Eagle's Wing
After a very peculiar night's sleep, Tuesday dawned bright and fair. Rod went off to work and Dale and I decided what to do with ourselves - I should explain that Dale is on sabbatical from his job at one of the local Community Colleges.
First thing, we went to the gym - I kid you not. I did quite well for someone who's totally out of shape. I think that I might have been cruised as well. But then I was half asleep and I'm still not sure of the protocols here. Dale, however, got chatting with someone who he's been on nodding acquaintances with for months. I can guess the plot from here. Everyone's gonna get laid but me.
I'd mentioned to Dale that I should like to buy some clothes while I'm here as I've heard that there are a number of discount places that are very cheap by UK standards. So, that's what we did. Off in the car to North Bend, which is little more than a collection of shops positioned round a car park in the middle of a valley skirted by mountains. Now if mountains to you are the Lake District or the Highlands in Scotland - think again. These are real mountains, part of the Cascades which are sort of like the foothills to the Rockies. On Tuesday, there'd been a light fall of snow overnight so the peaks were dusted with icing sugar and they looked like every travel guide says they should look.
I got shopping frenzy. In the space of a couple of hours, I'd bought four
shirts, a pair of Adidas trainers, some Calvin Klein knickers and T-Shirts, two
pairs of Chinos and a pair of black, loose-fit Lee jeans. And I'd only spent about
£130. Now, I'm on the hunt for some real designer stuff.
After we'd satiated ourselves (Dale shopped too, so I wasn't alone), Dale suggested we started home but promised me a surprise. So, we drove to Snoqualmie - nope, meant nothing to me either. Then we stopped the car, crossed the road and went through some trees and there it was - the Snoqualmie Falls. Still none the wiser? Think Twin Peaks. They were the falls used in the title credits and the hotel lodge at the head of the falls was used as the Great Northern in that TV program.
Trying not to think about my vertigo, I took advantage of the photo opportunity. I'd just packed the camera away again when from over the falls came flying a big bird with a white head. Dale was really excited as it was a bald eagle. He says that although they're not exactly rare, you don't get too many chances to see one. He also says that it is a good omen for my visit. An old native American saying mentions that if a visitor sees an eagle over the falls then his jissom will fly far.
We'll see.
That evening, we ate out and got in a laserdisk of Unzipped which was sort of fun. I should explain that room I'm staying in on the ground floor of Road and Dale's house is equipped as a home cinema. I can't tell you the names of the equipment but there's this big, fuck off screen and speakers that are like the monolith in 2001. We also rented a Jeff Stryker laserdisk but it was very disappointing - just a lot of guys jacking off on their own.
Wednesday dawned and Dale suggested we take advantage of the good weather by going to the Skagit Valley to see the tulip bulb fields. Sounds good to me and we are joined on our journey to Le Conner and through the surrounding countryside by Dale's friend, Dan.
Dan is a delight. I think he looks like a young John Malkovich but Rod and Dale pooh-pooh this notion. He has a partner, boo, but they apparently have an open relationship, cheers. I've told him I fancy him (well, I've only got three and a bit weeks so there's no time to hang around). Actually I told him I wanted to shag him rotten but this needed a little translation thus proving Shaw's dictum about two nations divided by a common language.
The bulb fields were a disappointment. Unlike the mountains of the day before, which were everything the travel book said they should be, the bulb fields were much, much less. Instead of acre upon acre of glorious nodding coloured flowers, pungent yellows packed against thrilling reds, there were but a few fields of tidy blooms. The rest of the area looked like the Somme. I get the feeling that we were in the fallow year for the crop rotation.
As we were preparing to go, however, another bald eagle flew over. Dale was delighted that I'd seen two. I explained the native American saying and grinned at Dan.