let's go to Canada for the 4th of July!

Hello everyone!

I had a wonderful long holiday weekend. Friday night I went over to Elaine & Gina’s house where they cooked up a wonderful dinner of fresh pasta with cheese sauce and zucchini. Elaine dropped off Gina and I across the street from the Crystal Ballroom where we where going to see Neko Case. It was a little early yet so we decided to walk to the bar around the corner for a drink. As we walked past the Crystal there was a tour bus parked in front. I thought “That must be Neko’s bus.” and who should step off of the bus that instant except Neko herself. I grinned. This was looking so much better than our previous Neko show. One month prior Gina and I had stood in a torrential hailstorm at the Sasquatch Music Festival which drove Neko off the stage after 2 & ½ songs. This time she played for a solid two hours. It was a sold out show and the Crystal Ballroom was jammed and very warm but it was a fantastic show. Her voice is incredible and seeps into my veins and bones.

After the show I walked with Gina & her friend Tyler to a nearby bar, Momo’s, where they played a couple rounds of pool. We eventually called a cab to take us home and we both went to bed pretty quickly.

Saturday morning I woke up early and finished getting my stuff together. I was on I-5 north by 8:45 AM. Pretty impressive for staying up until 2 AM the night before. My first destination was Kirkland, outside of Seattle on the eastern side of Lake Washington. I pulled into my Aunt Barb & Uncle Gene’s driveway just as my cousin David was leaving with a friend. I was amazed by how tall he is though at 16 I suppose I shouldn’t be. His sister, Michelle is also taller than me! My grandparents were there visiting so I got to see lots of relatives. We chatted and ate yummy grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Barb and I went outside to pick blueberries and raspberries. I ended up leaving their house with all kinds of food: berries and biscotti. It was really great to see them and I’m looking forward to the family get-together in a few weeks when I’ll see even more family.

From Kirkland I continued on up to Sara’s house in Bellingham. Jeremy took us down to the marina to take a look at his sailboat. It’s a 26 foot boat and he has two partners that he shares the boat with. One of the partners was working on the boat when we stopped by and offered to take us out for an evening sail out on Bellingham Bay. We left to grab some food and warmer clothes and went back to the boat. It’s been years since I’ve been on a sailboat. It was fantastic. The sun was setting and the San Juan Islands were misty and fading to purple. Once the sun was down we went back in and hurried home to get ready to leave town.

Sara drove us down to Anacortes where we caught the midnight ferry over to Guemes Islands in the San Juans. We drove to Mark and Kelly’s place. They have a lovely piece of property and had offered to let us pitch tents for the night. We got set up then hung out drinking beers and gazing at the stars. Satellites, shooting stars and the Milky Way filled the night sky.

We spent the next day driving from beach to beach on the island. At Square Harbor Jeremy went swimming and I found more beach glass on 10 minutes on this beach than in the previous 5 years I’ve lived in the Northwest. We climbed up to a high view point and looked at Mt Baker looming above the impossibly blue water and the many, many islands surrounding us. We stopped at Young’s Park where I picked up more perfectly smooth stones and old worn shells. We then went to Kelly’s Point where we hung on the super sunny beach and searched for agates. We finally dragged ourselves away from the warm sand to go visit Jerry and Constance, friends of Sara’s on the island. I’d met them before and they’re really great people. We talked about agates, Portland, gardening, numerology and the Gulf Islands. We ate some marionberries before heading back over to Mark and Kelly’s to watch the weekly volleyball match. We did a quick pick through their raspberry bushes and were sent off to catch the ferry with bags of fresh berries.

We headed back to Sara’s house then Jeremy continued on up to Vancouver. Sara and I re-packed our bags and showered before hitting the road up to Canada. We had planned on crossing the border late in an attempt to miss holiday traffic as it was both Canada Day and Fourth of July within a few days of each other. We crossed the border with no waiting and arrived at Jeremy’s place in Vancouver around 1:30.

Monday morning we woke up and made coffee before heading over to Raj’s house. Her kids have grown so much since I saw them last in March 2005. Little Arianna is now a little girl rather than a baby and Aiyesha is still the doting older sister. It was great to see Raj. She cracks me up and has always been so kind to me. We hung out for awhile before our grumbling tummies sent us off to eat. We both ordered delicious lamb curry and packed up our leftovers to take to the beach with us. We picked up Sara’s friend Selena then drove to the University of British Columbia campus to park. We climbed the 415 stairs down to Wreck Beach. It was jammed with people as it was an exceptionally beautiful, warm, sunny day out. It’s a clothing optional beach and was full of people of all ages. The water was shallow enough that it was warmed up nicely by the sun so I was actually able to swim in the ocean. We laid in the sun and jumped in the water. I read my book and gazed at the mountains in the distance. We stayed for several hours before making the climb back up those crazy stairs.

We left on a mission to find some good views of the city as the sun was setting. We drove up to Queen E Park but the views were obscured by trees and then we went down by the waterfront as the light of the day was fading. Vancouver is an amazingly scenic city, surrounded by both water and mountains.

We were all ready for dinner so we found a Thai restaurant and ordered curry and glass after glass of water. It was delicious and so satisfying. We then went back home where we relaxed for just a bit before Jeremy took Sara and I on a nighttime scenic tour of the city. First we drove up to Cypress Mountain. We looked down at the city lights below and watched the huge orange moon set behind the mountains to the west. We then drove through massive Stanley Park and stopped along the waterfront. Tiredness took over and we headed home to crawl in bed.

Tuesday morning Sara and I loaded up our stuff and headed back to the States. We went straight to our grandparents’ house in the town of Blaine, just over the border. Grandma showed us some old family photos which I lovelovelove. Sara, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Liz and I went outside to sit on the patio and talk. We watched the hawks flying high up on their thermals, talked about the ancient cherry tree next to the house and old family stories. I walked around the house taking pictures and Sara and I walked the ten seconds down the street to the edge of Drayton Harbor to look at Mt Baker hovering above the water in the distance. My aunt pulled out some wonderful local strawberries for us and we savored every bite. We hit the road when hunger pangs took over. We’ll all hang out again in a few weeks at the big dinner in Seattle to celebrate my grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary.

Sara and I drove the short ways to Bellingham and stopped for some late lunch at the Malt Shop. From there it was just a quick stop at her house then I was on the road for the 250 miles straight south to Portland. I arrived home just at sunset and just a few minutes after my roommate, Camille, who had *just* gotten home from a 6,100 mile road to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Idaho. She was tan and happy and full of fun stories about her trip.

I’m fly flying away tomorrow to Minneapolis where I’ll be until July 16th. Please let me know what you’ve been up to and how you are!

Xoxoxo,
carolyn