Visit to Glenn and Carolyn's in Tacoma

As we did last winter, Carla, her sisters and I went up to Tacoma to visit their brother Glenn and his wife Carolyn. We had an extra bonus this year when Jim, Starr's husband, decided to join us. He has roots in Washington and wanted to explore Vashon Island. He is interested in finding his grandparents grave sites so he can add his parents' ashes to the family site.

We took the three hour drive from Portland to Tacoma on Saturday morning December 28.

Vashon Island; just north of Tacoma

When we arrived, Glenn and Carolyn had the fire going, with their mild tempered dog, Daisy, in her spot.

Daisy sitting in front of the fire.

Glenn, Carla, and Linda in the kitchen

 They had a nice evening planned for us; family friends Tomoka and Sumit, who live about an hour way in the Seattle area came to dinner as did Glenn and Carolyn's delightful neighbors Linda and Michael. Carolyn fixed a delicious Mexican food dinner; for dessert we had some of Carolyn's Christmas cookies and Jim's chocolate chip cookies. Carolyn is a master of design; she makes beautiful decorations of wreaths and holly leaves on the cookie icing. They are almost too pretty to eat; notice I said almost.

Linda, Tomoka, Sumit, Linda and Michael

After a fun evening filled with margaritas, wine, and conversation we headed down the hill to the Silver Cloud Inn to get some sleep.

When we woke up Sunday morning there was a misty fog covering Puget Sound; Carla and I headed out for a brief walk before breakfast.

Silver Cloud Inn of Tacoma; our room was on the 3rd floor at the far left end.

Posts from a long-abandoned pier.

A sea bird stretching its wings

 After a walk we enjoyed a nice breakfast. Carla and I are veterans of hotel breakfasts; this was pretty good compared with other morning fare we've had.

Carla catching up with the news over coffee.

One of the things I like about the  Silver Cloud Inn is the BNSF mainline between Seattle and Portland runs right across the street. On the way to  Glenn's we caught an idling consist of Union Pacific locomotives waiting for the way to clear.

UP locomotives waiting for traffic to clear.

It's a short 10-15 minute drive from Glenn and Carolyn's place to the ferry terminal to make our way to Vashon island. We parked on the lower deck and headed upstairs for a look at the view.

Jim watching the coast slip away in the fog as we depart Tacoma

Carla, Starr, and Linda huddling together for some warmth on the upper deck.

 Once we hit Vashon island we took the western road up the island and cut across where Jim and Starr had identified a cemetery. We didn't drop in since there were not caretakers there on a Sunday. This was just a reconnaissance mission; they will return later to visit this and other cemeteries to find the ancestral spots.

We then headed towards town and perused the shops.

Treasure Island where we saw some interesting things

A vintage Peugeot scooter outside of Treasure Island. 

Scary snake mask at Treasure Island; I wonder what the nose used to look like.

By now it was getting on towards noon and we looked for a place to eat. December is definitely off season here and most places were closed for the winter.

What a character looking out at us.

Close-up of Perry's Vashon Burgers mascot.

 We ended up having a cup of clam chowder at Zombies. They serve the chowder in paper coffee cups in case you need to depart quickly to avert zombies.

On the ferry ride back to Tacoma we saw birds resting on anything that rose above the water's surface.

Birds making themselves at home on some old pier posts.

A bird stretching its wings on a Puget Sound buoy

Tacoma comes into view

We made our way back to the freeway and headed home. It was a great weekend.