Next stop Montanna

I am off on the greyhound tonight bound for Helena, it will take all night and I ought to arrive about lunch-time tomorrow.  My time at Marcy's in Tacoma seems to have flown by, and I am sorry for those of you have wanted lots of pretty pictures, Marcy and I have been very domestic, as she has had work and we have been getting things done here rather than going out and exploring.  I also feel as though I know the area quite well as last year I was here and I did visit Seattle a lot, go to lots of museums have an underground tour etc.
So in the last week I have bought a bicycle, and all of the other things I will need for that part of my trip, we have pottered around in the garden, been to farmers markets, done a lot of baking (gooseberry pie, quiche, sourdough bread, fruit pizza, Indian with chipatis, bagels, spring rolls, etc) and watched lots of period dramas (North and south, very good & Downton Abbey, which I loved and the costumes where just wonderful, and Little Women with some very youthful familiar faces)!

Home made fruit pizza - yummy!

Rhubarb festival in Sumner - It felt so much like the Gilmore Girls I kept expecting to see Sookie walk round the corner with a pie.

Home made bagels!

My latest discovery

This is avocado bubble tea, which is a drink made from avocado's, which is why its green. It has a consistency of very thick milkshake or smoothie or perhaps slush puppy as it is very cold.  These drinks come in many different flavours - red bean, mango or pineapple to name a few, and the 'bubbles' are tapioca, so the black beads you can see at the bottom are about the size of a smarty and are round beads of tapioca which are rather chewy and slimy, reminiscent of frogspawn only I suspect slightly chewier and denser.  Although this was tasty, I am not entirely convinced!

Tacoma

I am staying at Marcy's house, which is just beautiful - especially as when I saw it last year she was just putting an offer in to buy it - and I was quite worried by how grim parts of it looked!  However the last few days I have spent mostly trying to get organised for my cycling trip later in the summer.  First step, buy a bike, second step buy a map - easy, one would think!
I have been to five different bicycle shops with little luck - road bikes can't deal with the load, mountain bikes are too heavy and clunky, I couldn't find a comfortable hybrid like my bike at home, and what was sold as a touring bike was either something that looked like a camel, or something made from a similar substance to cast iron, which may have been suitable for a police man seventy years ago.  I already have 12 kilos of stuff excluding food and drink, I don't really want a bike that weighs as much as me. 

I was seriously considering trying to ship my bike from home, I was getting that worried, when I finally found something which I hope will be perfect.  (It was of course more money than even my negative prediction had been so I am now feeling rather broke.)

It has drop handlebars - really comfy, I am won over already; peculiar gear leavers, cleverly hidden behind the breaks, and Naomi, you will be amused - I deliberately bought toe straps.  I figure with over 1000 miles to go I need all the help I can get. 

Maps - Thank you Ordinance Survey!  You are the best organisation in the world, I had never realised how unusual and how lucky we Britain's were having complete coverage with topographical information, natural and man made features available in two different scales.  America does not have this, and in fact no one seems to appreciate that as a cyclist I may need to know whether to stop at this campsite or how far and how many miles it is to the next.  I have not yet managed to solve the map problem, and I am slightly worried I may have to travel blind, rather scary.

What is even funnier though is the gear shop here is amazing - it is palatial, like twice the size of a large supermarket, and they sell everything, canoes, kayaks, bicycles, climbing gear, walking kit, camping, you name it, they cover it (or appear to) They even have a dirt track outside to test mountain bikes on, a climbing wall to test climbing kit on, and a large pretend terrain thing to try walking kit on - yet they can't do a decent map!

Victoria BC

The best things in Victoria were:  The Museum, with an amazing collection of birds eggs on display, and a recreated turn of the century street, complete with drapers shop which I was enchanted by (I dragged Marcy round it about three times), some of the architecture, the singing bell tower, and afternoon tea at the Empress.  We also went to Butchart Gardens, which were supposed to be very English (as was Victoria) I didn't think they were particularly, and although quite nice, they would have been far more enjoyable at half the admission fee and with fewer tourists.  We walked to the castle, but didn't bother to go inside, the walk round suburbia was very nice though - lots of rather lovely grandiose Victorian mansions interspersed with modern houses when they had sold off their gardens.

Beautiful birds eggs (Photo by Marcy)

Afternoon Tea - yes we did eat it all! (The Battenburg Cake had chocolate squares - I was appalled!)

Butchart Gardens, please excuse the horrible fixtures - it was impossible to get a picture without, as with millions of visitors a year they have to open at night and so need lighting; in Britain I suspect the integrity of the garden would come before commercialism.

From the Museum

Shelter Island part II



I am at the end of my stay in Alaska, and I am so sad to be leaving the most incredible place I have ever visited, but also excited to be going on to see my friend in Tacoma, and enjoy the rest of my trip.  On Shelter Island I really enjoyed having no phone, no internet, no contact, not having to worry about telling people where I was and what I was doing, I was quite content to be isolated and immersed in the immediate - a refreshing change from the last episode of my life where every day I seemed chained to the email.  However today, I am back online and very excited to be here - I had so many lovely emails, and I realised how much I wanted to speak to everyone at home.  So I shall try to sum up my stay on Shelter Island and share with you what it was like.  I am sorry that I can only do it with bad words and poor photographs.  Please forgive the long message!

There was a solstice party on the island at the weekend which everyone came to, a big bonfire on the beach, live music, and loads of people came from town on kayaks and boats, and tons of food cooked over the fire and dubious home-made wine etc...  Solstice is a big thing here, which is understandable when it is light all night and dark all winter long.  Living so close to the sea, high tide was only about seven metres away, makes you very aware of the tides, not having a job to get to or anything to do apart from the here and now made me slow down, even using a wood burning stove to cook on, or only having an abundance of electricity when the generator is on, or on a sunny day, made me rethink a little and find a different rhythm of life, which felt very refreshing.   

The island is surely the most amazing place I have ever been.  The house was right on the beach, and behind the house stretched the most lush and green forest.  That was it!  I saw whales every day, even up close when I was kayaking.  There were seals, sea-lions, killer whales (only saw those today) and the most amazing creatures on the beach at low tide.  Star fish, barnacles the size of my thumb, red jelly things with 18 tentacles, anemones the size of cushions.  The salmon just leapt out of the water, like skimming stones, flashing sliver.  Bobbing around on the sea were hundreds and hundreds of tiny fluffy birds that apparently dive up to 21 metres! There were deer that made it on to the beach a few times for the salt - I couldn't believe how well camouflaged they were against the rocks.  



One picture of many of Eagles, I didn't even try to photograph the Whales!



In the woods there were birds all over the place, eagles everywhere,  (I was lucky there was a nest, right above the house.)  Bright blue stella jays which were very pretty and apparently tameable, and woodpeckers which were actually something else.  I found a Beaver dam and miles of paths and gnawed trees, there were also otter tracks; everywhere seemed to be teeming with life.  Hidden in the forest, which was like a prehistoric forest it was so overgrown and untouched by man that it felt enchanted, there were meadows where the ground is too damp to support the thick forest and so there are fewer trees, and they are ancient, gnarled, stunted and short and gleam silver in the sunlight.  Between the trees are large lakes filled with bright yellow water lilies.

The view, was sea, and forest and snow capped mountains; unbelievably stunningly beautiful. 



Ancient trees in the meadow





The Lake in the Meadow



A Beaverised Tree



The garden around the house was flourishing too, flowers everywhere and more salad than I could eat.  There were hummingbirds too which make a funny noise when they fly.

I don't think I would like to live there though.  The sea was too cold and too full of creatures to want to swim, the forest too impenetrable to hike, the visible snow capped mountains a long way off, covered with bears and avalanches and surrounded by impenetrable forest!  In winter you really could barely leave the house, it is either stumble across a rocky beach in either direction or take a machete into the woods.  The island seemed so friendly, I met several of the neighbours, many of whom just wandered over, but in winter nearly everyone leaves and there are just three families who stay. I think I would go a bit crazy.  I would love to learn how to sail though!



Just before realising I was lost in the woods.





View of a glacier through the trees, proving that I was actually on the wrong side of the island halfway up the wrong hill and I was lost.  Thank goodness for my trusty compass!



The family I stayed with were really very nice and kind and friendly and did everything they could to make me feel at home, the food was excellent, and I am sure I ate more than I worked.  The work mainly involved trying to finish a building project which has been ongoing for a while, so I did a fair bit of painting, but I also got to learn some carpentry, something I have wanted to do for ages.  I learned some good practice techniques and some new things, and built my confidence a little.  It was interesting talking to and getting to see everyone's houses, most of which were home-made.  There were also some rather interesting (extremely worrying) but pessimistic conversations about how the entire world is doomed because the population is expanding so rapidly.

The other notable delight of my stay was the hot tub.  What a pleasure it is to soak in a huge hot bath listening to the whales and staring out over the sea in the fresh air.  How luxurious it is not to have to decide which part of you will stick out of the water and get cold, because it's big enough for all of you and deep enough to sit on the bottom with just your face poking out of the surface! Yet, how disgusting to sit in your own muck, to only wash every three days as it is such a faff getting the stove going for the bath (it takes almost all afternoon to heat); and to re-use the water for three baths, for three different people each bath, and the water is all rain water and isn't remotely clean anyway!  So I have very mixed feelings!

Juneau itself, which I saw briefly, was so geared towards cruise ships and tourism it was bizarre.  They get about 5 or 6 ships in a day and they were HUGE!  The whole of down town is taken up with tourist tat which closes down every winter so it feels like a ghost town.  Most of the shops have bears outside them, and are full of t.shirts, postcards, jewelry, knives, and furs.  There were even lollypop people to help the tourists cross the almost empty narrow road with good visibility. 

Anyway, off to Seattle tomorrow morning to see Marcy.  I will be in touch soon.

View from the house



View of the house



Shelter Island

I have arrived at what might be the most beautiful place I have ever seen.  Huge skies, with spectacular sunsets, and bordered by snow topped mountains.  The place where I am staying is right on the beach, with thick forest all around.  Every day we hear the Eagles which are nesting in a tree above our hut.  Everyday we are stopped by the unmistakable sound of whales blowing out, and we see a cloud of spray scatter above the sea.  There are sea lions, beavers and all sorts of other 'exotic' creatures.  The people I am staying with are lovely, and every minute of my time here just feels incredible.  I went out in the kayak and saw so many whales I didn't know which ones to watch.  Internet and computer access is sketchy, so more when I have the opportunity.

leaving and arriving

Well I am in Seattle! I am in the airport making use of my super kindle and thought I would let you all know I had arrived safely. Even the security people and the visa people here are so friendly- something I am always struck by in America, and now I am sat watching the planes with the biggest, sweetest smoothie I have ever had. And I deliberately ordered the healthy option with no added sugar- who adds sugar to a smoothie?
Leaving was mostly trying to squash everything into my rucksack and saying goodbye - something I'm not very good at. The time seemed to stretch out forever and then suddenly it was time to actually leave, the flexibility of time is something I never seem to get good at.
I can't wait for the next step and to actually arrive in Juneau and meet my hosts, see the island and the bay, and see whales.  I have a window seat on the plane too - if I can stay awake!