Goodbye Tacoma. Hello Port Angeles.

During our last weekend in Tacoma, we finally made the bike trip across the Tacoma Narrows bridge that we'd been planning since week one. The weather was in rare form: sunny and warm with clear skies. Mt Rainier towered over the city in all it's gigantic glory...at a whopping 14,000 ft above sea level its more than 2x as high as anything I climbed on the AT....a monster of a mountain. On most days it hides just behind the fog but on clear days it jumps out from behind buildings and hills, surprising you with its size each time.



We had to pick up our keys for our new house by 5pm on Friday. Because of traffic, we made it to the real estate office at 4:30, which was only the beginning of the bad luck we've had at this house so far. Danielle thinks its haunted. Upon entering the house, we discovered the filth that had been left for us...years of accumulated pet hair and dust coated everything in the house, from throw pillows to curtains to floors....food and drink were dried onto table tops and door jambs....spiders galore... pubic hair on the shower wall. Rocky found at least 4 things to eat on the floor our first night here. I've never seen anything like it. We spent our first 3 days cleaning from morning 'til night (with 8 hours of help from a professional cleaner, sent over by the realty broker after I left a hysterical rant on her emergency after hours voicemail) and there were still things to be done. We refused to bring anything we owned into he house until it was finished, so we wore the same clothes and didn't shower for 3 days. Come to find out, the quirky old woman who lives next door is the owner and was supposed to clean the house before our arrival. Apparently we all have different definitions of clean. The amount of "things" the owner keeps in this 950 sq ft house is unbelievable but easily explained by the fact that she collects antiques and frequently visits garage sales. After 3 days of cleaning, we brought in some of our things and I finally took a shower, only to have the toilet overflow minutes later, soaking the bottom 2 inches of my only clean pajama pants. We are hoping for better luck during the next 12 weeks but have already had our next catastrophe, which will be addressed in another blog. I'm taking it day by day, trying not to sweat the small stuff. I'm getting better and better at that by traveling. On a happier note, I really like my job here and I love Port Angeles. It's the smallest city we've lived in so far but without the small town mentality. We walk 2 blocks to get to the concentrated downtown blocks of bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, and outdoor stores...and now that the house is clean, it is winning me over with its character.

Kitchen

Living Room-I love the stained glass door.

Living Room

Bedroom. No Mom, I don't make my bed everyday.

Tulips and Ocean

A few weekends ago, we drove north of Seattle to Skagit Valley to catch the end of their annual Tulip Festival. The festival was extended an additional weekend due to the long winter we had this year. It was debatable whether taking a 3 hour drive to see farmland was going to be worth the effort, but I'm glad we went . Donkey, on the other hand, was not so thrilled to complete a 3 hour crate ride, only to be turned away...no dogs allowed. He didn't get to pee on any tulips but he did get to see a boat parade and throw himself in front of a yuppie mother pushing a baby bus down the crowded sidewalks of La Conner, so...the day wasn't a complete flop. We found a winery doing free tastings and made a lot of right turns...turns out the GPS was in "no U-turn" mode.

Last weekend we ventured out to the Olympic Peninsula. The trip was a bit ridiculous since we are moving there in 2 weeks, but it was planned and the cabin was booked long before we knew we were moving to Port Angeles. We stayed in a cabin in Forks, which is on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula, close to all of the beaches. Forks is a one stop light little town that now revolves around the Twilight series...yes, the vampire books. Apparently the story takes place in Forks and now the town has become the number one destination for families with teenaged daughters. Every hotel, restaurant, and store has a sign referencing the series..."Bella shops here" seemed to be a favorite. It's a little sad. This town is the gateway to the most beautiful beaches in the US and a vampire movie drives their tourism industry...American priorities at their best.

The beaches were gorgeous...unlike anything I've ever seen. Of the five beaches we saw, the two most beautiful required a wooded hike to reach. We took the long way home to drive through Port Angeles. It's really small (20,000 people) but cute. We spied 2 thai restaurants, an indian restaurant, and a few coffee shops. We also had a chance to drive past the house that we are going to be renting.


I still have a soft spot for school buses.




Ruby Beach


Third Beach. If you look closely, you can see a waterfall shooting out onto the beach.

I threw him back in the water after I took the picture but I think it may have been a little too late.

Second Beach. We had to climb over all of this driftwood to get to the sand. I loved that keyhole in the rock.

Banana Slug!

First Beach. Yes, the names are really this creative.

Rialto Beach