Riding the South End of Lake Washington

Today was a spectacular fall day in the GPNW.  We did have a frisky northerly, which generally signals increasing pressure which gives us good weather.  We like good weather.  We rode the south end of Lake Washington, it's a 25 mile ride with a fair number of hills.  This is the airport at the south end of the lake.  Planes leaving the Boeing plant leave from here.  It was recently renamed to the Clayton Scott airfield.  He died in 2006 at the age of 100, after 80 years in aviation.  The man was an aviation trail blazer.  A write up of his life can be found here, and is well worth reading.

 

This is the view from the overlook at I90.  Again, the mountain is trying to be out.

 

This is the I90 floating bridge.  There is a good bike path along the left most bridge.  Often, the bicyclists travel faster than the cars.

 

Today was a aggravating day for Jim and me.  We understand Lance Armstrong's decision to not fight USADA anymore.  It's a witch hunt and he can't win.  It's just sad that it has come to this.  One wonders exactly what evidence was so compelling that USADA feels justified in taking all of Lance's victories dating back to 1998 and imposing a lifetime ban on all competition.  I personally can not think of a cyclist who has received a lifetime ban for anything, much less never failing a drug test.

A Trip to the Rock With Furniture

Oy!  Long day today.  However, after reading this article about how complaining makes people stupid, I shall refrain.  We went down to Renton to pick up my re-done orthotic, and then over to Ikea.  I love Ikea.  When Jim was still in the wheel chair after the crash, that was an outing we could do.  It was all flat and there was stuff to look at.  The new kitchens are almost enough to make me buy a house.  We bought this chair in black leather for May's room at assisted living.  Her wheel chair has been serving as a guest chair, so now she has this.  It's small, and is actually fairly comfortable.

 

Then it was up to Seattle, to the ferry dock.  This is Obsession returning from a cruise, heading for the dock.

This a bush in front of assisted living.  I think it's some sort of fuschia.  The blossoms are really attractive.  We delivered the chair, took the old incredibly uncomfortable chair to the dump, got toilet paper and chocolate at Walmart, delivered same back to May, and then headed back to the ferry.  Jim grew up on Bainbridge Island, he is always astonished at how many people live there and how bad the traffic has gotten.

 

Seattle from the ferry.  Look at the top of the Space Needle.  They painted it orange this year.

 

We ordered the new door for the fridge.  We're hopeful that it will arrive before we depart for the continent.  Ken of Cameron's Reliable confirmed that you really can not just order a hinge, you must order a door.  Modern manufacturing is like that.  Other than that, we have nothing to report.

The Summer of my Discontent

We rode around Lake Sammamish again today.  While out at the velodrome we heard a bird crying.  I think it was this guy.  He's definitely an osprey, and I think it's a juvenile hollering for food.

Today is the summer of my discontent.  I have something wrong with my neck that causes my shoulder muscles to spasm; to the point where the top of my forearm hurts (as well as my shoulders) and my two outboard fingers go numb.  It has been treated with botox injections in my shoulders for about 6 years.  I started the process to get approval from the insurance company June 11.  It has taken 2.5 months just to get the request to my insurance company.  There's now at least a 30 day process on their part.  I am beyond aggravated, and I'm in pain.  I mention this so that next year, I'll remember to start the process earlier, and to ping the staff for status on a weekly basis.
My other source of annoyance is the refrigerator.  When we were having work done on the RV in Tucson, the hinge on one of the doors was broken while at the repair facility.  We did not notice it at the time.  It has deteriorated to the point that when the door is opened, it drops on the hinge.  Soon it will break, maybe the door will fall off.  We called the mobile RV people to come out to replace the hinge.  No.  We shall not replace the hinge.  We shall replace the entire door.  Parts alone will be $500.  Can you tell how annoyed I am?  I am HUGELY annoyed by this. 
Blogger is annoying me.  One is supposed to be able to upload photos from Picasa in to Blogspot.  It's not working.  I realize it's free software, but dang it, they should keep it working.
Annoyance is my middle name.  I absolutely need a change of scenery.  This is our third year of spending summers in the GPNW, and I think we're done.  New vistas will be required.

Back in Carnation Valley

Another Sunday, another ride in the Carnation Valley.  It was a dark and gloomy day today.  We had a marine push, and it did not burn off until about 3 in the afternoon.  However, it was a great temperature for riding.  Here are more flower fields.

 

The road construction is just about done.  This is the new culvert that was installed.  It's quite lovely.

 

The valley is truly cow heaven.  It's not too hot, its not too cold.

 

Jim is still restricted to using an old bath towel after showering, so he doesn't get wound goo on the towel; but other than that he's recovering nicely.  That's about it for today's reportage.

Walking in Seattle

We wimped out on riding today.  Jim felt a little creaky and I was just being lazy.  We decided to go in to Seattle and walk around.  The first place we went was to the Westlake Center for lunch.  It's a 4 story shopping mall in the middle of the downtown shopping core.

There's a food court on the top floor.  We decided to try Yummy Crepe.  If you're in the area, we strongly suggest giving this place a miss.

 

After what seemed like forever, I got my lunch.  Jim's identical order took even more time.  They truly are a single threaded process.  This is a ham and veggie crepe.  The veggies are lettuce and corn, with cheese sauce and mayo.  It was pretty unimpressive.

 

Thus fortified with a mediocre lunch, we struck out for the Pike Place Market.  At one time this was an actual farmer's market, selling vegetables, seafood and meat.

 

It's becoming a tourist thing.  More and more of the booths are being taken by the flower sellers.  The flowers come from out in the Carnation Valley.

 

They're really nice flowers.

 

However, the vendors who are actually selling food are suffering.  This was taken at the fish monger that does not throw fish.  One of his guys was trolling for business by asking if there was anyone in the crowd actually shopping, instead of taking pictures.  It's tough to get to the counter with all of the people off the cruise ships.  These are half cup servings of dungeness crab cocktails.  Should have gotten a couple of those!

 

This is out in front of the fish monger who does throw the fish.  It's packed!  It's always packed.  Apparently throwing the fish creates business or they wouldn't do it, but if was me looking for fish, I'd go elsewhere rather than wading through that.  Anyway, the point of my kvetching is that it pains me to see a genuine farmer's market being turned in to yet another Disney-fied tourist trap.

 

After fleeing the market, we walked down Pike Place for a bit.  In my humble opinion, these hot dogs are some of the best on the planet.  If you find yourself in the area, go eat one.

 

We managed to get out of City Kitchens (the annual sale is on) without buying another knife.  My utensil crock is officially full.  Nothing can come in unless something goes out.  Of course, that is true for most of the RV.
It's 91.9 in the shade here.  Our outdoor temperature probe is on top of the front wheel of the RV, in the very deep shade, and it's that hot.  We're not used to these temperatures.

The Return of Summer

Well!  That faint first hint of fall we thought we were detecting has been incinerated by the return of summer.  It's supposed to hit 95 tomorrow.  Most people in the GPNW do not have air conditioning in their homes, so 95 is really uncomfortable.  We rode today and I just died, apparently I no longer can cope with heat and humidity.
This is the tree next to our site, those are mushrooms growing on the bark.  We have not seen that before.

My geranium is still blooming.  Is it not lovely?  I'm using the grill cover as a backdrop.

We saw this car coming back from the grocery store.  It's a Fisker Karma.  It's a high zoot hybrid sports car.  About 50 of them have been sold in the US.  It's a nice looking car.  It's interesting, we could not see a tail pipe anywhere.  Apparently they've had some issues with battery fires.

Other than wilting in the GPNW, not too much is happening here.  Jim is recovering well from his fall.  We're postponing the ride up Mt. Rainier to Paradise until it cools off.  It's too dang hot!