Western Inn - Tacoma

So, this is not quite my European part of my trip yet, but it was awesome to be be back in my home state! On Friday I hung out with my good friend Mary in her new apartment, and Christiana and her Fiance picked me up for the evening. We went out to eat, sang some karaoke, and went dancing. Saturday I spent the day with my family. My Aunt Sherry and Uncle Darren were kind ...

... river is no more than a babbling brook. Just up ahead the path a bit and some stairs take to you to a little bridge above where the falls fills a pool and flows rushing past under your feet. On the way back to the car we were fortunate to have a train pass. In a courageous moment Roanna ran beneath the trestle with the train roaring overhead. Back at the car, we got a hold of the moving company (after leaving two messages ...

... Mom managed to forget to remove her watch at the security gate and therefore beeped while walking through the metal detector. Usually this sort of honest mistake is overlooked, but no, not today. Today the guard stationed at that metal detector was especially grumpy. She yelled at Mom for holding up the line and made her go back to the end of it and walk through again. But all in all, we've made it ...

... day tour of windmills and tulips Train to Trier, Germany 10 day tour of Mosel River and Rhine River Gorge Train to Passau, Germany 20 days along the Danube River going thru Vienna, Austria on to Budapest, Hungary Train to Italy, possibly stopping in Venice and then on to Tuscany Train to Rome Fly home to Seattle, July 9, 2008 STP, Seattle to Portland bike ride July 11, 12 July 19 - Fly to Toronto, bus to Temagami, Ontario for 3 weeks of wilderness canoe tripping

We passed through 'United States Customs and Border Patrol' at Victoria. This involved passport and visa check, questions as to where, why and how, fingerprint checks and photo taken. The fast water jet catamaran took 2.5 hours to Seattle- a good, comfortable run. Once docked it took another hour to pass through the customs and immigration centre. These guys are thorough. To the hotel and then a quick burger ( nothing else close around at this time) and then ...

I had my first experience of the Greyhound coaches on the way to Seattle.  They aren't nearly as bad as I had been lead to believe.  Only one weirdo spoke to me; and I won't be ringing the number he gave me.  And if I remember to sit away from the loo, next time my feet should stay dry. I had one unfortunate incident on the first night here.  I find it quite hard to meet people at the hostels so, on my first night in a new city, I tend to go for ...

... got oceanview seats at every restaurant etc. did the underground tour - fascinating, well worth doing. learned seattle is like a waffle, the streets are the ridges, the business and homes are where the syrup goes! ask us about it sometime! it has an interesting history, so tanya bought a book about it - the one i read half of in a day on my temp assignment.!! city was great for photos, but we forgot our camera.....D'oh! bought a really cheap digi ...

... hints to anyone and everyone in the hostel that sitting around reading was probably not the most exciting way to spend the Saturday night before Halloween I eventually admit to my self that no-one was going anywhere. So reluctantly I headed out on my own, which is a bit sad really, but after a Guinness or two met an English guy in the local Irish bar called Steve who now lived in Seattle and worked for Microsoft. I think he was bored of his girlfriend or ...

... anything else; this is what I miss in my soul every time I'm inside. I came back to my room and couldn't stand it, couldn't be inside, couldn't stand the knowledge that I was in Parkland. Mt Rainier loomed up from the lesser mountains on the drive back, like someone else's dreams, and I wondered what I really wanted. I do know the calling of my heart, the song of my soul, and it calls me without reprieve, and I must listen in some way.

... us up from our lodging at 7:30am, before hitting the freeway north. There was one other patron on the tour, as well as the guide, who used the 45 minute trip up to Everett to fill us in on Boeing and other aviation history. He was very passionate about aviation, its history and the current industry today. Because we arrived on site too early, he was able to take us out to a nearby independant facility that utilises the same airstrip as the Boeing factory. Here we met ...