Home is a destination

We just had the big Ski to Sea relay race weekend in Bellingham. The race is on the Sunday of every Memorial Day weekend, pretty much since 1911. The total race is about 90 miles, with seven legs. It starts on Mount Baker, with downhill and cross country skiing, followed by running, a road bike and a mountain bike course, canoeing on the Nooksack River, and kayaking from the mouth of the river to the beach here in Fairhaven. 

And then Fairhaven has a big party. The Village Green has booths from non-profits, and music all day on the stage. The place was packed with people coming and going, sitting on the grass for the music or getting something tasty to eat from one of the local restaurant food booths there, or from the Colophon Cafe which has outdoor seating on the Green. The statue of Fairhaven's founder,  Dirty Dan Harris, is always popular. Some of the town center streets are blocked off so that vendors can put up booths. Lots of food choices. I had jerk chicken skewers with mango salsa and salad, and Mike had a falafel sandwich. Other booths have things to buy. Most of it is frankly junk, but some nice things. I bought a hat. There are pony rides and one of those inflated bouncing places for the kids. 

There's more music, with local bands playing all day on the stage next to the beer garden. We got a desperation e-mail on Saturday night asking if we could take a shift selling beer tickets, which we did. I wish I'd taken a picture of the beer garden--which is no way a garden. Basically it's a big section of parking lot surrounded by a high chain link fence, with security guards at the entrance to check IDs, and some tents for shade. But it is way popular, full of people wall to wall. This is a college town, which probably accounts for the fact that so many people find this an entertaining place to be. Really, Fairhaven has a couple of good pubs, and plenty of restaurants where you can get a draft beer. I guess standing on asphalt drinking shoulder to shoulder with a thousand or so people has something more to offer. Anyway, it's a cheerful crowd, and we sold tickets for two hours non-stop before someone relieved us and we got our reward, a free beer.

Down at Boulevard Park, a mile away along a waterfront path, there's a huge car show every year. This picture is from a few years ago, because we forgot our camera this time.

We had perfect weather. Almost 70 degrees. There were a reported 35,000 people in town. That's for an area about 6 square blocks. And we live right smack in the middle of it. When I was a kid I always wanted to live somewhere that people wanted to come. So this is really fun.

Winter Escape Part 2

My previous post about this trip ended as we boarded our ferry to Bequia from St. Vincent on December 16. We got to Bequia at sunset, an hour or so later. While Mike and Noel were collecting our bags, I shot a picture from Noel's taxi on the ferry dock. It was less than a week short of the Winter Solstice. When we were ready to leave Bequia in March, we were very close to the Equinox, and I took another photo from the same spot. Even though the length of the days are closer to equal at this latitude, you can still see that sunset is noticeably farther north at the Equinox.

We were in the Caribbean for a full three months plus a few days, the longest
we've traveled. And instead of island hopping through the Grenadines, between St. Vincent and Grenada, we rented an apartment on Bequia for three months. It's a nice roomy and spotless place, one of two apartments upstairs from Lawson Sargeant's Maritime Museum. Lawson and his wife Mercy built the museum and apartments on the property where Mercy grew up, a block off the harbor-side road at the edge of the villages of Hamilton and Ocar. (Or O'car. Or Ocar Reform. I'm still not sure.) It's not a resort area, but there are a sprinkling of visitor accommodations in the neighborhood. It's about a ten minute walk from downtown Port Elizabeth, but we had a market and bakery practically next door, and close by restaurants too. The market is the pink building, and our apartment is in the white building with the green roof in the background. The harbor is just across the street, viewed from our balcony.

Commando Traveling

I was just in California for a long weekend. The good news is that my flights (two down and two back) were all on time. More good news is that I got to see everyone on my list and had good visits, and my grandkids are still handsome and smart, and the weather was balmy, unlike here at home. There isn't any bad news, except for the overeating.

This was a solo trip, because for Mike it would have been the trip from hell. Lucky for him he was on call for jury duty so he couldn't go along anyway. I flew into Sacramento on Wednesday afternoon and spent two nights with old friends from the years we lived there. On Thursday I hung out with my best buddy from grad school. We couldn't visit as much as we'd hoped, because we spent all afternoon in court (long story). But afterwards we had a delicious al fresco dinner at the Tower restaurant, the place we usually go when I'm in town.

On Friday I rented a car just up the street from my hosts' house, and drove to Novato to see a couple Mike and I met in the Caribbean this winter. They're in an RV park there for three weeks. Then on up the road a few miles to Petaluma to spend the weekend with my son and his family. On Saturday, another Caribbean acquaintance, who lives in Sebastopol, came to visit me there, and we shared our pictures from Bequia. And on Sunday we had a Mother's Day picnic. The photo is of the park where we walked, and then had a meal under a big spreading oak.

And on Monday morning I drove back to Sacramento and had brunch with yet another old friend, before heading back to the airport and home. That adds up to visits with six parties in five days. Might be a record for me. And as I describe it, I can see that it might sound frenetic. Funny thing is, if I'm on my own it's really quite relaxing. I just do the next thing and the next thing. I've finally learned not to make a trip like this with a traveling companion. I used to try. Boy was that stupid! Why in the world would anyone want to be dragged along when I'm in this mode?