I love being a tourist

We are having so much fun! 

We rented a car on Wednesday and have been driving all over Washington - Craig behind the wheel and me navigating.  We’re both getting better at our respective disciplines (we’re used to manual transmission and driving on the left of the road…)  Thank goodness for unlimited mileage!  I choose long, scenic and circuitous routes. 

Yesterday we stumbled upon a route with a pass called “Blewett Pass”.  We had to stop at the sign and take pictures!  A little further along we came across a restaurant and since we needed to use the restrooms we decided to stop.  And found some T-shirts with “Blewett Pass” on them, so that takes care of all the presents for Craig’s family!

We’ve done a fair bit of shopping.  I bought some winter clothes, which happened to be very, very cheap because they’re out of season.  But they’ll come in handy in Cape Town the rest of this winter.  I also got a pair of Nike trainers and a fancy new wallet.

Eating is not going so well and my body let me know last night that it’s not liking this.  I think I had a gallbladder attack.  At one stage I was crying with pain and then mercifully I was sick (again and again and again) and the pain just stopped.  So today we’re back to eating somewhat healthier.  Fortunately we found the most delicious cherries and bought a big bag of them.

We visited the Native American Cultural Heritage Center at Toppenish today and then proceeded to lose a chunk of cash in the casino. It was great fun though!

Wherever we go people want to know where we’re from.  And we laugh at their reactions when we tell them.  Craig is a wonderful travel companion, except that he doesn’t like all the ads on the radio stations.  So yesterday, on our way to Vantage on the Columbia River, he pulled into the tiny town of Kittitas to buy CD’s.  I was wondering where in Kittitas we would find CD’s, but we found a pawn shop and lo and behold, they had used CD’s.  I made the selection and we were off again.  He doesn’t like the Marianne Faithful though, saying that she “clearly has issues”.  I guess you could say that!

We were supposed to stay over in Seattle Tuesday and Wednesday, but ultimately decided to return to Yakima after the barbeque.  We love the countryside!  We didn’t love the barbeque…  South African barbeques are way better!

My cold seems to be a thing of the past and we are finally sleeping through the night.  I hope we acclimatize quicker when we get back to Cape Town!