Family Time - Olympia, WA - 6670 Miles

We made it to Olympia this past Monday to visit Terry's brother, Mick, his wife, Linda, and their three kids, Joe, Maggie, and Gus. It'll be nice spending over two weeks in one spot. Mick joined the army at age 50 and recently transferred into special forces while I, on the other hand, can't work up the courage to go through with the colonoscopy my doctor keeps suggesting ever since I turned 50. Our "hotel room" requires sharing a bath, but the rates are right.















These are shots of the house and the view from the deck to their pasture and adjoining pastures of neighbors. The household also includes two horses, Thunder and Phoenix, and two dogs, Hondo and Eli. From the deck I sit and watch their animals along with neighbors' additions to the menagerie including other horses, a small herd of sheep that also includes one seemingly very confused goat, three llamas, and occasionally one or two cows. I can also hear chickens and a rooster but I haven't seen them. It's incredibly serene watching the animals below and figuring out the social hierarchy while observing their interactions. I haven't seen the llamas up close but both Mick and Linda say they are extremely creepy. They stand motionless and stare at you for as long as you are there. It's even worse after they are shorn and naked.















As a dog owner my least favorite task was cleaning the yard but it doesn't seem nearly as bad after watching Linda, Joe, and Gus clean up after the horses with the aid of shovels and a poop trailer. Maggie was responsible for cleaning up in the barn. Meanwhile Terry can keep an eye on things from the deck while putting in a hard day at work.

Mick's pride and joy is the outdoor shower he and Joe built. When he talked to contractors about having materials delivered, their response was often, "You're building what? Don't you have one in the house?"

Outdoor showers must not be very common here. It turns out to be the preferred shower of the house. Anyone using it can sign their name on the shower wall and Terry and I get to add our signatures. The view from the shower is the same as the view from the deck which definitely adds to the experience.

















One of Terry and my first activities was going with Mick and Gus on ATVs up a mountain in a local park. Despite Terry's professional looking appearance astride the ATV, the engine was off and that was the closest she was willing to come to the controls again. She rode behind Mick and quickly learned after one minor mishap that, although she couldn't see ahead, when Mick ducked she should duck because a branch was about to hit her in the face.

It was my first time on an ATV as well. The controls differed from motorcycles more than I expected but I eventually figured it out although the transmission may never recover. We headed out with Gus in the lead, Mick and Terry second, and me an increasingly fading third. I went from watching where Mick was to watching where his cloud of dust hung in the air behind him. Third is definitely the dustiest position and I learned the hard way spitting dust from your mouth doesn't work well if you're moving at any speed. We started on logging roads and with each turn the trail degraded. As we climbed I kept thinking, "It can't get any worse than this" but it could. We ended up on narrow trails covered with large rocks. I would have had to pay close attention just walking over the rocks. Near the top we came to a clearing with a great view of both the southern part of Puget Sound and Mt. Rainier.