Our life is what our thoughts make it.

Markus Aurelius

It’s funny how I only seem to write when I’m traveling! But, honestly, that’s such a small part of my life. Still, when people see us, they always ask, “Where next?” I find life pretty exciting here at home, too. This past winter was great—one of the better ones in a while, with average snow and cold, but you just dress warmly, and it’s all good. As they say, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear.” I find that’s pretty true.

I’ve been missing my sister and brother-in-law for a while, even though it was just a year ago they joined us on the Alaska Dream Cruise to Southeast Alaska. I just wanted to visit and spend some time with them, enjoying morning coffee and taking walks around the neighborhood. Nothing too big, just being together and soaking in the atmosphere. So, I decided to go to Kalispell, Montana, even though they’re coming to Alaska this summer, but we’ll be touring instead.

The week started with lots of text messages saying they’d seen the public broadcasting show about volunteers, which seemed to highlight my volunteer work at the ski jumps. It’s part of a series about volunteers in Anchorage. During the past winter, a reporter and videographer interviewed and filmed about 3-4 hours of material. From that, they were able to find some good stuff and make me look pretty good. If you’re interested, you can find it at 

https://www.pbs.org/video/jr-patee-nsaa-ski-jumping-volunteer-every-little-bit-zfeswi/.

unfortunately it is 300 Mb too big to load here. Alas. 2 minutes 27 sec

So, we woke up super early, way before the 2-hour arrival suggested for airport arrival, which was before our flight at 7 a.m. As usual, our Lyft ride was delightful, and our driver was a lovely lady from Micronesia. She came to Alaska 10 years ago to visit and ended up staying, becoming another tourist who forgot to go home. It seems like a common theme!

Then, because of Alaska Airlines’ scheduling, we had a 6.5-hour layover in Seattle. It’s not one of my favorite airports, but we managed to walk through all the terminals and had time for a nice lunch.

At lunch, I started chatting with a lady next to us who transports high-end show dogs. She had just dropped off two dachshunds or chihuahuas—I can’t remember which, as I didn’t get to see them. It was fascinating to hear her story about judging at dog shows and the world of fancy show dogs. Everyone has a great story.

My sister Barb and her husband Steve had downsized from their house of about 40 years, a few miles north of their new condo. It seems like a common thing now, especially for a certain age group trying to downsize and avoid all the stuff and maintenance. It’s quite a feat in today’s world, where it’s hard to resist buying more and giving your money to others.  

 So for three days we laughed, played the game of aggravation (family game of ours played for many generations), discussed whatever, laughed some more, discussed who knows what, walked every day about the neighborhood,  although on day three we did drive up to Glacier National Park for a hike there on the road not yet opened due to the remaining snow over the pass on “Going to the Sun Highway.”   A delightful hike to the McDonald Creek waterfall.  

And as per usual my sister has prepared a sensational lunch prepared which we ate at Apgar campground after sweeping off the snow and water from the picnic table.

Back home, my niece Sara came over with her new dog, Elmer—a bouncy Boston terrier full of energy!

But, oh no, I got a sinus congestion and runny nose somewhere south. I felt fine in Anchorage, but then it seemed like the Pacific Ocean had taken over my nose, soaking it up and transferring it to my handkerchief. Ugh! I wasn’t feeling terrible, just very tired. It’s always a bummer to get sick while traveling, but it does happen more often than you’d think.

We were thinking of heading straight home and skipping the 3 days in Seattle with friends, but we waited until Saturday at the airport to decide on our next move. We decided to shorten the trip by a day, which would actually be a good thing to do when we got back. Apparently, it was a bit of a letdown for the friends in Seattle who had planned a fun 2-3 days of activities. But, hey, things change! All good!

Seattle has grown a lot over the years. It’s tried hard to keep that small-town feel, but it’s definitely a big city now. But it has lots of parks, and if you don’t have a car, it’s easy to get around. You can take the light rail, buses, or Lyft or Uber for the shorter distances.

We met up with our friends Jacqui and Maralyn, whom I went to Colorado College with back in 1968—it feels like ages! We’ve known each other for a long time and have had so many adventures and stories. That afternoon, we decided to visit the Kubota Japanese Gardens in south Seattle. It was such a change from the snow of Anchorage and Montana. The flowers and budding trees were a riot of colors—pink, red, green, blue, purple, and yellow. Our eyes were overwhelmed with colors after a winter of white, gray, and dark. 

The light rail to Everett, where our nephew and wife Liz, was another delightful Lyft ride from the train to their condo. I always enjoy chatting with the driver, learning about their stories and daily lives. This time, the driver was originally from India and a Sikh. With his Punjabi accent and our English, we managed to understand about half of what he was saying, and learned a lot.

As Liz grew up internationally, visiting places like Shanghai and the United Kingdom, she prepared a wonderful Irish meat and potato dinner.

Another Lyft ride back to the train, this time with a driver from El Salvador, who tried to explain immigration from an immigrant’s perspective. It was fascinating and hopefully gave us a better understanding of the silly things happening in the world today.

Sunday and a morning sitting in Jacqui’s condo overlooking west Seattle, Puget Sound, and on to the Olympic Mountains,  Oh I do love a view of mountains.  Refreshes ones soul. We sat read the news of the day, drank our coffee and just enjoyed each other.  

Then back out into the world where a full day’s activities awaited.  First, a trip to the market.  I called it “Pikes Market”, but was severely reprimanded that to call it that exposes oneself as unknowing of Seattle.  Whatever.  We were to meet Maralyn coming from south Seattle and took a bit of coordination to meet at noon.  She called me at ten minutes to noon saying she was at the agreed restaurant, awaiting our arrival.  I said we were on the steps not very far away.  Alas, Seattle is a very hilly city and there are steps everywhere. When we did not arrive near immediately, she thought us lost but we arrived shortly thereafter.  Yet one more delightful meal, while overlooking Elliot Bay.  A walk back to Jacqui’s car which we parked near the Sculpture Gardens.  Maralyn is an artist and Seattle has numerous public art displays.  Whenever we visit she has a new and exciting art to show us, although in this case we had seen the Olympic Sculpture Gardens before, but always a treat to see new stuff and old stuff from a new timeline. 

One thing I have found about cities is one walks a lot.  I mentioned to Jacqui one does not see fat people in the city, although she corrected me, to yes you do not see them as they get other means of getting about than walking.   

OK the bad part of Seattle is driving.  During the day we covered a lot of Seattle, downtown, then to the Japanese Gardens near Lake Washington then to south Seattle, Oh my – not for the faint of heart, or those not used to such daring.  But we survived parking within a kilometer of the gardens where we spent a couple of hours just enjoying the trees, flowers, fish, geese, turtles, rabbits, colors, and serenity.  

 Then it was yet time again for a meal, this time Maralyn, as usual, knew a great new Honduran restaurant in south Seattle.  Delightful waitresses who seemed to really like what they were doing and serving.  Always fun to converse with the “service staff.”    Then the drive back to just north of downtown Seattle and blessed rest and sleep.  Awoke to coffee news and plans already made for the day.  Jacqui drove us to the train and 45 minutes later arrived at the airport, unusually not overcrowded and returning home a day earlier than expected but with more time to get another day of downhill skiing, and Jeanne to some classes to collect continuing education credit.  Life, oh, it is sweet.