Negotiations 

Good morning everyone.  We are currently working out the details of our next trip and we will be rolling here shortly as soon as my proposal gets approved.   I had a decent time off getting my restart in. We already talked about the last trip and I sure needed the downtime.  I rented a car from across the street and did some exploring in the area. With the millions of beautiful places to go around here I got brain freeze trying to figure out what to do! I really didn’t want to do the standard tourist trap things although I’m sure they are nice. The rental car given me was a 2016 Hyundai Sonata.  Pretty decent little car, it did the job.  Friday afternoon I just dragged my feet and rested. The last thing I felt like doing on my time off was to jump right into driving and fighting rush hour traffic in a major city! Saturday morning I slept in a bit then just picked a place to go. I wanted to be around the waterways instead of the city. I decided to just start with going to the Brown’s Point Lighthouse near Tacoma.  It was the type of lighthouse I normally expected since it was basically just a two story square cement tower that held a light! I did enjoy walking around the point though and was more interested in the tons of huge driftwood laying around.  I decided that I would just head South on Washington Route 509 and run along the water and see what grabs my attention.  I have found out that when I just bum around with no schedule and no particular place to be is when I find the neatest off the bearen path things.  The whole Tacoma area is lined with parks and tons of walking trails. I found and learned about the numerous lumber companies that once called the area home and was the largest lumber supplier in the world.  More than 75 lumber mills once lined the shores resulting in the very first firefighting boat West of the Mississippi River in 1929. We saw the remains of the very last mill to survive. Pretty interesting in my book. The city has markers placed in the sidewalk that tells the story all along the walkways.  I finally ended up at Point Defiance Park. Wow, the scenery and the trees and huge ferns! The roads wind twist and curve all through the park. I stopped here and there and just wandered around.  I definitely had a good relaxing time and none of my exploring yesterday cost a dime (except car rental of course). I ended the night by heading 45 minutes North to Kerry Park in Seattle to the top of a hill. Wow, you can overlook the city and see everything! I took a few night shots, but if I had my big zoom lens on me, I would have taken 50+ pictures!! That is one place I need to go back to and spend the day and night because the clouds, sunset,  everything changes the view!