Geocaching Milestone: 300th Virtual

I traveled by Amtrak to Tacoma.  I got a lift from two women to within a couple blocks of the Union Station.  I rode the streetcar to the end of the line and then walked a couple blocks to McMenamins.  I got all of the Passport stamps.  I got a silver thermos as the prize.  I had a delicious lunch at their Spanish Bar, right off the Spanish Steps.

I walked a couple blocks to catch the streetcar back to Union Station.  I walked to the Bridge of Glass to take a couple photos.  My IPhone shut down.  Argh.  I walked back to the Streetcar stop.  I purchased a book at the University Bookstore - "the Summer House" by Santa Montefiore.  I had shortbread cookies and a small Earl Grey tea at Starbucks while I charged my IPhone.  I walked back to the Bridge of Glass where I asked a couple to take my photo with my IPhone.  I found my 300th Virtual - The Art of Tacoma: Bridge of Glass.

I walked down to the Museum of Glass where I looked through the Museum Shop.  I chatted with Ruby, the Frontline Representative, about Glassblowing, Glassblowers and Geocaching. I walked back to the Streetcar stop about 5:00pm where I rode the Streetcar to the end of the line (Theatre District) and then rode it to the other end of the line (Tacoma Dome).  I walked west a block where I got a Taxi to the Amtrak depot.  I caught the southbound train back to Vancouver.  I had planned to do a little more Geocaching but it was chilly and windy. 

Rose Red, Geocaching name

My Geocaching name is Rose Red from the Brothers Grimm's story "Snow White and Rose Red".  Snow White was quiet and passive.  I'm not.

I grew up admiring strong girls and women: Jo from "Little Women", Jane Eyre, Mary Lennox of "Secret Garden", Caddie Woodlawn, and, of course, the original Nancy Drew.  In later years I admired Katherine Hepburn, Katherine Graham of The Washington Post, Princess Diana, Hillary Clinton (for being one classy lady and for being a thorn in Donald's side), and Senators Lisa Murkowski (R) and Susan Collins (R) for standing up for what is right.

While we are on the subject of girls and women that I have admired over the years, who are the boys and men both fictional and real that I have admired?  Tom Sawyer ("Tom Sawyer"), Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck of "To Kill a Mockingbird"), Frank Towns (James Stewart in "The Flight of the Phoenix"), and Charles Brubaker (James Brolin in "Capricorn One").   

I also admire President Jimmy Carter, President Barack Obama, John Dean (Watergate), Frank Lloyd Wright (as architect not his private life), Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation). And I admire the men and women who are exposing wrongdoing in our government.

Eyes on the Skies

This afternoon I drove to the North Portland bluff to catch a glimpse of two ships through my binoculars.  The two odd ships were docked amid Swan Island's cranes - the gray hulls of the MX Pacific Collector (I met a crew member on the recent United Airlines flight from Houston to PDX) and the SS Pacific Tracker.  I could see the golf-ball-like structures looming over their decks.  Portland's Swan Island has become the ships' base.