Quirky Ashland to Laid Back Seattle then on to Spokane, WA

I forgot to include a small piece on the play we attended Saturday night, A Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neil.   One long (3.5 hours) but very memorable play done in the round.  Great theater with excellent repertory actors.  Talk about a dysfunctional family, this one had it all, alcoholism, depression, repression, drug addiction, and it's not even about a current day family but takes place in the mid 20th century covering a day in the life of a 2nd generation Irish Catholic immigrant family.  Phenomenal character development and execution. I crawled into bed at midnight and slept the night of the dead till morn.

I cleaned up with SUV and GO before our dinner previously mentioned at Smithfield's, and took to bed at a reasonable hour so I could be prepared for the long drive to Seattle in the morn.

Monday broke warm and clear, and I left Ashland around 7:30AM, heading north and West to Portland with it's multitude of rivers and aquatic environments complete with very large and well turned out houseboats.  Turning north from Portland it was a pretty undramatic haul to Mercer Is. in the middle of Lake Washington just across from Seattle.  Rolled in around 4PM and Doris has just returned from her job teaching at the local elementary school.  Mercer Is. is a beautiful albeit expensive enclave with beautiful homes including the 9-home enclave that Paul Allen of Microsoft carved out for himself.  We had dinner and drinks at a local bar/restaurant and then returned to Byron's home for the night.  I also connected with Carolyn Fancher, a  cousin who has set up a Chiropractic Clinic in West Seattle.  We agreed to meet for breakfast in West Settle on Wed. morn.

After breakfast, Byron (By) who had taken the day off from his consulting job and I, wended our way to downtown Seattle and Pike Place Market,

Byron Stuck & Boyd - Pike Place, Seattle, WA

Inside Pike Place Market

where we had lunch at Copacabanas, a Cuban/Spanish themed restaurant on the 2nd. floor overlooking the market which was crowded with tourists.  Following lunch By took me down to see the fish throwing ( a hallowed tradition at one of the local fish stores) and a brief tour around the balance of the market including the first Star Bucks.  By was having some muscle issues so I spent the afternoon catching up on pics and blog, then Doris and  By took me to dinner over in West Seattle at Salty's, a restaurant with wide open views across the harbor to Seattle.

Boyd, Doris and By from near Salty's - Seattle Behind

 A great dinner was consumed and we returned home.

I left Mercer Is. at 8AM for a 8:30AM meeting with Carolyn at her clinic, a very nice, homey affair well situated on California Ave. in West Seattle.

Carolyn's Chiropractic Clinic - West Seattle

Carolyn Fancher & Boyd by Joe's - West Seattle

C

We drove about 15 minutes to "Joe's Endolyne" restaurant and had a leisurely breakfast over a couple of hours.  Carolyn shared some personal stories including how she got to know Patch Adams,the famous clown physician and more about growing up in New Jersey.  After dropping Carolyn off at the clinic, I headed back to Seattle and the Space Needle.

Space Needle - Seattle

Found good free parking on the street ( a rarity) and went to the EMP Museum that was developed by Paul Allen due to his love of music and film.  Took in a great display of the original Star Wars costumes,

Darth Vader

then wandered through the horror and sci-fi film section, toured a large room with all the American electric guitars and ended up learning to play the drums at the sound lab on the 3rd. floor. Also took in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation  Visitors Center which confirmed the outstanding work they are doing in public health around the world.

Had a great steak dinner with By and Doris and then headed to SeaTac airport at 9PM to pick up Beth Gasiorowski called to tell me she had just landed.  She was supposed to have come in t 10:30 in the morning but her flight from Charlotte was cancelled.  She had booked a room at the Sleep Inn which was only blocks aways and we spent a quick 7 hours there with an abbreviated breakfast before driving east to Spokane.  Got progressively drier as we went east through the Snoqualmie Pass at around 4,000 feet then down into the Columbia Valley to Spokane.  Drove straight to Dick and Liz Monahan's home (Beth's Aunt and Uncle) where we were warmly greeted and feed lunch.

John Gasiorowski, Beth's brother joined us and we all went for a walk

Dick Monohan, Beth & JOhn Gasiorowski and Liz Monohan - Spokane

in downtown Spokane ( a town of about 350,000) and took in the Monroe Street Bridge

Monroe Street Bridge over  Spokane River - Spokane

Another selfie by Spokane River with Beth Gasiorowski

and Spokane River by the Washington Electric Power Company building which sits like a bulwark near the river.  Even though the river is down considerably, it still had an impressive flow with a massive amount of water churning around the rocky hillsides and over the spillways.

Friday May 5th and Beth and I drove to Riverside State Park and the Pitcher and Bowl, with John pedaling his bike the 30-40 minutes out to the park which sits at the edge of Spokane.

John by SUV and Go at Riverside State Park

We went on a five mile hike along the river and into the pine forest abridging the river, crossing over a very picturesque swinging suspension bridge along the way.

Swinging Bridge - Pitcher and Bowl - Riverside State Park - Spokane

Had a nice night characterized by beer, wine and other consumables that are available in Washington.  Made for a pleasant evening under the full moon and I slept well till morning with temps hanging in overnight around 45-50 degrees.

We got up Saturday and after a quick breakfast John ( a professional bike mechanic and avid mountain biker) took us on an 11 mile mountain bike ride.

John & Beth Gasiorowski Mountain Bike Riding near Spokane River

 Had some great fun going down hill and up and over some thank you moms.  My bike was skipping a few gears so John said he would show me how to adjust the next day.  After getting back to camp and showering, we went shopping for more beer and wine primarily, and then proceeded downtown to the Elks Fest, a music festival in a blocked off section of Spokane.  This was the Elk Fest's 11th year.  Some funky bands withe the caliber of the music improving as the afternoon wended it's way to evening.  Great people watching, especially the young who came out sporting all sorts of tattoos, haircuts, and clothing styles.  There is a definite Washington, west, quirky chic hereabouts.

We returned to camp around 6:30, and consumed more beer and wine.  Also managed to demolish a bar of dark sea salt chocolate, which then kept me up till 2AM after some late night revelers walked down the hill past our campsite.

Sunday AM found us breaking camp and returning to the Monahan's.. We had a delightful lunch including some wraps of olive tampenade and provolone cheese.  After lunch John showed me how to adjust my gears, then proceeded to work for 1.5 hours on the Thule bike rack which had seriously gouged Andrea's bike where the bracket holding up the bikes clasps the aluminum frame.  There were multiple issues with the Thule, including a loose brackets that had to be disassembled and tightened with an Allen key, re bending the teeth which are part of the assembly with cams that holds the brackets to the cross bars and figuring out a way to protect the bikes from the mechanism that holds the frame upright where the rubber grippers had partially disintegrated.   We put old bike tires around the frame and this along with the other fixes John did, seems to have stabilized the rack for now.  The entire rack will have to be replaced likely with a Yakima we identified today while at REI.

Soon, we will be taking Liz, Dick and John out for dinner as a thank you, and I will then assemble my clothes which were being washed for tomorrows departure for Three Forks, Montana and my next campsite.