We arrived in Seattle yesterday afternoon, met by warm weather and sunshine. We took the two-dollar express bus downtown from the airport, then walked down the steep hill that dips down into the Sound toward the ferry terminal. Crossed the broad and deep body of water — which is too large to be a bay, too small to be a sea — arriving on Bainbridge where we were greeted by my dad.

Today Brian and I went on a long walk. My dad lives in a somewhat rural area north of Bainbridge Island. We walked on the gravelly edge of the main road in a large circle, covering about three miles, or 8200 steps according to my trusty pedometer. I took a few photos of familiar vegetation along the way; lichen, crab apples, queen anne’s lace. Saw dandelions and clover co-mingling, huckleberries, and other hallmarks of my childhood. Observed a few horses grazing in their pastures, heard a cow that seemed to be somewhere in the forest, and sneered at a couple of ugly and out-of-place cookie-cutter housing developments.

Since then we have been just lounging around and waiting for the sun to come out. The sky is still scattered with tangles of ashen clouds, but the temperature is still in the low seventies, so it’s perfect. Tonight we’ll grill on the back deck and with any luck there will be something watchable on tv, though I doubt it. I wish I’d brought a book with me. I feel like going for another walk. Brian has been working on PHP programming this afternoon.

Tomorrow we’ll go over to Seattle again to wander around and have dinner with my mom and whatever else we feel like doing. It’s been so long since I really hung out in this city that I am not really sure where anything is. Like, I kind of doubt the OK Hotel is even around anymore. But I’m not opposed to just walking around, though we’ll have to cab to a decent neighborhood. Last ferry back is superlate, so that’s not an issue.

I always get nostalgic when I am here, and I always gaze fondly at all the tall pines swaying gently in the breeze.