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WASHINGTON
STATE OREGON
- 2003
Having spent a
fortune last year on our USA & BC trip, our elder daughter's marriage in
September, the Tanami Track road trip very shortly after, birthdays in the
family, followed by Christmas and more family birthdays, we started a strict
diet of bread and spit to save up for a special trip to Washington State to
help our friend, Angel, celebrate her 50th birthday in October of this year.
This plan was hatched during one of our R & R sessions down by the Tambo
River in the Gippsland Lakes region when the fish weren't biting...
With all the boring details taken care
of by my very capable MOTH (Man Of The House), all I had to do was shop for
gifts for our friends in WA (that naturally called for several trips to
Victoria Market in the city), decide what clothes to take with us and which
digital camera I would buy this time. As our departure date drew near, our
excitement mounted to fever pitch. We headed off to the airport bright and
early on Oct 9th to board the United Airlines flight to SeaTac via Sydney and
Los Angeles. "Unfortunately", the aeroplane did not break down this time so we
missed out on the compensational stay at a posh hotel in Sydney. To ensure that
we would be able to consume the in-flight meals, my MOTH had specified "No
Pork" on our meals request form. Bad move! We ended up with either fish or
vegetarian meals - lentil curry being my least favourite. The best part of
ordering special meals was the fact that we got served first. Next time, we
will try asking for Kosher meals instead!
We arrived in LAX and went
through Customs and Immigration there - the queue was so long that we could
have gone for a ten-course Chinese banquet, polished off a bottle of cognac AND
enjoyed a karaoke session, come back and not lose our place in it!
Unfortunately, all I had to amuse myself to kill time, was to watch my MOTH -
if he was just a tad twitchy before we saw the long queue, he could easily have
been mistaken for an epileptic when he saw how bad it was! He kept glancing at
his watch at least a hundred times a minute, sooo worried that we would miss
our connecting flight to Seattle. I think he was starting to hallucinate too,
as he kept commenting on all the fornicating people around us... All's well
that ends well - as soon as we were cleared through Customs and Immigration, we
"hoofed" it to the domestic terminal and caught our flight with seconds to
spare. As in previous US domestic flights we had taken, there was no in-flight
entertainment or meal service of any description apart from a wee cup of
beverage to wet our whistle. Just as well it was a lovely clear day - we saw
spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, etc., but I could have
saved myself all that focusing and clicking as the photos that I took through
the wee window of the aeroplane were lost when the batteries in my bino-digicam
"died" on me.
As soon as we emerged at the arrival hall at SeaTac, we saw GOB - (Good Ol'
Bob), Angel's hubby, with a big ol' smile on on his dial. Hugs, kisses and
handshakes later, we grabbed our luggage and headed for Eatonville. Waiting
excitedly for us were Angel and her mum (my MOTH and I call her, "Mum Doris").
What a welcome we got - even the resident doe and her fawns seemed happy to see
us again. After warm greetings and hugs were
exchanged, we brought our luggage inside, jumped into the "truck" and went
shopping - no, not at Walmart, just at the grocery store. You couldn 't half
tell that Halloween would
be upon us soon - everywhere we looked we saw pumpkins - I have never seen so
many different varieties of pumpkins until this trip! It's a pity that we don't
celebrate Halloween in Australia in such a big way as they do here. Our jaws
were aching by the time we went to bed that night from all the yakkity-yak we
did, as opposed to RSI of the fingers when we chat in IMs practically every day
of the week.
Plans had been made for Angel's immediate family and my MOTH and I to travel to
Cannon Beach in Oregon for the weekend of mid-October to celebrate her special
birthday. Of course food and drinks were at the top of our "to do" list to
prepare for this exciting trip. We spent a couple of days having cook-up
sessions - lashings and lashings of my special fried rice and sweet and sour
chicken. [Sweet and sour prawns (shrimps) would have been my preference but it
was ANGEL's birthday after all, not mine.] As always, I believe in preparing
for the worst and obviously Angel shares the same view, so just in case we got
stranded at Cannon Beach and all the stores there run out of food, we would be
able to save the whole town from starvation! With that in mind, we bought
packet upon packet of beef hot-dogs, bags and bags of chips, bread rolls,
salads galore and just about every slab of Bud Lites from stores within a 10
mile radius. But first, I decided to do a bit of
pampering for the birthday girl - I gave her a hair-cut and
a manicure the day before we left for Cannon Beach.
On a glorious sunny morning of
Friday, Oct 17th, after a slight delay waiting
for Angel's brother and his family to arrive, we set off in two "trucks" --
with piss.. er.. pit-stops at Toutle River Safety Rest Area where there was
free tea, coffee and biscuits (cookies) and yes, toilets! After using the
amenities there and a good stretch of the old legs, we continued on towards the
border at Longview and crossed
the Columbia River into Oregon. From there it was a scenic mountainside drive
west on Highway 30 following the river before a gradual descent into Astoria,
then south on Highway 101 to the coastal town of Cannon Beach. It was good to
see that there was a big supermarket there and many, many restaurants too, just
in case we run out of food!!!
We
arrived at the Surfsand Resort, checked into our respective beachside units
and... fed our faces. Not content with just admiring the view from our balcony,
we decided to arm ourselves with our cameras and go for an up close and
personal look at the majestic Haystack Rock, a large basalt monolith just a few
hundred steps away along the beach. Haystack Rock is part of the Oregon Islands
National Wildlife Refuge and is the breeding home of four species of sea birds:
Tufted Puffins, Pelagic Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, and Western Gulls. The
gulls nest up high on the rock using exposed nests. The puffins nest in burrows
high on the north and northwest sides of the rock. The guillemots nest down
quite low in cracks and crevasses. The cormorants stick their nests to small
ledges medium high on the south side. [Isn't the Internet marvellous???]
Also, there are many fascinating tide-pools teeming with marine life at the
Rock, but unfortunately, we were unable to see them for ourselves as they are
only accessible at dead low tides.
Now
if your idea of fun included walking into a sandstorm to take photos of rocks,
we had a blast! Man, the wind was so powerful it almost blew me into the ocean!
Just as well I wasn't wearing a hair piece or dentures!
Conversation, of course, was out of the question as I couldn't even hear myself
think! We took numerous photos of Haystack Rock and the Needles and then it was
just a matter of turning around in the direction of our resort and let the
strong sandstorm blow us back to it... Of course this "battle" made us hungry,
very hungry, so we fed our faces all over again. We then chilled out on our
balconies and sipped our respective favourite beverages while feeding the
numerous gulls as we waited for a spectacular sunset that the area is famous
for. Alas, it just wasn't meant to be, as it clouded over a bit too soon that
evening. Bummer!
Accommodation at the resort was all booked out as there was a dog show on the
same weekend that we were there. Now why would I mention a dog show? I hear you
ask. Well, our "neighbours" in the
unit next door happened to be the owners of a couple of show dogs, who were so
very anti-smoking (the "neighbours", not the dogs..). There we were, the 3
pariahs, (Angel, GOB and myself) smoking on our balcony... (I might add that
the strong sea breezes were blowing our cigarette smoke as soon it left our
mouths and away from the snooty neighbours' balcony, anyway!) The next thing we
knew, the phone rang - there had been a complaint about our smoking and could
we please refrain from smoking on the balcony! We obliged and from then on,
went downstairs to enjoy our occasional cigarettes but not before making a
counter-complaint about their barking dogs!!! They then had to spend the rest
of their stay keeping their dogs from barking on the balcony, which meant that
instead of second hand cigarette smoke, they got stuck in their unit smelling
dog farts! Hah!!! Two can play this game...
We
spent the best part of the next morning feeding the seagulls (used up four
loaves of bread, we did) and if we had stayed any longer, I'm pretty sure the
gulls would have laid eggs for us! At first, only a couple of them swooped on
our extended hands to
"snatch" our bread offerings but within a few caws and
squawks, whole flocks of various species appeared out of the sky! They must
have excellent communicating abilities or very keen eyesight.
By the time our supply of bread ran
out, it was almost lunch-time and it was then decided that clam chowder from
Moe's was a definite must for us all. After driving all over the place, we
finally located Moe's but much to our disappointment, my MOTH and I were left
drooling - we had to miss out on this treat because Moe's clam chowder
contained pork! GOB bought a huge tub of it anyway and we headed back to our
resort unit. Sweet Angel couldn't bear to see the steady trail of dribble from
our mouths, so she secretly let her fingers do the walking
until she found a
local restaurant which served "porkless" clam chowder. She then disappeared and
re-appeared a short time later with a big old grin on her face and a huge tub
of clam chowder for us! What an angel...
Shortly
after lunch, Angel's friends , Vickie and her family (from Salem), arrived at
the resort to join in the birthday celebration. As it was way too windy to walk
all the way up the beach and check out Ecola State Park to get a good view of
Seal Rock, we went shopping instead. Not serious shopping, more of a
sticky-beaking session, actually. I mean, the kites for sale were beautiful and
all, but not exactly what I would want to take back to Australia as souvenirs.
They were way too large and besides, to be fair, I would have to buy five of
them (for all our grandkids). We then drove around for a spot of
sight-seeing but headed back to
our units before our thirst got the better of us. Fully aware that this
would be our last chance at capturing photos of a seemingly ellusive sunset, my
MOTH and I had our cameras on the ready and were on full alert - like a pair of
paparazzi awaiting the arrival of Michael Jackson to hopefully capture
snapshots of him without his surgical mask! Not that
anyone in their right mind would ever compare Michael's face to a sunset!
Unfortunately,
we weren't well-rewarded for our patience but I did manage to get an unusual
shot of the evening sky. [Click on photo on the right of this paragraph for a larger image.] After sunset, everyone sat down to a hearty meal of - yes, fried
rice and sweet and sour chicken! Of course not having my wok with me presented
a bit of a dilemma as we had to re-heat the food in small batches in the
microwave oven in our unit. By about the sixth batch, I was multi-tasking -
able to carry on a coherent conversation in English while dishing out the food
without spilling it all over the place AND keep an eye on the microwave!
Afterwards, we gas-bagged well into the night, mostly about food...(what else?)
in between ducking downstairs for a cigarette or two. We finally called it a
night and drifted into slumber to the soothing sound of ocean waves. Woke up
the Sunday morning with the sad realization that our weekend at Cannon Beach
was almost over... After breakfast of a coffee, a few puffs of a cigarette, a
cough, a spit, a fart and a look around, we began the task of packing up our
overnight bags, various unimbibed beverages and the unconsumed food (plenty of
"leftovers" - enough to feed an army of starving warriors, in fact!). A few
more clicks of our cameras and we were ready to hit the road. I would love to
return to Cannon Beach someday when the weather is perfect, the tides dead low
and the sunsets glorious...
Back in Washington again, we spent the next few days shopping, eating, fishing
(caught some very nice bass), more eating, more shopping and so on. The most
memorable takeway meal on this trip was Papa Murphy's pizza - we made our
selection of toppings, they custom made, individually wrapped and packed the
pizzas up for us to bake at home at our leisure. Absolutely yummy!!! Oh yes, we
also went to the Country Buffet Restaurant in Puyallup one night where we ate
so much food that we had to roll out the door a couple of hours later. So much
for watching my blood pressure and cholesterol. I'll start dieting when I get
home. Yep, that'll work!
No
trip to Washington State would be complete without a trip to the renowned Mt
Rainier National Park. Mt Rainier is an active stratovolcano encased in over 35
square miles of snow and ice. With an elevation of 14,411ft (4392 metres), it
is the highest mountain in the state. One of the monarchs of the Cascade Range,
it was originally known as Tahoma. It is mostly covered by glaciers but heat
from the volcano keeps areas of the crater rim ice free. Mt. Rainier is famous
for its dense forests, dazzling wildflower meadows, tremendous snow fields and
rugged glaciers. After reading so much about this famous volcanic mountain and
not visiting it the last time we were in Washington, we were determined not to
miss doing so this time.
On
the Friday before we were
due to head for home, we set off... What a fabulous
day from start to finish - a great sunny day with light winds, awesome sights
and our very own tour guide - we couldn't possibly ask for more. We saw deer
idly grazing by the roadside and further on, a couple of unusual driftwood
works of art on the dry bed of Lake Alder captured our attention. Whoever
created these artistic masterpieces must be be a rather bored but talented
person. We drove up to Paradise Visitor Center to marvel at the spectacular
views of the surrounding ranges, stopping here and there to check out Nerada
Falls, Longmire Museum and various points of interest. Our luck continued
thoughout the day, as not long after our return from Mt Rainier, Mum Doris
called out for us to bring our cameras as there was a magnificent view begging
to be captured from her front porch - a view of Mt Rainier with a strange cloud
"hat". The proper name for this cloud formation is Orographic Cloud which can
be produced as the winds flow against and over the mountain. [Click on the main
photo at the top of this page for a larger image.] What a way to 'christen' my
brand new camera!
The
very next day, we made another road-trip, this time to Portland, Oregon,
spending the day there while Mum Doris was at a church convention. We had a
ball...
SHOPPING!!!!! So much shopping was done that we had to buy a suitcase
to put all the goodies in. Having shopped till we dropped, we then paid a visit
to Vickie to sup on super delicious fried smoked salmon her mum had prepared
for us. Not wanting to keep Mum Doris waiting at the convention venue, we raced
off only to find that we had to cool our heels for about "three cigarettes" as
the convention had gone way over schedule. It was almost midnight by the time
we got back to Eatonville.
As
our holiday was drawing to a close and we would not be there to join in the
Halloween fun, Jackie invited us to dinner at her place on our last night and
insisted that we have a go at pumpkin carving. I was unsure of which knife to
use from the available
selection in Jackie's kitchen drawer and was quietly
muttering to myself about their blunt condition when she re-appeared,
brandishing a pumpkin carving kit! Well, after that, there was no stopping us
-- my MOTH did the initial part, cutting off the top with the precision of a
brain surgeon, Jackie and her toddler son, Conor, removed the seeds and I put
the finishing touch by carving a face on it. After cleaning up the mess made on
her dining table, we spent at least half an hour trying to stop Conor from
blowing out the candle before any photos could be taken! What a fun night that
was... until it was time to say our goodbyes to Jackie - we must have hugged
one another at least a million times.
Then
it was back to Angel's to finish our packing. Woke up the next morning, said,
"See ya later" to Mum Doris, ate some Krispy Kreme Donuts for brunch and all
too soon, it was time for us to say farewell to Angel. Again, many tears were
shed....
before GOB drove us to the airport. We had a pleasant and uneventful
flight back --- Seattle - San Francisco - Sydney - Melbourne, arriving home on
November 1st with a few days to spare to organize a 7th birthday
celebration
for our grandson. Another fabulous holiday we will long remember...
OzLadyM
Border: BoogieJack
Smilies: Smiliemania
Copyright � 2004 OzLadyM
Please do not use any material on this website without my permission. Thank
you.
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