Summertime

I still can’t believe that summer time is about here, however, in Western Washington we have had wonderful May where the weather has acted like summer being in 70s and a lot of sun.

This weekend was that way where people were busy outdoors since the sun was out. I went to Puyallup on Saturday which is east of Tacoma. I spent the afternoon with my cousin Bronwen and her husband Hank who live in Puyallup. In the morning I enjoyed my walk along Gig Harbor waterfront. It always has a great view.  There was nice light wind which would be really good for sailing, and some young kids were out Kayaking as well. Sunday afternoon I drove up to Sea-Tac Airport, and picked up my nephew Ian who will be doing an internship at Microsoft in Redmond for the next twelve weeks before heading back to Harvard University for his senior year. It will be really nice to spend some time with him this summer when he is available. My brother Jack and his youngest son Danny will come out early August to see Ian, my mother, and myself.

This week the weather is expected to continue to be in the upper 60s and 70s.  I don’t think there is a better place in the world than Western Washington when the sun is out.  This coming weekend in Gig Harbor we will be having the annual Maritime Parade on Saturday. It happens the first Saturday of June every year. In the 70s they called it Harbor Holidays but now Maritime Festival. On Saturday Night at Shansie Park in downtown Gig Harbor they will be having a couple local bands playing. They have several booths at Shansie Park as well over the weekend.  Sunday afternoon they have the blessing of fishing fleet as they are ready to set out to fish on the Washington Coast and Alaska.  The weather is supposed to be very good, and a lot of locals come out each year. I plan on spending time, and to hope seeing old friends that I do not see very often.

The whole Western Washington area have a lot of people out and about during the summer, and whenever the sun comes out. I have said before there is a lot to do in the whole area. Of course, if you come into Seattle you must go up to the famous Seattle Space Needle. You can see so much of Western Washington right from there.  The Space Needle has been around since 1962 when Seattle had its world’s fair. I have written a lot about the area around where I live; however, there is a lot to see north of Seattle. Of course, the really nice place to go visit is the San Juan Islands. Up in the area you may be able to see the Orcas Killer Whales. They are such a beautiful animal.  The only way to get to the San Juan Islands is be ferry. You can do a search on line for the San Juan Island ferries, and then you are able to get directions on how to get there. Another animal you can see a lot of is the Sea Lion.

Anyway I hope you can make plans to come out my way for the summer.  Maybe you can look me up. Another thing you cannot forget is there are a lot of restaurants you can eat seafood especially crab, salmon, and clam chowder. If you do make it up to the Space Needle they have a nice restaurant too. Have yourself a really nice summer of traveling wherever you go.