Life after rowing

 

Hello again, I am back! I have decided to continue keeping up my blog although now more for my own interest than anything else. I have a poor memory for details and am looking forward to reading back on my writing to remind myself of the particulars of my day to day life at this time!  Thinking back to my decision four weeks ago to stop rowing, I am still pleased that I made the right decision at the right time.  The two days following my decision were the hardest couple of days. Highly emotional, tears and tissues were the order of the day. All day, for two days. It is draining! But, after two days I woke up feeling refreshed, happy and able to analyse my thoughts without tears shed. 

 

I had spoken to everybody I needed to speak to and my parents had invited me to join them on holiday visiting my American side of the family (mother). Flights were booked and a week after my decision, I was on a flight to Vancouver.  My family live in Washington State, but flights to Vancouver were 40% of the cost of flights to Seattle, so I flew to Vancouver, Canada and got to experience the lovely scenery on the Amtrak train from Vancouver to Seattle. The train was efficient, spacious and hugged the coast the whole way down. Four hours later I had seen the sun set on the American and Canadian coast, and was rolling into Seattle.

 



Somewhere between Vancouver and Seattle, shot from the Amtrak train

 

 

My parents arrived into Seattle the next day and we spent the weekend with the two Seattle based families: aunts, uncles and cousins. Cousin Zen's baseball game was a highlight, at 8 years old he is already a talented little athlete. Can you spot the ball he has hit in the photo? It is middle of shot...

 



Star in the making

As on every visit, we visited the ever bustling, ever colourful Pike Street Market.

Between 1906 and 1907, the cost of onions increased tenfold. Citizens and farmers were outraged.  They wanted to be able to deal with each other directly, cutting out the fat cat middlemen.

On August 17, 1907, Pike Place Market was born. On that first day, a total of eight farmers brought their waggons to the corner of First Avenue and Pike Street—and were quickly overwhelmed by an estimated 10,000 eager shoppers. By 11:00 am, they were sold out. Thousands of would-be customers went home empty-handed, but the chaos held promise. By the end of 1907, the first Market building opened, with every space filled.

Pike Place Market attracts 10 million visitors per year

Some of the family took us down to Seattle Waterfront to do the touristy things.  Highlights included Ye Olde Curiosity Shop which is home to the weird, freaky, interesting and curious.  Among other things, it features a couple of genuine mummies, a four legged chicken, a two headed lamb!  Here we are on Elliot Bay Waterfront, Olympic Mountains in the distance.



A walk round Seward Park at the weekend provided spectacular view of Mount Rainier across Lake Washington and we enjoyed high temperatures as Seattle reached record highs for the first weekend in May.

Mount Rainier across Lake Washington



It is amazing how clear and huge the mountains can look to the naked eye, but as soon as you put a camera to them they seem to shrink and disappear into the background. Very frustrating, as they really are incredible!

Two of my cousins, Kai and Zen playing whilst waiting to be seated for dinner



 That first weekend was spent in the city to have some quality time with the family based in Seattle. Monday morning, relatives went to work and cousins to school so my parents and I headed over Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula, to spend the week with my grandparents.


Washington State Ferries pass, Mount Rainier behind

We started the next day by a drive up to Hurricane Ridge to see if we could take a hike, and get a good view of the Olympic Mountains.  We drove through the S'Klallam Indian Reservation, tourist centre shown below.  The Indian reservations are interesting places. They are governed by their own laws.  For example, casinos are not permitted in the state of Washington yet Native Indian Reservations are allowed to have them because they are their own separate community. The casinos are a big business in the state, doing well because people cannot go to casinos outside of the reservations in Washington.  These casinos have earned vast amounts of money which can be put into maintaining the reservations.




As an alternative to gambling, I bought a pair of moccasins from their gift shop to support this reservation!

 

The view from Hurricane Ridge was incredible, clear sunny weather still holding from the weekend.  The Olympic Range was vast, dominating the landscape.  No chance of hiking though, snow still lay 12 feet deep in places. All trails were impossible to find! A half hour walk down one of the snow ploughed roads gave us all round views to treasure.



Olympic Mountains viewed from Hurricane Ridge, WA

Here are some further photos from our week on the Olympic Peninsula



Old building in Port Townsend, original painted advertisement on the wall



Abandoned hut in Fort Worden State Park

Fort Worden State Park

View of Port Townsend

Flag off the stern of The Adventuress

Driftwood on beaches like this is common in Washington

What a glorious sea star! The Americans do things big!

That weekend we returned to Seattle, Grandparents in tow and spent a lovely weekend with the whole American family. Aunt and Uncle came over to join us from Yakima, just under a 3 hour drive over the Cascade mountain range.  I have been getting the hang of a new panoramic photo app on my phone but sometimes, if people move, it creates some interesting shots. Spot the ghost in this family charades photo!

 

 

Mothers Day weekend in the States, a great excuse for a big dinner! We had some obligatory posed family shots, as we get the opportunity to all get together so infrequently. Here is the Hudson blood line from my grandparents, just missing my little brother who had to stay in the UK to sit University exams.

Hudsons

After a lovely weekend my Yakima based Aunt and Uncle kindly took me back to Yakima to spend some quality time with them, and after a couple days, my Godmother.  I was thoroughly spoilt!

My Godmother organised for a friend to take us on a tour of the apple packing warehouses in Prosser, WA. Unbelievably fascinating and so high tech.  Apples are cleaned in a chlorine bath, soaped and rinsed and chlorine again. 70 high res photos are taken of each apple and the equipment grades them according to size, weight, imperfections before sending them to the correct line to be dealt with.

Yakima, my birthplace

Apples at the beginning of the cycle, you can see a few duff ones in there!

 What I found most interesting was that the apples they were processing that day (all Granny Smiths, the variety changes each day) had all been picked in the fall.  They are kept in strict atmospheric conditions where the oxygen level is between 1 and 2%, and CO2 produced by the apples is removed. This slows the ageing process down to almost nothing, and enables the fresh year round apples we consume.

Above is my Godmother and husband. They took me out for a big mexican meal with family, delicious! This visit was the first time I've ever really gotten to spend any time with them and despite having less than 48 hours we had a really lovely time getting to know one another.  I feel incredibly blessed to have a special connection to such wonderful people.  They are part of my family because my parents chose them to be but I would have chosen them myself if I could!  Now I just need to get them to come visit us in Europe. I hope I've tempted them :)

Sad goodbyes

A last few hours was spent with the Seattle Hudsons and I was treated to a very American last meal at Red Robin!

Gorgeous girl cousins!
 

This trip really was filled with food, and my suitcase came back packed to the brim with American goodies. This was about half of it, before my godmother got her share of goodies into my bags!! I am thoroughly savouring it now that I am home.




yum

On my way home I spent one night in Vancouver and stopped over with a friend I had met whilst at university in Cambridge.  I had the best view in the city I think, high up in a beautiful apartment block. Overlooking the city, water and mountains. Ceiling to floor windows!

Best guest room in town!

 

Quick walk with Claude through Vancouver before I had to leave

Now that I am home, I need to look to the future. I am excited to be looking at job opportunities and applying for wildly different careers. The possibilities are energising, although applying is still slow. I am sure I will get quicker at writing cover letters as time goes on.  For a small flavour of job applications I have made, they include the sectors of finance, education and events.  I am looking forward to seeing what happens next!