Coast to coast

One of the benefits of Navy life has been traveling across the county between Matt's duty stations. Okay, some would say that is not a really a benefit, particularly those who aren't  fond of being in the car for days on end. But recently, we made the journey, the we being Baylee and me.  Matt will join us early next year when he returns from deployment.

We started out early in the morning.  This was the view from the ferry as the sun was coming up.

Then it was on to the interstate.

Approaching Spokane.

Good-bye Washington.  Hello Idaho.

Lunch time.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Montana. Western Montana is really beautiful.

First night on the road.  Missoula, Montana.

Dinner was at a pizza place.  Loved the Western theme.

Baylee didn't seem to mind it when she got her own bed for the night.  

The low-lying clouds the next morning added to the stunning scenery.

Wyoming.

Are we there yet?

South Dakota.

The Wall Drug Store of bumper sticker fame.  

Check off another state.  Wisconsin.

Started to see some early autumn colors on the trees.

Chicago.

Lake Michigan.

Getting closer.  On to Ohio.

Cleveland.

Pennsylvania?  The trip is practically over.  OK, maybe not. But making progress!

We pushed through New York and Massachussetts and made it to Providence.  So the last day was by far the shortest.  

Approaching the Jamestown Verrazano Bridge.  

Then the Newport Bridge.

We made it!

A few days later, we moved in and started to get settled.

Happy dog.

Kuala Lumpur, pickles, and a wildfire

Lots going on around here and this new post is a hodgepodge of a few of those things.   

After 40+ days at sea, Matt and 4500 shipmates got to go ashore is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

It was a short stop, but Matt got to see a few sights and sent back a few pictures he took with his phone camera.   After an hour-long bus ride from where the ship docked to the heart of the city, he got his bearings and took a walk around the city. 

Kuala Lumpur is a bustling Southeast Asian city in a predominantly Muslim country with influences from all over the world. It wasn’t uncommon to see women in burkas and wearing head scarves alongside Japanese girls in short skirts checking out the wares in western retail stores.

Once the sun set, the lights came on, and the city really lit up.

The second day, Matt did a little sightseeing. The first stop was the city’s Chinatown area. Any kind of counterfeit watch, purse, or CD could be found in the bazaar.

There were interesting temples to be seen.

From Chinatown, the driver took Matt to the Batu Caves , a Hindu temple built into a series of 3 caves on the outskirts of the city.  It's a long way up --over 200 steps to get into the caves.

The temple inside the caves was actually pretty simple, but the natural caves were interesting.

 

On the way down, a couple of wild monkeys intercepted the tourists.  At first they looked interesting and kind of cute, but it was quickly apparent they were accustomed to tourists and very aggressive about grabbing their food. Thankfully, all Matt had with him was a bottle of water.

The remaining two days in port were spent catching up on sleep and work before the Stennis headed out to sea again.

Meanwhile, back on the homefront,

 the garden is flourishing.

The second planting included winter squash, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts,  and 2 types of cucumbers.  This is one of the delicata squash that has already come in.  

The cucumbers have been abundant and really tasty.  These are pickling cucumbers so I decided to make pickles. 

This was my first stab at pickling and I was surprised how easy it was.  Here are some pictures.  No narration needed.

There they are.  Done.  And good too.

Lastly,  we finally got summer here.  Just in time for fall.  Unfortunately, with the sunny, dry weather comes forest fires. There has been a wildfire burning in the Olympic National Forest for about 11 days now.  It has been named the Big Hump Fire because of it's location on a trail.  It is believed to have been caused by an abandoned campfire. The smoke from the fire is visible from our deck.  

Here are some pictures from over the last few days.

This was taken five days ago.

Four days ago.

Yesterday.

Yesterday again.  The fire is inaccessible to firefighters, so officials are waiting for rain, which is not forecast for at least a few more days.  

Hope you enjoyed the hodgepodge.