London Day 4

My last full day in London and luckily I woke up well rested. If you are planning a trip to London my best advice is to figure out at least the most important things you want to do and see and make a reservation for them. You are guaranteed to get in and not wait in long lines. So my first stop of the day was St Paul’s Cathedral. St Paul’s is England’s national church, and has been on that spot since 604. Not this building which unfortunately didn’t survive the Great Fire of 1666, but it’s the church they built after the fire on this same spot. This was where the wedding of then Prince Charles and Lady Diana was held, and also the funerals of Churchill and Thatcher. There is also a very large and very high dome on top that you can climb all the way to the top and be rewarded with a spectacular view of London in every direction.

I’m so glad I got a ticket to see this. I thought it was beautiful. Not to compare as Westminster Abbey has a great history but I thought St Paul’s was more beautiful and I loved how open it was - it feels huge. It actually is Europe’s 4th largest church.

And the dome! It’s actually three domes with 3 galleries you can climb up and visit. The Whispering Gallery, the Stone Gallery and the Golden Gallery. A total of 528 steps to climb to the top. The dome weighs 65,000 tons and estimated to cost $850 million in today’s dollars.

Did I climb it? Yes! I don’t love heights but wanted to make my children proud. It starts out easy. Nice big wide stairs - not claustrophobic at all. Then the second part much narrower stairs and concrete walls on all sides - oh I’m feeling a little stressed. Then the last part is like climbing an old fashioned fire escape. Open see-through iron bars in a tight circle. Just look up I tell myself - don’t look down. Keep climbing and hang on to the railing. Then I realize it’s probably the same coming down and I can’t go down while trying to look up!😱 You have the option to bail out but not between the levels so once you start climbing there is no going back. I decide I will just live at the top. Here is a picture on the second level I had someone take of me.

Here I am at the very top!

But what a view!

Well I did make it down. Luckily the vast majority of people don’t make the climb so it wasn’t crowded at all on the stairs. I just hung on to the railing and looked straight ahead and kind of felt my way to the next stair. If you had seen me you might have assumed I was blind. Then the other two stairways felt like a piece of cake. I did it!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Now onto the Tate Modern Museum. It is right across the Thames on a bridge that basically connects St. Paul’s to the Tate. It’s called The Millennium Bridge and it is the first new bridge in London in a century. It is nicknamed Blade of Light and is very cool. I took this picture on the Tate side facing St Paul’s and if you look closely at the sides you can see the aerodynamic handrails that deflect wind over the heads of pedestrians.

I love art but I confess modern is not my favorite. The older paintings I can appreciate but the really contemporary pieces I just usually don’t understand. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think they belong in a museum. I love the creativity and I embrace the fact that new interpretations make us all richer and more interesting. Plus I love architecture and heard the repurposed building it’s in is amazing. I found that to definitely be the case. The Tate is in a decommissioned power station and if you have been to NYC and seen the Whitney and walked on the High Line - then it reminded me of both in some ways. A huge space with massive walls - a perfect space to display art. Here is the outside coming across the Thames.

Now the inside. I can’t explain any of these pieces but thought they were cool.

I also loved this area of London. Way less crowded than Central London and when I return (because I will) I plan to spend more time exploring this area. Saw this really adorable building just while walking around. Hello Friar Tuck!

I’m getting a bit hungry and the concierge at my hotel had suggested strongly that I stop at the Borough Market. And lucky for me it’s close to the Tate. I am putting this market right at the very top of my must do’s in London. It’s London’s oldest vegetable market (only if you consider 1000 years as old) and now also the best. Open every day of the year but since I went on a Saturday I have to believe the busiest day of the week. It’s huge and was wall to wall people. It has everything you can think of and more. Fruits, vegetables, cheeses, fish, prepared foods, bakeries, coffee, smoothies and on and on.

I had what very well might be the best donut of my life. Prior to this crème brûlée confection my best donut was in Oahu at Leonard’s Hot Malasadas (Portuguese donuts). I would have to have them side by side to place them at #1 and #2 but right now I’m going with this bundle of happiness from Bread Ahead at this market. Was there a line for a donut that cost 5 pounds each? ($6.70 US) Yes! Was it worth it? Yes! Did I eat every bite? Yes!

So many happy people enjoying a Saturday. And if you are a Harry Potter fan here is a tidbit of information. In one of the movies they used the Market Porter Pub as the exterior of the Leaky Cauldron! Sorry but I read that after I left the market otherwise I would have tried to find it and take a picture.

My next stop was the US Embassy. It was the day of the No Kings massive protests in the US so if I had been in Chicago would have been with 250,000 like minded people making my voice heard for democracy. But since I wasn’t, I attended a friendly peaceful group of about 1000 people outside the Embassy. It’s too important to sit on the sidelines wherever you live.

This also brought me to another area of London I hadn’t been in and it was quite modern. Tall buildings that looked to be high end condo’s and upscale shopping and restaurants. It’s an area called Battersea Park on the south side of the Thames River.

I had gotten a recommendation from a friend that knows London well about an Indian restaurant called Dishoom. She said they have a number of locations in London and she always makes a point to eat there when she is in town - but hard to get in without a reservation. I looked it up and sure enough they had a location in Battersea Park so I stopped by at like 4PM and sure enough they told me they could seat me in 30 or 40 minutes. It took almost exactly that amount of time but I sat at the bar and had a delicious mocktail and I can’t remember having a nicer experience as far as how I was treated by every single staff person. So friendly and when they came to show me to my table they actually asked if I liked the table. I was feeling fortunate to get in at all and they wanted to make sure I liked the table! I don’t eat much Indian food so the menu was confusing to me. The wait staff was very patient and helped me make two great selections. A spicy chopped broccoli salad that I do believe I would like to purchase by the bucket full, and a grilled paneer with pistachios and pomegranate seeds. I ate every bite of the salad and half the paneer and was full. Thanks for the recommendation Jill!❤️

Back to my hotel to pack up as I needed to leave fairly early in the morning and start the journey home. I had a wonderful stay at the St. Ermin’s Hotel quite close to Buckingham Palace. There was a tube station 150 feet from the entrance so very convenient. It’s a beautiful hotel that as I mentioned was a splurge from where I normally stay - but it’s a birthday gift to me so I enjoyed the lovely setting and delicious breakfast immensely.

Another interesting twist for this hotel is that they also host 350,000 bees! Yes bee’s! Not on the roof but on a large balcony off the 3rd floor. A number of hives and also a bee hotel. They are Buckfast Bee’s which are a special breed of honey bee that have a lower tendency to swarm and are resistant to a number of diseases. So the honey in the restaurant is delicious and very fresh.

So that’s my trip! I walked 41.2 miles and took too many trains and tube rides to count. I checked off everything on my list except the National Gallery, but my favorite travel writer Rick Steves says always make sure you have a reason to come back to a place you loved. And I did love London. I’m already thinking about when I can return. I always say Paris is my favorite city in Europe and I have been there enough times to feel like I know it well. London might just be the next city in Europe I try to know well. Thanks for coming along. 🩷

London Day 3

If you are wondering from my pictures if it has been raining the answer is no. Not a drop but it has been quite cloudy everyday. The guide yesterday on the walk said he swears it rains twice as much in New York City but that London is often cloudy. So I am pleased I brought exactly the kind of clothes I needed - a trench coat, scarf and gloves and have worn all three everyday.

My day started at Westminster Abbey and luckily I had bought a ticket and made a reservation online a couple of weeks ago when I decided to make this trip. It was a large group of people when I arrived so if you didn’t already have a ticket there were tickets available but quite a bit later in the day. The ticket automatically gives you an auto guide which was helpful. It’s a very large church but the actual inside where services and weddings and coronations take place was actually smaller than I expected. I think it’s because there are so many people buried in large tombs inside of it! So it felt like not just a church but a cemetery to me. Much of the tour is visiting the graves of so many previous kings and queens and hearing their history.

That doesn’t take away from how beautiful it is. I love the ceiling in the main part of the church.

This is the main alter. The coronations take place right in front of this alter with the person taking over the throne seated in the coronation chair facing the alter.

You get to see the coronation chair but it’s at the very end of the tour right before you leave. It’s taken quite a beating. They have been using it since 1308! And apparently for quite awhile it was left outside and anyone could sit in it. That’s when the graffiti appeared.

Here’s another cool ceiling in the Chapel of King Henry VII also called the Lady Chapel. The ceiling is carved stone not plaster which is quite astonishing. There are lots of banners hanging because the Knights of the Bath meet in this room.

I was there over an hour and a half. Time to move on. What’s right next to Westminster Abbey? Parliament and Big Ben. I didn’t tour Parliament but walked over to the bridge to take a picture of the two since that’s the best place to do it. It sits right on the Thames River.

I walked past #10 Downing Street which is where their Prime Minister lives but you can’t get anywhere close to it. The entire street is closed off with an iron tall gate and tight security everywhere. I read there is no way to open the door to it from the outside. There is a guard inside 24 hours a day and it must be opened only from the inside. I walked past the horse guards - 2 in total. They guard that entrance to Buckingham Palace.

Then I headed back toward the government buildings to take the tour of the Churchill War Rooms. It’s a walk through the underground headquarters of the British governments WWII fight against the Nazis. There are two parts. The rooms themselves and then a museum dedicated to Winston Churchill. It also comes automatically with an audio guide. It was used from 1939 to 1945, and everything has been left exactly as it was when the war ended. Literally they all just walked out the door. Well and climbed a bunch of stairs because it was built in the basement of the Dept of Defense. There were over a hundred people working down there and many actually slept in little tiny rooms and didn’t come up for days. It was interesting but I was getting pretty claustrophobic. It reminded me of being on a submarine and before you ask, yes I have been on a submarine. Not for very long but still not much room. It was such a throwback in time where so much was done by hand. Maps with thumbtacks tracking the war. I didn’t take pictures when I was down in it as the space was small and I’m managing an audio device and just trying to get through it all. But interesting for sure and so in awe of the job they did to fight back against Hitler.

I had one more big thing on my agenda and I just didn’t get to it. I had a reservation for the National Gallery - a beautiful huge art museum. I just couldn’t do it. I have to accept my capacity is now two big things per day. I needed to get something to eat and get some fresh air. So that will have to be something I return to do because tomorrow is Saturday and there is no way it’s not going to be super crowded and I already have two other big things planned. I have made peace with it.

I criss crossed the beautiful St James Park at least 4 times today. It’s totally fall and the trees look spectacular. There is a large pond with all kinds of ducks and geese that have zero fear of humans. This one was two feet from me and didn’t give me the time of day.

That’s Buckingham Palace in the distance.

I had tea! Something I love to do and I was able to implore the host to seat me even though I had no reservation at a super popular restaurant called The Wolseley. Very cool spot that used to be a grand 1920’s showroom for a long-defunct British car by the same name.

Just the Cream Tea not the full blown High Tea. Cream Tea is tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. A full High Tea is scones, finger sandwiches, an assortment of desserts and tea - too much food for one person. It was all delicious!

I found Carnaby Street! That was popular even a bit before my time but I remember hearing about it as a youngster in the 60’s.

Liberty Department Store was established in 1875 and best known for its Liberty Print floral patterns. Not sure if this is their original shop from 1875 but it looks like it could be.

Check out the interior - I love it! But don’t think the merchandise is dated. Designer labels throughout the store.

I couldn’t resist stopping in Hatchards. The largest bookstore in Britain and this is their flagship location. Been selling books since 1797. Seven floors but still felt cozy.

Look who is in the window - that local bear Paddinton❤️

Well that’s it for day 3. More to see and do tomorrow. Have a good weekend!

London Day 2

I slept for 10 hours! That is unbelievable for me and put me squarely in the right time zone mentally and physically. Miracle! After a quick breakfast here at the hotel I was heading to the tube for my first appointment at the British Museum. There is literally a tube station every couple of blocks and this is how they are marked.

Here is the main entrance to the museum. Like many museums in London it is free. Best to make a reservation online as it will save you what could be significant time. You will still need to go through security which moved pretty fast today, but no need to stand in a line to get a ticket and in some cases you might not get in at all.

The entrance takes you into the Great Court. This space is the largest covered square in Europe - bigger than a football field! In the center is the round reading room where people like Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, T.S. Eliot and Mark Twain used as a study hall.

To see everything in the museum would take weeks, so luckily I had my Rick Steves London book with me and he does a highlights tour. First stop THE actual Rosetta Stone😱 The hieroglyphic black slab dating from 196 BCE was found in the Egyptian dessert in 1799 and solved the code of Egyptian writing.

To say they have a lot of mummies is a huge understatement. I thought I would post a picture of some beautifully painted wooden coffins instead of the actual mummies.

They also mummified animals - in particular cats. A very popular pet at the time because they were considered incarnations of the cat-headed goddess Bastet. Someone tell Taylor Swift!

I also visited the large area from Ancient Greece. A vast amount of pottery that were absolutely in pristine condition. Many of these jars were used for wine and some were very large. No photos, sorry. I was on a mission to get to the Parthenon Galleries and there was an abundance of school children on what appeared to be an assignment finding specific jugs and checking them off a sheet so hard to get close to the cases.

While the Parthenon is still in Athens much of the decorative elements are in this museum. This as you might imagine has become somewhat controversial. In 2009 the Greek government built a state-of-the-art museum in Athens to house these precious treasures, which until then they didn’t have the resources to do. So the British authorities say they rescued and preserved these important artifacts and want to keep them in London. I’m not going to voice an opinion but they have made some progress in reaching an agreement but I’m not sure what it is. So in the meantime it was pretty cool to see.

These important figures were originally nestled nicely in the triangular pediment above the columns at the main entrance. Even without most of the heads I was amazed at how clearly their poses speak volumes of emotion.

Ok enough about that museum. I headed a short distance over to make a fairly quick stop at the British Library and was very glad I did. It is one of the great libraries in the world and has more than 150 million items.

When you enter the courtyard you will see a large statue of a naked Sir Issac Newton bending forward with a compass to measure the universe. This statue symbolizes the library’s purpose: to gather all knowledge and promote humanities’s endless search for truth. A noble goal in my opinion.

The main area I wanted to see was the Treasures of the British Library. It had been closed for a number of weeks recently for renovation so not all of it is back open. But I did get to see some really special things. Have you heard of the Magna Carta? Written in 1215 it was the basis for England’s constitutional system of government. And this is it!

Here is a display of original music and writings from the Beatles.

And lastly original writing from Jane Austin along with her reading glasses. Pretty cool. If you are ever in New York City I can’t recommend enough visiting the main public library in Bryant Park. Their Treasures Room alone is worth a visit to NYC.

Now time to jump on the tube and head over to the Kensington area for a walking tour with a guide from London Walks. I did a tour with Paris Walks last time I was in Paris in 2023 and it was one of the highlights of my trip. This tour got a 5 star review from hundreds of people so I thought why not? It was really wonderful. A great guide David who has done the tour for decades and was a fountain of good insight.

Kensington is an affluent area of London and actually has a street called Billionaire’s Row. You aren’t allowed to take pictures of it but places sell in the multi multi millions. And very close by is Kensington Palace. This is just one tiny bit of the palace - it has 537 rooms - kind of an odd number in my opinion. David had a drawing of the palace - similar to what we would call a floor plan and showed us where some of the royals lived like Princess Diana, Princess Margaret, Will and Kate, Harry and Megan etc. It was pretty interesting I thought.

Eddie Redmayne - a quite popular and successful actor lives right here in number 24.

David was a great guide but he ran a bit over our two hour time slot. When he finished the tour it was two hours and 45 minutes and he offered to take us into a church for another 15 minutes but no one took him up on it. I was starving! No mention of lunch because I didn’t have any so we all thanked him profusely and headed on our way. A number of people had theater tickets so needed to eat and get to their curtain.

I decided to head to Harrod’s as I know they have a ton of restaurants so kill two birds with one stone. No trip to London complete without a visit. I decided Italian sounded good and was pleased to enjoy a delicious meal in a beautiful room with live music.

Pasta with spicy shrimp and a mocktail of Papaya juice, lime and some other delicious flavors. I sat at the bar and got to watch the chef make it.

After eating I walked around a bit. It’s very high end so nothing in my budget but there was a special event for the Jelly Cats which I think is the new Labubu’s. You needed a ticket to enter and purchase merchandise but I just saw they have opened up on Michigan Ave in Chicago so no problem. I will just make a mad dash there when I get home so I have the latest ridiculous trend😂 It’s all in good fun so I say enjoy it. I was totally blown away by the escalators though and think they belong in a museum. This set is an Egyptian masterpiece.

That’s my day! I walked back to the hotel past my neighbors at Buckingham Palace. Good night Charles and Camilla. Another action packed day on my agenda so I need to get to sleep. Looks like even the guards get to sleep😊

London!

I’m treating myself to an early birthday trip and London has been on my list for a return visit and that’s where I am! In spite of the government shutdown I had zero issues getting through TSA or departing and landing on time. Starting out the trip smoothly. I was here a number of years ago but there is much I haven’t seen so I have a full agenda. So glad to see the red phone booths are still around - and some even have telephones in them!

I was successful taking the train into London from Heathrow, and then changing to two different Tube lines to get to my hotel. Public transit is the way to go! Reasonable and no fighting traffic. London has one of the best in the world and pretty easy to figure out if you can access your GPS on your phone. Since it’s a birthday trip I splurged and am staying at a fancier than usual hotel. I will post pictures later in the trip but I am just a 5 minute walk from Buckingham Palace! Swung by walking back to the hotel to wave to Charles and Camilla😂 That’s a very big house!

As usual I did not sleep on the overnight flight so arrived with less than my normal energy. For starters I am being so careful crossing every street. Looking left then right then left again because they drive on the opposite (wrong) side of the road and it’s very confusing. Hopefully tomorrow when I’m better rested my brain will adjust quickly so I don’t get hit, but I will continue to be vigilant. I had the Victoria and Albert Museum on my list for today and I did make it there.

It is called a museum of decorative arts, but it seems to me to be much more than that. Something for everyone! Furniture, glassware, clothing, jewelry, architecture, historical artifacts etc. And it’s free! They suggest making a donation but not required and no pressure. I was there for about three hours so definitely made a donation. I also walked in 5 minutes before one of the free highlights tours was starting. I love a good tour and this woman was excellent. An hour and she was so knowledgeable. She said one of their interns walked through the entire museum and every display wearing a pedometer and clocked 7.5 miles so lots to see. As usual I loved the architecture of the building itself. It was built as a museum but has had many additions added and I loved the blending of the old and new. Mostly because I’m glad they didn’t knock the old parts down.

An interior picture I love. Such a beautiful building🩷

And the old and new blended together.

There is a beautiful Dale Chihuly chandelier at the main entrance. Also another beautiful piece of his in the glass section of the museum.

This casket was made in 1180 for the relic of St Thomas Becket by Limoges. It is made of enamel, metal and wood. Really exquisite.

How about an original notebook from Leonardo da Vinci? They have that too!

I hadn’t eaten all day so got a bowl of tomato basil soup and a slice of pistachio carrot cake in their cafe. I didn’t get a picture of the food but look at the room I was eating it in!

It’s definitely fall here! Gorgeous leaves and really crisp air. Fall is my favorite.

That’s it for day one. I’m heading to bed as I have a full day planned for tomorrow. I’m on the lookout for the most posh bakery and picking up as many English sayings as possible😊

Southeast to Northwest Adventure!

I was barely back from Italy and time to head out again. Parts of this trip were planned well over a year ago and I was looking forward to it all. Part one took me to Charlotte NC for a family reunion at our cousin John’s beautiful lakeside home. A good turnout of siblings, spouses, cousins, kids and our newest addition 2 month old adorable Bryson. Fun was had by all as we enjoyed fantastic food, cooled off in the lake and spent time with the people we have known and loved the longest. We kept meaning to take a picture of the whole group but we were having too much fun to remember to do it. Well, another gathering is already in the planning stages for next year so we will do it then for sure! Thanks so much to Susan and John for a truly wonderful time🩷

Part Two - heading straight to Seattle. A gathering of college sorority friends hosted by Kim at her beautiful slice of heaven in Union WA on the only fjord in the continental US. These ladies are a blessing in my life for the past 50 years! Each accomplished in their own way with fantastic careers and life experiences that have taken them around the world. And so organized, active and fun to be with. Of course Kim is flying the flag so we know we have arrived at the right place💛🖤💛

We did exactly the right amount of fun activities with plenty of time to relax, reminisce and catch up on the latest in everyone’s life. Thankfully everyone is in a good place and we are filled with gratitude that that is currently the case. So here goes a brief recap of all the fun thanks to the excellent planning skills of our amazing hostess Kim. Also a BIG shoutout to her awesome and super fun husband Mike. He cooked, kayaked, was our photographer often and did the most amazing trivia contest for us with questions about Theta rules and Illini history that made us all realize how little attention we paid in college to any of that! Complete with throwback photos in a professional PowerPoint presentation!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻We were gobsmacked with awe.

Kayaking on the gorgeous fjord with snow covered mountains and a guided tour thanks to Mike of the famous peoples homes we were paddling past (I see you Bill Gates and Nordstrom families). Then how about digging for clams, mussels and oysters right there on the beach for dinner tonight? A first for me and some of the other ladies.

Followed by the hard work opening the clams and oysters and cooking them. All the glory to Nancy and Peggy. Those are not food items I normally gravitate to but I did try them and they were good.

Kim and Mike live really close to a beautiful spa and resort called Alderbrook so we started one day with a great hike there through the woods seeing lots of interesting vegetation, ferns, mushrooms and huge trees. So lush and very different from the Midwest.

No trip is complete to the Seattle area without a visit to the famous Pike Place Market - so after our hike we headed to Bainbridge Island to take the ferry to downtown Seattle. Watching the fish thrown, being repulsed by the ever expanding gum wall, posing with the pig, smelling the beautiful flower bouquets, eating some delicious Mac and cheese and Greek yogurt - we did it all!

Then back on the ferry to explore Bainbridge Island and eat some delicious Mexican food. One margarita is plenty - they are as big as our heads!

A trip to Bainbridge is not complete without seeing Pia the Peacekeeper. A huge amazing troll from Thomas Dambo, a Copenhagen based artist who used recycled wood to build this 18 foot tall troll. I read a bit about it and it was truly a community effort to raise the funds to bring this sculpture to their beautiful island. Such a whimsical face - I found it very endearing.

On our last day we rented a pontoon boat from the marina at Alderbrook Resort and spent about 3 hours exploring more of the fjord. Luckily Cindy and Peggy are skilled in driving a boat. The Skipper and Gilligan for our three hour cruise 😂

Then happy hour in the Alderbrook bar before heading to dinner. I had to post this picture because we had the waitress take it before Kim realized she still had her sunglasses on. So we got the attention of a different waitress and asked her to take another picture and explained why - because Kim wanted to remove her sunglasses. She was happy to oblige. But when we looked at the picture we saw that she had cut Kim out of the picture totally! We died laughing and at that point decided to just let it go. We would rather have her in the picture even with sunglasses!

We had a number of delicious meals on Kim’s gorgeous deck with this spectacular view of the fjord. The food was great too!

Such a wonderful time with great friends. No matter how much time has elapsed we pick right up just like we saw each other yesterday. Thanks again Kim and Mike.

Now Part Three. Nancy who lives in Portland along with her husband Bruce recently purchased a vacation home in Hood River Oregon. That’s about a three hour drive from the Seattle area and just across the Columbia River which divides Washington and Oregon in an area called The Gorge. She invited whoever was able to continue the fun in Hood River since we were already all the way in the Pacific Northwest. Everyone except Kim could extend the trip so we said goodbye to Kim and headed south.

Hood River is such an adorable town of about 10,000 people overlooking the beautiful and very windy Columbia River. So windy it is one of the top places in the country for water sports like wind surfing and kite surfing. Peggy who has been water skiing almost since she could walk decided to take a lesson and try it. The lessons are two hours and as you might imagine it’s HARD! You have to be able to balance on the board and be super strong to pull that sail up with a stiff wind blowing the whole time. She was a trooper! We came for the second hour of her lesson to be her cheering section. She never gave up and we did see her manage to do it for at least a bit of time. Yeah Peggy! You made us all proud!

She definitely had the most vocal and largest cheering section. No way the rest of us would try it.

Now off to pick up a picnic lunch from the amazing Pine St Bakery! Might have been our second visit just that day!🫢We took an early hike through some beautiful woods on the long way to the bakery when we woke up. We wanted to earn it and we weren’t disappointed. Just so many great choices we got a bunch of bakery items and shared them. Then went back for sandwiches on delicious bread to take with us to see Mt Hood and Mt Adams on our way to the lavender fields and winery.

Stave and Stone Winery was right next to the lavender fields and since Nancy and Bruce are members we got the best table right next to the vineyard! So beautiful whatever direction you look🩷

We headed back to Nancy’s place because her amazing and excellent chef husband Bruce had come over from Portland to cook us a great dinner and join us for more of the fun the next day. Delicious salmon caught that very day with terrific sides and the Ina Garten dark chocolate tart. And a great clean-up crew!

Our last day was another fun one. Bette headed back to Eugene to spend Father’s Day with her family so we are down to 5 plus Bruce. We rented E-bikes and rode about 25 miles to see as many waterfalls as we could get to in 4 hours. For us that was a very respectable 6! I was the only one in our group that hadn’t ridden an E-bike, but if you can ride a bike you can ride an E-bike. It was a blast and the perfect way to see the waterfalls. They are very popular and it was a Sunday so extra busy. Limited parking but we just rode our bikes there and chained them together and took off for the falls. Sweet!

The tallest waterfall in Oregon is called Multnomah Falls and it’s stunning. It has a 620-foot drop. Here we all are in front of it.

Bruce headed back to Portland to work the next day and the rest of us had a great dinner at a wonderful restaurant called 3 Rivers Grill. A beautiful patio with a fantastic view of the river.

It’s almost time to say goodbye to the last of the group. Well maybe one more stop at Pine St Bakery before departure 😂

Nancy and Bruce thank you for hosting us in Hood River and for the fantastic time I know we all had🩷

The Midwest crew gets dropped at the Portland airport but I’m on to Part Four - a return trip to the Seattle area. Nancy was such a great friend to offer to drive me halfway back to Seattle and my dear high school friend Pam and her husband who live in Gig Harbor agreed to meet us at that halfway point and take me back to Gig Harbor for a few days. Who has better friends than me? I can’t think of anyone!

I’m ready for a little rest and relaxation. Pam and Lance have a gorgeous home and this is my view from their front porch. Watching the ferries cross Puget Sound to Vashon Island - that’s where you can find me every morning.

Pam took me to a sweet little town called Poulsbo Washington. A Scandinavian vibe around a pretty marina where Pam and I had a nice lunch overlooking the water. Also a great bakery called Sluys that took me back to my visit to Sweden. We picked out a few things to share with Lance the following morning.

It was wonderful to have time to catch up with Pam. We have been good friends since high school and have kept in touch the whole time. And now that’s close to 55 years! I was in their wedding so Lance and I have been friends a long time too! Thanks so much for a wonderful time in your beautiful slice of heaven.

Now Part Five - the final chapter. Pam and Lance drove me to meet my brother David in Bremerton Washington where he lives and not too far from Gig Harbor. We met at a restaurant Pam, Lance and Dave all like - the Boat Shed. Had a fun delicious lunch and then Dave and I headed out to his beach house on the ocean in Pacific Beach.

Dave and Dee’s beach house is so cool. It’s right on the beach, just walk through the seagrass he keeps trimmed to get to an expansive beach you can walk on for miles. A perfect way to end my fun action packed adventure. Pure relaxation listening to the waves on the beach. Well relaxing for me. David seems to find plenty of projects to keep busy with out there, but he lets me relax and walk the beach. And he cooks for me too! Thanks Dave🩷

The walk to the beach from the deck. Magical!

When the tide goes out you can find hundreds of sand dollars on the beach, and sometimes cool wood and sea glass. They have seen sea otters too.

Dee and Dave have collected a lot of sand dollars!

Everyone loves the gorgeous sunsets🩷

Well that’s it for my fabulous trip. Thanks to everyone who made it so wonderful and for memories I will cherish forever. I feel very fortunate to have you all in my life🩷