Wow

Before I began my travels, Nancy's parents were visiting her from Alabama and I was telling them about my plans. Near the end of my soliloquy, I said, "I'll stop when I run out of--" to which Nancy's father inserted: "Friends?" I replied, "Well, I was thinking 'money' but that too." And now, just as I am truly running out of money, the Good Lord has given me a little 'pot of gold', as Debbie called it, in the form of a freelance job for my old company in NYC.

So I'm heading back to the Apple a week earlier than planned but that's fine with me. Hoping to sublet a bedroom in a 2BR apartment in midtown west. That's still to be worked out. I am so grateful. Literally jumping for joy. Just like I have the Chinese church kids do as a thanksgiving exercise. :)

"...We were berry picking...It's been so cold this year they turned blue..."











My sister and her girls all in various pink stripes. Like a gang.











Dinner with the Krahns, well, some of them. This is the family of Esther, whom I visited in Montenegro. But in our shared Richlandia. Yummy kale, wild rice, and curry chicken. (Thanks for reading, Mark!)





Kids who I used to have in Chinese church children worship who have since moved onto youth group. Now we're Facebook friends!







Debbie, Josh, and their son. I just loved Josh's cross hand hold. :) Lunch at Sageport Grille, one of my Richlandia favs.

More insomnia

Iced tea? Oy vey. Thank you to Esther and her family for a lovely day; no one made me drink the tea at dinner nor the one I got at Yokes before dinner. So it's three in the morning. I spent the last hour listening to John Stone's sermon from back in May. One of the things that I've come to see that I trust in are my connections. When just a few people don't respond to me within the time I want, I am nervous--which on the feelings chart is a lesser degree of fear. Again: oy vey.

Some fantastic things (to change the subject) during this Richland visit:
- spontaneous hug from my niece! The first one from her in the nearly six years of her life. After an afternoon of pretend school (and let me tell you pretend school is awesome: free play time alternating with snacks and naps), I was leaving the house and commented: that was fun! And she, who will not voluntarily say hi and who has never called my name to get my attention, turned and gave me a big enthusiastic hug. I teared up.
- on a hot walk from Howard Amon park, I happen to be in swim gear because I had been accompanying my neices in the wading pool, I took a cooling dip in the Columbia River at Leslie Groves. Love it. Though I was too vain to wear my dad's large-billed golf hat, apparently walking home looking like I lost bladder control in my jeans was tolerable.
- sunset with clouds
- full moon emerging from clouds

Old goals

I finished the seventh book in the Chronicles of Narnia series--a 2008 goal. But accomplished nonetheless. I love the word 'nonetheless' and I also love how C.S. Lewis uses capitalization to emphasize Words He Wants You To Pay Attention To and make them into nouns.

Canadia Camping

Juanita arrived Friday night at 2AM. I snoozed in the parked car since I drove to the airport at 11:40PM when her flight was scheduled to get into Seatac. The next day, we drove to Vancouver, BC. Her first time out of the country! It was exciting. We met up with and stayed at our friend Raymond (from TSC in NYC) and his family. The Wongs are truly hospitable and kind. His mother was extremely complimentary: happy to have us,; we both have nice, clear voices; did we sing?


Here's Raymond with the family dog, Joey, the chihuahua. Named so because he looks like a small kangaroo. And because his originally given name, which I've forgotten, was too difficult for Raymond's dad to pronounce. It was fun for me to hang out with a Chinese family other than my own.

Raymond took us on a quick tour of Vancouver but first we stopped at Kingsway Sushi where Juanita fell in love with the chicken teriyaki roll. Juany is allergic to seafood and I'm allergic to fish. We make a great pair for sushi. Anyway, pictured here is the kimchi beef--my pick.

After driving around North Van, as they say, and seeing a deer on Mt. Seymour, we headed back home for dinner. Here is the whole Family Wong (Juanita got a more in-focus picture which, if she shares, I'll replace this with).





Raymond enjoying some of his sister Leanna's strawberry sauce on ice cream.










I enjoyed mine with ice cream AND a Leanna-made brownie.








Mooch reunites with his long lost big brother in Vancouver. Turns out, Mooch is his surname, as his brother also had a tag that read "Mooch", so clearly we have a tribesman here. I was overjoyed. Juanita thought I was crazy. Well, I'm highly interested in roots and family systems. So this was metaphorical for me. In a way. Any ideas for a first name? Let me know.







After dinner, Raymond took us for Vancouver qwik tour part 2. Stanley park was beautiful at sunset. Juanita also really liked the dessert (more?!?) at True Confections. They both ordered the strawberry shortcake. I had a bite.








The next day, we went to church at Tenth, sprinted through Granville Island, and then had a super yummy lunch at Sha Lin Noodle House, where they make noodles fresh by hand. Amazing. We bid our farewells to the Wongs (Leanna sent us off with more strawberry sauce, chocolate chips, and marshmallows) and gassed up for the drive to Kelowna. Originally, I had thought to stay the night at Kamloops just because the name is so funny and it's a good midpoint, but the Wongs recommended Kelowna and so there we went. Juanita, for those who know her well, let her hair down. A true first. I am continually impressed by her maturing and daring.


A far cry from 'roughing it', we stayed at the Holiday Inn in West Bank (I've decided Holiday Inns are the best economy hotel--my stay in Flagstaff was at another nice and helpfully-staffed HI) where Lyndsey, our awesome front desk lady, made us reservations at Quails Gate. Here's my wild boar pappardelle. Y-U-M.



After taking our last showers for a few days, we got back in the car on Monday and drove to Lake Louise in Banff National Park. It took us much longer than anticipated because of construction and some accidents. Driving by KMH is fun. And the mountains were breathtaking. Thank God for my brother-in-law Doug who let me drive his Honda Accord rather than the cruise-control-less Toyota truck. There is a cassette deck and I bought a iPod converter. But Juanita loved the old mixed tape my friend Jason gave me back in 1992, so we mostly listened to that.


We finally checked into our campground, surrounded by an electrical fence to keep bears out, and set up our site. I burned the Rice A Roni but salvaged it with canned spinach and chicken, somehow it was edible. It was freezing that night. So the next day, we went to Banff to see the sites, and play our parts as tourists. Juanita picked up some Maple Leaf wear both in celebration of Canada Day as well as staying warm enough to sleep.





Here's how some other girls observed Canada Day in Lake Louise. Super cute.










We both took tons of photos of mountains and water. Here's just one sample so as to not spoil it for you if you go yourself. It was stunning and powerful.






:)











My abstract art of Lake Louise. The emerald color of the water is from rock powder that gets mixed in as the ice and snow melt off the mountains.






I am a terrible fire-starter and all my clothes smelled like smoke when we got to Victoria. The 9-hour drive was incredible uneventful and I was glad. We stayed a Paul's Motor Inn as recommended by Meggan's friend and I got to see Juanita's hair in even fuller glory.


As a tribute to camping, I cooked some ramen on the camp stove in the room. No fire alarms went off. It was OK.




Friday, we went to breakfast at my new favorite chain restaurant, White Spot. The ambiance is private and subdued. The menu is concise yet informative. And the food is kilometers tastier and healthier than Denny's. Even the coffee was great.








We took a long drive along the water around Victoria and then went to Butchart Gardens [that's a link to image results, not their website].










Juany was in charge of the map. I was on Plant Identification duty. This is a zinnia.


Unidentified daisy.


Lunch in downtown Victoria at John's Place where the (again, super helpful and friendly--is it a Canadian thing?) host gave us good directions to Mt. Douglas for a panoramic view of the city. Ferried into Anacortes and got to Bellevue late.

Yesterday, we celebrated America's Independence Day with Jane's neighborhood. They have a kids parade and 2nd annual BBQ. It was hot and fun. Here's the two girls pre-parade. I took Juanita to the airport this morning, she already texted me that she arrived fine in New York and is having sushi. I returned the gear I borrowed from Delphine's house and went to service at Mars Hill Bellevue where I met a nice couple from Las Vegas. Have spent the rest of today emailing and posting this blog and reading friends' blogs/FB. Tired from so much fun.

Tomorrow, I'll accompany Jane and kids to Richland where I'll be for about 10 days before camping again and then visiting the Olympic Peninsula with Nancy. Looking forward to catching up with more Tri-Citian friends.

The Bellevue set

Hard to blog and camp at the same time. I have enjoyed my media fast, though, as well as being glad to be back with electricity that comes from the wall and not the car battery.


Here are some pictures of the few days I spent with Jane's family in Bellevue, just across Lake Washington from Delphine's family. We went to Lake Sammamish State Park for a sunny afternoon. Jane with baby.

Jane's eldest, we played Hide and Seek and here's when I caught her.

The two eldest hiding.

Her middle daughter playing with the pebbles.

Making funny faces. :)