WAWeekend: From ‘Blogosphere’ to Mt. Baker

Would you believe it took a Canadian, who lives in South Korea to get me to Mt. Baker, in northern Washington State for the first time in my life?

Washington, the place I’ve lived my entire life, I might add.

And, I have the blogosphere to thank for planting the seed some two years ago that made this trip happen.

Regular readers know that each week TravelnWrite is a part of Travel Photo Thursday hosted by Budget Travelers Sandbox, a blog created by Nancie McKinnon, an educator from Halifax who teaches at a South Korean university. 

Over the year’s Nancie and I have gotten to know each other in the usual blogosphere way; reading posts, making comments,responding to comments and writing occasional emails.

Out of the blogosphere. . .

Nancie, two weeks ago, was en route  to Halifax and made  a stop in Vancouver, B.C. to visit a friend. She suggested we meet somewhere during that stopover. Turns out her friend, Sue, has a vacation retreat at The Glen at Maple Falls, Washington. Nancie further suggested we meet there.

“Sure!” I replied, thinking, “Where in the world is Maple Falls?” Grabbing the map, I found it right at the foot of Mt. Baker.

The day we met was one of those dreary, gray days for which this Evergreen State is known. Intermittent rain, and gray clouds provided the less-than-scenic backdrop as I headed north. 



My journey took me over the new temporary bridge span on Interstate 5 (part of the permanent bridge fell into the river after an over-sized truck hit the railing last month).

Then east on Highway 20 to Highway 9 (pictured above).

Past beautiful meadows, pastureland, and forested hillsides. Well, they would have been really beautiful had the fog and clouds not dulled their emerald sparkle. I traveled through little hamlets named Acme, Clipper and Van Zandt – each calling out for a longer look on a future trip.

Highway 9 led to the Mt. Baker Highway and a couple miles  more I found myself at The Glen, a gated recreational development near the Nooksack River.

It took about 10 seconds, the length of time it took me to get out of the car, for these two blogosphere friends to fall into easy conversation; it was as if we’d known each other for years.

In a way, we have known each other for years – thanks to our blogs which have allowed us to follow the other’s life events and travels. (I have to tell you that for two people who are usually behind the camera, posing for that photo above had us howling with laughter at our discomfort as Sue patiently took photos of us.)

The only disappointing part of the day was that the cloud cover never allowed me even a peek at Mt. Baker, that majestic 10,781 ft.(3,286 m) peak, the third-highest mountain in Washington State and the fifth-highest in the Cascade Range.

But thanks to the courtesy of the USGS for allowing use of that first photo and Nancie, who sent one she took of the mountain a few days after my visit, I can show you one place in the state that you really should visit – especially on a sunny day!

If You Go:
The Mt. Baker area is about a two – three hour drive north of Seattle (depending on your destination). It took two hours to drive from Kirkland to The Glen, just under 100 miles in distance.

It is about an hour from Surrey, British Columbia, which is just outside Vancouver.

Mt. Baker National Forest information:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/mbs
The Glen at Maple Falls information:
http://theglenatmaplefalls.com/

Red, White and Blue Road Trip

Happy Birthday America!

While citizens and cities drape themselves in our patriotic colors on the Fourth of July – our holiday commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776  – we decided to take ourselves on an armchair Red, White and Blue road trip through America’s West:

Our trip begins  in Seattle, Washington, where sometimes that old song, “The bluest skies you’ve ever seen are in Seattle. . .” holds true. On sunny days, Elliott Bay, on which Seattle is located,  is pretty blue as well:



Heading east across  Washington, we’ll spend a bit of time in Spokane, where red brick buildings stand tall against a blue sky backdrop.

A walk through the town’s historic district is a glimpse back at a segment of state history.

From there, we’ll go south through Washington’s wheat fields and agricultural lands. Our route takes us through countless small towns like, Rosalia, population about 600.


White clouds flit across those Eastern Washington blue skies providing a backdrop to its mid-century architecture, like the gas station below.

Then we cross the border into Oregon State – our destination  to Wallawa Lake and more hues of white and blue.


Just down the road a splash of red, white and blue wrapped history in the town Wallowa, population 807:

To the west a bit further, near Pendleton, Oregon, we are under those blue skies and white cotton-candy-like cloud formations:

Then south into the  state of Nevada , our route awash with blue and white –

Entering Arizona we see on the horizon a splash of red as the spectacular Vermillion Cliffs Monument area expands before us:

An even more brilliant red is found in the Navajo Tribe’s woven rugs. Artisans continue the tradition of their Native American ancestors as they blend color and design in these works of art. (These were for sale at a roadside restaurant in Northern Arizona.)

Our road trip ends  in Arizona’s Valley of the Sun where even the dessert blooms add to our patriotic palette of colors:

That’s it for this Travel Photo Thursday and for Travel Photo Mondays.  To all of you celebrating the Fourth of July, we hope your day is filled with family and friends and decked out in red, white and blue.

Travel Photo Thursday is at Budget Travelers Sandbox, hosted by Nancie McKinnon, and Travel Photo Monday is  at Travel Photo Discovery created by Noel Morata.

Hope to see you back again for Travel Tuesdays and our WAWeekend (that stands for WAshington)  featuring in-state destinations. If you've not yet become a follower or subscriber, hope you'll do so today!


The Western United States:

Note: This armchair road trip combines photos from three road trips we have taken through the West.

Travel Tuesday: Remembering Prescott, Arizona

Travel makes the world smaller. It turns places on a map into people; their kindness and your experiences remembered long after the trip has ended.

Prescott’s Courthouse Square – gathering place for families and friends

For that reason, our hearts today are back in Prescott, Arizona.  Our travels have taken us to this warm and welcoming town three times in the last two years.  Prescott is a vibrant college town draped in old west history about an hour and a half north of Phoenix.

By now, you’ve probably heard of it. Prescott has been in both national and international headlines the last two days because the community is mourning the deaths of 19 firefighters based here – 14 of whom were in their 20’s. They were highly trained members of an elite team, known as  “Hotshots” and were killed on Sunday while battling a blaze that today continues to defy efforts to contain it.

So on this Travel Tuesday we want to pay tribute to this wonderful town, while joining with countless others who are sending prayers and condolences to the entire community.

Prescott captures you with its old west hospitality.  No matter who you meet there or why, there’s a warm feeling about the memory of that encounter. 

For example, one evening last December we paused to look at the menu posted at a café near the Square. We chatted with the owner briefly, saying we’d already eaten.

The next morning though we returned and she called out, “Oh, it’s good to see you two again! Glad you came back for breakfast!!” (It was a hearty plate of Huevos Rancheros we were served, I might add.)






It is a town that normally this time of year is focused on its July 4th rodeo.  They’ve held one here every year for more than 125 years.  This monument to rodeo riders is outside its City Hall. 


The town’s filled with public art that is  touching and whimsical – you never know what you might discover when strolling its sidewalks or entering a store.

These two were inside a small mall, and we found the delightful fellow below guess where?

Outside the public library!

You might recall a post I wrote about Prescott last December when I declared it PC: Pure Christmas!  Prescott is Arizona’s self-proclaimed Christmas City and we believed them after watching one of several Christmas parades they have each December!

What really struck us was the ‘neighborliness’ of the townsfolk. Although a vibrant, growing community there still exists a small town feel; the kind where neighbors know each other – they celebrate the good times and help each other through the bad. 

And that may be what helps this town get through the coming days.


How You Can Help:
A Facebook page has been created honoring the firefighters. Click the link and ‘like’ the page.
NBC News Los Angeles reported on several ways to donate to funds for the firefighters’ families. Click the link for article.
Huffington Post has also listed ways to donate. Click the link.

WAWeekend: A Taste of Our Northern Neighbor

One of the many good things about Washington State is its proximity to Canada. In Seattle, we are about a two hour drive or 30-minute flight from British Columbia, our next-door neighbor to the north.

So when news from Richmond, BC, a suburb of Vancouver arrived in the inbox last week, it tickled our taste buds enough to make us think about heading north this summer. And here are but a few samples of why the temptation is great. . .

Sweetly flavored mini-donuts. Skewered seaweed.

Squid pancakes. Roasted yams. Fresh duck wraps.

Sweet mango and cream. Chinese dragon’s beard candy.

Swirly hurricane fries. Japanese takoyaki.

Spicy BBQ squid. Grilled beef or chicken skewers.

Vietnamese salad rolls. Burgers with sushi rice buns.

Japanese corn dogs. Smoked turkey legs. BBQ abalone.

Grilled lobster.Chinese noodles and dumplings.Butter chicken. Soba noodles with savory toppings. Stinky tofu. Shaved ice . . .

. . .are among the goodies found at:

Richmond’s two acclaimed Asian night markets -- The Richmond Night Market and the International Summer Night Market. The two markets combined offer nearly 150 food stalls, more than 400 retail vendors and a variety of entertainment to their more than 15,000 visitors each weekend.

Richmond Night Market
Open: May 17 until October 14, 7 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturday, 6 to 11 p.m. Sundays and holidays.
Location: 8351 River Road next to Bridgeport Station on the Canada Line.
Cost: Admission is $2 or, buy a transferable Zoom Pass - $10 for 7 tickets or $20 for 15. Seniors and children 10 and under are free. Parking is free.
Get there (by transit): Take the Canada Line to Bridgeport Station and then walk about 200 meters west along River Road to the market.
Get there (by car): Head north on No. 3 Road at Bridgeport Road and follow the signs.
Website: http://www.richmondnightmarket.com/

 

International Summer Night Market
Open: May 10 through September 8, 7 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturdays, 7 to 11 p.m. Saturdays and holidays.
Location: 12631 Vulcan Way just west of the Knight Street Bridge.
Cost: Admission is free. Parking is $4, or purchase a transferable parking pass – 5 for $15 or 10 for $25.
Get there (by transit): Take the Canada Line to Bridgeport Station and then catch a free five-minute shuttle ride to the market (starting June 8).
Get there (by car): Head north on No. 5 Road at Bridgeport Road, turn right on River Road and then follow the signs.
Website: www.summernightmarket.com
There’s a free shuttle between the two, so you can easily visit both in a single evening.

Our friends at Richmond Tourism offer these tips for enjoying the markets to the max:
* Bring cash. Although some merchandise vendors accept debit cards and there are ATMs on site, it’s easier for everyone if you can pay with cash on the spot.
* Be prepared to haggle with the merchandise vendors, but not at the food stalls.
* To avoid the crowds, come on Fridays and Sundays and arrive early.
* For the most action-packed fun, come on Saturdays and stay late.
* For the best deals, come on Sundays, especially late in the evening when vendors are trying to sell as much stock as possible before the weekend is over.
* Don’t be daunted by the longest food lineups – they’re long because the food is good. Besides, they move more quickly than you think.
* Expect to spend between $2 and $8 on most food items.
* Note that pets (dogs and cats only) are welcome.
* Neither market is licensed, so no alcohol is sold on site.

If  You Go:

Drive time from Seattle: About two hours depending on International Border Crossing wait times. Passport/Citizenship documentation required:  http://www.dhs.gov/crossing-us-borders

Accomodations:

The two markets are near several hotels. The Richmond Night Market is steps from the River Rock Casino Resort Hotel or a short walk to the Westin Wall Centre.

The International Summer Night Market is a little further over from these two hotels – a 5 minute drive. Or, there is the Sandman Signature Hotel, a bit closer. All the hotels are 5-10 minutes from the markets.

For more accommodations and information: www.tourismrichmond.com

Photos used in this post were provided to us by Tourism Richmond. And a reminder to all of you using Google Reader to read TravelnWrite. Time to find a new reader and we are on both BlogLovin' and Digg these days. Google Reader is being discontinued this weekend.

Our Wedding Night ~ and other Travel Tales. . .

We’d ditched the wedding duds hours earlier --  opting, as they say,  ‘for something ‘more comfortable’. 

The lights were dimmed and we were snuggled up together on that,
. . .our first night as husband and wife. . .


. . .well, as snuggled as one can be sitting side-by-side in the ‘no smoking’ section of a Delta Airlines flight that was whisking us across the continental United States to our Caribbean honeymoon hideaway. 


(Can you believe they had smoking/no smoking sections?!)



As a newspaper reporter, I didn’t have a lot of vacation days; so no time to waste when it came to travel.
This Friday is the 33rd anniversary of that first trip.  Although we no longer have those jobs with limited vacation time, we still believe there is no time to waste when it comes to travel! But sometimes it is good to pause in the planning and enjoy a trip down Memory Lane as well. . .

1980’s: Those wild and crazy early years. . .

Even with only two weeks annually, we managed to cram a lot of travel into those newlywed years.  Hong Kong,Thailand, followed by Singapore and Malaysia and then Japan. We couldn’t get enough of Asian cultures, the food, and history. The now-fading photos (above) were taken in Thailand (circa early 1980’s)– notice those look-alike white pants. And, btw, that elephant had just ‘goosed’ Joel!

The Call of Aloha . . .

When we couldn’t make it to Asia, we’d head to Hawaii; a relatively ‘close’ getaway requiring only a 5+ hour flight from Seattle.

We were captured then by its ‘aloha’ magic  and our recent entry into the timeshare world has made O’ahu  our tropical ‘home away from home’ – for a few weeks each winter.








The 1990’s South of the Border ~ Down Mexico Way
A serendipitous set of events that prevented us from returning to Thailand, took us to Puerto Vallarta in 1993; a trip that was to turn our 8 – 5 work world upside down and change the course of our lives. 

(In this photo we were posing next to our first banana crop.)

Six months after that visit we had purchased Casa de la Playa, pictured below.  A decade later, we had quit those 8 – 5 desk-bound jobs and set out on the course of adventure we continue today.




33 Years ~ What a trip!

We now spend nearly five months, sometimes more, living out of our suitcases. So many places we’ve seen; such wonderful people we’ve met. Land and sea; land or sea – doesn’t matter to us. Traveling independently, we’ve  follow our hearts; returning to favorite places and discovering new destinations.  Going ‘where the winds blow us’ has resulted in some amazing places, for instance:

From top left, clockwise:  Off-the-tourist track towns of Mexico; Bologna, Italy; Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

From top left: Venice, Italy; Loutro, Crete; Kotor, Montenegro,  Lake Chelan, Washington State.

Clockwise from top left: Walla Walla, Washington; Athens, Greece; Paris, France; Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Life isn’t measured by the number of breaths you take;

but by the number of moments that take your breath away.

Thanks for joining us today while we paused to admire the views on Memory Lane. We hope when you take a backward glance at your travels,  you’ll have as many of those breath-taking memories as we do. 
But enough looking back! Time to get started on the next trip. . .


That’s it for Travel Photo Thursday, be sure to stop by Budget Travelers Sandbox for more armchair travels. And for those wanting to know about my rendezvous with Nancie McKinnon, check back this weekend!!

Travel Tip Tuesday: Do-It-Yourself Room Service

There is nothing we like better when traveling than to sip that first cup of morning coffee in bed or while sitting on the deck enjoying the view from our room.  Just grabbing a few more minutes of lazy relaxation is a perfect start to a day.



On our recent trip to Greece that’s how we pretty much started each day. At the Hotel Manessi in Poros, Greece we were up early to watch the waterfront come to life each morning – cup of coffee in hand.

Most of the places we stayed in didn’t have room service options but they had something even better: a pot in which to boil water, cups, saucers and spoons.

We were at the Corelli Suites in Elounda, Crete when I took the photo below and to the right.

Not only was this do-it-yourself room service convenient, it also saved us a couple hundred dollars over the course of our month-long stay.

Good coffee – no longer just the Nescafe powered stuff – can be found in upscale coffee bars throughout Greece. In the places we visited, the cost was about $2US a cup for coffee and  $3US for a cappuccino.

Don’t get me wrong, we did visit any number of those coffee houses for a java jolt in the afternoon, like the one pictured above in Heraklion, Crete, but morning was the time for ‘home brew’.


Doing Do-It-Yourself Room Service

We brought a pound of Starbucks ground coffee, the individual filter holder and filters in our suitcase.  As we used the coffee and filters, it made room in the suitcase for souvenirs like honey and spices. We did replenish the Starbucks (yes, Starbucks has come to some places in Greece) but bought a smaller quantity to use up before our return.

Note:  When we take road trips that begin in Kirkland, I always stick our hotpot and two cups into the car.  Two years ago, while staying at an upscale Vegas hotel, that didn’t offer in-room coffee, we saved having to dress and go to the coffee shop (where two coffees were $10US) by simply using our do-it-yourself room service pack.
 
Do you use do-it-yourself room service?  If so, what tips do you have for us on this Travel Tip Tuesday?  Please add a comment below or shoot us an email and we will make sure we publish them in a future post.