Day 17

Today was our last day to visit with Kyl.  It has been great being able to spend the time with her, see where she lives and explore Washington.  Washington is a beautiful State and it is a good thing that their percipitation is rain or they would have a LOT of snow! The temps are mild, although the folks here think its cold. 

Rick finished his chainsaw carving class today and is anxious to start carving.  He worked on fish, bear, eagle and trees. 

The girls and I went shopping then to Applebee's for lunch.  Applebee's does a free menu for all military on Veteran's Day!  It was very crowded but the service was great and so was the food. 

Then they both go their hair cut!  We didn't make it back to Seattle to pick up our glass pieces so they are being shipped.  We will be looking forward to seeing how they turn out!

On to Oregon tomorrow!

Day 16

Sunny beautiful day...and a quiet one for Karsten and I!  Time to catch up on homework, email, reading, and rest!

Rick and George Kenny at the School of Chainsaw Carving.

Rick is busy with the chainsaw carving class today.  We cannot wait to see all the things he ends up creating.  Yesterday was the first class and he brought home a small pine tree.  It looks great!

 

Day 15

Early day!  Had to be out the door by 6:30 am!  Breakfast and then the 7:20 ferry.  A brisk rainy walk.  Karsten and I rode the ferry to Seattle. The ferry lines are owned by the State of Washington and there are many that run over the entire Puget Sound area.  It is free to ride from Bremerton to Seattle, but you have to pay to get back! 

After we arrived we grabbed a cab to the Seattle Glassblowing Studio.  Justin, our instructor, demonstrated how to gather

 How to marver

and munipulate the hot glass. 

Karsten is creating a paperweight!

Day 14

A day off from travel!  It was a shop 'til you drop, or Karsten day.  The Mall had all the fav's Hollister, PacSun, Aeropostle, Kohl's, Journeys, Famous Footwear, and more!  And she also chose Applebee's for our meal.  No pics tody :(

We will be staying in Washington until Friday.  Remember the chainsaw carver I mentioned?  Well, Bear In the Box,  chainsaw carving shop also offers classes.  Rick begins the class tomorrow for three days.  So while he is learning to carve, Karsten and I will take the ferry to Seattle and take a glass blowing class! 

This also means more time with Kyl! :)

Day 13

Lucky 13.  Hope everyone has had a great weekend.  Today we rode the ferry to Seattle.  As many know, I just love the ferry rides! As we watched the wake we could spot seals off in the distance swimming and resting on the buoys. I did forget to bring my camera today so we only have one pic.  However, Kar and Kyl have both posted photos on FB.

We toured the Seattle Aquarium and saw some beautiful fish, some sea otters and even touched some star fish.  We went to the Fisherman for lunch and I had fresh dungenous Crab...the girls enjoyed breaking the crab legs and I enjoyed eating it! 

We taxied over to the Seattle Glassworks and watched some of the artists blow glass.  Then on to the Space Needle.  The Space Needle was built for the for the worlds fair and offered incredible views of Seattle with some clouds but also blue skies and NO rain! 

Then Kyl wanted to treat Karsten to one of her favorites...sushi.  A quick ride back to the waterfront, pit stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate for desert and onto the ferry again. 

It was good to see Kyl for the weekend and we will see her at least once more before we head out of town, but for now she is back on base and back to work.  We will be staying in Washington a bit longer than expected...more later.

Day 12

Crescent Lake 2010

Rick picked up Kyl early this morning !  She looks great!  She also says "hello" to everyone.  We debated over breakfast what to do with the day.  Rick wanted a less stressful day...the big city traffic is no fun and he was ready for a day "off", at least from driving.  We talked about walking around Seattle, but the weather was wet so we decided to take a drive to see a chainsaw carver.  Lucky me there was a yarn store across the street!  Great place with all kinds of things!

The day didn't seem to know what it wanted to do so we headed to Olympic National Park.  Just a short drive.  We could go to Crescent Lake, which Rick had visited many years ago with his grandmother.  He remembered how beautiful it was and wanted to revisit that spot.  Even though it was a cloudy day the scenery was beautiful. 

Even found some waterfalls. 

We drove through the rainforest and it is unbelievable how lush, rich and thick the foliage is!  I have added some "jungle" photos here but there are a lot on FB! 

Well, then only another 53 miles to Forks, where Twilight was filmed.  Karsten was excited to see that.  Now we are about half way around the Olympic peninsula loop, so we might as well finish it.  We finally made it to a restaurant for dinner about 7:30 PST and back to the hotel around 10! 

Look how big the tree is
 compared to Karsten!

Maybe we can take some time off tomorrow???

We are thinking of all our family and our "family" at WPUMC!  God Bless!

Day 11

Heron

 Along the Georgia Strait we found this lone Heron. 

Today was our first real day of inclimate weather.  It was rainy and dreary all day...but then we are in Washington on the coast.  Even though we did not have far to go, we spent most of the day driving.  We drove from Bellingham toward the coast and then stayed as close as possible to the water all day.

In one area there were there were eagles hanging out in the trees!  Not just one or two but four in this tree, two in that one...  Unfortunately, my pics didn't really turn out.

Keep Looking Up

Looks Like the Jungle to me!

We drove through and over some of the islands, along the Georgia Strait and took the ferry to reach Bremerton.  The forests here are very junglesque. 

We meet Kyl tomorrow morning!