Victoria BC

We are in Victoria, British Columbia. It's a beautiful island that must be just about the most southwesterly part of Canada.

We took a ferry over on Tuesday, a bright sunny day with promises of torrential rain for the rest of our visit. Fortunately, Canadian weather forecasters are not any better than those from other countries and we have had nary a drop.

We celebrated LK's birthday Tuesday night. I love the age we live in. She received birthday greetings from so many people - and not one of them knew where she was. There were e-mails, of course, and SMS messages. (And for those who truly know LK, the SMS were sent to my phone since they know she seldom turns her own phone on.) There were heaps of Facebook good wishes. But I think the biggest smile came from a Skype voicemail message where our favorite girl started out, "Hello, Armagh. Happy Birthday."

Our hotel, the Victoria Regent, is fantastic. It sits right on the harbor and is only a couple of blocks from the main restaurant and shopping area.

We have a balcony where we watch the extremely busy harbor as seaplanes take off all day, and cute little green shuttle ferries that scurry across the harbor looking all the world like toy boats.

We also have some beautiful views of the mountains off to the south and east. Yesterday we had a fantastic visit to the Butchart Gardens - one of the truly beautiful spots on earth.

That is best seen rather than described, but I cannot upload those pictures until tomorrow because we (OK, me) forgot to bring the charger and the camera went dead just about the time LK took her last picture. Of course, it wasn't what she intended to be the last picture but that's the way it is.

It was a great day, though, as we followed up Linda Day with Robert Day, celebrating his birthday. (There really are too many Geminis on this trip. Poor Jaki must feel as if she's traveling with six people.)

Today the sun is shining brightly, once again defying the forecasters. We have pushed back our ferry trip return to the US to late afternoon to have some more time to wander around this wonderful place.

Then it's Bremerton tonight and Seattle tomorrow.

The Folks in Forks

On the long drive up the northwest Pacific coast, every once in a while you come across an unexpected bump in the road that turns out to be pretty neat. Or, in today's instance, it's a fork in the road. Driving from Aberdeen Washington up to Port Angeles, we went through the unique town of Forks, and it's worth telling you about it.

Driving into this small town, we started noticing all sorts of large, weird wood sculptures - bears in bikinis, fishermen with frog's heads, a 10-foot angry angel. We had decided that the folks of Forks had way too much time on their hands. Couple this with easy access to chain saws, and it was just enough to put us on guard.

Our mood changed soon enough, though (and it had to be soon, because the town is very small). We came across the Forks Timber Museum. I have since learned it was built by the Forks High School carpentry class in 1990, and I think those young Forkers should be proud of their efforts.

Nonetheless, I just couldn't work up enough enthusiasm to actually go inside and learn any more about timber than I already knew. So we just took a snapshot of their wood sculpture and walked next door to the Forks Tourist Information Center.

We were greeted by a cheery woman. "Welcome to the Twilight Zone," she said. I was torn between thinking she was a very friendly person but also somewhat odd. A few minutes later, she had her small dog cradled in her arms and told us he was a vampire dog. That made my mind up for me - she was definitely a very weird Forker. (OK, I'll stop. We came up with dozens of these during lunch, but I won't use any more in this post.)

It turns out that I was unfair to our greeter. She assumed that we were all relatively aware of current pop culture. Forks, you see, is the setting for the "Twilight" series of vampire novels and movies. That explained a few things. Like the "Forks (Heart) Vampires" sign at the tourist center. And what I took to be a derelict pickup sitting in the front that turned out to be the truck owned by Bella, the heroine of the series.

Given that the target audience for these books is young teenage girls, I don't feel too bad not knowing any of these details. After all, it's always different strokes for different folks. I mean, how many of those girls spent any time last week trying to comprehend how Al and Tipper could split after all these years?

Driving into the center of Forks for lunch, it became quite clear that this is one town that has embraced this vampire tourism with a vengeance. There are Dazzled by Twilight tours; one of the diners has a Bella Burger; even the pharmacy offers Bella's favorite remedies. Most of the motels have something about vampires on their signs.

It turns out that this overdose of Twilight tourism is all working out for the best. Apparently tourism in the town has grown 600 percent since the first book was published in 2005. It couldn't have happened at a better time to bring in much needed money, since the main driver of Forks' economy had been the declining timber industry.

Without the Twilight connection, it is unlikely Forks would have been able to attract too many tourists. If you doubt me, read this from its Wikipedia entry - and remember it was written by someone trying to put a good face on Forks:

Depending on the person, there are several things to do in Forks.
For the teenage group there is a group called the Rainy Day Gamers. These gamers gather every Friday at the ICN Building located a couple blocks away from the stoplight at 71 North Spartan. For others, Forks serves as the hub for numerous day excursions to the Hoh Rainforest, the Pacific Beaches, and various wilderness trails.

In other words, unless you're a kid and unless it's Friday, about the only thing to do in Forks is leave it and go somewhere else close by. Or take the Dazzled by Twilight tour and finish it off with a Bella Burger.

Lots of Forks pix at our share site.

The Rogue River

I've had trouble writing the post about our jetboat adventure going up the Rogue River, starting in Gold Beach Oregon.

That may be because I had a ball that day - absolutely loved the trip. Perhaps it says something about me that I have troubles writing about stuff I enjoy but can turn out War & Peace Part II writing about things I don't like. Hmmm, maybe LK has a point when she says I'm getting cranky.

Anyhow, the solution to this problem is simple: write something quick, post lots of pictures and move on.

So - in keeping with a recurring theme of our "summer" holiday, it was cold that day - and got much colder when the jetboat went fast and water splashed on us. But it didn't matter.

The Rogue River is beautiful, and was one of the original rivers protected by federal legislation that prevented further development. So lots of wonderful scenery and heaps of critters.

This trip is close to being renamed as Miss Jaki's Northwestern Safari since we've seen so many animals. A herd of elk grazing and buzzards eating roadkill had been the highlight before the boat ride. But before we had even left the estuary, we saw two types of seals and an aviary-worthy display of birds from cormorants, ospreys, and the beautiful blue herons. Further down the river, we saw a wild turkey and a couple of bald eagles. One of the eagles even did us the favor of taking off right over our heads. And from the river itself, one fisherman showed us a couple of impressive salmon.

The driver knew a lot of things about the river and the wildlife. And far too many corny jokes. He also seemed to think that getting us wet was funny. Which it wasn't, but who's complaining?

I've posted some of the pictures at our Shutterfly share site.

The Good Wife

So here's the worry. LK and I have spent every day - in fact, almost every hour - together since we sold the house in early February. I am sure my peccadilloes are driving her crazy; I'm sure she wishes she had just a little more space than she's getting on this "Let's travel together for the next six months" tour of ours. I am sure she is getting just a wee bit tired of me.

I, of course, couldn't be happier.

Except, perhaps, maybe, once in a while, when LK tugs on my t-shirt to prevent it from riding up when I take off my sweatshirt in front of other people. I actually do appreciate her attempt to keep my ample frame from being scrutinized, and I know I react like some cranky old guy who thought he was being treated like an infant by his wife. But then, she reacts like I am a cranky old fart.

I know this because these were her words: "You're turning into a cranky old fart."

I whined something about not wanting to be treated like a six-year-old with his mother. She barely skipped a beat before offering me a deal: "Here's the way it is. I will not help you out - even though I was helping you out - anymore. And you won't ask me anything anymore. No, where is this, what should I wear - nothing."

Even I knew this was too much to ask so I told her no deal. I did suggest that I would not ask her three questions per month if she would stop infantilizing me (and you can guess how I ever learned that word!). She wouldn't accept my offer.

I fully understand that women want their husbands to look good, that they care about their husbands' clothes, that they are upset if their husband has, say, a big grease stain right in the middle of their shirt where their belly rises 50 degrees above what would be called flat.

And I fully understand that almost no woman understands that the husband - OK, me - really, really, really doesn't care very much about all of that. Especially now that we (I) are (am) retired.

Yesterday we were planning on going for a brief walk. Temp in the 60s, no rain. I planned to throw on a jacket, but LK thought I needed a lightweight sweater and the jacket. In case it got really cold. I told her I thought the jacket was enough, but she argued that I would be s.o.l. if I got cold.

I thought about it for a second. Then I realized - we could have these discussions for the next 20+ years, or I could make our lives easier. "OK," I said, "I am turning 62. We're both in good health. I think it's time for me to accept that I should never have to make another decision. I am making the rest of our lives so much easier. You tell me what I should wear."

And this is where LK shows her true mettle. You and I might back away from such a full responsibility. Truly scary, huh? But LK barely hesitated before saying, "Well, in that instance, wear the lightweight sweater and carry your jacket." She didn't bat an eye when I asked her whether I should wear the green or blue sweater.

(I should add that she did apologize when I had to take off the green sweater and carry the jacket because I was so hot once we started on our walk.)

This dynamic between my beloved and me is not onerous, by the way. It's actually quite liberating. It is defining what TROML is going to be like. (That's "The Rest of My Life".)

Take the other day when - completely out of the blue - LK said I should grow my beard again.

"But, darling," I said, "the last time I had a beard, you agreed I should shave it because it made me look old."

"Yes," she said, "but now you are old, so it doesn't matter. And besides, you won't need to shave any more."

All I can add to this is that it's now three days since I shaved, and my beard is coming in nicely - although it seems pretty white to me.

And perhaps I should add that I do love my darling. For surely, there is no one in the world who could care so much about me - even down to my beard and my sweater - as she does.

Crater Lake

Our summer holiday continued today with a day trip to Crater Lake in Oregon. Jaki and Robert had visited the lake last July and thought it was one of the most beautiful places they have seen. Wanting to share it with us, they planned this trip away from the coast. What they didn't plan on was that most of Crater Lake's roads are still closed with snow, the winds were howling, a torrential downpour was relentless the entire day and the temperatures - the JUNE temperatures, I might remind you - were in the low 40s (figure about 6, my celsius-friends).

So far our trip up the coast of northern California and through the southern parts of Oregon has made a joke of the discussion LK and I had when we packed for our marathon trip. That's the discussion where I suggested it was April in the Indian Ocean, May in the Mediterranean and summer in the US. Who needed sweatshirts, sweaters, jackets?

OK, we're past all that, especially because LK is so enamored of her new "professional duty" jacket. Here are just a few pictures of our first week on the road if you wonder what life has been like for us, and remember - this is our SUMMER holiday:



And finally, I made a brief movie of our visit to Crater Lake today. I apologize for the sound quality, but there were several moments when the wind gusted so hard that it just took over the mike. And then were a few other moments when the rain and wind combined to make my voice go very high as certain parts of my body scrambled to get inside where it's warmer.



Oh, and a PS - I haven't got around to writing about our jetboat trip on the Rogue River yesterday. I will try to catch up on that tomorrow.

And a double PS. Sandy, your sister said to tell you that she will call you in a day or two but we are just finishing our plans off now. If any of the rest of you wish to use this blog for personal communication, feel free. Just let me know who you need to reach and what you need to say to them!

Welcome to Oregon

It is a short drive from Crescent City, California, to Gold Beach, Oregon. It was the first time I had been in Oregon, and all I could recall were that their sports teams are called Ducks and Beavers and Trailblazers. You know, lots of water and not much development.

I was pretty sure I was overstating the case, because I had some vague memories that Oregon was actually a pretty cool place to live. But crossing the border this morning did not do much to change my first impression. It was rainy, foggy, and cold.

That, of course, did not stop us from visiting a few spots of this majestic, rugged coastline. But we didn't stay long, and we couldn't see much from far away since the clouds decided to get between us and the sights.

Once we got to Gold Beach, we did discover a lovely little bistro with local boutique beers on tap. After that, and in preparation for a jetboat river adventure tomorrow morning, LK decided I would need to rug up and had to buy a sweatshirt. So we went to the gift shop for the jetboat company. I picked out a sweatshirt and asked her what she thought. She unfolded it and said, "Donald, this one is for a very fat person." I guess love is blind, because she seemed somewhat surprised when I tried it on and it fit perfectly.

I think it also says something about my bride's habits that I walked out with my sweatshirt and a windbreaker for tomorrow, whereas she - who had not needed anything for tomorrow - walked out with a sweatshirt and a lovely waterproof jacket.

Obviously, not a lot happened today, but I did take a quick video at one of our stops. Here it is, and there should be some fun stuff after our river adventure tomorrow.

Eureka to Crescent City

Here's some pictures from yesterday's road trip:


We started by checking out the river portion of the Kinetic Race in Eureka. The race is an interesting event where contestants have to build vehicles that can go on land, water and sand and are propelled through pedal power. Needless to say, this science experiment gone mad results in teams decorating their machines in the oddest way - but it's all a lot of fun. Check it out here.



The whole town of Eureka seems to have come out for the event. In this picture, you can see Jaki and Linda watching the race. You can also see that they are the only people wearing shorts and t-shirts, as the entire town recognized how cold it was outside and dressed as if they were expecting a late snowfall on Memorial Day weekend.













(You can also see a very stylishly dressed citizen in the picture with me. I don't know how he knew I would be there, but it was very nice of him to wear a Bubba shirt.)



Later in the day we stopped to have a look at Trinidad Bay. It was drop-dead gorgeous, and LK and I celebrated by having a hug. Frankly, I think LK also appreciated that it helped warm her up in the winds high above the bay.



A little further up the road we ended up at a tourist attraction known as The Trees of Mystery. LK has a vague recollection of having visited as a child, but not much memory of the details. Certainly not enough to explain what the mystery of the trees is all about. Of course, she's most likely recalling seeing the big Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues in front of the gift shop.

LK wanted to take my picture at the statue. I am not quite sure why she had me stand where she chose, but there it is. Anyhow, we are in Crescent City this morning, heading to Gold Beach Oregon as we bid California good-bye for this trip.