So, we made it out of the gates! Right now I am sitting in a giant reclining chair, feeling all cozy, covered with a nice purple throw. In Olympia, Washington. The littlest one is sleeping next to me in his fancy stroller. My parents are napping too with their bellies full of pilaf. My other son and his friend are begrudgingly reading “Frankenstein” in their room. (It’s part of their assigned study program). My dear husband is roaming around Olympia on the bike, looking for a) a gym, b) a brewery, and/ or c) a coffee shop.
Last week we’ve spent in the Bay Area. We were based in Oakland-Berkeley with it’s reasonable prices, lush gardens, and cool hippy residents. And travelled to San Francisco to show my parents the main attractions. SF used to be my favorite city. It’s gorgeous, its residents are sophisticated and cool, it’s streets are wild. Eventually Honolulu wrestled the top spot away, thanks to it’s kind and lovely people who provide the world’s most sincere hugs. (It’s the Aloha thing!) Still, I am always happy to see San Francisco in all it’s glory.
This time around we skipped the Haight and Ashbury hippyville since I suspected my parents would not fully appreciate it. Instead, we did the Golden Gate Bridge, ate d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s dim sum at Hong Kong Lounge, bought Russian candy and salted herring, saw amazing collection of the Asian art at the – what else?- Asian Art Museum. It was free, courtesy of Target. We stayed in a lovely house with garden off the AirBnB, full to the brim with awesome toys for kids and baking equipment and ingredients. I made real cupcakes! Overall, we had a great time.
There were some problems, of course. Like when we arrived at the Tukwilla Amtrak station two hours before catching the train to Olympia. Just to realize that there is literally NOTHING at the station. Not even a vending machine. Just fields of tall grass and rail tracks. We were so happy to discover some hotels nearby and I had a spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy’s, feeling quite sorry for myself at the time: so much for eating healthy. Also, once we were on the train, the boys took their shoes off. And I just wanted to get off the train right then. Yuk.