The hills are alive with .....

When the Days Inn offers free breakfast you just have to say yes! The highlight was the pancake making machine, quality ok but the mechanism, so fascinating! 

Next Norm wanted to check out Lake Whatcom, a place he visited 60 years ago. Has it changed since then? Yes quite a bit but he still had some fond memories.

Our plan was to head south and east and see what we could see along the way. Coffee is always something you need to find. There are a number of coffee kiosks everywhere.

This was at Bryant and since 1929 there has been a general store here. You can even fill your growler here these days, Probably not so in '29. 

This coffee stop looked a bit like the Netherlands. All have pretty good coffee. They were a bit surprised when Norm tried to walk in and not drive through. They made him stand outside. You need to follow the rules. 

Our lunch picnic found us stopping at Sultan. Who knew about this little town named after the Indian, Tseuld. The locals thought the name sounded like sultan and so that is what they called the town.

Yes that is us meeting Tseuld. A quick walk about this town (5 minutes) and visiting the info centre gave us reading material for the Sky valley. It is a beautiful drive along the Skykomish River leading to Stevens Pass. It was recommended we walk the Iron Goat Trail. It was here that the Great Northern Railway was first built. We learned about the 96 people who died by a snow slide here in the early1900's. The train tried for days to get through but snow, ice, more snow blocked the way and eventually the snow pushed the train off its track. So our walk turned into a hike, 2 1/2 hours! It was a great experience, lots of history and nature. 

One of the fascinating sites was a cement wall that was built to hold up a snow shed. There are 6 miles of these walls in the area. This one was at least a quarter mile long, amazing!

There were tunnels along the way too. Massive structures now crumbling but once used for the train to go through. 

The weather was perfect, the trail empty and the hike, priceless (as they say). So that was one of the "hills" that were alive. Just a note, one part of the trail was a switch back of about 1 mile that took almost a half hour to slowly descend. Where were my hiking poles? Oh yeah in the truck....

Once down the hill we headed quickly to our next stop. We barely arrived, checked in to our motel, Alpine Rivers Inn, and headed up the local ski hill for live theatre. Yes we saw The Sound Of Music outdoors! It was really good. A little cool but we kept warm. What a perfect setting, fresh air, great sound system, the moon rising, great acting and you knew all the songs (no singing out loud, except a singalong Edelweiss). The hills were alive with the sound of music!!!

Norm being escorted to his seat by one of many nuns. A quick shot of the Von Trapp children before show time. 

Yes we are in Leavenworth, Washington, the Bavarian capital of the state. (Pictures to follow next day).

Here is just a touch of the Bavarian theme in our room.

And the view from our room is beautiful, beside the Wenatchee River.

We are now off to explore the town. Who knows where we will be next. 

Travels to the USA

It is easier to blog then do emails. So here we go. Hope you enjoy the ride. 

We caught the ferry, Chelan, from Sidney to Anacortes Sunday at dinner time. Not quite as classy as the BC ferries but it got us there 30 minutes late. Check out our on board meal. 

We spent the night in Anacortes and did a quick walk about this morning. Quiet town. Yellow Bunny was impressed with the fire hydrant water fountain. 

We drove through Edison but stopped long enough for fresh blueberry Danish and coconut macaroons at the Edison Bakery. Next stop Fairhaven, old town of Bellingham. 

Fairhaven is a quaint old town with lots of bookstores and restaurants. Yes more books purchased. Weather seems to be "turning". Forget camping tonight. So lunch instead at Skylark's Hidden Cafe. 

Norm liked his Shrimp Louis. My sandwich more boring white bread than flavour but chowder good. 

Often seems as we travel that we eat all the time. Well maybe.... We are hiding in our room at the Days Inn watching the Republican Convention. Hey we are in the USA! And check our dinner  from Haggen grocery store. 

Tomorrow we have an adventure that you will really want to watch for. (Especially Maureen)

Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Home

When in Belgium you have to have a Belgium waffle, so we did. 

As you have probably noticed it has not been the best weather on our holiday but we still have had a great time. Even if you can't read Dutch, you can understand this news article! 

We leave as the heat wave begins. Oh well. 

Back to Amsterdam for our last days with Kate and Rebecca. Kate, Norm and I walked home from Dam Square passing through new streets we hadn't seen before. This store sold only rubber duckies...

And this one cows...

Who knew you could make a business out of just one theme.

Dinner out both nights to celebrate our goodbye to the girls and our holiday.

Raspberry Prosecco to start, excellent. First course beautiful and tasty.

No fish the Kate and Rebecca. Fish for us.

And the main dish, veal with so many extra touches, foam, asparagus, bitterballen, beans..

The meal was so nice. Forgot to take a photo of the dessert but believe me it was delicious too.

And now home on the BC ferry. Thanks for following along. 

"A" for Antwerp

Train for Antwerp was to leave at 8:52 but instead it left at 9:52.  Oh well. We were met at the train station with our three favourite Warm Shower guests from two years ago, Ilisa, Gaert and Bert. 

And a beautiful station it is! 

We had our own personal tour guides to show us their city. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, it rained. 

The cathedral in the background is our first stop. The Cathedral of Our Lady took nearly 170 years to build starting in 1352. 

The cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

They are showing collections of masterpieces by Peter Paul Rubens and other Flemish masters. 

From the outside you can see that there is only one tower. The second one was never finished making this cathedral unique. 

Even in the rain, markets are found in the plaza.

The building behind is the city hall where the mayor works. And the statue in front is of a hero, Brabo with a giant's hand in his hand.

And inside the mayor's office.

Built in the 1500's.

Antwerp has a legend about a young man, called Brabo who chopped off the hand of a giant and saved the town. The giant would charge a toll from those crossing the river, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands and threw it into the river. Bravo cut off the giant's own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English hand and wearpan (to throw), which has evolved to today's warp. ( according to Bert and Wikipedia) 

The giant. Time for a Belgium beer and get out of the rain.

We had a chance to see the city from the top of the MAS, Museum Aan de Stroom. We didn't go into see the exhibit but went to the top to see the skyline, even in the wet weather it looked good. 

Norm near the edge....

More walking about finding hidden treasures in the city, some unusual. 

Narrow streets.

A spot where Bert has taken wedding photos. Romantic! 

Time for another Belgium treat, a chocolate store. We had milk with warm hazelnut chocolate.

There is always time for chocolate.

More walking and time for more food. We had dinner at a restaurant that makes real Belgium food. Even though I thought I wasn't hungry, we all managed a delicious meal, stew, pasta, frites, salad...

Back to our host's apartment to relax. Amsterdam tomorrow morning then pack for home.