Floating Mountains

When we left Corvallis this morning we commented on how we have always enjoyed being with Anne and Harold. OilMan has known Harold since they were at CalTech together (two "normal" geeks in a school full of geeky guys). Harold met Anne when she came to Southern California from London on a nurses' exchange program. She only went back to London to Marry Harold. We have known both of them ever since, raising our children, moving, traveling, changing jobs, retiring. In sickness and in health--we've been through it all together--no wonder they seem almost like family.

The drive to Vancouver was uneventful and difficult to photograph since we were on the I-5 all the way to the Canadian border. The snow capped peaks of many of the major mountains of the Cascade Range would appear briefly in the hazy distance, then disappear again behind the intervening hills--Mt Hood, Mt Baker, Mt Adams, Mt Rainier beckoned and disappeared.

We passed by Portland on the venerable bridge across the Columbia River. We skirted around the worst of the Seattle traffic, taking the parallel route on the other side of Lake Washington through Bellevue. We had a delicious sandwich at the co-op in Mt. Vernon. We gave virtual waves to blippers MCarter and Philpo, Local Food Lover and Artist Annie as we passed their towns in Washington. We crossed the border into Canada in record time, only to crawl through the outskirts of Vancouver, hampered by bottlenecks at various tunnels and bridges in this town of islands.

We are now settling into our room on the 16th floor of our hotel in downtown Vancouver. I want to thank all of you who offered congratulations on my 300th blip for your continued support and encouragement. I must confess that I didn't realize it had happened until I saw the red balloon, but can't help feeling rather chuffed at reaching this little milestone. I look forward to a continuing friendship with all of you.