I left off on the blog when we entered the Northern Cascades, an area of beautiful forests and rivers.
The Northern Cascade Mountains are just stunning - even better than Glacier Park and Yellowstone. I think they are as beautiful as the Tetons near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My personal opinion, but there you are.
Road through the Northern Cascades.
We stopped in Deming, WA for a break and happened upon a chainsaw log sculpture competition. I've never seen anyone actually sculpting this way before and it is fascinating how they can take a log and "see" a figure in it and bring it to life with a matter of a few cuts with a chainsaw. While we were there they were doing an hour and a half contest - each contestant had only an hour and a half to carve a figure that would be auctioned off at a later point in the competition.
How he "saw" this mountain lion in a log and brought it to life is amazing! It was a blazing hot day, too. We traveled on through more beautiful Northern Cascade scenery to Bellingham, WA where we spent several days with Mike and Marsha Yeakle. Mike is a former HCCA President and he and Marsha are such super easy people to be with that Joe and I really had an opportunity to just rest and unwind.
On July 4th, the day after we got to the Yeakle's, they took us to the little town of Blaine, right on the WA side of the Canadian border for an old-fashioned Fourth of July parade and celebration.
The crowd was enthusiastic and lively. Kids were waiting impatiently for parade participants to come down the line throwing out candy. I know there were some sore tummies and kids that were hyper on sugar that night.
Blaine didn't have big floats but it had lots of community participation from businesses and political candidates and community groups like the library, scouts and high school band.
Yes, folks, Elvis is alive and well and was in the Blaine 4th of July parade! He looks just like him and sings just like him. Eat your heart out, Elvis fans, I got an autographed picture from Elvis!
Loved this old VW bus decorated for the parade. I have seen more old VW vans in WA. I think all the old hippys moved up here.
I have been trying to get a picture of a deer ever since we started on this trip. Finally, I got one! We were sitting outside Mike and Marsha's house with two other couples and along strolls a deer past their driveway. Marsha said he loves to eat her geraniums and laurel shrubs. I was r-e-a-l quiet and followed the deer down the street til I spotted him in the backyard of a house 3 doors down. I could have said I shot this picture in the Northern Cascades or Glacier Park, but no, I had to wait until I was in the middle of a residential area in the city of Bellingham.
Day two with the Yeakle's, Joe went to Mike's business where he has a lift and an amazing collection of Brass-era cars. Joe did a thorough maintenance on the car and he and Mike worked on the number two cylinder of the engine. After nearly 4,000 miles the car was ready for a real close inspection and maintenance of everything.
While he was working on the car, Marsha and I took the two dogs to the lake and played "water fetch". Those two dogs would play it all day, I believe, or at least until your arm gave out. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Day three with the Yeakle's, I got the opportunity to see Mike's car collection and other interesting collectibles. My favorite other than 2 or 3 cars I want him to "will" me, was this old organ.
Belonging to an old car enthusiast, the organ was not complete without the tires, the radiator and the gas pump. After the maintenance on our car was finished we went antiquing in Old Town Bellingham. Found lots of goodies!
You may remember that Joe lost one of the lens from his sunglasses to the wind in North Dakota. We went to see MG antique car buff, Wayne Musselman, who is also an optometrist to see if he could do an eye exam and get new lens for Joe. Wayne was wonderful and made time to take care of Joe's problem. Many thanks, Wayne.
Not far from Wayne's house, Mike mentioned that we were close to the ferry that goes to Alaska. Now that really started something! We didn't realize that the ferry that went to Alaska was so close. The next morning we bought tickets to go to Juneau, Alaska. It's a three day trip there and back with a week in Alaska. You can't say we are not spontaneous people. We are so close and we will probably not get the chance to go there again.
Yesterday, we took the ferry from Anacortes, WA to Victoria Island, British Columbia. We will stay here til Thursday before we return to Anacortes. Bright and early Friday morning we'll board the boat to Alaska!!
Anacortes ferry to Victoria Island.
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