We hopped on
a wee little airplane (so small that it could easily be mistaken for a
crop-duster) out of Lafayette with a quick stop in Memphis to change to a
bigger aircraft which brought us back to Seattle just before noon.
Again,
sweet ANGEL was there to greet us and once again we disrupted her routine with
our presence. Everyone seemed happy to see us again (or very good drama schools
in Wa?) ANGEL took time off work to make sure she could keep her eye on us so
we wouldn't get into too much mischief, so we included her in our escapades! We
made many, many trips to Walmart, so many that I think if we had stayed longer
we could have claimed some shareholding rights, I am sure.
ANGEL had
been planning on taking us to see Mt St Helens [a volcano which erupted on May
18th 1980 when the top 1,314 ft (400.5 mt) disappeared within minutes - photos
of before and after eruption - courtesy of Darrell Jennings], so a few days
after our return from
Louisiana, we set off. We shared our lunch at the
Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center with some pretty friendly golden mantel
squirrels before continuing on to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Such a pity
it was somewhat overcast that day, not to mention rather windy and cold, too.
After buying some souvenirs we decided we may as well drive on to Portland,
Oregon. We took advantage of Oregon's sales tax free system and came back to
Eatonville quite late that night with various goodies in our arms. I like
shopping!
We wanted to
check out the local fishing scene so after purchasing a consecutive 2 days
licence, we first went to Lake Spanaway where we spent the best part of the day
drowning our worms and playing tug of war with submerged rocks and logs. That
wasn't our idea of fun so the very next day, ANGEL took us to Ohop Lake. We
temporarily became mountain goats to get down to the lake from the main road
but it was well worth the effort as we caught 5 beautiful rainbow trout there.
Hard for us seafood lovers to understand it but ANGEL has never eaten fish
before! However, she was successfully tempted to sample the butter fried trout
that I cooked up. We also caught a few nice bass from Jackie's parents' private
dam and again, ANGEL decided to have a taste. She found out that fish when
cooked right, is quite delicious after all! I must add that her newly acquired
taste for fish did not extend to bbq'd smoked copperhead salmon though. She
also politely declined our offer to sample some dungeness crab meat. Doesn't
know what she's missing, does she?
Jackie's boyfriend surprised us
with tickets to see a baseball game - the Seattle Mariners playing against the
Cleveland Indians at the SAFECO field - so together with ANGEL's mum, we drove
to Tacoma and hopped on a bus to get to the venue. All available seats were
taken so ANGEL decided to sit on the floor! Good thinking actually, as she
didn't have to worry about any balancing act when the bus careered around
corners, etc... We were all in high spirits at the prospect of an exciting ball
game and lost no time in finding our way there. What an exciting first
experience that was for my MOTH and I - we really got into the spirit of the
game, right down to exchanging baseball cards with total strangers! Would have
been so much better if the Mariners had won the day though.
I
decided to show my appreciation for the wonderfully warm hospitality extended
toward us by having a satay party several days before our departure. Somehow I
think I got a tad carried away as I made 97 sticks of beef satays, 151 sticks
of chicken ones and a huge pot of spicy peanut satay sauce to feed 10
grown-ups! Everyone had enough to eat, I think... We even got to see Jackie's
tooth tattoo! Not at all obvious that she is a keen fan of George Strait. It
seems that everytime we turned around, it was time to eat again! We were having
difficulties fitting into most of our clothes so we decided it was time to head
for home - actually, the truth was that they have had enough of us in WA so we
were deported back to Australia!
11th August:
Alarm set for 2.30am and after a wake up cup of freshly brewed coffee, we got
changed and headed off to SeaTac Airport for the 6am flight to San Francisco.
Between ANGEL and I, I am sure we used up a whole box of tissues to mop up our
tears. I hate goodbyes so again we just said, "See ya later". God Willing we
will meet again, either here in Australia or in the U.S. - it doesn't matter
where, really. God Bless the day we met on the internet and long live our
friendship!!!
Copyright � 2004
OzLadyM
Please do not use any material on this website without my permission. Thank
you.
WASHINGTON
STATE - Pt 2 
We hopped on
a wee little airplane (so small that it could easily be mistaken for a
crop-duster) out of Lafayette with a quick stop in Memphis to change to a
bigger aircraft which brought us back to Seattle just before noon.
Again,
sweet ANGEL was there to greet us and once again we disrupted her routine with
our presence. Everyone seemed happy to see us again (or very good drama schools
in Wa?) ANGEL took time off work to make sure she could keep her eye on us so
we wouldn't get into too much mischief, so we included her in our escapades! We
made many, many trips to Walmart, so many that I think if we had stayed longer
we could have claimed some shareholding rights, I am sure.
Louisiana, we set off. We shared our lunch at the
Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center with some pretty friendly golden mantel
squirrels before continuing on to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Such a pity
it was somewhat overcast that day, not to mention rather windy and cold, too.
After buying some souvenirs we decided we may as well drive on to Portland,
Oregon. We took advantage of Oregon's sales tax free system and came back to
Eatonville quite late that night with various goodies in our arms. I like
shopping!
went to Lake Spanaway where we spent the best part of the day
drowning our worms and playing tug of war with submerged rocks and logs. That
wasn't our idea of fun so the very next day, ANGEL took us to Ohop Lake. We
temporarily became mountain goats to get down to the lake from the main road
but it was well worth the effort as we caught 5 beautiful rainbow trout there.
Hard for us seafood lovers to understand it but ANGEL has never eaten fish
before! However, she was successfully tempted to sample
the butter fried trout
that I cooked up. We also caught a few nice bass from Jackie's parents' private
dam and again, ANGEL decided to have a taste. She found out that fish when
cooked right, is quite delicious after all! I must add that her newly acquired
taste for fish did not extend to bbq'd smoked copperhead salmon though. She
also politely declined our offer to sample some dungeness crab meat. Doesn't
know what she's missing, does she? 
Jackie's boyfriend surprised us
with tickets to see a baseball game - the Seattle Mariners playing against the
Cleveland Indians at the SAFECO field - so together with ANGEL's mum, we drove
to Tacoma and hopped on a bus to get to the venue. All available seats were
taken so ANGEL decided to sit on the floor! Good thinking actually, as she
didn't have to worry about any balancing act when the bus careered around
corners, etc... We were all in high spirits at the prospect of an exciting ball
game and lost no time in finding our way there. What an exciting first
experience that was for my MOTH and I - we really got into the spirit of the
game, right down to exchanging baseball cards with total strangers! Would have
been so much better if the Mariners had won the day though.
I
decided to show my appreciation for the wonderfully warm hospitality extended
toward us by having a satay party several days before our departure. Somehow I
think I got a tad carried away as I made 97 sticks of beef satays, 151 sticks
of chicken ones and a huge pot of spicy peanut satay sauce to feed 10
grown-ups! Everyone had enough to eat, I think... We even got to see Jackie's
tooth tattoo! Not at all obvious that she is a keen fan of George Strait. It
seems that everytime we turned around, it was time to eat again! We were having
difficulties fitting into most of our clothes so we decided it was time to head
for home - actually, the truth was that they have had enough of us in WA so we
were deported back to Australia! 
