Deborah showed us a great hike in Ebey’s Landing, on the shores of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.

Bonnie and Deborah on her deck before our hike

On the trail

Whidbey wildlife

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Can you see Mt. Rainier?

Then, after a fabulous musssel-fest at a local 100-year old tavern, she shows us the headwaters of the “River of Surprise”  in her yard.

Aug. 4, 2011

Leaving Whidbey Island we stop in for breakfast on the “Coffee-in-the-Woods” place

And head out onto the eastern Washington prairie.

Eastern Washington

We spend the night at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, a terrific old renovated hotel that Bonnie found. Modest luxury and we have dinner at the Wild Sage Bistro only a few blocks away. The food is excellent and certainly better than a lot of SF restaurants that we snobs think are the tops.  What a find!

Aug. 5, 2011

We meet Sarah Zbinden for lunch. Sarah is the cover artist for Flight of the Sorceress.  If you are interested in learning more about her, I’ve posted an interview with her on my Sorceress Blog at  http://flightofthesorceress.blogspot.com

After lunch we go to Helena. I pick up my boxes of my new novel, Burning Questions. You can check that out on the Burning Questions blog at  http://1970strilogy.blogspot.com

Then we head off to Angie and David’s for a fab dinner of buffalo on skewers with veggies and a fruit cobbler.

Angie and David, also happy

Angie's dessert

Montana moon

Now we are at the Feathered Pipe Ranch where the internet service sucks and it takes 20 minutes to download a picture.

After a morning computer-fest, we head off to Freeland to meet David’s and Jane’s friends Steve Shapiro (no not our friend on Chenery St.) anmd Debora (No that’s not a misspelling. Debora is named after an apartment house for very small and poor people who couldn’t afford extra silent letters in their names.) Varice (sp. ?) for lunch. They run a health club on the island and look pretty healthy to me. You be the judge.

Steve and Debora

Can anyone identify this flower?

Mystery blossom

After lunch we head off to Deception State Park, at the other end of the island.  Here are a few pix of a very pretty park:

Deborah and Barry

A view to the northwest

Deborah and Bonnie looking at ....

Annie & Barry Aug. 1, 2011- Eugene

On the way out of town we stop in to visit Annie’s daughter, Sarah, who manages a beautiful  garden supply store. Then it’s north on I-5 through Portland and Seattle to the Whidbey Is. ferry and then to Freeland, land of the speed trap.

Bonnie at ...

...the ferr

On the way to Deborah’s, I get accused of being a “f**king tourist by a guy in a truck, who apparently has never left Whidbey Island. Cop cars hiding behind trees and around curves.

At Deborah's place

the view from Deborah's place

We have a fabulous salmon dinner on the deck topped off by a homemade berry crisp from berries Deborah picked on the property. We stay up late, each with our  individual I-pads, until our batteries run down.

We leave the Carter House and head north. Crossing the Del Norte Co. line over the Klamath Bridge we must slow down because a 40 foot grey whale has decided to take a vacation in the river and there are gawkers by the score cramming the roadway to catch a glimpse of the off-white blob as it lounges in the fresh water.

We stop at the Lady Bird Johnson Grove for a little hike. Is that a bear? No. Just a burl.

Our Nav lady refuses to send us on the free way. Computer glitch? Lots of women hitching. Then on to Annie’s in Eugene, where we hear her Richard Pryor story.

Bonnie & Annie, 7/31/11

We took off at 11:30. Angela took photos but most of them are censored due to excess baggage.(Not luggage, but fat.)

The photo we have chosen is giving us problems loading. Here’s one:

Best bumper sticker award: (on 101) “Free Constantinople – 500 years of occupation is enough!”

We had a pleasant stroll through the Founders Grove at Humboldt Redwoods State Park. One restroom out of three is closed due to “budgetary constraints.” That’s cutting where it really hurts.

Tonight we are at the Carter House Hotel in Eureka. Business looked a little slow in the dining room.