Category: August 2022

Sunday nearly did me in. First we walked a mile to the grocery store. It was a beautiful morning and it’s a nuisance to drive our big camper van on the narrow, twisty and hilly streets of West Seattle. So we walked! A mile there and a mile back. Then we had something to eat and then John wanted to ride the ferry again. He’s like a little kid, I swear!

We walked a mile down the hill to the ferry terminal, rode the ferry for a couple of stops and got off at Southworth.

From Southworth, John intended to hike on a trail in a park – you guessed it – a mile away. Actually the park was more like a mile and a half up from the ferry terminal.

We walked the mile and a half to the park but by the time we got there I was hot, exhausted and wanting to pee (available at the ferry terminal but not at the park). So John gave the trail a wistful look, and we turned around and hiked a mile and a half back down to the ferry terminal. He will have to go back out to hike that trail himself some other day.

Maybe we could take a bus out there – which by the way – we saw a bus on the ferry. As well as a taxi. Multilayers of public transport.

This ferry line has 3 stops; Fauntleroy, Vashon Island, and Southworth. Cars getting on are marked with a tag in the dashboard showing where they are going and loaded appropriately. Most of the time they can get the cars lined up in the right place at the right time facing the right direction by utilizing two sets of ramps in a U-shape on the ferry. But the ramps have a low clearance, so tall vehicles have to ride in the center of the ferry. There’s nowhere for them to turn around. So depending on which direction the ferry intends to dock, those vehicles may have to back onto the ferry.

We watched this large truck back onto the ferry. The driver did a great job. He had only a few inches of clearance on either side, and he quickly backed straight as can be, with no hesitation. The locals say it can be pretty funny to watch a tourist try to back a boat trailer on. I sure couldn’t do it!

While waiting for the ferry back to Seattle, I struck up a conversation with a cute little boy, probably about 4 years old. We had a great conversation about how ferry docks were constructed and how they operated, and which lines were power lines and so on.

Then the child noticed Biska. “That’s a nice dog over there,” he said. “She’s my dog,” I replied. He considered this, looking at her and looking at John who was holding her leash, and then the boy said to me, “Is that your dad?” lol.

It was a fun day, but I was tired by the end of it.

Are you getting tired of pictures of forest paths and ferries yet? We’ll do something else soon, I promise.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

After driving halfway around the peninsula, we needed a break. We saw this trailhead on the map, and it was just off the highway. We figured it would be a good place to stretch our legs and maybe have a little picnic. It turned out to be far prettier than we imagined.

We got home quite late that evening, but it was a great day on the peninsula!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

Time to go to the beach! There are closer beaches, but I wanted to go to Beach 1, 2, 3 or 4. Those are the most boring names possible for a few of the most beautiful and remote beaches on the west coast (excluding Alaska).

The hike down to the beach was beautiful.

The weather was typical for Washington beaches. At first we hoped the fog might burn off, but it never did while we were there.

These guys are surf fishing.

Here’s how you dress for the beach in Washington, even in August.

Bare legs because – it’s the beach! And as many warm things on top as possible because – it’s cold! And if your ears are sensitive, you’ll need something over them to block the cold wet wind.

After we got away from the fishermen, we were able to let Biska off the leash. She was just a streak on the beach.

Tide pools!

After our hike on the beach, we drove the rest of the way around the peninsula. I can’t remember why that seemed like a good idea. It turned out to be longer than we had anticipated!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

The Fauntleroy ferry terminal is right next to a large beautiful park named Lincoln Park. It’s a forested park right on the water. I can’t believe we have both the Fauntleroy park and the Lincoln Park within walking distance.

After we got off the ferry, we decided to walk in Lincoln Park.

After walking along the water, we headed into the forest.

I took photos of the stairs for my exercise group. I have an exercise accountability group where we text each other about how much we’re exercising. We don’t actually exercise together, we just text each other our progress. It’s fun and encouraging. Let me know if you want to be part of that and I can add you. It’s just a group text, so you can join from wherever you are.

Lots of steps!

The thimble berries are ripe, but the blackberries mostly aren’t yet.

There’s a few ripe blackberries in the more sunny spots.

There should be a lot of blackberries ripe by the end of the month.

After we walked around at Lincoln Park we walked back up the hill to our place. These are the Thistle Street Stairs that take you straight up through the residential area. They start out gradually enough.

But then there’s more…

And more…

And more…

And then it gets downright steep…

OMG, when will it end?

Pretty crazy right? Yeah, I got my steps in!

Just when I thought I was done, we had more steps – this time going down.

It’s a challenge, but it’s such a beautiful neighborhood.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

John loves ferries. He’s been joyriding them, every day since we got here. Luckily it’s only $5 to get from Fauntleroy, where we are staying, to Vashon Island and back. Everyone else in Seattle plops down $5 every morning for coffee; John goes and rides the ferry.

Our first morning I just wanted to rest from our travels, so John took Biska and rode the ferry himself. Some kind stranger took this picture:

Biska is completely comfortable on the ferry.

That afternoon we walked to the amazing Fauntleroy park, just a couple of blocks from where we’re staying.

The next morning – yep, the ferry again. This time I agreed to go.

We just walked on – it’s easier than taking a car on. Sometimes the wait can be quite long for the vehicles.

And we’re off!

Typical Seattle weather.

Here we are approaching Vashon Island.

The dock lowers to the level of the ferry and they cleat (attach) the ferry to the dock with lines (ropes) just like any other boat.

The bicyclists and pedestrians disembark first, then the cars.

Vashon Island is rural-residential, with only one café down by the terminal.

We walked uphill past all the cars waiting to get onto the next ferry. They waited in a single, snaking line that disappeared up the hill. We turned onto a side street to continue our walk, and passed a woman hurrying down the hill. She greeted us with a playful, “Why is the ferry never late when you are?”

We laughed agreeably and then looked at each other. What ferry is she late for? There’s only one. John checked the schedule and realized he had read it wrong. We needed to be scurrying back down that hill ourselves!

John set off on a trot. He said if we missed this ferry, we’d be stuck for two and a half hours. I wouldn’t have minded. I had noticed that the café was open, and we hadn’t had breakfast yet. I could totally sit at a café and eat breakfast by the water for two and a half hours. No problem! But John wanted to catch the ferry.

As we hoofed it down the hill, they started loading the cars. The loading process takes awhile, so we hoped that would give us time. They load pedestrians first, but we figured they would let the late pedestrians on at the end after the cars were loaded. And that’s what they did. They let us few stragglers board after the cars were all loaded.

And off we went!

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.

Our airbnb is excellent. It’s a walk-out basement apartment and I was worried it would be dark, dank and mildewy. But it’s not! Which is actually rather amazing because in Seattle, basements are commonly mildewy and residents just get so used to it that they don’t even smell it anymore. It’s not dark either, mostly because the owners have provided tons of lights with strong bulbs. Also the side that is at ground level gets the west sun in the afternoon.

But the best thing about it is – the absolutely amazing backyard with flowers everywhere!

The backyard is shared with the owners, who live in the main house above us. They’re super nice and we enjoy talking with them. The yellow building is a cute little garden shed. Behind that is the alley between this backyard and the backyards of the houses on the next street down. The alley turns out to be a natural congregation spot as people walk their dogs and work on their cars. We’ve already met a couple of the neighbors, who have been very welcoming and don’t appear to mind that we’re airbnb guests.

We also have a little covered patio space outside our front door that’s private and looks out onto the rest of the garden.

The airbnb is full of handy and fun things – our landlords “thought of everything” and then some! All sorts of little this’s-and-thats. It’s very different from our Boise airbnb which was crisp, clean, new and minimalistic. This one is cozy and lived-in. But still quite clean, which is really important to me.

The neighborhood is an expensive area in the hills right above the Puget Sound in west Seattle, with lots of ultra-cool cafés with artisanal and locally-sourced organic foods in biodegradable packaging. Our hosts stocked our kitchen with fancy little packets of expensive coffees and chocolates and locally made jams and crackers and cheese.

Every single thing we’ve eaten has been fantastic.

Coffee is one of Seattle’s primary pastimes, and sure enough, the kitchen is stocked to meet the needs of any and all coffee drinkers. There’s an electric coffee grinder, a French press, a drip coffee maker, a Keurig, an electric teapot, a stove teapot, various types of filters and several different kinds of coffee (but no decaf…they don’t drink much decaf in Seattle. The winter here is brutally dark, dreary and depressing and people get in the habit of drinking caffeinated coffee all day long just to stay sane).

But this is August! The rains have mostly stopped for one or two brief months. Seattle in August is glorious.

The garden is amazing.

This is the back of the house. The lower windows are our unit, and our front door is under that porch. This is just classic Seattle.

The porch has a hot tub on it, which we can use, by the way, although we haven’t yet. We’re still on mountain time and it stays light so late this far north, we’re having trouble staying awake past dark, lol. We did manage to stay up to see the sunset. We can’t quite see it from our place (our landlords can from the upper stories of the house, but we’re too low). But there are fantastic views from the neighborhood a half a block away.

The location is fantastic; within walking distance of several excellent cafés, two amazing forested parks with trails, and a ferry terminal. All within a few blocks of here.

I think we really got a good deal on this place. The rent is quite reasonable, just a tad more than one of our rentals goes for in Albuquerque. It’s smaller, of course, and not a detached home. But still! West Seattle! I already want to come back next year.

To send Kristina a comment, email turning51bykristina@gmail.com.