Seattle and Bainbridge

May 14th
I woke up this morning and ate breakfast with Nancy before going on a delightful walk through their neighborhood. We saw some great wildflowers, and also got to see two bald eagles perched on a pine tree right on the water. Their dog, Dandy, was getting tired after a while so we decided to turn back to just in time to catch the ferry over to Seattle to pick up Chris and Carol. Both arrived in good shape, and we were all very excited to see each other. Once home, we decided to go on a walk through some small Bainbridge forests in order to reach a small city center with a movie store. We rented and watched Tropic Thunder, which was pretty crazy, and then went to bed. From here on out we will be writing as a group. Hopefully there will be many antics to share…

May 15th

Today gave us the realization that we could spend a week in Seattle and still not have seen all that would entertain us to no end. Unfortunately, we have to leave tomorrow, but today was jam-packed with fun and a taste of a really cool and funky city. We spent the morning on Bainbridge Island, exploring the Grand Forest and later heading to Fay Bainbridge, a beach. The forest was beautiful, enchanting and distinctly magical. The intensity of the color green in that forest was something to behold. Getting our fill of Bainbridge, we ferried across the sound to Seattle and began our city excursion in Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, a store as unique as one we have ever been in. We witnessed a whale’s penis, shrunken heads, and oddities of all forms.

From Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe we walked to Pike Place Fish Market, which we ended up exploring for the rest our time in Seattle, despite prior plans to move on. Indeed, the market was too interesting, and had too many attractions, to leave. We ate delicious cheese sandwiches from a cheese factory, where you could see cheese being made through a giant window whilst you ate your food. Eating our sandwiches in a park nearby, we were accosted by a schizo who demanded to know whether we wanted a color. Not knowing how in the hell to respond, we walked away. We found a poster shop, in which we spent an inordinate amount of time. Chris bought a funny poster for the wall in his new house, and we all had fun looking through old issues of TIME magazine. The gum wall, throwing of the fish, flowers, taste testing jam, and delicious donuts all were seen or had as well during our Pike Place exploration.

We got picked up by Lisa at her office building and were taken to her house. The house was beautiful, with natural light streaming in from all angles. We all felt perfectly at home. Their blind dog Coda accompanied us as we sat outside in the sun, catching up and having a good time. When Joe and Nancy arrived we sat down to an entirely delicious dinner cooked by Laura (tortilla soup). Scattergories is an Earnest tradition, and we were happy to take part in this occasionally heated, but always hilarious, game while eating chocolate chip cookies and strawberry sorbet. Finally we were overcome with exhaustion, the result of a day that was hopefully a harbinger of things to come, as it was amazing!

May 16th

We all woke up at Laura and Lisa’s house at about 7:15 and stumbled into the car to catch the 7:55 ferry back to Bainbridge. We arrived back to the house and ate some delicious waffles prepared by Joe himself. The troops are getting in line, and we are preparing to depart for Redwood National Forest shortly.