I was hungry when I passed by Cascadia Ice Cream, a little wooden hut, but it was too early for ice cream. I finally pulled over for food at Seattle Pike Market Place at Seafront. It was full of tourists. I found parking on the street for $2. per hour. I put in money for 2 ½ hours. I needed to pee and went to Tully’s and I needed to use the internet and get some work done.
At the market I sampled chocolate pasta. It doesn’t work for me. The flowers were amazing and at a good price. La Panier French Bakery had pretty pies. I ended up getting in line for Russian Priosky, spent $5 on a mushroom broccoli one. I wasn’t impressed. Maybe I should have picked a dessert flavor. I had fun chatting with the staff from Three Girls/Sisters shop and the Gyro Wrap shop. I was so happy to come across an ATM. I was in dire need of cash for the rest of my trip. Super tired and I was only in Seattle.
I made it back to the car with five minutes to spare on
my meter. I just sat in the car for
another forty minutes to use the internet and paid for my speeding ticket. At 12:38pm I rolled off and got onto i5. Mt. Rainier was majestic, beautiful with a
snow cap on top. I was in awe. I can see why it is so beloved. It is like the Mt. Fuji. Today a row of puffy cotton ball clouds
floated in a ring round the mountain top, just perfect and beautiful.
I passed i90 into Tacoma and I was on my way towards
Olympic National Park. My foot hurts,
this injury is a drag. I was very tired
on i101. It felt like a very long drive
of mountain road along the lake. At 4pm
I pulled over at Sunny farm market in Sequim, it’s a co-op looking natural
foods place. I was excited and spent
$35. I bought raspberry raw honey to
try. At the parking lot I ate half a bucket of arugula salad and a bit of sourdough bread. Everything was more expensive in this
shop. I pulled over at Walmart to buy
oranges at $5 a bag, nappa cabbage, and 2 carrots. I called my family to check in with them and
tell them the next time I will check in is two weeks from now.
At Port Angels I pulled over to the Vista Center but it
was closed at 6pm. The ranger gave me a
piece of paper to read and said everything here is great.
I also went into Olympic National Park Visitor Center and
spoke with rangers on layout of the place. I entered through the Elwha Entrance.
I drove into Altair Campground. At the campsite map posting I saw site #21 and drove to it. I
saw a man and 3 little girls in that site. So then
I drove back to the campground map posting and saw how #21 is empty and not registered. I drove around to ask the guy and he said
they’d be leaving in an hour and I asked if I could have the site and pay. I drove to the pay area and he followed me on
foot. He chased me to tell me he had
already paid for it and his trip is cut short because his wife is suppose to
pick up the kids and she is too tired to do so.
As a result he will drive the kids home because it is her turn to watch the
kids so he can have tomorrow off. He is
a park volunteer and he gets it for free.
He works during snow season as patrol.
I told him the stub was gone and he said he would fill it out
again.
It was then I knew why I had to skip Mt. Rainier and get
here first. It was then I knew he had
been waiting for me. When I drove by the
first time, he took a deep look of me and so did his girls. I saw in his face of disapproval and
disbelief, “Is this what you look like this life time? Is that you?
Is this you who I have been waiting for?
You don’t look so great, not like how I remembered you last.” He asked me if I was from Berkeley, seeing my
parking permit on my bumper. I asked him
how he knew forgetting about the parking bumper.
He was born in Oakland. Greg was his name and his children are named
Lillian, Mary Rose and I can’t recall the oldest child’s name. Greg was loaded with information and gave me
great tips. Greg told me the hike in hot
springs was not in great condition that it was worth seeing not dunking
in. I just saw he saw I wouldn’t enjoy
the weed smoking crowd that takes over the hot springs. He refused to accept money from me for the
site. I snuck a bag of lime chips to the
girls. Sometimes plans have to change to accommodate changed plans of others to complete our karma.
I learned the restroom is under
remodeling and there is only vault toilet, no sink, there is potable water and
a dump. Sites number 10 and 11 are off
the Elwha River and is quite nice to be in.
I saw people dump their wash water in the drinking water
area. There could be cross contamination
this way. I watched people build camp
fires tonight. I didn’t bother, there
was just too many mosquitoes.
One of the neighbors, a young female, alone, on the phone
the whole time since I arrived, complained, talked trash, and I find her energy
disturbing not in harmony of nature and the purpose of being here. I felt she was capable of changing her
circumstances but that somehow she learned this attracts attention and this
attention somehow translates as love. So she was
physically in nature but every part of her was somewhere else.
I finished the rest of the cherries tonight. It was a very late dinner ending at
9:20pm. The water here tastes
terrible. Lots of gentle folks here,
it’s a different crowd. The license
plates are WA, pretty much locals. The
campground was full except for three sites last night. All are down for Thursday into Saturday,
except for one for a week. The Elwha River
water is clean here. The river currents
are swift and fast.
Hours on the Road: 9 Hours
Miles Driven: 328 Miles
