World United States Washington Bellingham

Westbound Again

Bellingham WA May 13, 2012

We, well Michele, slept in today because it is, after all, Mother’s Day. So after making our Mother’s Day phone calls and a couple little bus maintenance things, we got a later start than usual. We finally left about noon and headed toward Deception Pass State Park which is a little less than an hour SW of the campground, near Anacortes. We got near the park and the traffic started to get a little crazy – it seems that the combination of Sunday, Mother’s Day and beautiful weather brought the locals out in droves. It took us about 15 minutes to get in the park entrance and then in 2 lots we were unable to even get a parking spot. We finally got parked in a small, hidden lot so we got out and wandered around a bit. It was a typical northern pacific coast beach with rocks and driftwood everywhere, and it’s beautiful. We cruised through a couple more areas, and then found out that they had closed the rest of the park because of overcrowding, which was our cue to head out. We stopped at the Deception Pass Bridge to take a few pictures and as we walked to the bridge, Michele got a text from Kyle to call him immediately. He said that his best friend since elementary school, Erick, who is in the Army stationed in Afghanistan, was riding in a Humvee that was hit with a roadside bomb. He was airlifted to a field hospital and all he knew was that he had a possible hip fracture. I know Erick’s dad so when we got consistent cell coverage I called him to get more info. He said that he had spoken to Erick only once and confirmed the hip injury but that he was still waiting for more details. As bad as this news is, we all know it could have been worse, and we’re praying that there is only good news for Erick and the other soldiers in his unit. After that shock, it kind of took the wind out of our sails for awhile, so we just headed back down the hill to a place called the Shrimp Shack for some grub, then back east to the interstate, then north for a bit to the Fairhaven section of Bellingham to wander around the historic district for awhile and get some gelato. After a short stop on the way home for a few grocery items, we were back at the bus by a little after 6:00 for the night. We plan on heading back toward Anacortes tomorrow with the bus and setting up camp there for a couple nights so that we are closer to Everett to go on the Boeing tour tomorrow, and then throw the Jeep on the ferry Tuesday morning to go to the San Juan Islands and maybe Victoria British Columbia on Wednesday. Everyone here has been stunned at the weather we’ve been having. Highs today were in the mid 70’s with bright sun and almost no wind. I think today was the first day in weeks that I haven’t had a jacket on at all. All this talk about the cold, rainy, drizzly Seattle area is just a bunch of hooey.

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