Day 18 Seattle, Washington

Today we said goodbye to our new friends Carolyn Rose and Mike Nettleton in Vancouver.  Carolyn and Mike were as generous with their advice as writers and instructors as they were with their home and tour guide skills.




Mike is the guy in the middle



Mike had his opening in Shakespeare’s The Tempest on Thursday in Lovejoy Park in Portland. Doing live theatre in an urban park appears to be quite a challenge.  The fountain was slippery and a few of the actors suffered falls and scrapes during the dress rehearsal we saw on Wednesday.  A clueless pedestrian in a dark suit, sun glasses and an ipod plugged into both ears walked through the play in progress the day we were there, and a group of equally clueless students from a nearby college decided to hang out on the fountain top during the performance.  The homeless persons who call the park home apparently also found a way to be both entertained and part of the entertainment.  I think the Bard would have been pleased with all that and the enjoyment of the large crowd that gathered to see the performance.

In addition to the recent release of An Uncertain Refuge as an eBook, Carolyn is back to working on her next book (as is Mike). Those of you following Carolyn and Mikes Blog: http://deadlyduoduhblog.blogspot.com/  have been introduced to Bubba and Max their dogs who are even more adorable and good mannered in person than they are on line. Gloria already misses Max!

We spent the afternoon roaming around Seattle in the area around Pike Place.  The district is a maze of farmer’s markets, trinket stores, and nearly anything one could want.  Seattle is a really big city with heavy traffic, aggressive drivers, surly pedestrians, one way streets guaranteed to raise the blood pressure.  However we got in and out without mishap and while there found the people very generous and willing to help a couple of lost tourists.  Thanks go out to the guy carrying the glass panel for pointing Gloria toward Pike Place Fish Market, and the two joggers who helped us find the waterfront. (You would think that something the size of the Pacific would be easy to find, but then I bet you have never searched on foot in the midst of a concrete jungle.)

Here is a shot of me at a French restaurant with the harbor behind me.  Food was good and only slightly over priced. The next shot is of some of the chaos of the farmer’s market.  The space needle is peeking out from behind some buildings in the next view.

We decided to catch Mount St Helens tomorrow when we start south. On Saturday we are driving toward Eugene (Springfield) Oregon where we will meet my other writing coach, Elizabeth Lyon on Sunday Morning.  Elizabeth has just returned from conducting a writing workshop in Homer Alaska.

We are planning our route and stops for the trip back tonight.  If we are done in time we will post a list later tonight or tomorrow.

See you soon.