Sunday, July 06, 2003

 

I took a road trip to Mount Vernon to see a grey whale.
A couple of weeks ago, a grey whale went up one of our local rivers here in Washington State. It made the news, but I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention at the time. Yesterday, however, I had a dental appointment very early in the morning, and as I was leaving and driving to the post office to check my mail, I heard on the radio about this whale in the Skagit River up by Mount Vernon. Not having much planned for the day, I decided to drive up and see it. On days that I have dental work, I always plan nothing afterwards because I always have an adverse reaction when the novacaine wears off. I get really bad headaches. Anyway, I thought I would have this yesterday, so I planned nothing just in case, and then this time, no novacaine. I had a cosmetic thing to build up two front teeth which have worn down. It leveled them with the others. So, now my front teeth are all about the same level again. After I left the post office, I stopped at a really good local eatery, Elsie's, had a monster breakfast (which Elsie's is famous for) and got my thermos bottle filled with some of their excellent coffee. Remember Agent Dale Cooper on the series "Twin Peaks?" He really liked the coffee at this one diner, and I feel the same way about Elsie's in my local downtown area of Silverdale. I stop there for coffee a couple times a week, usually early in the morning going to or coming from the post office. It is a comfy family style place and the food is good, with large plates, and all with reasonable prices for everything. I carry my thermos bottle (A genuine Thermos brand vacuum bottle, by the way, which is all stainless steel and holds coffee hot for a full day if preheated. Elsie's preheats if you ask to have it filled with coffee and then have breakfast, and besides one of the ladies who works there in the mornings knows me and that helps so I don't have to explain what preheating is. So, she poured in a cup of boiling water to preheat the bottle.) around in the car most of the time just for occasions like this. Without further ado, I headed for the Kingston-Edmonds ferry. [Here is a link to the official WA State Department of Transportation ferry page so you can check it out for yourself WSDOT Ferry Page] I timed it just right to get on as one of the last cars before it departed. On the ferry, I was treated to another of the wonderful scenic tours which make up this ferry run. This is one of the shorter runs at 35 minutes. The price was really steep, since this is the tourist season and there is a surcharge, but driving around the south end of the sound would have taken several hours and added over 100 miles to get from here to Mount Vernon with the same added for the return trip, so I paid the price and enjoyed the ride as I usually do every time I can take advantage of a ferry ride across the Sound. On the other side of the Sound (Puget Sound, that is, pronounced "Pu" as in a church pew, "get" as in a jumbo jet, "pew'-jet" with the accent on the 1st syllable. I add this because I heard someone recently prnounce it "pug-it" as in a pug dog and "it" as in "it rained today"), I got off the ferry and drove through the tiny town of Edmonds and further East to get to Interstate 5. I got onto I-5 and headed North. Mount Vernon is a ways up from Edmonds. I arrived in Mount Vernon and looked around to find the Skagit River. I finally found it along with a decent place to park. Remarkable, it all came together. I talked with a couple of people who were there and they had not seen the whale, but had heard about it as I had and were there for the same reason. No one there had seen it yet. I poured a cup of the really excellent coffee and sat at a park bench and just enjoyed the day. It wasn't quite noon, and it was clear with just a hint of breeze from the west. So, I sat, and I waited, and I looked around and simply enjoyed the moment. The moment stretched into more than an hour and still nothing of the whale. A news crew arrived. One of them said the whale was coming up the river. They had a helicopter up and were filming it from there. They had hoped to get some scenic shots from the waterfront with the people. They hung around for a few minutes and then left, maybe to find a better place with more people. I waited a while longer and still nothing and the radio was not being any help, so I decided to leave. I poured another cup of coffee and took off for the trip home. I drove South and made my way back to Edmonds and waited for the ferry. This time my luck was off a bit as I had just missed one and had to wait for the next which would leave in almost 2 hours. That's OK, I had time and Edmonds is far from the worst place to be on a sunny day. At least, I would be first on, which means first off at the other end in Kingston! I got out of the car and stood around like everyone does when waiting for the ferry. After a while, more people arrived to wait as I was doing, and got out to stand around, same as me. It was from these people, that I heard the whale never made it to the point where I was parked, but had turned around and was headed toward the ocean again, maybe. No one knows where the whale is headed, or if it is lost, or what. It may be the same whale from a couple of weeks back which cruised up one of the rivers. No one knows yet and no one has gotten close enough to see if this is the same whale. After a while, the ferry arrived and let off the cars. It was interesting to see all of the tourists. I guess it was the out of state license plates which gave them away. the ferry loaded and started for Kingston. Once again, I enjoyed the short cruise across the Sound as I do every time I take the ferry. I love being here! The ferry system is one of the best scnic tours for the price at the same time as providing a useful function. For me, that 35 minute trip saved me over 100 miles and a couple of hours of driving EACH WAY! Look at the map. The point of this entry is that I took some time to simply enjoy the day and the fact that I am alive and well. It was a spur of the moment trip, unplanned for the most part, but that makes it all the better. Life, liberty and the persuit of happiness at its' best! Freedom is certainly a good thing!

Posted by: Rowlfe - at: 7/06/2003 01:20:00 AM

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