Or - On The Road Again...
A down day that left us bored and looking for a distraction...and looking...and looking...and looking. And so we hit the road intending to go to our park and getting way side-tracked. I mean all over the place side-tracked.
We ended up going for dinner to a Mexican Restaurant in Renton, changing our minds (and by our I mean me) and going to the Melrose Grill and then finding out it didn't open until five and then realizing that we're really OLD cuz we're eating dinner at 1630!! Argh!! Old, Old, Old!!
Hahaha, so we're back to the Mexican Restaurant then over to the river and getting side-tracked by a Flower House near the river and then, finally, we made it to our park.
But before we could do any of this, it was Tuesday and that means it was laundry day. Off to the Laundromat we went...ARGH!! It is not one of my favorite places and I will look for any excuse to sneak away.
So I've made it a bit of a habit to excuse myself and wander up the street a bit to where there is an island between two streets and shoot the flowers there.
This is what I found today.
Don't worry. I have about 30 pictures but I've only selected four to put in this blog.
If you'd like, I could go and get some more...
What's that? Oh, not necessary, eh!?!
Well, if you're sure.
For want of a better name, we call these flowers the Ribbon Flowers.
For obvious reasons.
And these little beauties. These things, all of them, would fit on a nickel.
Seriously.
Laundromat Selfie!!
(Note to self...do not go out in public without a hat ever again!!)
(#whatwasIthinking)
Haha, seriously, no more public sans hat.
We finally got on the road, wandering around. First we stopped at Vinny de Paul to see if they had any new books. And they had one.
I considered myself lucky to get out with just one!!
Then we took off and decided that we'd try that Mexican Restaurant in Renton. We'd seen the dance troupe they'd entered into the Renton River Days Parade. Effective advertising.
So we got to downtown Renton and then we (and by we I mean me) decided, What the heck! Let's try that new restaurant we saw them painting two weeks ago!! (I am known far and wide for my notorious split-second, snap decisions!!) (And they ALWAYS work out for the best, too!!)
So we parked and started walking over.
Now, the story behind this pictures is that the Mini has been broken into, twice. Polite fellows, these guys didn't break any windows. No, they didn't need to. Seems they got hold of some new device that unlocks the security system in cars. They drive around pushing buttons and then just go to whatever car it is that it worked on and help themselves to whatever it is they want. And they did that, twice, to my car.
Ever since, the alarm has been less than...stellar.
So now Carol wants to make sure it will lock when we leave. I tell her it will, it always has in the past and I believe it will again. So we stop and wait for the car to lock itself.
And, today, of course, it didn't.
Stupid alarm.
I really like downtown Renton. Look at this building...it actually sags in the middle!! Shops on the bottom and apartments on the top and it sags in the middle.
Love it!!
We made it over to the Grill. We had been out for a walk a couple days ago and saw they were painting the exterior of this building. Naturally nosy and always opinionated, we stopped and watched for a while and even made a point to come by later on in the walk to see what it was looking like. We ARE nosy and have great opinions...just ask us!!
We both liked the building but didn't care for the color scheme and we both feel they could use something to break up the lines, that starkness around the building and the entryway.
I know you agree with us, too. Cuz you have obvious good taste...like us.
Right?
Right!!
So we were heading over and, WHAT THE HECK!?! It doesn't open until 1700!! Seriously, who doesn't open earlier than 1700? Not the kind of place that caters to the More Mature Set, evidently.
In the end, it was a good thing. I took a gander at the menu on the Internet when we got back and these guys, unlike their exterior, are expensive!!
Dodged a bullet there, I did.
So we walked back downtown. It's Small Town, America.
We made our way to The Hacienda Santa Fe Restaurante Mexicano.
Genuine Mexican decor!! Complete with two Corona signs above the bar. I like the yellow walls and ceiling.
And a fancy menu, too!!
First up, the obligatory chips and salsa.
Mmmmmm, good!!
Carol got the Tres Tacos Carne Plate with refrieds and rice.
And I got the Chimichanga con Pollo, also, not surprisingly, with refrieds and rice.
Annnnd, we were soon done and had our Doggy Boxes packed and ready to go. Old people, fast and efficient!!
Reflected Window Selfie!!
Who wouldn't get a window selfie here? Right!?!
After dinner and after a great window Selfie, we made it to...the River.
Actually, we made it to a side street and then got side-tracked by this house I shall call, The Flower House.
It was a riot of color and...spiders. OK, let's start there and get it out of the way.
I admit, I do like the webs and how they come together but the spider? I could easily lose the spider.
And yet I continue to take pictures of them.
What's up with that!?!
OK, now EVERYONE has had dinner.
Let's get to the flowers.
Man, there were just so many. I really was selective with what I posted here. I mean, there are a bunch more I didn't put in. A bunch more!!
This one was new...well, new in that we haven't seen it before but, obviously, the big one is on its last legs.
A bee!!
An old favorite...
Cone flowers...see the little yellow flowers surrounding the cone?
Wow!!!
Uh, Wow!! Double Wow!!
I know, right!!
And these, they're like a flower surrounding smaller flowers...and they are so small...
...How small are they?
This small!!
That's them...the little white blob almost dead center.
And here's The Flower House.
We did, finally, make it to the river. Couldn't see any salmon on the north side.
Here we're looking west.
But we did see a few...a very few, on the south side...with the vegetation.
Here we're looking east.
It really is, and I do know I say this every time I write about the River Walk, a beautiful park, despite the plastic fencing all bunched up along the walk.
But we did get to see some salmon...and get a few pictures.
OK, I actually got lots of pictures but, again, I am being nice so I only put in a few.
Mini Artsy-Fartsy Alert!!
Just a random shot along the river but I liked it. Or maybe it was one of the other 8 or so shots of the river bank that I got that I liked...Hmmmm, I don't know. I'll go and look the other ones over and get back to you.
So the woman in the middle was walking her dog and I asked her if he was doing some fishing. He was by the river's edge.
And they were off!! She and Carol got into a conversation about the salmon and then the Lady in Blue came over and asked about fishing and they were off!!
Great conversation and the Lady in Blue thanked the other two for the great lesson on salmon and left.
And then we were off...
One of the houses lining the street alongside the river.
Jealous much?
Here's the poster for the Cedar River Salmon Journey. They have volunteers at locations along the river to give orientations about the sockeye salmon as they make their way upstream to spawn.
Sea-going sockeyes have silver flanks with black speckles and a bluish top, giving them their 'blueback' name.
However, as they return upriver to their spawning grounds, their bodies turn bright red and their heads take on a greenish color. Breeding-age males have a distinctive look, developing a humped back and hooked jaws filled with tiny, easily visible teeth.
Male and female both die within a few weeks after spawning.
These aren't great but you can get an idea of how red and green they become.
An unusual back-yard tree.
We took one last look at The Flower House and then headed off to our park.
And a cormorant drying itself off in the evening sun.
OK, back story, a daughter-in-law of a friend from high school has seen some of my pictures posted on Facebook and she has a friend that loves, of all things, dandelions. So she asked, the daughter-in-law, if she could copy some of my dandelion pics to make a little collage for her friend's birthday.
Of course. I was flattered that anyone would want a picture of mine.
So, now, I look around for interesting possibilities with dandelions. Like this one.
Cause I'm way cool.
The Eagle was up in the Eagle Tree. And he stayed there the whole time we were there.
A bunch of juvenile seagulls. It must have been a good year for babies.
Lake Washington Selfie!!
One of the many small planes coming in for a landing at the airfield.
The sun was setting over the Trailer Park Marina.
Then this guy came by with a line trailing from his plane. He flew down the airstrip and, BAM, hooked this...
...banner!!
I hope Mer had a Happy Birthday with Bao.
B&W Alert!!
Birds.
Old Coots.
Old Coots.
'Nuff said.
Now this looks familiar, doesn't it.
Hush, it's more dramatic.
And then I reached way out with the zoom and got this splash of color from across the lake at Coulon Park. My daughter, Michelle, said in her blog, that the colors of the trees changing were like the color of warm. I like that. These are the color of warm.
And back to the bird life.
Dancing With the Gulls!!
Reaching out with the zoom again, I got this guy ripping across the lake.
Then we saw this Bad Boy being towed down the airstrip...
...and over the bridge spanning the Cedar River to the Boeing Plant on the other side of the river.
From the big one to this seaplane. Love the seaplanes.
Mercer Island.
Just don't drink the water.
The evening skies...that's the Eagle Tree to the right, the tall one.
You don't see many noteworthy sunsets here in the Great American Pacific Northwest. This one ranks up there even though it would be a less than average sunset in El Paso.
Haha, a good day. Fish, fowl, flowers, fun, flying machines and food.
It is a fact, life is good.
Hooah!!
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