http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States , Washington en-us Tue, 13 May 2008 23:39:46 BST Tue, 13 May 2008 23:39:46 BST I was getting all sentimental again yesterday when I was running listening to this song by Late Tuesday called I Must Go about leaving the place I'm at and going on a new road. You can buy it on Itunes for a buck and listen to it. It is the theme song for the year I decided. So much transition Here's an update I wrote todaySince Irsquom going to Uzbekistan tomorrow I figured Irsquod b http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Puyallup/blog-274886.html So after the past few months in AK absolutely soaking up the newness of a snowy frozen place in the arctic I have returned home to debrief and pack for these upcoming trips. The day I got back I attended the wedding of a friend in my occupational therapy class at UW. It was wonderful to see my classmates again and reminece old times from school. I did get the joy of a shower of a classmaters http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Puyallup/blog-273375.html Irsquom new to this whole blog thing but wersquoll see how it goes. A week ago I was treasuring my last days in Alaska with a wonderful community of people I have come to know and love in the past year. To back track a little Irsquoll try not to elaborate too much I recently finished my Masterrsquos degree in Occupational Therapy. During the first few months of the program in Fall http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Puyallup/blog-273227.html Airport in a few hours SeattleLondonParisSt Jean Pied de Port. What to take Most importantly what to leave behind. My daughterinlaw Hannah suggested I cut my toothbrush in half to reduce weight. Voice of experience. My Pilgrim BlessingMay you be supported by the grace of God on your journey so that you may overcome and be strengthened by the travails of your pilgrimage and safely re http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-273166.html Getting to Yellowstone from Great Falls was far simpler than we imagined staying in Yellowstone on the other hand was far more difficult than we imaginedhellip For some ridiculous reason we decided that given wersquod arrived in Yellowstone and had planned to camp thatrsquos what we had to do regardless of the temperature. Yep you guessed it it was freezing wersquore not talking http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-272624.html It has always been my dream to travel the world. My first chance came in the year 1999 and 2000 when I traveled to California USA. Both these trips were for business and in the 30 days that I spent there I could only manage to see Milpitas San Jose and Los Angeles.This time in June 2008 I plan to visit Washington DC Raleigh in North Carolina and Nashville in Tennessee. I have 2 days in DC http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/blog-271181.html Washington's incredibly bipolar spring weather teased us with another glimpse of the elusive sun this weekend. Thankfully we were in a perfect place to enjoy this rare scrap of warm weatherthe Olympic Peninsula. My parents moved back to Sequim after years of restlessly circulating around the U.S. and now occupy the house that once belonged to my grandparents. Despite leading what I feel to be http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Port-Townsend/blog-270747.html On our way to Seattle Lauren recognized a little town called Kalama WA which was half the setting for one of the best episodes ever of reality show Split Ends. We got this picture with Susan Summers she's been on TV From what I hear she's just like she seemed on the show. Then a stop in state capital Olympia. Just a quick visit but we loved the place. They had a free bus the Dash. We http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-270707.html Figuring Things OutAt the very moment I am contemplating what Italy will be like. Sure I have seen the movies and read the books on the country but how much can you learn from observing rather than actually doingbeing. When I was figuring out which place in the wideopen world I would want to travel to I could have picked somewhere that spoke English as a first language. This however probably w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Pullman/blog-270582.html So for those of you I havenrsquot seen or havenrsquot heard Irsquom home. Home. Finally. Flew back on Thursday with a bit of a head cold. Chicago to Seatac Seatac home. And let me tell you I have NEVER been so anxious to get off an airplane We flew over the city a bit my first glimpses of anything familiar. The end of tour was hard actually it really sucked. We got done worki http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Spokane/blog-270385.html All God is one GodAll Creation is one CreationAll Life is one LifeAll People is one PeopleAll Faith is one FaithAll Tradition is one TraditionAll Love is one LoveAll I have isA body A mind A soul A patch of Earth A Bible A drum A family A community A history A future A Prayer. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/U-District/blog-268768.html SKIPPERSkipper is 4 years old he will be 5 in August. He has been going to this beautiful for Cats Only Pet Lodge in Olalla WA for 4 summers. This is his home away from home. Rhonda is the owner of this Pet Lodge she is awesome with Skipper she has the best understanding of cats their likes dislikes wants and needs even Skipper. Skipper is a excellent traveler he has a travel carrier tha http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Olympia/blog-268685.html Here is a lovely spring visit to the Olympic Peninsula west of Seattle WA USA. We enjoyed this special time with our daughter two granddaughters and many 'critters' but mainly dog Shadow and the cats. I show a few of the neat things we saw and enjoyed there. Tami is a young widow for nearly 5 years now and she has raised her three daughters through high school and out into the world. She is http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Port-Townsend/blog-268335.html Spring Snow April 2008Oh my goodness I awoke this morning to a white out it was snowing like a blizzard but wait this is April SPRING what is all this white stuff. We had about a little over 2 inches when I left at 1000 am and it was still snowing. Got to I5 Olympia and no snow.Less than 2 months before we leave for our cross country trip sure hope it gets warmer soon so we can get some ridin http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Olympia/blog-268120.html Spring can come at anytime I am sitting here looking out onto our deck to the snow and ice storm that we have been having all day. We are being told to expect up to 2 inches of snow tonight. My goodness this is the middle of April.Well it will be just a little under two months and we will be starting our trip to the East Coast on our beautiful 2006 GL1800 Gold Wing. Hopefully the weather will be http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Olympia/blog-267839.html Left Lake House Friday AM for Loves Leathers in Vancouver to find Doug a Jacket. Found just the one he wanted but had to order it. We decided to go into Portland to Wing Man to see what was going on there. After staying until they closed we then headed back to Vancouver to visit with Rick and Renee and see if they wanted to ride with us to Oregon Coast tomorrow. It is a beautiful day and is suppos http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Olympia/blog-267798.html San Francisco Well we arrived into mighty San Francisco and I think I loved it the minute I saw it from when we were crossing over the bridge from Oakland. We got into the Greyhound station and searched for a motel. I rang on the courtesy phone for the 'Ram Inn'. I said Hello have you got any rooms available tonight the guy on the other end was a maniac. WHAT I tried to talk a little slow http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-267514.html well we finally made it to posting an entry....1000 miles into the journey of course but better late than never. here's the quick recap...we left in a flurry as most trips are left in but eventually made it over to the peninsula and to greet us it was REALLY wet and cold for a week. it was quite miserable actually. it took us time to get used the loads and taking turns on wet cold paveme http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Bellingham/blog-267188.html The final day of a long ride is often predominated by a sense of urgency to get home. I think of it as the pull of the tractor beam. Stable nags yearn for the barn. I was ready to be home.There are some circuitous twisty routes home from Oregon but today evening plans with Dana had me in the beam. I'd go home directly over Status Pass on Hwy 97 then slab it home on I82 and I90. A warm and http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-266935.html After teaching summer school Chris and I decided to take a much needed road trip in our new Honda Element. We decided to drive from Seattle to San Francisco. Here is the outline of where we went. Once we got on the road we left Seattle and headed to Yakima where my parents live as they were gracious enough to watch Otis. From Yakima we traveled through the Dalles and over the Columbia Go http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/blog-266571.html Well I was hoping to bring you some wonderous photos of Vancouver Island and Victoria but as my ferry departed from Lopez Island I started pulling at my hair in anger just realizing I left my passports in my room. It turned out not a bad day at all getting to learn some masonry work as I got acquainted with San Juan Island by bicycle... http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/San-Juan-Islands/Lopez-Island/blog-266203.html Leaving Vancouver we decided to go home via the United States since there were many places we wanted to visit along the way. We stayed in Seattle one night. Considering the area's rainy reputation we were lucky and got a fine evening in which to take a stroll on the waterfront. There was a Japanese tall ship docked in the port and two of the sailors were kind enough to allow us to take a pho http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-266108.html Had a layover in Yakima Washington a few days ago so took MaryAnne along for the ride. She's been staying with me since the accident in Nebraska totaled her jeep and sidelined her Sacramento plans so a short trip away to clear her head was a good idea. As you might guess there's not much to do in Yakima when the weather is cold but I had a really fun crew and we discovered happy hour in the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Yakima/blog-265567.html I have 5 days left before I leave for Europe. I'm getting pretty nervous about it I'm starting to wonder if I can really do this... 12 weeks of living off of what I can fit in a backpack surrounded by strangers in unfamiliar cities and no friends or family nearby to hang out and talk too. Besides the daily call my mom will be making to my UK cell to check up on me a chance to hear a familia http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Lake-Forest-Park/blog-263071.html Traveling is a choice and it is a choice to make traveling sacred. Travel can be more than an eyeopening experience into a new culture of relics ruins history and tradition. It can be more than a destinationoriented expedition from Point A to Point B. The way of the traveler can transform into a heartopening pilgrimage. From this point onward we choose to travel as a force of inner disc http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Seattle/blog-262522.html I don't know too much about the beginnings of my trip to Chile with Evergreen State college. All I know is that I leave on April 3rd this thursday one day earlier than the rest of my classmates to Santiago Chile to be shown around and learn tons for 4 weeks with 15 other classmates and my instructor.I am currently in a program at Evergreen studying Latin American economics history sociology http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Tacoma/blog-262088.html Thought we would add a photo of what we will be gladly leaving for a few months. It is still snowing and it will be nice to get to some warmer weather. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Leavenworth/blog-261453.html Still in Leavenworth awaiting travel day. 33008Everything has been thought of and we have decided to do this trip with just a carry on bag each.From blogs that we have read some back packers like to limit the weight of there packs to less than 33 lbs.We are allowed 50 lbs on the plane per bag... We sh http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Leavenworth/blog-261340.html