Well, I have less than one week left here in Seattle. As it stands right now I will be leaving this coming Monday, the 21st. I'll spend a night in Portland and a day in Eugene, OR with my friends Erin and Nate before making the long drive on to Glenwood Spring, CO. Looking back, my time here has gone so fast!
Our friend Jamie flew in around 8pm last Thursday and was with us until Wednesday morning. Jamie is a class behind Dave and I, and we all met at Valpo. She now lives in Los Angeles and is pursuing acting. She tells us that things are going really well, and she is loving her life down there. It is always great to be around Valpo people, because we have so many common experiences that the conversation is never boring.
If a vacation is measured in how many things one does, then I would say that Jamie had a very successful vacation indeed. Dave worked on Friday, but had gotten two free tickets to the Woodland Park Zoo from our friend Heather, so Jamie and I went to visit the animals. The zoo here is pretty well put together, and we got an extremely close up view of an orangutan which was sweet! After that we went back to West Seattle and walked around on Alki Beach for a bit.
Saturday was the big trip as we headed down south to hike at Mt. St. Helen. On our way we stopped in Tacoma to pick up Jon who is now back in school, as well as another friend of ours from Valpo, Holly, who now lives in Washington. I had been out to visit Helen last summer while in Portland and was anxious to be back. After eating the lunches we had brought we set out on an eight mile round trip hike which afforded us a view of both Helen and Mt. Adams. The trail was named after Harry Truman (no, not that Harry Truman) but a man who lived at the base of the mountain when it blew in 1980. Though repeatedly warned, he refused to leave because his wife was buried on the property. He was killed in the flow. There is a lake in the area on which hundreds and hundreds of dead logs still float from this natural disaster.
I ended up working on Sunday afternoon for a friend's uncle, but was glad that Dave and Jamie made it out to see some waterfalls, as that was something which Jamie was really anxious to view. Monday and Tuesday Dave had to work, but Jamie and I were able to occupy ourselves. We made it up to walk around the University of Washington campus on Monday. Tuesday was a really great day. Along with our friend JoVon, we drove up to Woodinville where both the Chateau St. Michelle Winery and the Redhook Brewery are located. It was a great day of both touring and tasting, and it only cost us $1 to do it all! We wrapped up the day bay racing goldfish that night.
Now I'm looking ahead to the last few days here. Saturday I'll help a friend's dad do some work. I'm working on getting Kranich's house ready for painting, so I hope that the weather will stay clear for a few more days. As I look back on it, I have gotten to do every single thing I was hoping to do before getting out here in June save one: I have not gone to the art museum. However, it's best to leave a reason to come back to such a beautiful place!
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