Mukilteo, WA, to Seattle, WA: April 27

April 27

Mukilteo, WA, to Seattle, WA

Today we went to Mass at a little mission church in Mukilteo. The church had the most beautiful windows. Instead of the more traditional stained glass, they were clear glass with etched designs, depicting the creation story. Each window depicted a specific animal or plant group, such as sea life, birds, forest animals, etc, using the species that live around this area of Washington. A local artist created them. I love to find work by local artists incorporated into the design of churches.

Tom found a cute little café overlooking the bay where we had lunch. As we ate we watched the boats and the ferries crossing the bay. There were chain saw-type wood statues all around the patio area, all holding coffee mugs. The ceiling of the dining area was also decorated. My favorite was a man bursting through the ceiling, newspaper clutched in one hand and with an outstretched mug which said “Gimme Java” in the other.

After lunch we headed for Seattle. The traffic going north (away from Seattle) was wall to wall without a letup, as it had been the night before. Maybe everyone tries to get out of the city on weekends.

We had a delightful visit with Mike, Leah, and Daniel Redfern, friends who formerly lived in Raleigh.

Daniel is becoming quite the little gentlemen. He demonstrated his height chart (he had grown just a smidgen since the last measurement a month ago) and showed us his room. He has a nifty fort under his 2nd bunk-height bed. He led us on a tour of the house. Mike has remodeled the entire interior, and it is beautiful.

The gorgeous back lawn is level thanks to six feet of fill and extensive terracing. Mike does wonderful work!

Mike found another lighthouse for Tom,

and then they took us to see the Hiram Chittenden Locks, which are only a short distance from their house. These locks connect Lake Union with the Pudget Sound. While we were there three sailboats and a kayak went through the locks into the lake. I had never seen locks in action and I really enjoyed watching the process. It seems impossible that it is accomplished without pumps. The lead sailboat appeared to be a “first-timer” and needed lots of coaching to get positioned and tied up properly. Leah and I agreed that we would have looked equally inefficient.

It was raining, so I didn’t try to get any pictures at the locks. A nice lady held an umbrella over Tom, so he should have some good pictures. She shielded Tom’s camera while her own family got soaked! Tom thought that was really nice of her!

There are also fish ladders at the locks. This is not the right time for fish to be using them, but they are impressive all the same. Daniel promised to have his Mom send some pictures with fish on them later in the year. Daniel is an excellent guide (he is five years old). We did see one poor little minnow about three inches long trying desperately to swim against the current of the ladder, but he kept getting shoved back by the current. There are special openings for the little fish (smolt)that dump them back where they should be.

The opening of the locks creates quite a temporary current that caught one duck unaware. It was swimming like mad but going backward.

We got some pointers on things to see in the Seattle area. Only two more days left—doesn’t seem possible it is almost time to take the flight home.