Reunited with Avi and Violet

August 10, 2014

We used the excuse of gathering up Avi and violet's gear, and picking up a tent we ordered from REI to head down to Seattle for the weekend. Although we got to travel through our admittedly lovely region, and ride the ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen, what seemed to stick in our minds was the "ice cream" we bought at a service station on the US side. Typically packaged and stored in a freezer, it's quality seemed remarkably low. After two weeks of factory bread and plastic cheese, we had had it. Next up was traffic, insane traffic. 30 km from the centre of Seattle, four to six lanes of bumper ot bumper cars in both directions. These people seriously need to look deeper into bikes and other forms of transit, that are not automobiles! So that was it. "We have to get back to Europe" we told ourselves.

At the ferry terminal, other cyclists are heading onto the Island. Here is someone with a WeeHoo like ours.

Another cyclist has a child just sitting on a long tail. This seems a little risky.

But, we did arrive at Laurie's new place in the Ballard community north of Seattle. We were immediately impressed to see the neighbours all hanging out in the street, and the nearby streets filled with small shops and restaurants.

We walked over to Ai and Violet's school, and found them in the nice selection of playground equipment. They came running over gleefully. Talk about heart melting! Avi and Violet were eager to show their skills on the equipment - and yes, they are getting ever more strong and agile

After three months away, I was wondering if my thumbnail sketch of Violet and of Avi would still be accurate. It was though with some subtle changes. Asked whether he would prefer watermelon or chocolate cake, Avi at first answered (as predicted) watermelon. But within a few seconds he changed his answer - to both. A subtle evolution.

Avi also introduced us to Pokemon, something new for him. I was impressed that he could name all nine forms of Pokemon energy (Grass, fire, Water,Lightening, Psychic, Fighting, Darkness, Metal, and Fairy)

I still seemed to be pretty accurate with Violet, except that she now looks twice as gorgeous - in her dirndl that we sent from Passau!

The hat is local, the dirndl from Passau

Tee shirts from Germany will be on the Vancouver Island ride.

We went to a superb Indian restaurant. Nearby is a bike shop, featuring Bromptons and Bike Fridays and Dutch style front cargo bikes and long tail bikes. They even had a Bike Friday long tail. There are also gelato stores here, and Gyros stores (Donner/Kebap to us), plus of course Seattle's specialty - coffee shops. So bingo, the fickle Grampies were now ready to stay here forever.

One of many cargo type bikes at the local shop

Even a Bike Friday long tail, something we have not seen before.

The neighbourhood also features a toy store that is more free of branded, plasticy junk than Walmart and the other majors. Avi and Violet considered a visit to this store as a good occasion to empty their piggy banks!

Breaking the piggy banks for a trip to the toy store. THe kids were proud to be using their own money, though backup Grampies funding was available.

A the toy store, one of the available gift wraps

The tent that we are trying out is the REI Quarter Dome T3 Plus. We have several beefs with our present Black Diamond Vista - though it has served fairly well for several trips. Probably the main thing is the way the fly gets wet from condensation and then can not be wiped dry, even with paper towel. It can only be dried by direct sun, and that takes a lot of time. The Vista fly is made from polyester, while the Quarter Dome is silicone coated nylon. There is no telling if there will be a difference, until we actually try it. The Quarter Dome does have two vents at the top of the fly, which should help.

We were also thinking of the Quarter Dome as a lighter weight item, though possibly more flimsy. It could work with a new strategy of a little less tenting and more guest housing - when in Europe, anyway. Both tents are still 3 person size. We are not yet ready to go down to a more "emergency" style ultra light two person.

Since the Quarter Dome has a rectangular floor, of 94 x72 inches, we are thinking we can put three standard sleeping mats in it, in the normal way, but then lay out the little Grampies and little kids, with their heads and toes on the 72 inch dimension. That gives 94/4=23.5 inches per person. It should be enough, considering that regular sleeping pads are 20-25 inches wide.

Our other main beef with the Vista was its bright orange colour (though the catalog called it "marigold"). The Grampies are generally rotten at choosing wild camps, and being flaming orange does not help. The Quarter Dome is listed as being white and "heather", which sounds a lot more stealthy!

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