Resuming our travel mode and starting our summer trek east.  After traversing Washington, Idaho, and Montana our first major stop is Yellowstone for the July 4th week.  We enjoyed Frank's Diner in Spokane, and the Silver Dollar Saloon on our route.  Butte, MT, with its "richest hill on earth" had an interesting copper mining history.  In its heyday it employed over 3000, and today with new, modern, mining techniques a mere 300 can mine more copper than ever.  Next stop, Yellowstone!

Arrived JFK Airport around 7:30 AM, got our rental car and drove to Julie and Jeff Woosnam's house in Warrington, PA, Cousin June's daughter and our hosts for the weekend and "Cousin June's B-Day Bash."  Jeff is a "boy with his toys" and has a wonderful garage to house them!  Since weather was possibly iffy for the party Friday evening we made his garage into a fabulous bar and party room!  Keep in mind we were a surprise for June's B-Day along with our niece Dr. Ana who flew in from MN.  Julie and Jeff took us to a delightful dinner in historic Doylestown, PA, the evening prior to the big event!

A 70th B-DAY BASH to remember!  We made our surprise entrance with our top hats, bow ties, canes, all singing "Well Hello, Junie, Well Hello, Junie, it's so nice we're here to celebrate your day! etc."  Bette Midler eat your heart out! LOL!  So many family members and great friends wishing June a "Fabulous 70th" which only June can do with such great style and panache!  Happy B-Day, Girl!

And then it did "Rain on June's Parade" but just for a passing moment!

Saturday morning was a little recovery time and cleanup from the Bash.   Dr. Ana, Julie and ourselves spent some quality time with June & Scotty at their Washington Crossing, PA, home.  We munched on leftover party food and played with Scotty's trains and remote control models in the basement as we trash talked about the previous evenings events!

Sunday morning we crossed the Delaware to Trenton, NJ, to catch the train to the Big Apple.  We met up with Ron's Cousins Kris and Larry at Penn Station and walked 10 blocks (Pride was in the air!) to 44 & X where we then met up with Chervil and Brian (in for NYC Pride) for brunch.  What would a NYC brunch be without a Lox and Bagel plate?  Great fun catching up with family.  On this beautiful, pleasantly warm, sunny Sunday the Big Apple felt very special and alive!

We walked the streets of the Big Apple with the brunch gang to the 42nd Street Theater District where we sadly parted ways after a wonderful time full of catching up and laughs.  On to the Schubert Theater for Bette Midler and HELLO, DOLLY!  What a show, Bette was Bette and brought a special vibe to Dolly Levi.  The costumes, staging, dancing and of course the music was just amazing!  This show never gets old and the 71 yr old "Devine Miss M" still has it for sure!

There was no mistaken it was Gay Pride in the Big Apple!  Though we missed the Pride Parade while watching the Sunday Matinee of Hello, Dolly!,  afterwards we walked around the Times Square area where "Love was in the Air!" as Pride revelers moved north uptown from the Village.

All we can say is there is no other City like NYC!  We LOVE NYC and were full of Gay Pride!

We moved south to the Seattle area for a two week stay, more specifically Everett WA, a Seattle suburb about 20 miles north of downtown and home to Boeing.

The Boeing Everett Factory is located on the northeast corner of Paine Air Field. It is the largest building in the world by volume; the equivalent to over 33 foot ball fields. This is the factory where the wide-body Boeing 747, 767, 777, and 787 are assembled.  We took the factory tour which we recommend to anyone visiting the Seattle area,
Plans for the factory were first announced in 1966 for it to be the site of the construction of the 747 after Boeing was awarded a $525 million contract from Pan American World Airways to build 25 747s. It purchased 780 acres north of the then little-used Paine Field, which was operated by the US Army in World War II. Boeing has had an Everett presence since 1943. In 1968 it began offering factory tours with the first roll out of the 747. Over 150,000 people visit the Everett Site each year. There are currently over 35,000 people employed at the facility.

Our good friend Sharon Delap flew up from the CA Bay Area to visit us for a few days.  Did the touristy things, Pikes Place Markets and the Space Needle.  Good times, stories, and laughs shared by all!

On 6/21 Mike and I took the "Red-Eye" and arrived at JFK 6/22 AM.  A surprise visit to my Cousin June Scott's 70th Birthday Bash and much more. We made a separate post out of this whirl-wind-weekend in NYC/Philly.

Arriving back to Seattle area we had a visitor, our good friend Bob Pratt from Santa Rosa CA.  We celebrated Ron's 69th Birthday with our new extended family, Bob, his son Jason and wife Kristina, their kids Ashton and Senna, their parents Maloy and Dano at their favorite Chinese Restaurant.  Maloy and Dano were gracious hosts and made Ron's B-Day special.

Anacortes, WA is midway between Seattle and Vancouver and surrounded by the Salish Sea.  We arrived after taking the coach and Jeep (over 54 ft.), on the Pt. Townsend Ferry.  A new experience having the coach floating and moving on water!  As we were one of the largest vehicles on board, we got loaded first (probably the ferry's captain did too, once he got a look at that long rig!) which gave us a great view from inside the coach on the lower vehicle deck.  The ferry ride was about 35 minutes of island viewing and weaving around the San Juan Islands. 

Our new base camp was Fidalgo Bay Resort. With RV sites both on the bay and the sea, the resort is owned by the Samish Indian Tribe. We had a nice end site with a covered cabana.

Anacortes wood mills and canneries have faded and given way to tourism with marinas and pleasure boats along with boat builders. We enjoyed the historic downtown with its restaurants, galleries, and unique nautical shops. A local artist installed colorful wood murals on the sides of the buildings all over town.  Two of our favorites restaurants were Gere-A-Deli and Adrift.
​And there was a "PLATT" building to the amazement of Mike.

The Anacortes Annual Waterfront Festival was going on while we were here.  Your "inner sailor" is encouraged to come out and play!  Of interest to Ron was a large vintage car show as part of the festival. There were many activities for kids of all ages including a "milk carton" boat building competition and race!

One of the reasons we chose to visit Anacortes was its ferry access to Victoria, BC, since we planned a four day, three night trip to Canada. We boarded Gaylord with Andy, whom we found on the Internet using rover.com. Gaylord, after missing us for a bit, had a great time on his 5 acre ranch.  We left our coach at Fidalgo Bay and took our Jeep on ferries to Victoria Island, BC, Vancouver Island, BC and then onto Vancouver, BC.

After an hour plus ferry ride stopping in Friday Harbor on the way, we arrived in Sidney BC which was about 30 minutes north of Victoria.  As we drove south to Victoria on Vancouver Island, we started falling in love with the area.  Victoria is said to be the heart of West Coast North America.  On land or sea, Victoria has an amazing vibe that we thoroughly enjoyed. Known as the "The Garden City," Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast.
Arriving this beautiful day, we took a sightseeing bus tour for an overview of the city. From the Empress Hotel  and its famous High Tea, Parliament House, seaplanes, water taxis and restaurants along the inner harbor, to the numerous parks, gardens and flowers everywhere, we found ourselves in sensory overload.  The gorgeous lade back City of Victoria will call us back in the near future.

After 2 days in Victoria (could have stayed longer) we loaded the Jeep onto another ferry to mainland Vancouver, BC.  We rented an AirBNB apartment at the corner of Burrard and Davis St. (Gay District) which turned out to be a great central location.  Vancouver is a relatively modern port city with modern glass buildings all over downtown and the waterfront.  We enjoyed exploring our gayborhood, the Public Market and many other markets on Granville Island. We also enjoyed touring the many diverse neighborhood parks and beaches surrounding downtown.  While Vancouver is much larger and more diverse than Victoria, it did exude its own special more cosmopolitan charm.

After 3 days and 2 nights in Vancouver, we drove south, crossed the border (which took about 45 minutes) back to the USA at Peace Arch and arrived back at our basecamp in Anacortes, WA.  While we love Canada and its welcoming ways, there is always something special coming home to the good ole USA!