Courtyard By Marriott Bellevue

... the ferry terminal in Nanaimo is *not* a tourist destination, so we didn't have much to do for the hour plus we had to wait. On arrival at Tsawwassen, we met our friend Stephanie for dinner in town. Tsawwassen is strictly a port town (commercial cargo and ferry docks) and dining choices were limited. Steph elected to go with the known quantity and we had a nice casual dinner to catch up on things. After dinner, it ...

... 10 of us bleary-eyed travelers from the Emerald Sea Dive Club met at Sea-Tac Airport for our 7am departure. Everyone made it on time and there were no hassles with check-in or the security lines. A good omen?? Yes indeed a quick flight to LA and then onto Tokyo.

... blog portions. *** For all my blog readers: (Yes, Tim, you.) Internet, computer, and lack of civilization have left me with the impossible task of rebooting my computer numerous times, and individually loading each photo on a crashing java program that I only occasionally get to on the off chance hotel internet gives me more than one teensy-weensy bar. To sum it all up, it is a lot of hassle getting this thing going right now ...

... snack bar and bottle of water from our driver Ron, you don't get service like that on the greyhound. I clumsily stotted my way off the small bus giving myself a nice lump on the top of my head and then we were guided up to our hostel by a nice bloke off the bus. We dropped off our stuff and went for a wander to see what was nearby. We're staying in the Green Tortoise hostel which is apparently famous, but I'd heard of it as it's the same company that does the hippy tours ...

... pong! That was a lot of fun. Specially that it reminded me so much of the times I used to play ping pong with my brother back in Iran. Every time my parents used to leave the house, my brother and I used to rush in to the living room, empty the middle of the room and drag out the dining table we had, which was very strong and made from a very tough wood. We had the netting and the rackets to play ping pong, so we used to attached the net and start the game. I remember I used to ...

... of this the dollar is worth less than it has ever been on the world currency market. The Euro and the Pound are at all time highs to the dollar and the Asian currencies are not to shabby either. The only breaks we get are in Central and South America because most of them peg their currency to the dollar. It is either worth 3 to 1 or 2 to 1 or whatever they choose. That makes it a little ...

The forecast was calling for rain again today, so we caught the morning ferry back to Port Angeles. We would've loved better weather, but we enjoyed our time in Victoria,BC. When we got back to Port Angeles, the weather hadn't changed much. We drove to Olympic National Parks visitor center and saw some exhibits and watched a short film about the parks history.(The thing that amazed me was how big it is) We did our best to explore the park, but ...

... algo, mojarse en la Fuente Internacional. Las fotos son de Alejo. We are with Claudia and Ricardo's family enjoying and sharing time, their daily life. Give them a huge hug with our love and strength during these difficult days of Claudia's health. Do whatever comes, just be here. Do whatever comes each day, talk, walk, be with them in their daily routines ...

I am off to the Peace Corps!! Yes... the day has now arrived after well over a year of applications, preparations, and anticipation I depart tomorrow!! In the morning I board a plane with two bags to my name for three days of training in Detroit and then two years (27 months) in the Philippines. I am rather anxious to get this process going and become a full-fledged PCV! I arrive in Detroit tomorrow evening and our ...

Overheard in line waiting to get into the theater for a play that has been long sold out: Husband: Gee, I wish I'd brought the piano. Wife: Oh, you'd play for us while we wait? Husband: No, I left the tickets on top of it. Well folks, I'm checking the top of the piano right now: passport, check; plane tickets, check; cameras and batteries and memory cards and backup this and backup that, check, check, check. Fancy ...