I don’t think I mentioned that Ezra, Josh, Jason and Jacob went to watch the Blue Angels air show from the 100-foot dock of a 15 million dollar house on lake Washington.  The show was pretty intense – the planes dive as if they are attacking and then swoop upwards just before killing everyone on the dock.  

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After leaving Amy and Jason high up in the Queen Anne neighborhood, we drove down the hill into downtown because Ezra really wanted to go up in the ..Colombia.. tower to have a birds-eye look at ....Seattle.....  Josh found a surprising parking spot caddy corner across the street.  The elevator stops on the 40^th floor where a magic Starbucks appears.  While we were ordering a cup of coffee, a man appeared who apparently existed only for the sole purposes of annoying the baristas by telling them he had a drink named after him (the Patrick – a single shot skinny mocha with whip) and to get us free entry to the viewing area on the 76^th floor.  We rode up the remainder of the way with him during which time we learned that he was kinda important, worked for Amazon in the technology department and thought it sad that the ....Columbia.... tower people charged $5 to look out the window.  The view really is stunning, water everywhere and thoughtfully laid-out city.

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We decided to go have a look at the troll under the ..Astoria.. ..Bridge.. in ....Fremont.....  Josh and I had been there before but the troll was all new for Ezra.  He was pretty impressed that the troll had a Volkswagen Bug under his giant hand and wondered how it got there in the first place.  We had a nice breakfast with Matzoh ball soup to boot and then took really good cups of coffee on the dreamy two-hour ride to coastal ..Washington..’s tiny town of ....Naselle.... (nay-SELL.)  Both children fell fast asleep for nearly the whole ride and we took highway 101 which led through a lot of unspoiled areas with, as we’ve started to call them, water features.    

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Our GPS told us we’d arrived at our next host’s house a little early and so we thought we were to spend the next two nights in a house that looked like a rusty old doublewide, except more rundown and not as nice.  We were extremely relived when it turned out we were to head down a dirt road to the address.

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Ann and Alan live in a dreamy woodsman’s cottage on the bank of a river that flows more like a creek in the summer.  Avid birdwatchers, they have their yard declared a natural wildlife habitat.  So cozy and homey and just sweet- it almost made me think we could live there in that little one -horse house forever.  They had a lot of little notes all around that endeared them to us- things like “Slug Patrol” and “Say Yes to Life!” and “Dust = an inexpensive, protective coating for furniture.”  The house was full of nooks and bookshelves and smart windows that framed beautiful views of nature.  They had two ducks that lay eggs (Ezra collected, wash and cooked one for himself!) and a bazillion feathered friends visit.  They read books while drinking tea on there hand-built over-sized window seat overlooking the river.  Across the riverbank we spied an elk.  Just the sort of Servas experience one would wish for, we snuggled under their cozy quilts to sleep and woke up to a choice of tea in mugs that read “When I grow old I shall wear purple,” and other such things. 

We spent 2 lovely and exciting ....Seattle.... days with cousin Eric and his sweet, funny Kentucky-raised girlfriend Damaris, who was full of energy and surprises.  She took me shopping and showed me where to by designer sunglasses at TJ prices and spent about 2 hours pulling out dresses for me to try.  We ate great food –first night amazing pizza and then Mexican food on night two after hanging out at the lake.  That’s ..Lake Washington.. and it is right in the city with swimming areas, urbanites on inner tubes and picnic lunches, and cranky 20-something lifeguards with lots of attitude.  The Mexican food was fantastic and the children surprisingly easy to deal with in the busy restaurant.  Eric is a resident surgeon in a busy hospital and as such we got to spend a lot more time with his two dogs and lovely Damaris than with him.  We had a great time driving around Seattle with her hunting Chinatown shops for replacement baby Chinese slippers (unsuccessful) and looking for good coffee every several hours (success, success, success.)  She patiently took us to Pikes Fish Market and stood around while Ezra and Josh waited for somebody to please buy fish so that they could watch the tossing and to find quick and dirty Thai food for lunch.  We parted after a beautiful diner breakfast and and new adventure at  a different section of the lake where Ez  and Damaris make a sand castle to write home about (that is essentially what I am doing right?)

We had a hilarious time getting from ..Victoria.. to ....Seattle.....  The first ferry was long, pretty and on purpose.  When we got off the ferry, we were questioned by a border guard as to why we’d have visited ..Canada.. instead of say “....Durango.., ..Colorado....?”  We traded out Canadian GPS for our ....US.... version and got on the road to find the GPS leading us down dead-ends and backroads.  We figured she was mad at us for ditching her for Patty but we asked her to please stay on task.  We thought we would be driving to ....Seattle.... but suddenly found ourselves in a parking lot with Cathy saying in her automated sexy-ish voice “Board Ferry.” 

The ferry from ..Vancouver.. to ..Vancouver Island.. is a big deal.  We got to the ferry terminal and found Starbucks and a food court so nice it topped ours ....Independence Mall Shopping Town Food Court.... experience by a mile.  I bought an OK! ....Canada.... magazine to learn what stars Canadians think about who, and a Nutella crepe with fresh blueberries and whipped cream which would have made me weep if only the whipped cream were real.

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The ferry was really fun when we were out on the deck with our picnic lunch and watching the scenery with me having to tie my skirt in a knot to keep my butt under cover.  But since the ride was two hours, at some point we had to go to the inner portion which was big and not windy and quickly felt like being in an airplane, including the part where Ezra kicks the seat in front of him and bites Josh’s arm out of sudden boredom.  

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We got off the ferry and drove for about two minutes to reach Yves & Maggie’s house, seated on the edge of ....Nanaimo....’s original downtown, which was rendered useless once Walmart came to the island.  Their house sits in the midst of industrial land on the waterfront which will surely be turned into condos before too long which a rail.  A colorful rundown and messy cottage with a trailer beside it, the house boasts a garden and patio spaces that make it all worthwhile.  A big square sand pit in the back houses a campfire and some breaking-down chairs and a grill that Yves cooked chicken on the first night until it ran out of propane and we had to finish it inside.  We ate at the picnic table after enjoying a cold one in the little tiki hut built of the shed that had 2 hammock chairs, snap peas curling around and a often-used bottle opener tied to the posts.   

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The first couple hours, we were both a bit nervous.  First off, we couldn’t exactly tell if French-accented Yves would become a mean drunk as the day wore on.  When Nico, the earnest 11-year-old son showed us our room, I thought we were in for it.  The upstairs was carpeted with that really thin office kind of carpet and there were two rooms – one of which served as a party space for 16-year-old Vincent when he was around, which was not often.  It was all scattered video games, dirty mattress on the floor and crumpled t-shirts.  Our room across the way was tattered and HOT, really hot, attic hot.  Nico and I pulled a twin mattress out of the party room and put it next to the double bed that had already been made up with presumably clean sheets.  I mentally gave Josh the twin, asked if there was another sheet around and went downstairs to try and forget I would have to sleep with my family in that room later. 

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As the night moved forward, everybody relaxed.  Ives became less a caricature of a drunken Frenchman and more an actual guy from ....Montreal.... with a big, boisterous laugh and a lot of good stories.  With Maggie’s help, he made a beautiful dinner of corn on the cob, half-grilled chicken, amazing vegetable macaroni and cheese and salad from the garden. 

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After dinner, they took us down the street to the reviving downtown where Maggie’s mom lives in the 5^th story of a condo that sits right on the water overlooking Protection and ....New Castle.. ..Islands.....  The water was busy on the night before the bathrub races, an event that a former mayor created to put ....Nanaimo.... on the map.  A lightening storm and fireworks display competed to make the night one of the most spectacular in my memory. 

The room cooled down to the point of bearable and the family had scrimped and saved and presented us with two fans to use so we did not die from the heat. The next morning, we woke up first and dove to get coffee for everyone at a Starbucks in one of many shopping plazas.  Apparently what’s good about living on an island like ....Nanaimo.... is that you can go swimming after you shop at Walmart.   Ives woke up in a surprisingly chipper mood and made a beautiful breakfast of eggs, bacon, bagels an..d freshly cured lox from the salmon cannery down the street. 

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After breakfast we set out on an all-day excursion to the uninhabited island of New Castle where we would have an exciting day of boating over on a tiny little row/ motor deathtrap of a boat, getting separated from each other - having to hike the island not knowing if the other had been eaten by a native animal.  Reunited, we all had lunch together at the Pavilion on a section of the island that reminded me of a ....New Hampshire.... summer camp on a lake.  We had a fine time looking at the plethora of starfish and sand dollars in the shallow lapping water,  The baby got her feet wet and Ez up to his waist, the tide out so that water was so shallow anything more would have been difficult. 

Josh and Ives and Nico took the boat back and left me with Maggie, Ez and Itzel to ride the ferry which would have been easy except it only takes 40 at a time and we kept missing it.  During one of our waits, Ezra and I got to swim for really in a little swimming space off the rocks in between to docks in the gaspingly-cold fresh feeling water. 

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Dinner was homemade pizza- the best I’ve ever had – though I can’t tell if it was because I was just so happy that the visit was turning out the way it did.  Maggie turned out to be a delightful conversationalist and really-well versed in American politics, current popular books and all things ....Nanaimo.... and many Canadian. 

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We didn’t die from the heat of our quarters, or get infected by a terrible fungus from the teenagers mess, or get in a drunken brawl with our host.  I did step on a nail in the basement, but it was only a prick and tetnus has not set in still.  We actually found ourselves sad to leave and did so only after sitting with Maggie and Nico and looking at wedding pictures and signing their Servas book and inviting Nico to come stay with us anytime he could ake his way across the country. 

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We drove through the rest of Nanaimo and into Lentzville, where we are finishing up a one night stay with the niece of our Vancouver hosts, specifically so Ezra could spend an evening playing with 6-year-old Jenna and apparently so I could team up with Karina and beat the pulp out of the men in a late-night game of Eurchre. 

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Today we are bound for ..Victoria.. for a well-deserved night in a 2.5 star hotel and tomorrow is back to the states for the ....Seattle.... portion of this great adventure. 

All stylish bachelor pad on the main floor and ‘tween upstairs, the Rapps are a father-daughter duo with a nice easy openness toward guests.  Reneta is 12-going-on-15 and the visit was partially about devising her a way into the 12am sold out showing of the new  Harry Potter movie with the teenage girls from across the street. 

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The house was pretty and historic and surrounded by apartment buildings.  This is a part of town when almost everything has been condoized, with exception of a gargantuan Victorian across the street that belonged to a couple of auto accident attorneys with big hearts, fantastic clam-chowder, good cheese-plate making and wine choosing skills, and two teenage girls plus a set of insanely big twin 3-year-old boys!  This house was all hoots, hollering and Jello, watermelon and squirt guns – really a reality show waiting to happen.  They were more than welcoming, sweeping us up into their lives for an evening and convincing Jim to serve his planned salmon and artichoke dinner the next night. 

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Ezra went to sleep exhausted by the running of the twins, and Jim, Josh and I stayed up later than we should have pouring over ....Portland.... maps and looking at neighborhoods.  We slept on twin princess beds one kid with each of us, and Ezra falling off 3 times.  The next morning we had breakfast and really good coffee, and took off to explore some of the neighborhoods while Jim went to his awesome ....Portland.... city planning job.  We found Sellwood and walked all around, had lunch at the local organic market and played in the park. 

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At 4 we met back at the house for the salmon dinner and ate it on a delightful outdoor backyard patio surrounded on two sides with high hedges and one with a looming apartment building.  Josh and Jim went to Jim’s Monday game of pub trivia while I went to a much needed early bedtime of 8:30.  In the morning it was all packing and repacking the car.  We met Jim for a nice lunch of breakfasty food at ..Milo..’s diner, where he’s been going since Renata was a baby.  After short stint at a Goodwill where we found a set of word flashcards for Ezra and a panoramic picture frame for me (what we wanted, what we always want and almost never find there, were cool t-shirts) we left to go ride the tram.

Pill Hill is the local’s name for the area where the hospital sits and where originates a tram that carries doctors and tourists from the hospital to some kind of clinic, and tourists back and forth.  It’s a weird combination- chattery tourists and extremely exhausted medical interns wearing hats that the probably forgot to remove after performing surgery.  The 14^th floor of the hospital is another weird combo- serving as both a lookout and the waiting room for critical care patients.  Half-done 500 piece puzzles cover tables as if the people just gave up in the middle. 

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We left the Taekwondo house and headed out side of ..Portland.. in another direction to ....Sauvie.. ..Island.... where we met Beth’s friends Sarah and Mark their three-year-old son Issac at Kruger’s Farm where we had intended to pick berries.  The berries were a bust, but the adventure was in the haystacks, overgrown sow and picnic lunch in the drizzle.  After lunch we took a long drive down Sauvie island Road where we saw a great variety of house boat to the left and famrs to the right.  We stopped at the lavender farm, mostly to take a picture for my mom, and then heeded back towards town to meet Sarah and family at their house.  The urban growth boundary thing is really cool because you can drive 10 miuntes outside of the city center and be in essentially wilderness. 

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Ezra and Issac wasted no time falling in love.  Ezra has more fun getting on level with a three-year-old than almost anything else!  We all hung around, ate berried that they had bought in pint containers, threw couch pillows around and cleaned up spit up and chatted until it was time for us to drive to meet the Rapps in Sullivan’s Gulch. 

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