Retirement duties

Judy. We are really beginning to settle into our lifestyle, and I love the relaxation of a longer period of time in one place.  The ten days at an Airbnb in Athens and the two weeks here are calming after the craziness of being tourists. So far, the combination of crazy travel and settling in is good.  

Here’s life at “our house”:

We usually balance a day of hectic running around with a day of calm. We hike eleven miles (I know Ted told you eight, but if you count the walk to and from the busses we took, it comes out to eleven, trust me) one day, then spend a quiet day at the apartment.

On our quiet days, we begin with a leisurely breakfast. I might head down to my yoga class (found a great deal at Rasa Yoga--$30 for a month of unlimited yoga for first-timers), while Ted does his fitness routine. We sometimes take the Seabus into Vancouver for lunch and a walk around the area, or grab a bite here in North Van. We spend the afternoon reading, studying Spanish, working on logistics for our next stop, catching up on the blog, writing friends, knitting, sketching, etc. 

Ted might walk to the library to catch up on the news, and I’ll prowl thrift and second hand shops. We laugh at little things here—the tiny bear sculptures hidden all up and down Lonsdale Rd. and the signs that read “There is no such thing as a dog poo fairy. Bag it and bin it!” where folks walk their dogs.

We have met up with two Servas hosts; one took us to a park and fish hatchery, the other invited us over for a glass of wine. 

Our Airbnb landlady lives next door, and sometimes we chat with her. On Sundays we attend St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church and talk to some of the parishioners.

All these people, plus friends on Facebook and friends who email, have given us suggestions of things to see here in Vancouver. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, but we’re grateful for the suggestions.

We had planned to rent a car and drive to Squamish for a mountain hike. Unfortunately, it’s summer in Vancouver, and there is not an available rental car in North Vancouver. The busses don’t work with our schedule, so we just changed our plans. Ted found a Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, a one-hour bus ride away, with lots of paths and views. It’s a reasonable substitute, so tomorrow we’ll head that way. Friday is Food Truck and music on Lonsdale Quay, so we’ll walk the five blocks to enjoy that.

We do a lot of walking--between five and six miles per day--and have become good at navigating the public transport system (thanks, Ted). Vancouver does transport well--we get senior citizen Compass cards which makes the ride cheaper, and they refund the cost of the card and leftover money on it when we leave!

We asked ourselves what would be different if we had retired in Atlanta, still living at our apartment, and realized that it would be just about the same. When we stay for a couple of months somewhere, we may add a class or get involved in a long-term volunteer opportunity.

Ted says there’s a fine line between relaxation and boredom. We fully expect to be bored sometimes. That’s ok. From boredom comes creativity.

The Baden Powell Trail

Ted. Back in 1971, Vancouver area Boy Scouts and Girl Guides constructed a 30 mile long hiking trail to commemorate British Columbia’s Centennial.

This sturdy trail runs through some pretty rugged forest from Horseshoe Bay on Howe Sound to Deep Cove on Indian Arm (sort of the northern part of Vancouver Harbour). 

While Judy and I try to take a good walk every day, it had been a while since we actually dusted off our boots and poles for a proper hike. So on Friday, we took the bus to Lynn Canyon for an 8 mile hike to Deep Cove, the eastern end of the trail.

The first thing that is apparent in this forest is the size of the trees. No wonder the loggers had a field day here! The firs, hemlocks and cedars are massive. The trees are routinely over 200’ tall and many are 5’ or 6’ in diameter. 

But what really stuns are the massive trunks of the trees that were cut a hundred years ago. These are often a good 12’ across; real grandfather trees! 

You can still see the springboard notches in some of them and most serve as nurse stumps; essentially giant peat pots where baby trees sprout and develop. “Life finds a way!”

Since we’re in the Pacific Northwest, ferns abound and everything is draped in green beards of moss. Owing to the drought, the streams aren’t flowing much but we still saw some charming rivers and falls. 

The construction of the trail through this terrain is impressive. Those Scouts don’t play! It is usually about 5’ wide and covered in gravel. The areas that are normally boggy have cedar boardwalks and sturdy bridges cross the many streams.

It wasn't all smooth going, though. This was a much tougher trail than we imagined.  It took over 6 hours to finish and Judy said a couple of bad words.

We didn't see many folks along the trail but were surprised that it is a popular area for trail runners as there were some very challenging stretches. Mark, our trail running buddy would love this but he would need to be careful; as the name of one side trail implies.

It is easy to get all knotted up about the challenges our world faces today but by taking a little time with these old giants, we were reminded of just how insignificant we really are.

Vancouver, Part 2

Judy. So here we are, back in Vancouver, BC. Ted says we’ve come full circle, since we really launched our RTW trip from here. But this time it’s full summer, and we’re staying across the harbor in North Vancouver, a much quieter area, and for two weeks.

You may have heard about the forest fires in British Columbia, which have sent smoke as far south as Oregon. We experienced hazy skies and respiratory issues in Washington. Fortunately for us, rain fell the day before we arrived in BC, and the wind has blown the smoke away. Mornings and evenings are cool, and midday pleasantly warm. We are a 15-minute seabus ride across the harbor from Vancouver, and from the deck of our Airbnb on a hill, we can see the harbor and get ocean breezes. Beautiful.

Two days before we left Washington to take the bus here, and Terry and Sue hopped a flight back to Georgia, we moved to a quirky B & B in Tacoma. Tacoma was a really lovely surprise! Our B & B (name not mentioned to protect…) was a charming 90-year-old Italianate home in an older residential area. When we looked online to book, we found two rooms in our price range—perfect!  But when we called, we were told they were not available, but another room, and an unlisted room located on the third floor (“can’t put it on the internet because if there’s a fire, guests have to descend via a rope ladder”) were available. Uh, ok.  I guess that’s all right.

But when we arrived, and the host gave us a tour of the place, we were shown to the original two rooms we asked for. Later our host told us that his wife had the wrong page open in their reservation book, so the rooms actually WERE available. Whatever. They were nice rooms. There was a shady garden outside which needed some serious sweeping and removal of dead plants. When Sue turned the porcelain knob on her shower, it fell off and shattered, and was told, “Oh, the handyman was too busy building our grandchildren’s treehouse. I guess that’s why it didn’t get fixed.” Terry had no fork at breakfast—“Oh, I forgot to run the dishwasher!”

Still, we could laugh at the foibles and enjoy our evening.  We found the area charming; Ted and Terry located a local bar and brought us back snacks for dinner in the garden. Sunday morning we attended our respective churches, then headed to museums.

While the other three went to the Washington Historical Museum, I took on the Tacoma Art Museum.

I’ve never been a HUGE fan of Dale Chihuly’s work, but I do enjoy it. A Tacoma native, he donated many pieces to the museum there. It was lovely to see how his style grew and developed. I particularly liked his basketform and seaform work. There was also a magnificent collection of Western artists and of Northwestern Native work. I particularly liked a piece by a woman who was half-Indian, half-white. She used irregular Pendleton blankets as her canvas, and this piece, with black and white lines in the middle, expressed her feeling that she belonged in neither world.

But what stopped me in my tracks—pardon the pun—was an exhibit by Chinese artist Zhi Lin, called “In Search of the Lost History of Chinese Migrants and the Transcontinental Railroads.” Lin researched the stories of Chinese immigrants who came to California in search of gold—but laws were passed saying no Chinese could own a mine. So they did laundry, opened shops, and went to work for the Transcontinental Railway. They were paid half of what the whites were paid, given the hardest work, and when they tried to go on strike, were denied food. When the Golden Spike was driven in, they were fired and left destitute. In Tacoma, the Chinese community was driven out one night, their homes burned. They were put on trains and told never to come back.

Lin had several pieces in the installation, but the most powerful were three long paintings—simply blobs of color, with jacket fasteners painted across each blob. No faces, no arms or legs—just blobs to be used and discarded. Unfortunately, it’s an image that is repeated through the years: Hispanics, Irish, African Americans, and on and on. And that’s what I found horribly disturbing. We just never learn.

We’ve been in North Vancouver for three days. Yesterday we took the seabus to Vancouver and visited the stunning Queen Elizabeth Park. There’s a conservatory there, but we stopped first for a drink at the restaurant overlooking the city.

Magnificent views! After that, we decided to just walk the gardens in the park—for free! I just want the mind of the master gardener!

Today we went back to Vancouver to Chinatown, where we read the same immigrant story of the Chinese workers. We had a terrifically funky Dim Sum lunch at New Town Bakery in Chinatown—packed to the gills. We shared a table with two Hispanic workers who gave us suggestions of places to visit. Then we went to the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, a beautiful recreation of a scholar’s garden, and learned about how principals of Yin and Yang were used to create a space that constantly surprises.

Vancouver is as cool as I remember.

Round 2

Judy. We’re off again.  We had a a brief stint in Denver with son Stefan, his wife Sarah, and grandson Oliver, where we celebrated Ted’s dad’s eighty-seventh birthday and our great-niece Evie’s first birthday.

The family there had not met Ollie, who is now seven months old, so we had a fun visit.

 We also got a great shot of four generations.  

         

When we go to Denver, we usually spend all our time with family.  Denver is where Ted and I met and married, where I got my MFA in theatre, and where our children were born, so we definitely have some history there. One afternoon I hopped the light rail (which I adore—sure has helped the smog that was there in the ‘70’s) and went to downtown Denver. There’s so much energy and improvement downtown—actually from years ago. LoDo, Larimer Square, Union Station, Coors Field (where the Colorado Rockies play baseball), the Sixteenth Street Mall are so vibrant! The light rail was filled with folks in purple shirts headed to a Rockies game, a short walk from Union Station. Artwork and street musicians fill the Sixteenth Street Mall. So alive!

I wandered up to the Denver Center Theatre Company, where I was hired as part of the original company in 1979, and where I earned my Actor’s Equity Association card (that’s the actors’ stage union), and was pleasantly surprised by the growth there as well. Yep, Denver is a cool city.

Unfortunately, housing is out of sight. The influx of folks from richer states and the marijuana industry have caused property prices to go nuts—and they were already high. But, folks seem to deal with it, so bravo to them.

From Denver we flew to Seattle to meet our good friends and travel and wine-drinking buddies, Terry and Sue. Originally from the area, they drove us around the Olympic Peninsula for some Washington sightseeing. The bad news is that there are several forest fires in British Columbia, and the smoke has drifted south, obscuring views and the sky. We’ve never let bad weather or other surprises stop us before, so we kept going.

We have the best luck with Terry and Sue!  Our first stop was in Oyster Bay at what looked like a rent-by-the-hour motel. Surprise: it was a charming old place with incredible views of Oyster Bay off our balconies! AND it happened to be two doors down from a fun restaurant where a good friend of theirs worked.

We drove up Mt. Walker in hopes of incredible views of Mt. Ranier, but the smoke squashed that plan, so on to the floating bridge over the Hood Canal and the ferry across Puget Sound to Mukilteo, where we had a condo for a few days.

 

There we discovered the Big Gulch Trail through an urban forest just blocks from where we were staying. After walking past traffic and road repair, it was a delight to find ourselves almost lost in the woods, listening to birds and reveling in the beauty of old growth and second-growth trees.

We hit up the Mukilteo Farmer’s Market for bread and local flowers, and walked around the old lighthouse. 

Ted, Terry, and Sue went to the Boeing Museum, which they pronounced out of this world, and we all went to the pub/restaurant next door, The Scotsman, where George, the Scottish expat owner told us about growing up with Ian Rankin, one of Ted’s favorite authors.

Another quiet day of walks, before we head into Tacoma and fly out to Vancouver, BC. It’s a great start! And, by the way, we changed out our clothes.