WE ARE GETTING PRETTY COMFORTABLE USING UBER. As simple as the ap is, it’s still a little foreign to old farts like me. But we successfully took Uber from Seattle’s Union Station to SeaTac, where we rented a car, then drove to our hotel. We spent the Thursday driving to Mt. Baker National Forest in search of sooty grouse, one of Connie’s target birds.
The Cascades are so different from the Rockies. The open vistas of Colorado studded with ponderosa pines and Engleman spruce are absent, hemmed in by Douglas firs and hemlock and there is always the likelihood of low-hanging clouds and showers. After the train it was nice to proceed at our own slow pace, stopping where we would and stretching our legs. And we did see a pair of grouse but I wasn’t quick enough to get photographic proof.
We Uber-ed (is that really a word?) again from the Ramada to Pier 66 where the Maasdam was docked. There was a little delay in boarding but this time we carried our own luggage aboard and we were all unpacked by lunch time. This is the same ship we spent 3 weeks on in April so we know the routine. We are on Deck 4, the lowest passenger deck, in a starboard outside cabin — an upgrade arranged by Grayson at vacationstogo. It’s nice to be able to see outside unless the view is of thousands of trees from clear-cutting, rafted behind a tugboat. And it may also create a sleeping problem as we approach the “land of the midnight sun.”
This is the area we where we saw dozens of Orcas when we kayaked in 2007. Connie saw a breaching humpback whale as soon as she stepped on deck for her morning constitutional — 24 laps for six miles — but otherwise there hasn’t been much to see.
