We spent this morning just hanging around the trailer drinking coffee and not doing much else. After lunch we headed south to Mt. Vernon as I had an appointment with an eye doctor at 4 this afternoon. We got to town a little early so we did some shopping first and then Mike dropped me at the eye doctor where I checked in a little early and had a seat.
Forty-five minutes later I was still sitting and I pulled out my phone that I’d put on vibrate to tell Mike I was going to be a while longer. When I looked at the phone I had a message, it was from the eye doctor reminding me that I had an appointment at 4. There I was sitting in their waiting room and they were calling me to find out where I was – bloody hell! After I informed them that I knew I had a four o’clock appointment and that was why I was in their waiting room I was seen fairly quickly – surprise surprise. At least everything is good with my eyesight and I don’t have to have another check-up for a year.  Because we were so late leaving the doctor, we decided to stop and have Mexican food for dinner, so there was a silver lining after all.

Mike: Any port in a storm, especially if it's a Mexican port!!!!

Today we had every intention of driving back to Anacortes and catching the ferry over to San Juan Island, but after waffling back and for I decided that spending over two hours of my day on a ferry was not anything I wanted to do. If we’d been going to see something cool like Boobies I would have done it, but after talking to the Info lady yesterday and asking her about the San Juan Islands we got the impression that they were very similar to Whidbey Island and so we gave them a miss.
Instead we took a drive north to Bellingham, the huge city just to the north of us. We took Hwy 11 to get there which took us along the Samish Bay coast from where we got to see the San Juan Islands without having to spend time puking on the ferry.

Mike: Becc, is a major land lubber, she doesn't like boats!!!!

San Juan Islands from Hwy 11

Our first stop in Bellingham was at its historic Fairhaven District which dates from the 1890’s but which has been fairly recently restored. We got parked and wandered around the streets which had one of a kind stores – there were hardly any chains in this part of town – and got talking to a nice local lady who owned a Welsh Terrier named Tucker. After visiting the farmer’s market and chatting to the sweet shop owner we went on our way into Bellingham proper. While the historic part of the city was very individual and interesting, the rest of Bellingham was like every other city we’ve visited so we didn’t hang around for long.

Fairhaven

We went for a lovely drive today to Coupeville, which is a little town on Whidbey Island. To get to Coupeville we first had to drive west from the mainland onto Fidalgo Island, and then south onto Whidbey Island. Whidbey Island is the largest island in the Puget Sound, and the only way to get onto it, other than by ferry, is by driving over Deception Pass Bridge. We stopped along the edge of the bridge on the way over and on the way back to take pictures as it is a really cool looking bridge, but from either direction I couldn’t get the whole bridge – but you get the idea. The drive through the island was lovely, the central part of the island is the country’s first historical reserve, Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve, which protects a rural working landscape that looks much as it did 100 years ago. As well as extensive farmland the island has vast areas of forest and miles and miles of beautiful shoreline.

Mike: Nice countryside, lots of water!!

Skagit Sauk river heading to Samish bay

Deception Pass bridge

Samish Bay

We drove through Oak Harbor, which is a military town as evidenced by the jets flying over our heads on the drive over the island, before arriving in Coupeville. Coupeville, established in 1853, is one of the oldest communities in Washington and it has beautiful big old houses lining many of the streets. It was fairly quiet when we got there but the lady at the Visitor Information was very friendly and Mike had no trouble finding an open sweet shop where he stocked up on licorice.

We found this little guy waiting outside the visitor information place

Coupeville Wharf and mike forgot his hat

Coupeville main street

After wandering around the town for a while and checking out the views over the bay we headed back north, back over Deception Pass Bridge, and on into Anacortes. This city dating from the 1860’s sits on the northern end of Fidalgo Island and is a very industrial city. Once a bustling fishing, canning, logging and mill town, it is now home to two major refineries and many boat builders; it is also where the ferries to San Juan Islands depart from. We didn’t spend too long in Anacortes before heading out, stopping along the way at one of the farm stores along the road to buy some juicy blueberries and raspberries, yummy.

View from Deception Pass bridge of Skagit Bay

We took a quick zip through La Conner but didn’t stop as the place was heaving and we couldn’t find anywhere to park Xena (having a big arse is something of a disadvantage on occasion). So we headed toward Mt. Vernon and found a nice little park to have lunch at before heading home.

We moved again today, and the drive we had to take was only about one hour and fifteen minutes so we didn’t want to leave too early. The problem is we are now so efficient at getting everything packed away and hooked up that even when we go slow we still have it all done in a super fast time. So even with taking our time over everything we were on the road by nine this morning.
The drive was an easy one, it was all on the highway and freeway, then the campground here in Bow is literally not even a mile off I5. It was a little strange to get to the ranger station, as we sort of had to drive through Skagit casino parking lot, but it was no big deal. We arrived by ten thirty and got checked in, and thankfully there were bunches of spaces to choose from. The park is huge with over 200 spaces so there were lots of options, although getting around is a little confusing as there are lots of one way roads. We declined a number of sites because they were not satellite friendly, but finally found a perfect space amongst the trees but with a southern facing sky. We got parked unhooked and unpacked just in time for lunch.
This afternoon we drove into Bow and went to the Post Office to pick up our Amazon package. Mike got something useful (apparently) for the truck, and I got lovely red gingham reusable sandwich wraps – I am now much greener than I was this morning! On the way back from the PO we stopped off to visit the casino which is right on our doorstep. I’m not sure we’ll be going back there to gamble, but we just might have to eat at the buffet sometime this week.

Mike: Me heap big gambling man!! Ug, smokers haven!!

Our space for the next week

View from our front door

Sandwich Wraps

Skagit Casino

We were going to go to the Evergreen State Fair this morning which is just up the road but in the end we decided against it and took a drive to Everett instead; it’s a huge city with mile after mile of shopping. We spent a few hours picking up some things we needed, like jeans and a belt for Mike that he can actually keep up – now he doesn’t have a saggy bum anymore!

Mike: Kohl's, Old Navy, Harbor Freight, Walmart, Macy's, Trader Joe's, etc.,etc.,what a day!

Mike got me out off bed really early this morning (and I woke up mostly happy) so that we could get an early start on our trip into Seattle. The drive in wasn’t a big deal although we did have to take a bit of a detour. To cross over the bridge that Nell wanted to take us we should have pre-paid the toll online and well we hadn’t so we had to drive a few miles further south to come into Seattle from I90.

Driving into Seattle

No big deal, the traffic wasn’t bad entering from either way and we found the parking garage we wanted without any trouble (although Seattle seems to have loads and loads of parking). Once we got in the parking lot we did have a bit of difficulty as a result of Xena's very large rear end! We got down the ramp and around the first corner but then we couldn’t make the next turn as there wasn’t enough room between the wall and the bollards. We backed out and then the attendant directed us to a place marked for valet parking and we fit in there just fine. We left Xena hoping that when the time came we’d be able to get her out of the garage.
We headed from the parking lot towards the water and Pike Place Market that sits alongside Elliott Bay. The market, which began in 1907 with only eight farmers, is huge and awesome. It covers about 9 acres, and sells everything under the sun. When we first got there the farmers, fishmongers, and everyone else were getting there stalls set up so there weren’t too many people and we got to wander around and check out the gorgeous smells (there are more than 60 places to eat) and the wonderful sights. We met Rachel, the 550-pound bronze piggy bank, watched the fishmongers tossing whole smelly fish around and visited the first Starbucks. It was all very cool, very vibrant, and very hunger inducing.

Elliott Bay

Pike Place Market

Fish Tossing

Me with Rachel the Pig

After the market we set out north to the Olympic Sculpture Park which is in Belltown. There we found a number of sculptures that were ‘interesting’; Mike especially liked the typewriter corrector as it reminded him of his bygone days – or something like that.

Next we walked to the Space Needle. Seattle does have really good public transportation but it’s also a good city to walk around, even if it is a bit hilly. A few blocks and a couple of hills later we arrived at the Space Needle which sits at Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World Fair. The Needle stands at 605 feet and the elevator ride of about 45 seconds took us to the observation deck at 520 feet from where the views of Seattle and beyond were amazing. We were very fortunate that we had a clear day and could see for miles from the top of the Needle.

Lake Washington

Monorail Station from Space Needle

View of Elliott Bay

From Seattle Center we took a ride on the Seattle monorail so we could get back to the market to get snacks. Mike wasn’t sure about what to get as there were so many things he wanted, but in the end he settled for an apple fritter that was about the size of his head. Actually he showed a lot of restraint as there was a fritter available that was about twice the size of the one he ate.

Riding the Monorail

Lunch

We wanted to get a bit of history of Seattle and I’d read a bunch of reviews saying that the Underground Tour was the way to go, so off we strolled to Pioneer Square, passing the Gum Wall on the way. The Square today is a nice little park area but as we learned on the tour it was the birthplace of Seattle. We had to wait for an hour to go on the tour and I have to be honest, it wasn’t really worth it. We learned a little about how Seattle began, and that the whole city had to be rebuilt after the fire of 1889, but that was about it. We went ‘underground’ but it wasn’t very impressive. When Seattle was rebuilt, the businesses were built quickly before the streets were raised out of the mud flats. Walls were built up to the level of the first floor of the existing buildings and the streets were raised; this left the ground floor of the buildings below street level. We got to walk through the floor that was below the street level which was basically like walking in a cellar – not special at all.

Gum Wall - People leave their chewed gum

Pioneer Square

Underground

Old wooden water pipe

Elevator mechanism

After the tour we hit the market one more time before heading back to the car. Xena was waiting patiently and we had no trouble getting her out of the parking garage. The drive home took us off the freeway and away from most of the traffic. We got back to Monroe and stopped and ate out for the first time in three months. I didn’t realise how much I’ve missed chips and salsa, but I think I can go another three months without eating out.
We had a really good day in Seattle, I think it’s one of my favourite cities of all the major ones we’ve visited. It reminds me a little of San Francisco, easy to get around and lots to see and do. Hopefully we’ll get to come back sometime.

Mike: I remember now! Mexican food! Mushroom tacos, Spinach-cheese Enchiladas, Burritos, black beans, rice and especially chips and salsa!