Thursday: Exploring Discovery Park in Seattle

I couldn't wake them up this morning! They slept until 9! Then coffee, TV news, breakfast, showers... Jeez! People take a lot of time. Tiggers make it simpler: wake at 6, catch a duck, lick yourself clean, ready to go at 6:15.

Finally on the road... Nope! Albertson's grocery store, Radio Shack, Paula's Hallmark, Trader Joe's (Yippee - Triple Ginger Snaps), used book store.

Lunch at the Magnolia Village Pub where Poppa took this picture for Rich and Bonnie:




Then we went to Discovery Park, Seattle's biggest park. Here's the deal: In 1898, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce solicited donations of cash and land from citizens so it could present (GIVE!) 703 acres on Magnolia Bluff to the Army to create Fort Lawton. The fort didn't amount to much until WWII, then declined again after the Korean War. In 1964, the Army declared "most" of it "surplus". The Fort Lawson Bill, passed by Congress in 1970, ALLOWED the federal government to give surplus land to states and cities for parks and recreational purposes without cost. The "surplus lands", 505 of the original DONATED 703 acres, were transferred to Seattle in 1972.

So let me get this straight. Seattle and its citizens forked over 703 acres of prime real estate to the Army in 1898. 66 years later, the Army says it doesn't need most of it any more. Another 6 years pass, and Congress passes a bill that says 70% of the land you GAVE us can be yours again, but only for parks and recreation (and we're keeping some really nice parts in the middle of it, and you have to stay away from those parts.)

Did Congress confuse the city of Seattle with some unlucky Indian tribe?

O.K., I'm getting off the soapbox. The park is very nice, our walk was very nice, and Seattle deserves RAVE reviews for all the beautiful parks it preserves for its citizens (and the occasional migrant Tigger).

Here are some interesting trees we saw. (Do you remember that you can click on the pictures to see a larger version? That way you can see me better.)


So it's not always sunny in Seattle - looking at Bainbridge Island:



Nana is dwarfed:


I expected Robin of Locksley and a dozen of his men to drop out of this one. Notice the ferns growing on the second and third story branches:


These are the leaves - some kind of maple?



Tomorrow we're of to Cle Elum to see Quinn, Tessa, Gretchen, David, Terri, Damon, Avi, Deborah, Page, Diana, and Rose. If I can keep all those people straight, maybe I can find out what "Cle Elum" means.

Posted from Nana's iPad

Wednesday: Out and about in Seattle

We went to Quinn and Tessa's this morning to watch them while Gretchen and David got ready for a trip to Suncadia. David got Tessa dressed:




Then Nana read stories:







After they left we went back to the iPhone store so Poppa and Nana could argue with them. Poppa and Nana won, and they went to lunch.

Seattle is so green that even their garbage dumpsters have landscaping. That's about as big a rhododendron as you'll find anywhere:




Then we went to Seward Park and it was time for my lunch. I lured these ducks in by pretending I didn't know they were there:


The next picture wasn't very good because of all the feathers flying around. I was going to have some desert, but these little guys were just too cute:

(Poppa won the argument with Verizon, but he's still having trouble with YouTube. Otherwise, I'd be starring in a terrific video right here!)

Nana and I enjoyed the view of downtown Seattle:




Then I got a ride on a zip line:





Wheee! (Another missing video here. I'm calling my agent!)

Posted from Nana's iPad

Tuesday: Happy 3.441 Birthday to me!

Nana and Poppa had chores to do today: laundry, grocery shopping, Poppa's Coumadin test.

Then we went shopping for my 3.441rd Birthday present and came home with this really neat iPhone. The guy at the phone store asked what kind of skin I wanted for it, and I was thinking along the lines of:




Poppa put his foot down and said a Bengal skin would never work in Pittsburgh. He suggested something like this:



I put my paw down! For now we're going with basic black:




Later, Gretchen came home with Quinn and Tessa and we played and had dinner. Then it was bath time for them and bed time for me.

Posted from Nana's iPad

Monday: Relaxing in Seattle

Happy Memorial Day!

Today was pretty laid-back. Gretchen and Quinn went to a birthday party. Poppa took the truck for an oil change and tire rotation.

Tessa, who usually naps for half and hour, slept on Nana for more than 2 hours:



Then she woke up to play video games with Daddy:




We also spent more time on FaceTime with Autumn and Brenna from Pittsburgh. Tessa and Brenna were saying "Hi" and waving to each other. Autumn and Quinn got a little better acquainted.

Now Nana's watching TV and I'm trying to get to sleep early:




Posted from Nana's iPad

Sunday: Seattle!

We were going to go west, up around the Olympic Peninsula, but when Nana realized we were only a couple hours from Seattle, she said "I have to go see grandkids!" So we drove to Seattle today.

The most important part of the day was meeting my twin brother, Tigger. Yes, his name is the same as mine:




Can't you see the family resemblance? We really hit it off, and have a lot to catch up on. Thanks to Jackie for finding such great families for us.

Meanwhile, Nana and Poppa got a chance to get reacquainted with Quinn and Tessa:




Quinn loves to build things:




Tessa likes literature:




We also got a chance to do FaceTime with Autumn and Brenna back in Pittsburgh. Everyone got to see everyone!!

More to come later.

Posted from Nana's iPad

Saturday: McMinnville to Castle Rock, Washington

After dinner last night, it started to rain, and we had TWO rainbows for more than an hour:







On the road today in Oregon, we saw signs saying that you have to wear seat belts or face a $97 fine. Who picked that number? Poppa says that if they raised that to $97.31 it would really scare people into wearing their seat belts.

Then we crossed into Washington and the signs said "Seat belts required day AND night". I thought there were only two groups of people - those who wear seat belts and those who don't. Now it seems there are people who only wear them during the day and those who wear them only at night. Go figure.

We checked into a nice KOA campground in Castle Rock. The maintenance man helped Poppa get the trailer backed into the site on the umpteenth try. Poppa has been spoiled by pull-through sites and needs to find an empty parking lot for some practice.

The owner of the campground is from Cambridge Springs in Pennsylvania, where Autumn and Brenna's mommy and daddy were married:




This afternoon, we drove to Mount St. Helens, a volcano that erupted on May 18, 1980. Nana and Poppa visited it about 15 years ago, when things were still growing back and recovering. They wanted to see how it had changed since then.

We left the campground with sunny skies and 68 degrees. An hour later as we approached the Johnston Ridge Observatory, it was 41 degrees, raining hard, with 2" of slush on the road. We couldn't even see the volcano! By the time we drove back to the campground, it was sunny and in the 60s. This is the webcam picture of what we would have seen if we had stayed:




Tomorrow we're off to Seattle! We'll see Quinn and Tessa, who are Autumn and Brenna's cousins. I'll also meet my twin brother who lives with them. I've never seen him and I can't wait!

Posted from Nana's iPad

Friday: Waldport, Oregon inland to McMinnville, Oregon

On the road yesterday, Poppa was listening to a book titled "Death by Black Hole", written by Neil deGrasse Tyson. We learned aboutLagrangian Points, also called "libration points". These apply for all orbiting bodies, not just satellites, and if Jupiter hadn't captured so many asteroids at L4 and L5 while orbiting the Sun, Earth would have taken a beating!

If you have any questions about this, let me know. Nana wants to listen to a different book, so I probably won't learn any more about it.

Today we left Waldport and the Oregon coast, traveling inland to McMinnville. We visited the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum about half a mile from our campground. Poppa was smart enough to put the book Nana is reading in his backpack. She sat down several times to read it while Poppa and I looked at airplanes. One of the museum guides complimented Poppa on his foresight.

We saw the "Spruce Goose" - made mostly of wood and HUGE!













We saw a Pitts aerobatic plane - not sure I'd like to ride in one of these:



Poppa like this Jeep; I like the plane behind it that is named after me (The Flying Tigger):


I'd like to fly this one, a Rutan Quickie:


We saw the rovers that went to Mars:


... and the Lunar Lander that went to the moon:


...and the Moon Buggy they used while they were on the moon:




By the way, can someone PLEASE tell me what these things are?





I've seen several of them now. When I ask Poppa, he just breaks out laughing because I tried to take a shower in one. I put money in the pay slot, but no water came out of the shower nozzle.

Posted from Nana's iPad

Update on Thursday: Oregon Coast article

Poppa saw this article that talks about economic/social/political issues on the Oregon coast. No judgements - just information. Many of the same issues face people everywhere.

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/05/9_states_of_oregon_the_coast_-.html

Posted from Nana's iPad

Thursday: Brookings to Waldport, Oregon

Last evening before dinner, Poppa and I walked the beach. We watched a pelagic cormorant diving for dinner. All you could see was his little head and neck, like a periscope. When a big wave was about to break over him, he'd stick his butt up in the air and dive under the wave. He feeds on fish that he finds when he dives under water.

On the road today we saw Arch Rock:




and a beautiful cove:




We visited the sea lion cave for this photo:




Our campground tonight is next to a nice bridge:




and some cute cabins:




To earn some spending money, I took a part-time job with Larry:



and with Ron:




Tomorrow, Poppa says we're going to see the "Spruce Goose" - whatever that is.

Posted from Nana's iPad

Wednesday: Westport Beach to Brookings, Oregon

Today we left California (whew - seems almost as endless as Texas) and went to Oregon. But it wasn't easy.

Wendy and Gavin, people we met a few days ago, make this trip regularly. They recommended that we backtrack to Fort Bragg and get on Highway 101 to Leggett instead of taking Highway 1 to Leggett. They said it's to windy. Poppa said "So?"

It was VERY windy! But pretty. It went away from the coast into very deep, very steep valleys, with very tall trees very close together. Sometimes it was almost dark, and the GPS unit on the dashboard actually lost the GPS satellites at least 3 times. we started to see redwood trees. They're even taller than the Giant Sequoias we saw before, but not as big around. Still bigger around and taller than any of the Ponderosa Pines we had seen.

So big that I got my first motorcycle ride going THROUGH one! It is over 2,400 years old!







Poppa only got to carry the helmet:




We're glad we went Poppa's way on Highway 1, but he says once is enough.

The rest of the drive was easier. The trees are amazing - redwoods mixed with smaller evergreens, every where! As green as Pennsylvania.

Sometimes the road went back to the coast for beautiful views:




The directions to our new campground were pretty easy: "Turn left at the first traffic light in Oregon."

Poppa has another beerscape. I'm starting to think he's not really looking for a beer with a picture of a FISH on it:




Posted from Nana's iPad