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Sunday, July 31, 2016

Visiting Rev. Ron Jones

Reverend Ronald Jones was an evangelical pastor in Timanan, Upi. He had since left Philippines and went back to United States. He pastored in Wasilla, Alaska for some time but is now retired and lives in Tacoma, Washington. My husband Lucas is a good friend of the reverend and they keep in touch through Facebook. Since we were in Seattle, we decided to visit the good reverend at his home in Yakima, Tacoma. It took us about 3 hour ride to reach his place but it was worth the travel. We did enjoy the road ride and simply happy to see the good reverend in high spirit with his wife Karen in their cozy beautiful retirement house.
On our way, we passed by Ellensburg and ate lunch at a certain rustic place called Daily Bread. The cashier was doned in some kind of an Amish outfit and the other girls in long apparel. I so wanted o take a picture with the cashier in Amish garb but I was just afraid to be rude and offend her. I opted to stay put and behaved myself.
For lunch, I ordered a bowl of broccoli cream soup and half a turkey sandwich. A copy of Our Daily Bread book was on the table.
Took a picture of the establishment. 

 Decided to ride through the Tacoma Canyon Road instead of the highway. Took time for some photo ops.
Beautiful scenery.

Took more pictures from the car.
 
 Desert area
 Finally, we reached our destination. Here's Lucas and Rev. Ron Jones inside the pastor's home.
Get together photo.
Nice seeing you both Reverend and Karen Jones. God's willing, we may see each other again.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

One Shopping Day

We went shopping at the outlet mall before the July 4th celebration. We wanted to avail of the independence day discount, but it seemed everybody else had the same idea. It took us quite a while to find a parking space, and while inside the mall, there seemed to be some kind of panic buying for sale's merchandise. Hahaha. We bought clothes mostly. I didn't buy much but I helped Martha to shop some. Before going home for the day, we decided to eat out somewhere nearby. Roy looked for a good restaurant review from his phone. The place we soon located was a gasoline station eatery at Marysville. We kind of hesitated at first, but the review proved to be right. We really ate and savored good authentic Mexican food. My youngest son Emil's girlfriend is a Mexican American by the way. Muchas Gracias!
Happily we found this nice place for dinner.
Lucas with the sombrero.
 
This was my order....hmm..yummy...really good!
Tortillas
Roy enjoying his meal. Hahaha. 

July Fourth Celebration

We had a blast celebrating July 4th at Bellevue, Washington, USA:
With Uncle Sam. Hehehe.
Roasted corn....
Pop corn.....
 Free potato chips.......
Lemonade.......
Street food......
Food trucks.....
Picnic at the park....
Funnel cake, soda etc....what fun to recklessly eat anything to your fancy! Hahaha.
Some solemn moment at the park - war memorial.
Fantastic fireworks......
 Great symphony.......
Capping the celebration was the superlative performance of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra. What a wonderful celebration. Such a great country. Happy July 4th everyone!!!


Thursday, July 28, 2016

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The sea was turbulent after we left Ketchikan. After a disturbing night, we arrived Victoria safely the next day. It was a beautiful day, a nice cold afternoon infact. We were so lucky. It was just so timely that we arrived Victoria, British Columbia on July 1st, when Canadians were celebrating their Canada Day. How fortunate to have participated in their celebration.
Welcome to Victoria, Canada!
We're in Canada.
While a lot of tourists took the trolley or go on a bus for sightseeing excursion, we opted to walk on foot to the town center guided by a map.
I was glad to have taken a photo of this beautiful vine covered walk way. By the way, that was Lucas back walking under the vines. Hehehe.
Took pictures of beautiful houses and gardens.....
My dream house and garden. Hehe.
 
We finally reached the Parliament Building.
Canada Day was very festive and merry in Victoria.
We mingled in with the celebration.
The marina, the huge pine tree, the totem pole and the parliament building behind us. Such nice view.
.
Ate supper at a nice cozy restaurant. I ordered pizza and classic coke. Hehehe.
In front of the restaurant, festive atmosphere all over.
Got to walk back, the boat will be leaving at 11:30pm. Fireworks started at 10pm. Walking down the street, we enjoyed being part of the street party. Unfortunately my camera could not capture the night scenes. I loved the festivities in Victoria.
The parliament building at night.


Arriving port on foot.
What a wonderful day. Happy Canada Day!


Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Ketchikan, Alaska

Our ship, the Crown Princess docked at Ketchikan Port, Alaska in the morning. Roy and his painting group left for Ketchikan town early to paint. We tried catching up by rising earlier than usual too. It was raining that morning. We knew the artists would be painting at this picturesque place called Creek Street, so we followed suit. It was a good thing for us the place was not yet teeming with crowded tourists, that Lucas, Martha and I got to enjoy the serenity and unique beauty of the area, much to our delight.
Ketchikan, Alaska - it was a wet morning. We went first to the visitor center, Martha took hold of a map, and we proceeded to explore the beautiful place.
An overcast day.
Following the map, we passed through some commercial area, went through a short tunnel, walked a few, and wallah, we reached Creek Street.
At Creek Street.......so uniquely beautiful....
Very picturesque. Fortunately it was still empty of crowds.
The shops were just opening. So pretty!
We decided to visit a quaint museum. The Dolly House Museum - the house of the last legal madam of the district.
 
An interesting story and place to see.
We enjoyed Creek Street so much., visited lots of shops and bought a lot of things. Here Lucas was interested to have pictures taken with wooden bear carvings.
Chainsaw carvings....My husband works in a hardware, he sells a lot of chain saw by the way.
Artists at work.
Can we have another shot of the beautiful place?

On our way down from Creek Street. It was really worthwhile to have a head start. Look at the streamline of visitors teeming in...
Being a mason, my husband took delight in taking Masonic temple pictures during his travel.
A close up picture of a Masonic temple in Ketchikan.
I like taking picture with quaint beautiful houses though.
And memorable and historical places too. Hehehe.
 Lucas and the anchor at the pier.
Goodbye Alaska, it was so nice to be here. We'd come to love you during this short voyage.
Thank you my God for this wonderful opportunity. Thank you so much.