pearl harbor

doug took me to the pearl harbor sites.  we went through the bowfin submarine.

it didn't seem as tight as i expected - maybe because i was accustomed to living quarters confined to minivan.

i think i was in a submarine when i was 4 or 5.  maybe that was in baltimore or something.  anyway, i liked all the dials and knobs and gauges.

and torpedoes!

i was trying to fathom working in a submarine.

the sunken arizona.

with its black tears.

we explored the missouri.

battleship movie was being filmed on site.

these were not real cops

to finish the day, we gazed at the aircrafts in the pacific aviation museum.

can i try this one?!

hawaii - state #50!!

it was a pretty neat feeling to think i was about to step on to hawaii as it would become my 50th state visited in just 10 months time, not to mention all of canada's provinces in there too...   as well as dc, the yukon and northwest territories in canada, and tijuana in mexico.  what a journey!   this was the view as we approached the honolulu airport.

at the honolulu airport, pastor doug was waiting for me.  what an amazing blessing to be hosted in oahu for the whole time i was there!  doug and sue were wonderful hosts and helped to make my 8 van-less days very comfortable.  i stayed in their cozy guest room and they let me borrow this car whenever i needed it!

i enjoyed the delicious foods that sue diligently prepared day after day.   wanting to help me put some meat on my bones, they fed me a lot.  in fact, the day before leaving for hawaii i found out i had lost over 10 pounds over the summer months.  but guess what, after my stay with doug and sue i had regained 10 pounds!  wow.  thanks!!  : )  success.   on a few of the days we enjoyed watching a movie during or after dinner.  that was quite relaxing.

basically, i was very well taken care of by doug and sue which made the time there stress free.   i spent a couple days relaxing at their house, sunday i spent with them at their various church related gatherings, one day doug took me to the pearl harbor sites, and the other days i drove around to explore the island and bake on the sunny breaches...

emily's fourth place

i picked up my friend, emily from the sea-tac airport and went to her house.  that was the same emily that i had stayed with before my round trip drive to alaska, but it was to a different house.  she had moved again! she already had the record of hosting me in three different houses where she was living at each time, but then made it four!   it was a lovely house that she shared with three other people.

i stayed on the couch in their living room for two nights.  it felt like luxury after having spent the previous 7 nights in my van.

emily showed me where they have blackberries growing wild over their fence.  we picked and ate and enjoyed.

emily brought me to a food-truck styled rancho bravo mexican place where she was meeting with her friends goo and tad.   it was fun and quite pleasant to meet them : )

emily bought my meal.   i got a quesadilla with beef tongue for the meat.  mmmm, 'twas good.

before my evening flight left for hawaii, emily and i tucked my van into their little garage for safe-keeping, drove to a few places to pick pears off of pear trees growing on the curb (emily had made a delicious pear butter from the previous batch of pears she picked), and went to a coffee shop with internet,  cafe bambino.

the outdoor seating had a roof so we didn't get wet while it rained.

when we got to the airport there was absolutely no line for security, so i went through easily.  my plane left the gate on time but right before we were going to take off there was  a mechanical issue.   i think an air-conditioner was in need of maintenance.  

basically we had to go all the way back to the gate and wait for the issue to get resolved.   that caused about an hour and a half delay.   i didn't really notice though because i was reading a book and making my time on the plane useful.   there were about 7 distinct layers of clouds that we past through as we ascended from the sea-tac airport.

the six hour flight went pretty smooth.

washington apples

when i got back into washington, i was in the north central section.  i could help but notice the abundance of apple orchards.  so This is where we get our apples from.  seemed like they were Everywhere.

ladders to reach the fruit

crates to transport the fruit.  semis and trains were loaded with them.

i thought central washington was pretty.  i'm glad i took the alternate route back to seattle.

i found a walmart for sleep and then completed the last 150 miles west to seattle the next morning.

half the roadway tunneled.

i made it back to seattle!

i checked for a couple coffee shops that emily had shown me, but they were closed because it was monday.  so instead i sought out a barnes and noble and got some stuff done on the internet.  that night i slept at a walmart near the airport because i was picking up emily who was flying in the next morning.

last of canada

another night at a british columbia rest stop and yet another 400 or so miles finally got me back to the border with washington.  instead of aiming toward vancouver to the southwest, i decided to aim toward central washington to the southeast to get a little more variety - less retracing.

this non vehicle wooden bridge was pretty cool looking.

somewhere near here an oncoming vehicle managed to float all the way into my lane.  texting, my guess.  my horn and breaks apparently still worked well.

i finally approached the us border.  yay!   there only a one car wait and my crossing went pretty quick.

this would mark my 14th crossing of the us/canadian border for the summer.