You can't stay there forever.

My Washington stay was about to end so instead of coming home, Ms Darlene flew up for a few days.

I pretty much took her to the sites that were reasonably accessible, such as Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, the skyline view from West Seattle, Gig Harbor, Mount Rainier and a lot of really neat places.

I had not been north of Vancouver British Columbia so that was added to our quick agenda as well.

Here's a few pictures.

The Seattle skyline from west Seattle

 

Then there's Pikes Place Public Market with peppers 

 

Ruston, Washington with Mount Rainier

Traffic is almost as bad as Baton Rouge

 The trip would have been incomplete without taking her up to Sunrise on Mount Rainier

Part of our plans were to ride up to Vancouver but after arriving, we decided to move on up the coast to Whistler, he home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Along the way we hiked around the coast.  The sites were stunning to a pair of bayou drifters.

There were waterfalls along the way.  Not much of a hike.

 

Probably the most interesting thing we enjoyed was the Sea To Sky Gondola ride.  We watched for a while to make sure that's exactly what we wanted to do.  You know, it's a long drop if one of those cables break.

 

Longer and higher than we thought.

At the top, there was a suspension bridge we negotiated.

Although signs warn people not to run on these things, it never fails finding some dufus who thinks it's too scary to walk and decide to run causing the whole thing to swing and shake.

Ms Darlene was certainly not ready to come home but time was limited.  So, back to Seattle for the last day.  Here's one of the nice restaurants we tried; Anthony's on Pier 66.  Good seafood here.

I put her on the plane early Monday morning and made sure she was on the right side so she could see Rainier one more time as she flew back to Louisiana.  I followed a couple of days later.

Wasting away in Middle Tennessee

Having a break from the 20 and 30° temperatures and now in the mid sixties, brought lots of rain along the I-40 corridor in middle Tennessee.  Being literally 40 miles from a town of any proportions that would have any restaurant of acclaim, I stopped in at the Hot Spot Barbeque for dinner.

If you get past the idea that you're stuck out in the middle of nothing, you begin to look around at the curiosities and odd little things that the locals do.  Here at the Hot Spot, you're confronted with a collection of corny gun and Harley Davidson signs (although there is no evidence this is a biker place), handwritten menus on the walls, plastic table cloths and..........9 pound turnips.

At first I thought it was fake but the owner soon confirmed it was the real deal  The 11 pound sweet potato behind was an added benefit.  I was amused and almost brought to tears at times as the locals bantered with the owner and kidded the two 70ish something waitresses about wearing sexier clothing.  Can you imagine Granny Clampett wearing skinny jeans?  Me neither.

Saturday, I had to get out of the hotel so I took a ride through Bucksnort, heading south through small back roads that sometimes became dirt roads where deer, turkey and rabbits abound.   I think I saw 6 deer in various places, 5 of which did not have a tire track across their bodies.

Looking down at my instrument gauge, I saw that I had a very low tire so I began to seek out a service station with an air pump.  Stopping at a small convenience store near Ethridge, I was amazed to see an Amish looking buggy pulling up.  Sure enough, two young men dressed in traditional Amish attire got out and went into the store.  Later, after checking the internet,  I found out there is a small enclave of Amish in middle Tennessee.  As one website says, it's in no danger of out populating Lancaster, Pennsylvania or Holmes County, Ohio but there is a presence as well as a few in Alabama and maybe even in Oklahoma.





Amish with a southern accent.  Who knew?