some kind of stylized figure or cartoon character as it's logo or spokes person, don't go there, you can gain two pounds just by watching the commercial.
2. If your restaurant has a lighted sign on a pole and colored with yellow, red and blue, don't go there. You're a victim of subliminal advertising. Those colors crank your appetite into high gear.
3. Watch the other patrons. If more than half of them can be can be classified as overweight, fat, obese or morbidly obese, don't go there. You are who you associate with and misery loves company.
4. If your waitress delivers you two plates for you to serve yourself, don't go there. Buffet lines tend to make you want to "get your money's worth".
5. If your restaurant always has a cashier that can't operate the register and has to punch the pictures on the keyboard, don't go there. He or she wouldn't be able to spell cholesterol anyway.
6. If your restaurant asks you not to place the plastic trays in the garbage, don't go there. At least a tip isn't involved.
7. If you can't understand your waiter because the cars behind you drown out the speaker on the sign, don't go there.
8. If you find yourself humming the jingle of your restaurant, don't go there.
9. If you saw the restaurant's logo on the side of a truck and trailer on the interstate, don't go there.
10. If you know the menu by number and "super-size" is part of it, don't go there.
11. Finally, don't order diet beverages. Only fat people drink them.
Good advice, I think. Do I live by these words of caution, oh heck no! I fight the pounds like everybody else but I do believe that obesity is associated with these foods.
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