Trip to Seattle

My parents picked us up on Thursday afternoon -- my birthday -- and, in their rented car, drove us to Nisquallly natural wildlife refuge, some 40 km away from Tacoma. The plan was to drive to Seattle in the evening, and sleep at their good friends Steve and Linda's place.

At the refuge, we had a very nice walk on an elevated path crossing a wide swamp, and saw several kinds of birds including a hawk and a heron. After driving through many km of sordid highway landscape consisting mainly of parking lots, stores and drive-throughs, it was great to finally see some of Washington's beautiful nature.

After leaving the park, we drove to a small logging town called Shelton for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. The food was good and cheap, and the serving sizes small enough that we knew we'd still have some appetite for the big dinner we knew awaited us in Seattle.

After eating, we drove on in the direction of Seattle and luckily we got lost enough to discover a beautiful seaside landscape that didn't look too unlike the West of Norway.

Around 5 am we made it to Bremington, where boarded the ferry to Seattle. The view from the deck as we approached the big city was very impressive -- unfortunately, we didn't manage to capture the panorama on camera, so you'll have to take my word for it (or google it yourself).

We arrived at Steve and Linda's house around 7 pm, and soon got to enjoy the splendid Italian dinner that Steve had prepared. They had also invited two other good friends of theirs (a couple about their age), and the eight of us had a very nice evening.

The next day we drove out to Discovery Park after breakfast and good coffee, and a short Skype session with Nina and (a perturbed but adorable) Theo back home. Again we got to see some of the flora and fauna that this region has to offer, much of it very different from home. Giant trees, hummingbirds, a lush and green forest even in winter -- and a great seaside view of white peaks across the fjord.

We had good seafood for lunch, and after looking at the boats in the harbour we drove home.

After a round of espressos and perusing laptops and ipads and newspapers for half an hour or so, the four of us walked to discover the unimaginable choice of organic, local, free-range, bourgeois wonders at the supermarket Whole Foods (and, in my case, evidently buying quite a few of them, including some coconut-milk based yoghurt -- an item that didn't even exist back in my vegan days!).

After saying our goodbyes and thanking Steve and Linda for their hospitably and for showing us around,my dad drove us back to Tacoma. The traffic on the highway was intimidating. To think that a great amount of people do this commute (one hour each way) every day is mind-blowing.

We made it home safely and had taco chips and refried beans for dinner. Today we had a quiet day at home, and only went to the park (T to work, me to run) this afternoon to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Inspired by what we saw on our trip to Seattle, T and I are really determined to try to get out more -- our plan is to eventually (once T finishes his introduction) rent a car for a week or two and explore this state, and maybe even go even farther. It'd be a shame to stay in the US for three months and only see Tacoma. Not that Tacoma is that bad (it has its nice sides), but obviously there is a lot more to see and experience.

PS: My parents the globetrotters left the US this afternoon and landed in Mexico just two hours ago!