tacoma round two

i drove to tacoma to stay again at andrea's house.  when i got to the door i was greeted by her housemate heather who hadn't gotten word that i was dropping bye.  that didn't even seem to phase her.  she stopped what she was working on and made me feel at home by frying up some noodles and tossing together a salad.  it was so good, and she was so nice.  we got some time to chat in the midst of the entertainment from her baby daughter adele and andrea's puppy bella.

i slept on their couch for two nights.   the sunday in between i got to hang out with andrea.  we went to her church and i got to meet a bunch of nice people there.   we went to eat lunch at the house of paul and dawn who are members of the church.  they also had john and carolyn and tami there plus kids.  it was really nice meeting them.  tami is a rug designer who does custom designs and we got to see some pictures of her work.  truly amazing!  who knew people would weave intricate lighting into their rug designs?

then i went with drea and her puppy bella for a hike in point defiance park.  other dogs gathered in - time to play!

we explored down along the boardwalk behind the salmon beach residences.

it was a super cute little community.

good times.

this pup was worn out by the end!

back to the mainland

emily picked me up from the airport after my red eye flight back to seattle from honolulu.  i didn't get much sleep on the plane; i didn't expect to.  i got my van out of her garage, did some errands around town.

while i was at the post office and sitting in my van, some girl parked beside me in a convertible minivan.  she was rather in a rush.  as she hurried from her car to the door of the post office, her car started rolling backward out of the parking spot by itself!  i noticed it immediately but it took a second for my brain and eyes to verify what was happening.  adrenaline is an amazing asset at moments like that.   somehow,  within milliseconds i managed to purge myself from my camera and iphone and earbuds, think of something to yell toward her that came out in words, and jump out of my van to chase her accelerating vehicle.  instead of getting in the car to use the break, the best option was to get behind it and push it to a halt.  i got it slowed and the girl made it back to assist me and then hopped in to restart it and re-park it.  i assumed she would remember the parking break on the second try.

now, That's not something someone gets to do everyday.

one last beach day

i'd done my sightseeing on the south, north, and east sides of the island of oahu, so for my last day i went to the west side.

this is the side of the island with places where people are allowed to camp.  apparently there's no limit to how long or with what materials. for a several mile stretch there were lots of tents and other shelterings that looked fairly permanent...

i found a nice beach and enjoyed walking it, staring at the waves, sitting and watching surfers, and soaking in the sun.  hawaii's climate really took my heart!  i loved it!

for the most part, the surf on this beach was way too turbulent to wade comfortably in.  it was at makaha beach park.

but man did those surfers love it!

the windward side

i drove through the koolau range to get to the windward side.  sooo pretty!!

i wound up on kailua beach, where i spent most of the afternoon.

periodically some air force planes were doing maneuvers overhead.

when i was done on the beach and back at the car, it wouldn't start because i accidentally left the lights on.  oops!  that's ok, within minutes i found someone who could help.  a nice fellow beach-goer from this minivan gave me a quick jump.

the drive back home, again glorious.

the north shore

i like this highway.

i drove through the middle of the island to get to the north shore.

along the coast there were a number of lovely beaches.  i picked the one with fewest people on it.

i soaked in the sun

and watched the surfers all day.

the beach was called sunset beach.  so as one would expect, a few more people showed up around sunset.