Island of Origin

On our “Body of a Dancer” book tour, we visited Bainbridge Island, across Puget Sound from Seattle. Bainbridge is Mom’s island of origin. Many of Mom’s dear friends attended the reading at the fantastic indie store Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo, just north of Bainbridge.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast with neighbors from Mom's Bainbridge childhood, we all needed a walk.

Mom was amazed to see little signs pointing to the Waterfont Trail alongside the wharfs of Eagle Harbor in Winslow.

The Trail did not exist when Mom was growing up. I especially liked the sculptures.

Whenever I see Old Glory, I ponder about the uniqueness of the American experiment. Yes, a work-in-progress, but a pretty good one, if you ask me.

When Mom saw the Pegasus Coffee House, she got really excited. Mom used to cut high school classes and go to Pegasus with her special friend Denise.

And Grandpa was really excited to see a schooner called the Dolores M. Jackson. The owner had started building this boat years ago, and Grandpa remembered listening to stories about its construction. Well, now it's all finished!

Truffle, my Plott hound brother, has traveled extensively across North America with Mom. During our book tour, however, he couldn't wait to go home. On Bainbridge, he stayed up one full night squeaking, and Mom hardly got any sleep. Mom and Dad took turns walking Truffle every hour throughout the night.

Truffle is a great big fan of Grandpa, and he prefers their Idaho home schedule. He’s very glad to have passed the travel reins to me.