Packing and Moving

We've been packing and entertaining for the last week as we prepare to head for Arizona. A glitch in our plans gave us the opportunity to return to the desert and spend few more months there. We will be living in the Phoenix area again, visiting with old friends, and explore the area again. We happen to be getting back just in time for the triple digit temperatures.
We had a great time in the Seattle area and leave grudgingly. The contract I had for the clinics was cut short after budget woes hit the organization. The non-profit organization was loosing too much money to justify keeping locum employees around so they cut me and a few others loose. I had another month left on my agreement. The shortened contract left us with no time to get licensed in another state. We were fortunate to have a position come up in Arizona to stay employed. I know Traci and I really wanted the extended time in Seattle.
The Last week of our Seattle leg was adorned by friends from Illinois. We had exceptional company from C and H as they accompanied us on many journeys around the area. It was a nice way to finish off the stay here.
We've had the classic Puget Sound area clouds for the last week to usher us off. We'll post some catch-up tales from Arizona.
Spending the next week in tents through California. Traci may not live through it. We've stocked a large supply of anti-inflammatory medications for her. We may need to cook up some greasewood tea when we get to the valley of the sun.

Forks Again

The appeal of the Twilight series to women young and old has been a factor in our choice of destinations while we have resided in Washington. We recently were lucky enough to have a visitor from Illinois. She was friends with Savannah and a fan of the juvenile vampire/werewolf saga. We went back to the Olympic National Park and stopped in Forks along the way. The Olympic National Park was full of wonders from mountains to ocean beaches to rain forests. The area was beautiful and worth going to see. Forks was located en route to some of the scenic areas of the park making the town convenient to other locations in the Olympic Park.








We drove into Forks and there was a line to be able to stand under the Forks sign. I was a little worried all of the Forks sights would be congested with giddy tweens and their just as giddy tweemoms. The girls had their pictures taken at the Forks sign, the Forks High School, the hospital with Dr Cullen's parking spot, the La Push sign, the beach at La Push, The Cullen house, Bella's red truck and the Swan residence. All of the places looked the same as the last time we were there and were every bit as exciting for all of the girls on the trip. There was no real line at any of the other sights making me wonder if they were unknown to most people or were just so irrelevant no one cared to explore them.


We went to the beach at La Push where the kids decided to swim, freezing in the water but refusing to get out. Shane would come out of the water, complain he was frozen then run right back into the ocean. The kids jumped in the waves while Traci and Sophia built a rock castle on the sand. We watched eagles soar over the breaking surf.











Water seemed to be our theme while our visitor was here. We went back to the Bavarian look a like village of Leavenworth to tube down the Wenatchee river. The girls saw a bear and her cub on the banks of the river. They screamed and hollered until she ran off, more annoyed than fearful of the floating screaming girls. Traci and I rounded the bend long after the bear was gone. We asked other people on the river and they verified the presence of the bear that day. The Leavenworth rangers told us bears have been coming in town to eat out of the dumpsters. The bears had become comfortable sauntering into town for a meal. The girls spotted their bear on the edges of a golf course.

We changed out of our wet clothes in the ranger station and headed to town for a meal. We found a little restaurant serving German sausages and bratwurst and sat down for a meal. We were all pretty hungry from floating on the river.

I had been at work all day Saturday when Traci called to tell me our friends had invited us down to the beach for a picnic. We took all of the kids down and were treated to raspberries, cherries, hummus, falafel, garlic mayonnaise and Spanish torilla. We washed it all down with an illicit cabernet we drank from metal cups to hide it from any curious on lookers. The kids ate then went straight for the water. They played around in the sound for about an hour. The sun was setting casting the various oranges, pinks and purples across the blue sky and we had to get the kids out of the water. The kids were freezing. We went home where they could all take warm showers and go to bed. It turned out to be a summer evening where we were grateful for the stretched out hours of day light. We all enjoyed the beach.