Seattle -Olympic National Park, Victoria, British Columbia

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Seattle
Dave B 3/10/07
Helen and I got up around 7:00 and got ready. I fixed some pancakes as I needed to start using up the remaining food as I didn’t want to throw anything out and my US leg of the trip is quickly approaching the end. We quickly had breakfast and then headed to the bus stop so as to not deal with parking and the associated cost once we got down town. We had to wait for the bus for a little while and I was a little concerned about making it their on time as the most recent email I had received said any remaining seats would be given to those waiting in line. We got down their in plenty of time, but was not sure of the location. After looking around we started asking people and no one seemed to know. I was getting little concerned. We finally went into a coffee shop and the lady said the Edmonds Theatre is in the town of Edmonds. My stomach sunk and I started thinking the conference was not in Seattle it was actually in Edmonds where his store actually is located. We finally came to the conclusion we were indeed in the wrong place. We walked back to the bus and went back to Helen’s place to get my truck. I had asked about a cab, but they said it would be extremely expensive. We got back to Helens around 8:50 and jumped in my truck and headed out. I programmed the address into the computer and realized it was going to be about 30 minutes before I could make it there. I jumped into the truck and was on my way. I wasn’t too excited as I thought of a couple different scenarios 1) they let me in anyway once I explained to them that I had driven all the way from Saint Louis 2) they do not let me in but I get individual help from one of his staff as the email said his staff would be on hand to answer questions all day. When I got there indeed they had started and they would not let me in. They said they had to turn away 150 people waiting in line. They had the conference on the speakers in the lobby area, but I thought my time would be better spent getting individual help. I walked up to Rick Steves office and saw where they actually have people who will help you with your entire trip. I waited a few minutes, but was uncertain how long it was going to take so I decided to primarily talk to someone about the proper rail pass for me. I talked to one lady who does tours over there, but she did not know the specifics about the rail passes but she pointed me in the direction to the attendant who would know about them. After explaining my itinerary she didn’t have a definitive answer but I knew what I needed to do to answer this question. I essentially needed to plan out my trip and see how the math worked out. I figured I would do that when at Kit’s the next day. I felt good after our talk.

I decided to go out for lunch as it was a little after 11:00 and the next session I was signed up for was at 12:00 and I did not want to be late for that. I found a Quizno’s and decide to eat there as I had walked around for a significant period of time and wasn’t finding a lot of stuff. Edmonds however is a very nice clean town. I liked it a lot. I made it back to the Edmonds Theatre around 11:40 and there was a long line forming outside. The people were waiting for the morning session to get over. I had assumed they had a list of everyone that was registered and would ask for ID but I found out they were simply using the honor system. That seemed cool to me that they trusted people that much. The morning session ran a few minutes long and we waited in line until about 10 minutes after 12. I talked to these 3 ladies a little awhile that I had previously seen talking to some of Rick Steves staff. I forget where they were going, but it was sometime in July. I also learned that Rick has 70 employees working for him. I had no idea that he had this big of operation going. He has several tour guides that take groups to Europe. That would sure make the trip easy, but where is the challenge in that even though I suspect the accommodations will be much better than what I will have. I suspect too the tours will be more organized that me and will see more things in a shorter amount of period but part of the challenge of this trip for me is to figure things out on my own. I look forward to the challenge. We got seated for our session on packing light and right. The speaker was very good but I felt like it was a little bit geared towards women and not men. Overall however it was well done. I then attended a session on traveling Italy put on by Rick Steves himself. He is an amazing speaker and very likeable guy. One of the things I took away from it was that I needed to be on the look out for pick pockets. He said women carrying babies are frequent pickpocketers as well as groups of kids. That was useful information essentially always be on the lookout. He also said at one point that an Italian King switched to Christianity for political reasons and made a sarcastic comment about who would use there religion for political gain. This was a direct reference to our current president. After this session we moved to the Edmonds Center for the Arts where Rick was doing a talk on Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This was very useful information. I was in a seat very near the aisle that he walked up and down during the presentation. At one point I was going to get a picture of him and turned off the flash. When I pointed the camera at him the red eye reduction light that is emitted from the camera was all over him. He kind of jumped a little and then I think he realized what it was. I was a little embarrassed and I thought he was going to call me out right there in front of everybody, but he didn’t. He is a very nice and likeable man that became quite clear throughout. The final session was back in the Edmonds Theatre and this was a general talk about most of Western Europe. I enjoyed this talk the most as it was a good overview. A lot of the slides were in his prior presentation as well as his comments. I really enjoyed this session. When talking about Amsterdam he discussed there drug policy in depth. I didn’t realize it, but Rick is into drug policy. I got the impression that Rick is a proponent of the legalization of marijuana. That is a stretch for me to say that as he may not but be, but I am confident to say that he is far making it legal at least to a certain extent. At one point in the presentation he showed a picture if himself sitting in chair in Amsterdam holding a joint. When this was shown the whole crowd laughed and then he paused and said he didn’t inhale and then something about being crazy not to inhale. That session got over at 8:45 and I was ready for it to be over as I was tired. I headed back to Helen’s very tired. I had told her I would go out to eat with her. We decided to just go out and get some frozen pizza at a local grocery store. I had a craving for some soy milk, which Helen thought was funny and odd. Helen doesn’t have a tv so I did some computer work while waiting for the pizza to cook. We ate the pizza and called it a night. It had been a long day for sure.

3/11/07
I got up around 8 the next morning and did some typing followed by making some pancakes. Again I was needing to start using up my food as Tuesday would be here soon. The pancakes turned out really good albeit a little greasy. I did the dishes and got things ready to head to Kit, John and Anna’s. I was going to stay there for a couple days and planned to get my European travels ironed out a little better. I was needing to do this as I was wanting to get my airfare to Europe figured out as the 3 week advance purchase was getting really close.

I made it to Kit and John’s late morning. They have a very modern and beautiful home. Anna there daughter was out playing with friends. I was outside unpacking and a little girl walked by and I asked her if she is Anna. She said no, Anna is my friend. I thought this was funny. Back in the house I got settled in. John and Kit were extremely hospitable and they got my bedroom area ready and made room on the kitchen table for me. I felt a little bit invasive as they were being so hospitable, but I was not sure what to do about it, but to say thanks. I got a lot done and found a real good price on airfare to Dublin. I looked into flights to Amsterdam and London and they were both a lot more expensive than the Dublin flight which was $245. I had not been able to contact my Dublin contact to see if a flight into Ireland would fit her schedule, but I went ahead and booked it anyway as I was concerned the flight cost would go up as when I searched other dates even the flights into Dublin were more expensive. Not sure why this one particular flight was so cheap. I planned to have to pay around $500 for this one-way flight. I am only getting one-way flights on this trip so I have the flexibility to return when I am good and ready.

I went through the Rick Steve’s book and marked on the map each location he recommended seeing. His guide was for a 3 month vacation whereas I am taking 4 months. I know my travels will not be as efficient, so I figured I should be able to do it in 4 months. Also the purpose of my trip is to get to know the people in the places I stay.

Kit and John were busy all day. I got the impression that they are very busy people. Anna made it home later in the evening and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her. She is a busy body and loves playing with her hamster although I wonder if the hamster enjoys her as often she keeps it in her hand and as she gets up her weight is put on the hamster. It seemed funny to me. Anna really loves people and talked to me a lot. She is a social butterfly. Kit got Chinese for supper and the food was really good. Kit and John know their food. That has been something I have not really gotten in to to much as I just ate what was placed in front of me. The people I have spoke with on this trip have consistently stated that American food is bad with the only food worse being English food.

After a great meal and great conversation I proceeded to work on the blog. John and Kit always had music going, which I really liked. Later in the evening after Anna had went to bed they went down stairs to a room they have set up for watching movies and I assume tv. I have watched very little tv on this trip essentially just when I stayed in hotels. I really don’t miss it a whole lot with the exception of the nightly national news. I always enjoyed catching up with what is going on in the world. This may seem a little sick, but I enjoy following politics to a certain extent. I hate what has been going on in Washington in recent years, but I must say it is interesting but to call something interesting when people are dying seems a little absurd. Those folks dying are not just Americans they are innocent Iraqi’s and folks from other countries as well. It seems like many Americans tend to forget that they are all people made in Gods likeness. We are no better than they are at least in my opinion. I suspect a lot of church going Americans that are not paying attention to what the bible says think they are better than others who do not happen to share their same beliefs. They call it Faith for a reason. I say live the Golden Rule and I believe God will treat you right in the end.

I worked until around 12 and decided to call it a night. I had a very productive day and that was a nice feeling.

3/12/07

I got up around 8:00 the next day and again started working on the European leg of my trip. My excitement for the European leg of my trip grew as I worked on the details for the trip. The day seemed to fly by and my excitement grew. When Anna got home she came down in the basement where I was staying and hung out with me. She of course had the hamster with her. She carried her stuff over into my room and set up shop. She was drawing a picture and I was setting up a spreadsheet for my European travels. We did this for awhile and then Kit called down to say it was time for supper. John fixed a pasta dish for supper and it was great. We had wine with our meal and I enjoyed that as well. We talked for awhile and listened to music. Afterwards I continued to work on my stuff and Kit and John where working on their own things. I was truly appreciative of the accommodations I had. Again it felt a little weird mooching off of them as I am a lot more comfortable providing goods and services for others than to actually receive those things. Again I need to learn to just say thanks and enjoy it. I went to bed around 12:00 again.

3/13/07
I worked on some planning until around noon this day and then got moving. I had not had any Starbucks coffee so I went to a Starbucks and got a latte or something like that as I do not know how to order coffee. It's a lot more than just saying I would like a coffee. The people working their helped me through the intimidating ordeal. After getting the coffee to go I headed to the ferry that would take me to Denise and Jose’s, who are Shelly Frank’s brother and sister in-law. They live in Port Orchard and to get there you have to take the Vashon Ferry and get off on the second stop. I was excited about getting to ride my first ferry in the Seattle area. After arriving the lady said I just missed the ferry and as a result had a two-hour wait until the next ferry would be around. I was supposed to meet Jose that afternoon and because I missed my boat I would be late. I called Jose and told him of the developments and that I would be a little late as a result. He gave me directions to the place where we would be meeting Denise for supper. I decided to head to a park I passed on my way to the ferry. I got out and strolled through the park while drinking my Starbucks Coffee. I felt like a local. I met several other people a lot of them were walking there dog. I walked probably a mile and decided to head back and wait for the ferry. Once on the ferry I walked around the ferry taking it all in. The scenery was pretty, but I knew it could not be captured with a camera. Just something a person needs to see in person. After unloading I just drove around for awhile taking my time to get to Gig Harbor the place I was to meet Jose and his family. A little bit later Jose called and asked where I was at as he said he was at home. I told him I did not know, but after plugging in his address on my computer program (Lucy) I realized I was only about 3 miles from his house. I decided to work my way to their place since I was so close and they were going to be there for awhile. The computer did well and I was at his house in no time. I hung out with Jose and his son Andrew for awhile. Andrew had a cold and wasn’t feeling 100% but he still felt up to strumming a few cords on his guitar. It was funny watching him carry that guitar, which was almost as big as him, everywhere he went. Jose has a guitar as well and spent some time strumming a few cords. Jose is really good and I enjoyed listening to him play. I spent some time typing as we waited. We left and headed for the place where Catherine was doing gymnastics. We waited there for awhile as well and Andrew grew a little restless. He wasn’t feeling well at all and I got the impression that he might not make it through the dinner. Gymnastics got out and we were on our way to the banquet. Denise was going to meet us there. Catherine filled us in with her school activities and gymnastics on the way. I asked her lots of questions like, “Can you do a somersault?” I guess her age at 8 and she energetically told me how that was easy to do.

At the banquet we got our meal ticket and found a chair. I enjoyed talking to the locals. This is exactly the situation I hoped to be in on this trip. Learning how the common folks live. We had Dungess Crab. I am not that experienced of a seafood eater and thought the crab was good, but a little messy. It was a lot of work to get the meat out. I can only remember having crab one other time in my life. It must have took me a ½ hour to eat my crab and everyone else around me was done. I suspect me talking too much was part of the reason it took me so long as well. Andrew appeared to be feeling much better that was nice to see. After everyone finished eating they had an awards banquet for the people in the club catching the biggest fish in several different categories. After the awards banquet I really enjoyed listening to the discussions about the concerns the club had regarding fishing regulation rules. The primary concern had to do with laws pertaining to catching native fish versus hatchery fish. The way I understand it hatcheries are supposed to cut a fin on a fish then when it is caught it can be distinguished between the native fish. I understood that the federal government pays Native Americans to run the hatcheries and raise and release fish like Salmon. The Native Americans are supposed to mark the fish by cutting the fin as previously mentioned, but there is no oversight on whether the Native Americans are actually doing it. Regulations are strict on the number of native fish that a Nonnative American can catch, but these laws do not apply to the Native Americans who can catch any and all fish they like even with non sporting means like gill nets. It is a coflict of interest. The guy who did most of the talking made a prediction that in 2010 the Nonnative American fisherman would not be allowed to catch any native fish. They didn’t paint a very bright picture. I thought this meeting seemed a lot like a Batchtown Sportsmen’s Club meeting. Dad was telling me the other day that the State of Illinois was going to take away their shotguns. I told him I thought there were some extremist ideas being floated around the Sportsmen’s club meetings these days. It sounds like a comment that you might hear in a political election. All areas of the Country have issues and concerns, but it seems like the people really are not that much different. Now days the biggest concerns do not have to do with survival things like where was my next meal coming from, it has more to do with extracurricular endeavors. I suspect most people don’t realize how good they actually have it in comparison to their ancestors. I can remember as a kid wearing a garbage bag out to the duck blind for a raincoat, whereas now days everyone including kids have raincoats valued from $100 to $500. Like Jim White, a late night talk show host for KMOX used to say, “These are the good old days”.

We left there around 8 and headed back to the Port Orchard countryside, where Jose and Denise live. After getting there we sat around and talked about traveling for awhile and things to do in the Seattle area. Denise offered to make a drink and one of the options was Scotch on the rocks. I hadn’t tasted that before so I decided to go with the scotch. It was a little different than I expected and I wasn’t really tough enough to drink it like a man. After that drink I was confident I would awake the next morning with more hair hair on my chest. Jose and Denise offered to keep my truck at their house while I was gone and I thanked them for that, but I really hoped I would not have to do that but I appreciated the offer. Keeping a truck at someone’s house for four months was a long time and something I wasn’t comfortable doing. I went out and got my blow up air mattress and sleeping bag and headed to my sleeping area. I slept great that night.

3/14/07
I got up early and left around seven. I wanted to be on the road before Jose and Denise so I wasn’t in the way when they were getting the kids ready to go. I wanted to drive for about an hour and then find a nice Ma and Pa restaurant to eat. I wasn’t seeing many towns on the map so I decided to start looking for places to eat. The first place I stopped at appeared only to have fast food places, but I did find a bank to withdraw some cash as I was low on cash. Not a completely wasted stop. I got back on the highway and pulled into the next town and again all I was finding were chain restaurants. I pulled into the gas station and the person working there said he didn’t really know of any ma and pa places so I decided to eat at the Burger King. On my way out of town I decided to stop and get some coffee at a non-Starbucks coffee shop. All the coffees can be made without caffeine which is something I have been drinking too much of on this trip. So I had a noncaffeinated latte.

I was working my way to Port Angeles as there is an Olympic National Park Visitor’s Center there. I wanted to talk to those folks about where to go in the Park. I know it is not the most manly thing to do, in asking for directions, but it sure is helpful and is great for time utilization which is kind of tight at this point. I learned the place I was planning to go is indeed closed this time of year with the exception of Friday through Sunday. Since it was a Wednesday I did not have time to wait a couple days. I got some other good recommendations of places to go and went on my way. I was going to head to Cape Flattery, the most northwestern point of the US, and then find camping along the Washington Coast near Mora, Washington. The drive along Washington’s northern boundary was very informative. Saw lots of mudslides which appears to be a common problem in the northwestern portions of the US. To my north the Canadian Mountains are visible across the water. The drive was very slow but scenic. I stopped on several occasions looking for that great photo, which has occasionally appeared on my computer after my evening downloads. I made it to the Makah Nation or Makah Indian Reservation which is on the way to Cape Flattery. For a few miles I drive to the southeast and reached an area where the road turned into a dirt road. I didn’t see the pot holes and hit them extremely hard. I learned later that this had shifted my camper shell forward. I was just happy everything still appeared in tack. I was on this wet muddy road for around a half hour before making it to the point where you can hike to the Cape Flattery point. There is also means to drive out to near the point but I chose to walk. There was a sign that said Cape Flattery Most Northwestern Point of the US. Nothing appeared to be in great shape. I assumed this was all Indian Reservation Land. I get sick of development but I suspect the Makah Indians could help their self out by developing this area to a certain degree.

The walk to the point was probably about a ½ mile and the trees along the trail were very unique. It was cool seeing the various trees and their shapes. The trail was very wet in some areas and there is an elevated walkway in some areas of the trail to make it passable without getting wet feet. A couple lookout points are present on the north and south side of the trail as you near the end of the trail. The sun was to the south which resulted in a poor camera photo while the north side was a little shaded which again was not conducive to a great photo. I took several pics regardless and some turned out decent. At the end of the trail you can lookout over an island which is home to the Cape Flattery Lighthouse. This part of the Washington Coast is very rocky lending itself to some great photos. I am not sure I am in a positions to really compare thoroughly the Washington and Maine Coasts as I have not seen all of both coasts but the portions I have seen both have similarities. They both are beautiful that is for sure. I probably spent about a ½ hour here and decided to get back in my truck and head south. On my computer program indicated a road going all the way this point so I headed out down the road in a different direction from where I came in hopes that the road might be better but it quickly turned worse so I doubled back and took the wet, bumpy, dilapidated road back in the direction I had come. I met a few other cars and trucks and there were a couple other people along the trail but I suspect because of the isolated location it is not a frequent stop of travelers.

I made it back to where I had started and plugged in Mora, Washington, my next stop, into Lucy. I missed a couple turns which were objectionable to my computer program as I thought surely those were not the right roads. The roads the computer wanted me to go down were in really bad shape. Finally I had no other choice than to go down one of these roads. I drove on it for about 2 miles and it was in such bad shape I suspect I was only averaging 20 mph. I looked at my mapping program and it indicated I had another 59 miles to go on this road. I thought there is no way I can drive this slowly for that long of period of time and who knows what might lie ahead so I decided to go back the way I came until I found a good road. This took about 30 minutes of backtracking, but finally I found a good road. I headed south and west along this road and after an hour or so of driving I made it to Mora. I found the campsites and there was no one else there camping and the workers had already left as it was around 5:00. I did see another person there looking for rocks but he said he was unemployed and I guess the rocks had some value. I got to the beach area and parked my truck along side some other vehicles and began hiking the trail. The ranger had told me there is a natural arch along the trail so I decided to walk to it. I am not sure if the beach was the trail or if there was another trail farther up in the woods, but I chose to walk the beach. There were a handful of other people out there as well. The size of the trees on the beach were phenomenal. It amazed me how mother nature could take trees of this size and toss them up on the beach like she does. The driftwood was scoured smooth and it was all rounded. I guess the sand in the water and the wave action was very good at scouring the logs smooth. Some of the logs were very orange and red in color. The waves pounded the coast in this area. It seemed like the farther north I went the bigger and consequently the harder the waves hit the beach. I thought about the monument to all the fisherman in northern Oregon at Salmon Harbor to all the fisherman that had lost their lives trying to make a living and understood how a person could lose their life in this kind of surf. The ocean had best be respected on this coast that was the take home message.

It was amazing seeing the big rocks off the coast. It was like how did they get there? They just sort of seemed out of place in a way. In one location I was trying to get a picture of some waves cresting and the resulting splash when a wave more powerful than the prior ones hit my legs and I took off running up the beach. Their was no prior wave that day bigger as evident by the wetness visible on the sand. I suspect this wave went 20 feet farther up onto the beach than any prior wave. I had heard folks talking about rogue waves and I am not sure this was what they were talking about, but it was definitely a lot bigger than anything that had hit that beach that day. I am calling it a rogue wave just for coolness sake.

I went back and drove around the campsite again and still no one else was there so I decided to drive to La Push and check that area out for camping. La Push is an Indian Reservation about 1 mile south of where I was at as the crow flies, but to get there you have to cross a river. I had to drive approximately 30 miles to get to La Push via the road. It was kind of cool seeing the reservation. Nothing is real nice, but not bad for a camping area. I stopped at the local grocery store which is where you reserved camping sites and told them I was looking for a place to park my truck for the night. They showed me and I drove there to take a look. It looked like it would suffice so I decided to pay for the site which was only about $7.00. There was only one rv camper there and a homeless guy who was staying in a tent so I parked in a spot which was a little ways away from where I was supposed to be. I hurriedly got my stove going to boil some water for supper. I went to the restroom to fill up my water containers and after about 20 minutes I was eating supper. I had gotten pretty good at fixing supper in a hurry and the results were not too bad.

I did a couple Sudoku puzzles and went to be. The waves where violently hitting the shore only 80 feet from me and I thought about all of the Sunami signs I have been seeing along Oregon and Washington’s coast. I thought well if tonight’s the night I have had a great trip. I ratcheted down the strap to hold the camper shell door firmly tight and went to sleep listening to the distant foghorn that was singing it’s redundant sound off in the distant. One of the coolest things I have heard on this trip were the foghorns in Newport, Rhode Island. This foghorn brought back memories of Newport, Rhode Island which is approximately 2,000 miles away.

3/15/07

The next morning I got up early and knew I would have to keep moving to make it to Port Angeles by 2:00 pm, which is the last ferry to Victoria, British Columbia. I drove to the grocery store and got some coffee and a pastry and was on my way to Quinnault Rain Forest. The Hoh rain forest is actually closer to La Push but the Ranger I spoke with in Port Angeles said he recommended going to the North Fork of Quinnault Rain Forest so I was going to do that. If for whatever reason I didn’t make it back in time I could always spend a night in Port Angeles and catch the first ferry in the morning to Victoria but that would put me back a day which I really didn’t want to do.

I got on the highway and hit it pretty hard. I made it to the rainforest around 9:00 and figured I was going to need to be back on the road by 10:00. I was not sure if that was going to be possible, but that was the plan. The road around Quinnault Lake was pretty cool and the road was in pretty good shape, but very winding and slow. The road was very wet and slow going. I met a dump truck and saw a dozer working along the road but no other vehicles. It was the off-season so not much traffic to deal with, which has been a blessing this entire trip. I wasn’t sure if the area along the road the entire distance was considered rainforest or for that matter what constitutes a rainforest but I know everything looked damp and there was lots of moss. Goretex is definitely the material of choice in these parts. I saw a couple really mossy areas and stopped to take a few photos. The road ran adjacent to a mountain stream and was very pretty. It was kind of the mountain stream that you see in the movies. I finally made it to North Fork and it was around 10:00 AM. I definitely was not going to be exiting the park by 10:00 AM. One thing I have learned on this trip is that the US National Parks are vast. For me, who tends to take a pessimistic view that corporate America is buying up all the green spaces in America it is comforting to see all this land not under the direction of big money. The Bush Administration has discussed selling some of the Federal Lands as they say it is not of use. Well in my mind all land has use and I will be very glad when these guys currently in office or out for a number of reasons. I digress.

In the north fork the campgrounds were closed this time of year and I stopped briefly to take a couple pictures of the mountain stream running through this area. As I drove back I noticed a hiking trail parking area that had a sign posted to lock your doors because there has been a certain number of vehicle break-ins since such and such date. Anyway it was a lot. I thought this to be a little unsettling and wondered who you might encounter on these nature trails out in the middle of nowhere. I made it back to a Y in the road and decided to take the south route around Quinnault Lake hoping it would be a little quicker. It definitely wasn’t any quicker as I stopped to take several pictures. One picture in particular I thought was very funny where a old truck was rusting. The sign by the truck said “Rust in Peace”. I couldn’t think of a better place for that to take place. In a rainforest in the middle of nowhere. I saw several waterfalls where I stopped to take photos as well. I made it out of the Park around 11:00 and was running low on gas. I hoped to make to the Forks for gas as I noticed it was cheap there but did not know if I could make it. I programmed Port Angeles into my gps and figured I had about 45 minutes to spare, but knew I had to get gas as well. I drove for awhile and was driving in a fashion which was not conducive to good fuel economy and realized I would not make it to Forks and needed to find gas soon. I saw two places on my mapping that might have gas. The first place was around $3.00/gal. I took a chance in hopes the next place would be cheaper. It is amazing how much gas prices fluctuate throughout this country even within states. The next small town I came across did indeed have cheaper as and I shoved the nozzle in the tank and went into the store while my tank was filling. In the store I hurriedly grabbed lunch. I asked the lady if I can make it to Port Angeles by 2:00. She said you are going to have to hurry. I thought well she didn’t say it couldn’t be done. I hopped in the truck and put the pedal to the floor. I was passing everything in sight and making great time. Encountered a couple slow logging trucks and an RV. Generally the logging trucks drove fast in these areas where logging is so prevalent namely in Oregon and Washington, but on the steep hills they are all a little slow. The RV really slowed me down for awhile and in some of these locations you might be on a curvy road for 30 miles. Fortunately this road was not that curvy and I was able to pass the RV and logging truck after about 20 minutes of following. As I approached Port Angeles I became rather confident that I had plenty of time to make it there by 2:00 and decided to take some pictures of this beautiful Lake just south of Port Angeles. These photos chewed up about 20 minutes of time. After getting back on the road I ran into some construction work that really set me back. I probably waited about 10 minutes and I was kicking myself for stopping to take those pictures. Finally they let us through and I was now behind more traffic. They had a tree fall on the road and the construction crew was clearing the road. I now was back to driving fast and passing everything insight. I still thought I could make it. After what seemed like an eternity I pulled into Port Angeles around 1:30. I had plugged in Victoria, British Columbia into my program in hopes it would take me directly to the ferry. I had previously driven to the ferry and it looked like the mapping program was sending me to the right location. Indeed it did and I pulled in at 1:45 just in time. After about a 5 minute wait we began loading. I felt very lucky to make the ferry. It had already been a long day. I assume because of 9-11 stuff everyone had to leave there vehicles once parked and go above in the waiting area during the cruise. I didn’t quite understand that as if someone wanted to blow it up they could do it at the beginning or end of the cruise. I sat down by a school teacher from Canada. We talked about a lot of different things and I decided to go outside to take some pictures. There were two coast guard boats that followed us halfway through the trip. I guess to the international border and then went back. I again reflected on having joined the coast guard as a career instead of my career path. I do believe I would have enjoyed it.

The cost of the ferry was $45 and was about 1 ½ hours in duration. I walked outside and talked to some folks that were on the bow of the boat. They said they had just seen a whale’s dorsal fin, but said the whale did not surface for very long. I jumped up and down in frustration of having missed the sighting. They laughed at me. They said they were on a family vacation and were going to Butchart Gardens a place I planned to go as well. They said the cost is only $17 in the off-season, which is something I wondered about as well.

I went back inside and talked to the teacher a little longer. As we got close to Victoria I went back outside to check out the Harbor. There was a big sign that said Welcome to Victoria. The town is beautiful. Lots of old buildings surrounding the water and several planes with pontoons were motoring around the harbor. I was amazed by the beauty of the place. After unloading we had to go through the border patrol and they asked me a few questions and I had to show them my cargo. It went pretty smoothly and I was again on my way. My first task was to get some Canadian Cash. I drove to where the lady on the ferry said there was a bank. I wasn’t having any luck finding it so I decided to go through the information center. They gave me some Hostel locations and even called the places asking about parking, which is a big concern of mine. The guest information person said there is a cash exchange place across the street. I went over there and cashed $20 which I thought would be enough and would keep my expenditures in check. I walked to the hostel and seemed pretty cool, but parking would have to be on the street. The hostel did not take credit cards or American money so I had to spend my $20 worth of Canadian money right away. I actually did not have enough money so I paid him what I had and walked back to the currency exchange place on my way back to my truck. The exchange guy did not charge me a fee the second time which was very nice. The truck was just where I had parked it. I drove back to the hostel and fed the meter. It was interesting to me that the meter took American coins as well as Canadian. I got checked in and looked around. After a short nap I fixed some supper. I enjoyed talking to an Asian lady that was doing some cooking near me. Again that is so often the case in these hostels there were a few people doing some non mainstream things. One guy I spoke with said he helps organize communities. I asked him several questions and am not sure still exactly what his job is. I wanted to go out that night and watch some NCAA tourney games as that was just starting. It was kind of funny as the person working at the Hostel said he was not sure that the basketball games would be on but for sure there would be hockey games on. It was neat seeing some of the hockey madness that Canada is known for. The first place I sopped at did not have the game on so I decided to move to the next place called Irish Tymes. I stopped in for awhile and actually got to talking to a guy that is in the band. He said they would be playing late into the night. I told him I might be back and decided to move to another place in search of basketball in this hockey mad town. The next place was a full fledge sports bar and they said that the basketball games were already over for the day. Of course they now had hockey games on. I asked some questions about the ferry situation as I wanted to take a ferry to the San Juan Islands and I got two different stories on whether that could be done this time of year as one guy said yes and the other guy said no. I had a couple beers and decided to head back to the Hostel. On my way back I walked past Irish Tymes and decided to stop in. I got to talking to a guy named Greg from New York who is an engineer and was there on business. Next to him were two ladies from Victoria that we talked to as well. We talked about a lot of things and I told Greg of my travels. Greg was interested by my travels and bought me a beer. The bar closed at 12:00 and the Victoria ladies knew of a red-neck bar that was open til 1:00. We decided to head to it and close it down too. This day turned out to be a very long day and I was ready for it to come to close. Greg and I had exchanged contact information and I was ready for bed. Around 2:00 I finally made it to bed.

3/16/07

I didn’t sleep very well that night and tossed and turned for awhile. About 6:00 some folks were getting up and going to work. There are quite a few people living in the hostels that live there full time at least seasonally. I saw that all around the us. I understand that to be the case in Europe as well. It seems like a lot of these people always have some kind of problem going on. The one guy in the Victoria Hostel was claiming he had some stuff stolen. I am not sure to believe these folks are not. He probably did but who knows.

I got everything ready to roll and went down stairs to fix some pancakes. The guy next to me had some extra oil as the hostel had none to use to grease the skillet. The food turned out great and I left there around 9:30 with a full belly. I went to a park on the southern side of the City as I was told there was free parking there and I could ride my bike. The weather was overcast, but it appeared the sun might be able to sneak through the clouds a time or two during the day. I rode along the walking path which was marked for pedestrians only for awhile. In one area there were a couple steps one of which had occasional drift wood on it. There were no people walking on this step so I decided to ride my bike there. Occasionally I would have to get off and pack the bike over driftwood, but at least I was not interrupt anyone’s walk which I really didn’t think I was doing anyway. I noticed the houses were so different none appeared to be the same. They all were very pretty and kept up. I suspect with the nice ocean view the wealthier people lived in this area. I stopped at another park and talked to a Australian Lady who was pushing a kid. She was an extremely nice lady who really got excited when talking about nature and all the animals. She had married a man from the US. She really enjoyed traveling, but indicated in a regretful way that the baby has her hands tied these days. I told her I see people all the time that have kids in backpack like bags that still travel but this particular child did appear a little young even for that. Our conversation lasted for about 15 minutes and then I decided I better mosey on back as I had to back track for about 12 miles the distance I had come. The ride back seemed to go rather slowly but I rode on the street and did less sightseeing and photo taking, which made things go quicker. Once back at the truck I desired to ride farther and did so but then thought I better not since I wanted to see Butchart Gardens today as well. I turned around and drove the ½ mile back to the truck. I decided to just drive the area I wanted to go to save time. After the short drive I headed out of Victoria to Butchart Gardens. It was about 12:00 now and I was a little hungry and was actively looking for a ma and pa place to eat. It seemed to take forever to get out of Victoria as the traffic was rather busy and there were several stop lights.

The signage to Butchart Gardens wasn’t too good as I needed to exit to this small awkwardly located road. As a result I missed the turn and had to come back to the turn off. When coming back the turn was restricted from the direction so I had to go on past it. I finally ended back at a place where I had seen a restaurant that I thought would be a good ma and pa place. It turned out to be run by Chinese people which was not what I expected. I had the soup and sandwich which was relatively cheap though I thought everything was a little higher priced than what it could have been. I was the only one in the restaurant. This was definitely not the type of restaurant that I expected based on the exterior. Anyway the meal was ok and I left feeling content. I got back on the highway and this time made the right turn to get onto this ill-placed road. Again as I drove down the road I was never too sure if I was in the right place but finally I did find the Garden. It was indeed very pretty from the onset even though this was the off season. The cost during the off season is $17 as the family I had met on the ferry indicated. After parking I looked at my watch and decided I had about an hour to get through the park as I wanted to be at the Swhartz Ferry before 4:00, which takes you to Vancouver. I had found out earlier that morning that no ferries serve the San Juan Islands this time of year and this was my only ride out of Victoria to the US without backtracking to Port Angeles this time of year.

The Garden was amazing as advertised with the sunken garden portion being my favorite. It appeared however that I was about 2 weeks early as a lot of the flowers appeared to be ready to start bursting. There were some flowers however all ready in bloom which seemed weird to me at such a high latitude. Was wondering if maybe all the moisture contributed to a more stable temperature resulting in earlier blooming plants? Not sure what was going on here, but the end result is very pleasing to the eye. I really liked the redwood tree as well. It was only 83 years old, but still was enormous. I have become a big fan of redwoods and sequoias. It was getting close to the time for me to leave so I wrapped things up and headed out. On the way out I grabbed a coffee and was on the road. As I approached the ferry I saw a sign that stated the 4:00 ferry to Vancouver was full. I had been doing all this rushing around for nothing. I got there and got a $49 ticket for the 5:00 ferry and waited around. I hated to pay that kind of money but I didn’t really have any other options. There was a big restaurant close and was disappointed to learn that they did not have wifi. I finally went back to my truck that was in line for the next ferry and decided to take a nap. 5:00 came right away and we began boarding. I was surprised to learn that if you desired you can wait in your vehicle on the ferry unlike the crossing from the US to Canada where no one could stay in your vehicle. I sat down near a lady who was in nursing school in Victoria and was going home for the weekend. She said her Dad was trying to get them plane tickets on a flight to San Francisco for some reason which I do not remember. Otherwise they were going to a Vancouver hockey game which she was really excited about as well. The hockey enthusiasm seemed a little funny to me I guess because I am not a big fan.

During the ferry ride I walked outside on the deck for awhile in hopes of seeing a whale, but I never did and it was cold so I decided to head back in. My computer was indicating wifi in the region but I wasn’t have any luck picking it up. I talked to some of the boat staff and that person indicated the homes on the islands we were passing have wifi and I was picking up there signal. That seemed a little far fetched to me but I didn’t know what else it could be so I guess the signal is that strong. We finally made it to the Vancouver Landing which is kind of out in the middle of nowhere and not nearly as cool as the landing in Victoria. I enjoyed the ferry rides, but did not like the expense.

It took about an hour to get to the US border. There were two border crossing locations but they both had 40 minute waits so I crossed at the more western crossing. At the crossing there is a peace park which is nice to see. Even Canada has a conservative leader these days which is a little scary to me. I contribute it to Bush being next door and Canada wanting to protect theirself from him. I realize there's probably more to it than that. Several countries have surprisingly elected conservative leaders recently which I contribute to the loose cannon we have running the show in the US these days. I suspect it is all cyclical.

The border crossing took a little over 40 minutes and I again was on my way. I stopped at the first motel I could find and checked my emails. My lodging options appeared limited. I decided to contact a person that previously stated I could stay with them in Bellingham. I called the number she had left and indeed she said to come over. It is always reassuring to know you have a place to stay especially when it is dark outside. I grabbed some shrimp and fries at the nearby fast-food restaurant and shoved it down quickly. Bellingham is only a few miles down the road so I was there in a few minutes and found the address where I would be staying in no time. We talked for awhile and she had a friend come over and we drank a little wine. I was so tired from the previous night that I wasn’t much of a conservationist at that point. I decided to take a shower to help wake me up and then we sat around and talked for awhile before calling it a night. I slept on the living room floor with my blow up mattress. I love the mattress. I was quickly asleep.

3/17/07

The next morning we got up and headed for breakfast. My host had a great place picked out with lots of character. The only problem was other people had this placed picked out as well as their was a line and not much seating. The restaurant is long and narrow like they use to be in the past. It was similar to Becky;s diner in Portland, Maine except a little smaller. We waited about 15 minutes and a table became available. The person in front of us was by himself and told us to take the table since their was only one of him. We invited him to sit was and I jokingly told him he could even by out breakfast if he wanted. He decided to accept our offer to sit with us that is. He read the paper and we talked about a multitude of things including a lot about traveling. Our guest enjoyed hearing our stories as well. It was St. Patty’s day and they had corned beef and hash with eggs and toast as the special. That’s what we all ordered and when the food came a little later we were not disappointed. This might have been the best breakfast I have ever had. It was fantastic. I enjoyed the food, the conversation and the atmosphere of this place. Unfortunately my host had a test to take this week and really needed to get back to studying and I was feeling bad for taking up her study time. Our guest said he would take us up on my offer to buy the breakfast. I assured him he really did not have to do that, but he said it was fine and we thanked him. I was shown around Bellingham, which is a town I really liked. It was a fairly big town but yet had a small town feel. It had a college and shops in a downtown area but yet didn’t have the big City feel. I enjoyed the park along the water’s edge the most. If I were to live in this town you would find me a lot in the park along the water’s edge. I liked that area. It started raining so we decided not to go to another park that was on the list and I was down with that, as my host really needed to get back to studying and I needed to get on the road. Well we got back to the host place and we said our goodbyes and I was again on the road in old blue. After the driving on the Indian reservation old blue was indeed starting to seem a little old. Plus she’s added 12,000 miles over the last 3 months.

On my way to Seattle I stopped in Edmonds, Washington and went to Rick Steves store to pick up my rail pass. I got the 3 month Eurail Pass which was around $1,800 but considering it was my European mode of transportaion for 3 entire months I guess it probably wasn’t all that bad. I meandered around the store for awhile longer. It is exciting being around fellow travelers. I then drove around town looking for wifi. Rick Steves had it outside his store but when I came out of the store for whatever reason I was not having much luck using it so I drove around looking for it. Edmonds appears to be a pretty affluent neighborhood and I thought finding wifi would be easy but I did not have any luck doing so. I decided to leave there and head for Seattle. I called up my original Seattle host Helen and fortunately she had availability. I was thinking how much I was looking forward to St. Patty’s night and hear I was with no plans. It seems like for me the times I have the most fun “Partying” is when I do not expect to have fun. The big party nights have never been much fun for me, but then again I have never been much of a party animal for that matter either. Helen had plans, but she wasn’t for sure they were going to work out. In the interim we went out and had a couple Guinness around 6:00 as Happy Hour was still taking place and you can get a Guinness for $2.00 a beer, which I was very pleased with. I liked this Guinness much better than the Guinness I had in Victoria. It just seemed a little smoother for whatever reason on this night. After that I went back to Helen's place and she was confident that her plans were not going to work out so her and I went out for awhile that night. It sure did not turn out to be the wild party night that I had envisioned. We got back reasonably early and called it a night.

March 18, 2007
Happy Birthday Dave. I really didn’t even think about it most of the day, but it was my birthday. I went to a bar that has brunch and worked on couchsurfing possibilities for that night. Also did some journal work. I sent an email to Greg, the guy I met in Victoria to let him know I would be downtown Seattle this day going to the Space Needle and Pikes Market if he wanted to go along to give me a call.

After leaving there I went downtown and tried to find parking near the Space Needle. I was trying in earnest to find free parking, but wasn’t having much luck. I finally found a place that was $5.00 for all day and decided to fork out the jack. That was a lot cheaper than most places I had been finding. I was concerned that I did not follow the parking instructions correctly and fearful of being towed but after several readings of the directions I proceeded on. I have only ate fast food a handful of times on this trip but really didn’t want to be hungry while going through the Experience Music Project Musuem. I didn’t want to be rushed there so I walked towards a nearby McDonalds. As approaching the McDonald’s I saw a familiar face. Low and behold it was Greg the guy I hung out with in Victoria. We said high and discussed each others plans for the day. Greg said he was planning to go to Pike’s Market and I told him that was something I was planning to do either today or tomorrow but was going to hit the Space Needle and the EMP museum first. Greg had just went up into the Space Needle and said he would go with me again if he could use his same ticket. The sun was beginning to come out and it would be a great time to be up there for pictures. After discussions with the ticketing folks it was discovered Greg could not go up again utilizing his previous ticket purchase. We decided to go ahead and get on the train and head to Pikes Market. The train was kind of fun to learn about how it worked, but in all reality I think it would have been faster to walk from the Space needle. When arriving at Pike’s Market we saw a counter where fresh fish were being sold. It was cool seeing them work. The fish were packed in ice and whenever someone bought one they would throw it to the workers behind them about 20 feet who would catch the fish and wrap it in paper. It was cool to watch them work. There was one really odd looking fish that people would curious look at and then the workers behind the counter would pull something making the fish head move and the on lookers would jump back in surprise. I saw one lady get surprised two times, which seemed a little crazy to me. We spent the next hour or so just browsing around the area. We stopped at a microbrewery and had a beer. Greg’s treat. Thanks again Greg.

We walked a little farther along the water’s edge and decided to walk to Safeco and Qwest Fields. Greg was fascinated by the retractable roofs on the Fields. I took some pictures of the roofs as his camera’s memory was full and I told him I would email the pic. to him as he wanted to show his boys the mechanism.

We walked back to Pike’s Market and saw the original Starbucks. The most noticeable thing was the Starbucks emblem had a mermaid with boobs. This is not normally the emblem at most Starbucks. I am not a big Starbucks fan so this place didn’t do much for me. I didn’t even see a sign that said it was the original one, but I heard other people say it is.

We walked through a market area where lots of different trinkets were being sold. Greg bought a very nice necklace for his wife. She would definitely love it. I called Russ Snyders as I planned to meet him for a beer sometime today. Russ said to meet at the brass pig. I thought this was a bar somewhere and couldn’t find it then finally we asked a lady as we knew we had to be close. It turns out the pig is just a statue along the street we walked over to it and looked around. Greg ask me what Russ looked like and I told him he said he would have a University of Illinois shirt on it. As I said that I realized the guy standing only a few feet in front of me might be Russ and sure enough as he turned around I realized it was him. We introduced each other and Greg who was needing to catch a ride back to his motel at the airport decided he better get going. Russ and I went to the same Microbrewery Greg and I had been at earlier in the day. We talked about lots of different stuff and had a couple beers. Russ paid for everything which I told him wasn’t necessary but thanked him regardless. I think everyone thinks I am extremely poor these days since I suddenly do not have a job. It took awhile getting used to everyone perceiving me that way but I think I am now beginning to get use to it and am starting to actually enjoy their hospitality. I know I would be doing the same thing if the roles were reversed. Anyway after our conversation, drinks and the appetizer we went our separate ways. I walked back to where my truck was parked and was glad to still find it there. I then found internet access and was happy to learn of a couchsurfing location in the northern area of Seattle called Fremont. I called the person I would be staying with and she said she would not be home until around 8:00. I had some time to kill. I went ahead and drove to the area. I had some supper and took some sunset photos. Katie called me earlier than expected so I decided to go ahead and head to her place. I really enjoyed talking to Katie and her roommate Mike. We spent most of the night watching 24 which they had on DVD. I became a big fan of Jack Bower. You know I heard they have a cure for cancer it’s Jack Bower tears. Unfortunately Jack doesn’t cry! We hit the hay around 12:00.

March 19, 2007
I got up and got going bright and early. I went to a coffee shop and did some computer work. I got a Pumpkin Spice Coffee and it was great. The pumpkin design was very cool. See the pic. From there I headed to the Experience Music Project and then to the Space Needle. This took me most of the afternoon. The Space Needle exceeded my expectation. The view of the City was great. I highly recommend the space needle experience and I would like to next time eat a meal there.

Denise the lady I stayed with earlier in my travels called and said her husband Steve was working at the fire station and mentioned I could stop by if I desired. That sound great and told her I would. I left the Space Needle around 5:00 and went to a Home Depot to get a tarp and some tie downs for my truck storage. I was surprised (somewhat) to see a coffee stand outside the Home Depot. They are definitely coffee crazy in the northwest. From there I went to the fire station to see Steve. Roger Woefel called and I talked to him for about 30 minutes and then went in to see the Fire Station. This was neat learning about a fire station in a big City. I was particularly impressed by the boats they have at the station. One of them is brand new and was funded with 9/11 funds.

At the station I had gotten a phone call from a couch surfing person who said I was welcome to stay with them. That was good news as it was getting late and I was unsure where I was staying that night. I left the station somewhat excited about going home for awhile.

I got to the couchsurfing place around 10:00 and they had some food made which I ate some of since I had not eaten that night. I didn’t sleep well that night as I guess I was anxious to get on the plane. I got up around 6:00 and left around 6:30 headed for Totem Self Storage in Kent, Washington where I was storing my truck. It took me awhile to get the tarp on which put me a little behind schedule. I was hurried to get to the airport but made it ok. I forgot that I had a cheap pocket knife in my pocket which I obviously had to surrender at the airport. Oh well.

The flight was on time and soon I was in the air headed to Batchtown. I was looking forward to seeing some people I had not seen in awhile. Seattle I will be back in the Fall. Do not change except maybe a reprieve in the incessant rain might be nice.

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Photos

Cape Flattery
Canada is in the background.

Rick Steves Conference
The Man, the Myth, the European Travel Legend!

Jose and Catherine
This is a friend's Brother in-law and daughter who I stayed with one night. This was Jose's fishing club's awards banquet. Thanks so much Jose!

Anna Preparing for School
I stayed two days with Anna and her parents Kit and John.

Rick Steves Conference -Pic 2
See Rick in the background?

Anna and Her Hamster
Anna loved her Hamster and her rabbit ears. I had a blast staying with them. Thanks Anna and of course John and Kit!

My First Seattle Expresso
I had been in Seattle for two days and had yet to have any coffee. I decided that had to change.

Olympic Mountains
Seattle has some great mountain views all around it. This is a veiw of a portion of the Olympic Mountains.

Surfing Here?
I couldn't believe it, but there were people surfing here.

Coho Salmon
Fishing is obviously big in this area.

Makah Indians
They live in the most northwestern portion of the US.

Cape Flattery Trail
Most Northwestern point of the US. This is out in the middle of nowhere and is not very developed.

Neat Tree
It is about a 1/2 mile hike to Cape Flattery and the area is very damp therefore the raised walkway.

Cape Flattery
Looking North!

Cape Flattery-Pic 2
The beauty is amazing.

Cape Flattery - Pic 3
This is a little farther out on the point looking north. Canada is in the background.

Cape Flattery- Pic4
A little different view.

South of Cape Flattery
Several Miles south of Cape Flattery. Shore is beginning to become more beach like.

Mora State Park
Some Big Rocks at Mora State Park.

Mora State Park -Pic 2
Natural Arches.

Mora State Park -Pic 2
This rock doesn't even look real.

Mora State Park
Lots of cool driftwood.

Mora State Park
Very rough Surf.

La Push Campground
Supper and Sudoku. Life is Good.

La Push Campground
My camping spot. They only charged me $7 to park there for the night. It works for me.

Quinnault Rain Forest
I didn't even know there were rainforest in the US.

Mossy
Lots of thick moss in the rain forest.

Moss and Ferns
The main thing I noticed about the rain forest is all the moss and ferns.

Rust in Peach
I can't think of a better place to "Rust in Peace" than the Quinnault Rain Forest in Olympic National Park!

Whose Tree is it?
It appears the United States Forest service and the Quinnault Indians both claim this tree.

Awweee
Me trying to be a photographer.

Ferry Crossing
Riding the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, British Columbia.

Victoria, British Columbia
Harbor in Victoria. This is a beautiful place.

Victoria, British Columbia
Lots of planes come into the harbor in Victoria. Whale watching is big here.

Butchart Gardens
A view through a manmade hole in the hedge.

Butchart Gardens
Located just north of Victoria, British Columbia.

Another Ferry Ride
I wanted to go to the San Juan Islands but Victoria ferries do not service those Islands this time of the year so I had to take another ferry to Vancouver and drive back into the US. At $45 / trip I was glad the ferry rides were over.

Space Needle
Me near space needle.

Pikes Fish Market
Fun Place.

Some Tourist Guy
This is Greg. Greg and I closed a couple bars in Victoria and we happened to run into each other again in Seattle. What's the chances?

Free Hugs
After the war demonstation these folks were giving out free hugs. Of course I went over and got mine. They were free!

Experience Music Project
This musuem about music is right by the Space needle.

The Olympic Mountains
This is a look at the Olympic Mountains from Fremont which is just north of Seattle.

Pumpkin Spice Coffee
They know their coffee. See the pumpkin in the coffee.

Raining Again
It rained 9 out of the 10 days I was in Seattle. See the people out riding their bikes. They just deal with it and go on with their lives. They didn't even have rain suits on.

EMP Guitar Tower
Inside the EMP building.

Space Needle
Inside the dining area. I didn't eat there, but they let me check out the dining area. Very nice as you can see.

Space Needle
View looking towards the northwest from the Space Needle.

Space Needle
View looking towards northeast from the Space Needle.

Coffee at Home Depot
Believe it or not but yes they have a coffee shop outside the Home Depot. These guys are nuts about their Java.