Sunday, May 27, 2012

Everyday for 7 Weeks–Day 29–Seattle to Olympia

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

It was nice to reconnect with my wife, but having her ride with me meant I didn’t get to sleep in just yet. I had one errand to run before we could leave. I needed to visit a shipping store, so I could make some more room for her gear. When we travel together, we each get a sidecase and then leave the top case for snacks, spare gloves, etc. My original plan was to eat most (or all) of the food in the right bag to make room for her stuff. This mostly worked out, but since I’d spent a month not really using my camping gear it was time to send it back. It made packing much simpler with more space. I also sent back all of my winter riding gear. I don’t think I’ll be needing it for a while!

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

It took a sidecase and the topcase to bring it all to the store. It all just managed to fit into a 18x18x18 box

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

My wife finishing her last minute preparations for her first day of riding. We were both excited as this was the trip we originally planned before the Alaska leg was invented.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

I rode SW to the coast from the airport and found a beach. The first beach, Saltwater State Park, had an attendant and he looked like he wanted money, so we didn’t go in and just sat parked at the entrance. A local hiker walked up to us and said hello to me, and then with a giant grin said “Hiii Tiger” to my wife like he was talking to a little kid. I tried to contain my laughter; she must have had her shield down. With her ears and tail on her helmet, some people think she is a kid. Most just smile. He said we could get in for free if it was just for the day, so we said “ok” and followed him.

The attendant wanted $10 just to enter. He didn’t care that we’d be there for less than 30 minutes. Guh. We told the attendant no way and left the hiker arguing with him. Walk-ins are free, but they charge for vehicles.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

We found a city park on Puget Sound that was free just down the road. We found the last parking space. A beautiful sunny day makes the beach a popular spot.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

After riding almost 50 miles to Tacoma, we were getting pretty hungry.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

Yea, yea, 50 miles isn’t much, but we didn’t go over 45mph the whole time. Instead taking the twisty side roads as close to the water as possible. Frequently riding through neighborhoods to gawk at the houses.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

In Tacoma we found small blue signs directing us to the Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

My wife asked me reconciliation for what? I had no idea. We walked around enjoying the sea views and looked for signs. One of them mentioned the poor treatment of Chinese immigrants after the gold rush era with the prevalent discrimination of the time. It’s the best explanation we could find, but it still didn’t explain why Chinese over other immigrant groups.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

It got too hot in the park, so it was time to go. The mercury was approaching 75F and there was no shade; we set off south.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

And found this nice shady spot with a great view of the sound. There was a gold course below. It was interesting for both of us to watch the people walk, run, skate, and bicycle by not even noticing us sitting in the shade by a tree. Only one little girl, who was looking around, noticed us and smiled.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

South of Tacoma the road wound through a military base with a great forest on either side.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

The road opened up and we got a look at the military base. It looked like an army training camp complete with ropes to climb and rifle ranges.

We found this guy and his wife with their Harley’s sitting on the side of the road. We stopped to see if they needed any help.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

He said his bike had just “died” and that someone was on the way with a trailer. He didn’t seem too interesting in troubleshooting, so off we went.

We arrived in Olympia after a short ride on I5. The road we were on ended at the military base. We almost made the whole day without going over 45.

Olympia is the capitol of Washington state, but didn’t feel very governmental like St. Paul does in MN.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

The downtown area had a very small town touristy vibe as many towns near a large body of water do. There were understandably lots of people out enjoying the nice weekend weather.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

We eventually found a room (the last one!) and set out to explore the town. There are a lot of murals in this town which is great as I enjoy looking at them. This one was our favorite. We both liked all the different comic book characters.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

We even got to watch another mural being created by the artists. Check out the full flickr album for more murals.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

Of course we had to find food. Yum!

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

and then we enjoyed the sunset over the harbor.

Everyday for 7 Weeks - Day 29 - Seattle to Olympia

 

Day 30 will have us beginning our ride around the Olympic peninsula.

 

Day 29 Full Flickr Album

 

Rough Approximation of Today’s Route: ~70 miles


View Larger Map

 

 

 

Video: Seattle to Olympia

11 comments:

  1. Nice set of pics as usual Chris....good on you to stop to check on that Harley guy, even though he didn't really want to "self-recover".

    dom


    Redleg's Rides

    Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dom. Yea, he seemed content to sit in the sun and wait. His wife seemed annoyed though that her bike worked and she couldn't ride.

      Delete
  2. As best I can tell, the Chinese park there in Tacoma is not unlike the Japanese park here... it was built between the agreement of the two mayors of Tacoma and her sister city Fuzhou, China... as a way to cement the bonds and try to drive connection between the two cities. There was a push, for awhile, for US cities to do that with their international sister cities. Some have been more successful than others. While Houston's Japanese Garden was around before the sister city connection, the connection to Chiba really helped develop the Japanese Hanami Matsuri ... which is quite lovely.

    Speaking of wonderful wonderful things.... if your schedule isn't too full for the jaunt over to Portland (maybe you're already meeting up with the motovlogger there :) ) ... and you / Mrs. EDR likes Japanese Gardens (or at least really really nice parks), add N45.519605 W122.706949 to your GPS and visit the Portland Japanese Gardens. I highly highly highly highly recommend it as the best Japanese garden that I've seen thus far in the United States. I think I spent 5 hours in the park, and really it wasnt enough. I wasn't in Portland long enough to go multiple times :( .. but of course I am biased, I do practice a koryu Japanese martial art that is very meditative, and have been exposed to some of the classic arts, so I do tend to like that kind of peace and artistic beauty of nature.

    Yeah, as much as it pains me to say so, all too often, those who ride my choosen brand, ... well.... yeah.. they live up to the stereotypes... especially if it is a newer bike. Those who ride the older year models, sportsters especially, are the opposite though. There were days I spent 3-4x as much time fixing as I did riding (which is why I bought a new bike back in 2009).

    Hmm, I dont know if i would associate ears and tail with a little kid, but I can see where one might...

    One of these days I need to just get a blogger account or something so i can lock in and get notifications etc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks again for the tip on the garden. we both enjoyed it very much. I hope you enjoyed the video on youtube.

      you can subscribe to posts via email using the link here or the one in the upper right without a google account. I think the google account is just for subscribe to comments via email, but even then I'm not sure you need one.

      Delete
  3. Beautiful photos. I love the sunrise at the marina.

    I would also recommend the Portland japanese Gardens, especially if you can visit when they aren't too busy. Thank you for the reminder that I need to send off my mesh gear down to OR.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks! sunset not sunrise. we dont get up early enough for that. lol!

      the gardens were great :)

      send the liners to OR as well. the Coast is a bit chilly in just mesh. Along the ocean is 60-70s inland is 85+

      Delete
  4. I think it is so funny the hiker might have thought your wife was a little kid. How people would assume because of the ears and tail. We have a friend who has those on her helmet, I've always thought they were way cool. I think it helps people notice the motorcycle which is a good thing.

    Have fun on your meander down the coast. There are some pretty views out there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. she does get noticed for sure. especially by kids and people at stop lights.

      coast was awesome. i'm sad it is over now. not ready to start riding home.

      Delete
  5. Chris:

    It is great to slow down your pace, relax a bit and stop often for photos. It's also great to not have to talk to yourself on those long, lonely days. Now is the time for a real vacation, enjoy the sights

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

    ReplyDelete
  6. THis looks great already, but wait until you get to Oregon...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oregon was nice, but I think I like northern CA better.

      Delete