Epic Journey with pictures

Should I apologize? I can't get enough of the beauty and feeling meditative while riding the ferry. Getting lost in the view. Wondering what life is like on each island. Like they are whispering to me as we sail on by. Hints of people and critters and creatures. So inspirational for a writer like me. The Anacortes ferry in Washington to Sidney in Victoria, British Columbia in Canada is so fantastic.

The internet is not working well today. I hope to add more pictures soon. Each day was it's own adventure. Each street was a journey in my mind down the years. It made me think of that movie Back to the Future. Silly me. The first day was taking Ron to see the parlament buildings, and going out to lunch with an old friend, she picked the Sticky Wicket in the middle of downtown. She looked splendid and the meal was lovely. I was there making new memories, yet at the same it was all about the old memories. Like the ghost of Christmas past, right? As a young adult I spent time around the inner harbor/parlament buildings and the big old Empress hotel. Then I took Ron to my Grandmother's house. He said I should knock on their door and talk to whoever is in there. But none of it would look the same. What would I say anyway? Why should they care? I could see the old willow tree in the back yard though, you could see it from 3 out of 4 of the sides of the block. It's twice as tall as all the houses now. The cherry trees still line the very narrow streets. I think her house was built in 1912 or something crazy like that. When I was a kid we were excited that she finally replaced the old oil burning stove with an electric one.

Then we went to a cliff next to the ocean and took some gorgeous pictures. It was a hard choice, take the stairs down and walk the narrow beach, or go to the breakwater. Hopefully the internet will behave tomorrow and I can add pictures. At the start of the breakwater we saw seals playing the water. They were grey with dark spots. They liked to swim upside down at the surface. It was so cool. We walked along and I talked non-stop and stared over the edge at the kelp beds and I saw a few bright orange star fish. It was cold though, we were happy to get back to the car. Best place ever to watch the sun set. It was a long time dream of mine to take that walk. Then we went to my darling friend's house, who insisted we stay with her. I've seen her two times since I left in 1989. We talked at the table for 7 hours. Not just any table, her entire house was decorated like a magazine with small statues and dozens of candles. It was superb. My friend was so animated, telling Ron all kinds of stories of how I was such a free spirited young woman. All the crazy things we used to do.

The next day was the infamous trip to see my long lost brother. I was nervous, for various reasons. Including the hard rain that had the car hydro planing a few times. But we buried the hatchet and talked for two hours. They turned the word Mother into a kind verb: to Mother someone. She was Mothering her child. And fathering a child. But what about us sisters? There should be a verb for us, besides annoying as a child and pestering as an adult. Lol. Just kidding. I think. I am his sister. That's all I know. We were at my cousin's place. The one Canadian cousin who likes the internet and facebook, so we have been able to stay a bit connected. I met his wife and their adorable toddler son. It was so amazing to see him being a Dad. It's so completely amazing to see pictures of us at various birthday parties growing up, then see him being a Dad, and then seeing picture of our parents and their parents and their wedding pictures. The whole line of generations right in front of me. Understood better than ever from the perspective of 2017.

On the way home I managed to see an Uncle I hadn't seen since I was a teenager. And his son I hadn't seen in as long. He is now turning 44 years old and just had a baby. Crazy. He looks like his Dad, way back when. Because now his Dad is sitting there looking like an old man. Fortunately for me he was a chatty man, and we had so much to talk about that I lost track of time. I got to hold the baby, and meet her Momma. My cousin has such a tender look in his eyes for his little girl. It was touching. It kind of melted my heart to see these cousins and their little ones. And here I am, my youngest is already 20 years old. Funny where life takes us. I could have easily had a grandchild older than those two. So it was fantastic, I swear I took a hundred pictures. The drive back was freaky, with intense fog and rain. I liked it, but I also didn't have to keep us alive, and I didn't worry about Ron's driving skills. So I had time to just be amazed at the special effects, and the raw power of Mother Nature to put us in our place. And consider how sometimes there is fog in life, and we feel like we know where we are going, maybe even have a GPS, but the road appears to be so obscured. All we can do is keep going, even if we slow down for safety.

Then up late talking up a storm with my friend. The next day we walked the galloping goose trail. No really, that's what it's called. I'm not making that up. It's a real thing. We had some girl time and it was completely fabulous. Then we went to meet another cousin at the mall for a little visit. He was so sweet, he bought a scarf for me and my daughter years ago, waiting for the chance to give them to me. He's never met her. He's almost forty years old and is a bachelor. I think I've seen him once since I was a teenager. Then my friend and I had to do something to remind us of how genuine we should be, how silly we were when we were younger. So we bought some matching cat ears. That's our style! Then the of us went out for dinner. I had to have fish and chips. It's a home town thing. I had a nanaimo bar, poutine and fish & chips. Have you tried poutine? French fries in a bowl with gravy with chunks of cheese curds.

I think my days are mixed up, but who will notice? On one of the days we went to see a long lost Aunt. She doesn't use the internet, so we aren't as close as my one cousin, but we call a few times a year. She loves her pets, I can tell you that. That same day we also drove to see some places my Dad and my Mom helped build, which was super cool. We saw an outstanding sunset, this was the one sunny day while were there. I bought four Canadian chocolate bars for over $8. But totally worth it!!!

The last morning we visited with friends who have known my Mom since they went to school together. We took four boxes of goodies from storage and hopped another ferry back home. What a trip! (insert a few dozens exclamation marks)

This first picture is me and my friend walking the beach on the one sunny day. The water was SO BLUE!

This is me on the Galloping Goose Trail, right down the street from my friend's house. It was a little chilly. But we also saw a rainbow on the way back. Totally cool.