What a long, strange year it's been.

Dear 2016,
Remember that time in July when Patrick and I got the call that the Subaru's engine needed to be completely rebuilt (also known as the icing on the craptastic cake that was the first half of you), and I shook my fist at the sky and shouted, "What else ya got for us, 2016?!"

Man, did you ever deliver...

There's not much to say about you that hasn't already been said, 2016. But between your numerous punches, you gave us here at Slowly Global some wonderful gifts too.

Like that month on Orcas Island, and our subsequent road trip down the coast where we relived fond memories from April 2013 and got to explore Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. That was pretty great.

Turtleback Mountain - Orcas Island

Hoh Rain Forest Hall of Moss - Olympic National Park

Olympic National Forest (day one-zero-four-four)

Cape Disappointment State Park - WA

The 2016 farm internship you gave us didn't exactly go as planned, but we still learned a lot about farming, the Rogue Valley, and ourselves during those 10 weeks. (We even got a weekend on the Eastern Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway - new territory to both of us.)

most important lesson: no onions on our future farm!
 

iconic Toketee Falls - check!

Besides, if that farm internship had worked out, we wouldn't have been able to help our parents relocate and settle into their new homes, enjoy extended time with family and friends on both coasts, spend a week on Steens Mountain and in the surrounding areas, and take a quick trip to Portland to see the man who started it all five years ago. So thanks for all of that.

Rocky Mount, NC

Eugene, OR

Kiger Gorge - Steens Mountain

Clear Lake - Sisters, OR

Frank Turner's mosh pit at the Oregon Zoo

Your latest gift of this extended Coos Bay housesit has turned out better than we expected. We're appreciative of our jobs and the new friends we've made. We're also enjoying the natural beauty of Coos County and the quirky little pockets of culture we run across from time to time.

our backyard for the winter

And let's not forget the beer, 2016. Good job on the beer.

the northwest is the best

Between your punches and your gifts, 2016, you've really given us a lot to think about. We've gone around and around about where we go from here, and it's still anyone's guess... But as a wise man once said, as long as we've got a place to sleep, clothes on our backs, and some food to eat, we can't ask for anything more.

Onward,
J&P

"Professional housesitting," part two - helpful tips.

Our first "professional housesitting" blog featured FAQs and pros/cons of housesitting while traveling. Many of the "cons" I mentioned are not really "cons" in the grand scheme of things - and they are easily addressed by the tips below...

Once you've signed up for a housesitting web site, when responding to potential hosts the most obvious tip is to put yourself in the host's position. What characteristics would you want to see in a potential housesitter? How would you want your housesitter to treat your animals and possessions while you were gone?

That said, here are some specific tips...

Treat every opportunity like a job application. Your profile is your "resume"; your introductory email is your "cover letter." When reaching out to potential hosts, definitely be yourself, but also be professional and courteous. Include your phone number in your email. Respond to any of their follow-up emails as soon as possible. (Seriously! We lost out on a housesit gig because another couple sent a follow-up reply ONE HOUR before we did. It can get pretty cut-throat in the more desirable locations.)

And show the hosts that you've read their ad! Include their names in your greeting, mention their pets by name, comment or ask a question about something random in their photo gallery or posting. Attention to detail will go a long way.

Finally (and this is mostly for longer housesits), request an in-person visit, a Skype video conference, or at least a phone call - whatever is convenient for them and you. Many hosts will suggest this before signing you on, but if they don't, something as simple as a Skype video tour of their home could give pretty good insight into how they live and how you'd be living during your stay. And a phone call could indicate how high- or low-maintenance your hosts will be while they are gone (either of which are fine, as long as you are fine with it too).

We ended up not doing remote "interviews" for our last two housesits, mainly because we knew they were our last two housesits but also because we trusted our gut instinct by this point, and things worked out totally fine. But it's always a good practice.

Know yourself. Are you a neat freak, a cooking fanatic, an avid bicyclist, a digital nomad who needs reliable strong wifi? Do you love the city or the country? Can you spend days on end without getting out of your pajamas, or does the thought of that make you absolutely crazy?

It doesn't matter so much for 1-2 week stays, but if you're considering a longer housesit, make sure the experience will meet your needs. You might think you can go without {whatever routine or habit} for 6-8 weeks... Trust me, you'll regret it.

Be flexible on timing and location whenever possible. Look for opportunities along your general route or in your general geographic area of interest. Secure those housesits and plan around them. Long-term travelers should have no problem with this approach.

Related, if a host isn't sure about the end date, be sure you're flexible enough to accommodate this before applying. Few things are more stressful than having to scramble to find backup petsitters while you're out of town! Our Portland host ended up extending our housesit, but she made it clear from the start that this would be a possibility; we made it similarly clear that we were completely flexible in September and checked in with her periodically over the summer until she was able to confirm her return date. It worked out great all around.

Clarify expectations upon arrival. Some of our hosts have sent short novellas of instructions ahead of time, others have shot off three-sentence emails from the airport on their way out of town. Either way, it's great to have an hour or evening with your hosts to walk through their day-to-day routine. This is especially true when animals are involved, as it helps to get the animals acquainted with you while Mom and/or Dad are still there.

Also, some hosts are particular about what pots and pans they want you to use, or which dried goods are up for grabs, or how often to clean the cat litter, or whether you can use their local library card (which we highly recommend requesting!). Sometimes long distance is free; sometimes it's not and you'll need to track calls. Sometimes they want you to use a specific Netflix account. These are all good things to clarify before the hosts go out of town.

Send regular updates to your host. This is my own personal tip, which probably comes from years of IT project management... Our hosts felt guilty leaving their pets behind. To reassure them while they were gone, I would send a picture and quick update every few days. (The only exceptions were my Honolulu friends whose cat wouldn't come out of the closet the whole time we were there, and one of our hosts who had limited, expensive internet while they were gone.)

We also sent regular email updates to one host whose dog had a few leg issues (after calling her to get guidance, of course), and another host who had a pricey maintenance issue while they were out of town (just to let them know that the contractor's fix seemed to be working fine).

Daisy, a particularly shy kitty -

her owner was quite happy to get this photo update

~~~~~~~~~~

So that's our $1.75 on housesitting. If you've tried housesitting while traveling, what other tips do you have? If you're interested in trying housesitting, what other questions do you have?

"Professional housesitting," part one - FAQs and pros/cons.

Regular readers know that we got a small taste of housesitting in Melbourne and Honolulu back in 2014, and we recently spent the last eight months as "professional (unpaid) housesitters" around the Pacific Northwest. We got to explore new towns (Corvallis and Orcas Island here in the States, Sundre and Vernon up in Canada) as well as catch up on our previous hometown of Portland. Our housesits averaged 4-5 weeks, except Portland where we were able to stay for three months last summer.

It's only June but we're already starting to think about what to do post-November, and housesitting has come up as an opportunity once again. Over the months we've heard many questions about how this whole housesitting thing works so we thought we'd answer a few FAQs, share our perspective on housesitting pros and cons, and (for those who are interested) offer some tips to get started.

That's a lot for just one blog post, so here's part one - FAQs and pros/cons...

~~~~~ FAQs ~~~~~

How did you find opportunities? Our Honolulu and Sundre housesits were at friends' places. We found all of the others through Housecarers.com. For a small annual fee, you post your profile, housesitting preferences (length of stay, animal care experience, etc), a few references, and some pictures.

At that point you can search listings and message potential hosts who have posted ads describing their housesit opportunity. Hosts can also review profiles and reach out to you before they even post a listing - this is how we got our Portland gig.

awww... miss that sweet boy Rusty

Housecarers.com also allows you to set up notifications for postings in your geographic area of interest or general time frame, which is great because the sooner you reply to a posting, the better your chances.

(Trusted Housesitters is the other web site we're sort of familiar with... I honestly can't remember why we chose Housecarers over Trusted Housesitters at the time.)

Where are the opportunities? It seemed that most of the opportunities under Housecarers.com were in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, which was perfect for us. A quick scan of Trusted Housesitters indicates that they might have a slightly wider geographic area. Definitely do your research on this before signing up for one site or the other - or just cover your bases and sign up for both. The membership costs are pretty minuscule compared to the money you'll save in the long run.

How long are the opportunities? Durations range anywhere from a single weekend to 6 months or more, with many other options in between. Sometimes hosts indicate that they don't know when they'll be back - lucky them!

What were the general responsibilities? All responsibilities should be clearly laid out in the host's posting. Feeding pets, walking dogs, watering plants/gardens, putting out the trash and recycling... Not burning the house down... Enjoying local hikes, supporting neighborhood cafes, taking advantage of the host's ample reading library or music collection or home fitness center... Those simple tasks were common across all our housesits.

Other tasks vary by your experience or ability. Because of our previous farm experience, we cared for chickens during two housesits and helped with farm chores during another housesit. Some opportunities we've seen don't involve pets at all. Others we've seen require more significant garden or home care.

with chickens come eggs... so there's that!

Did you get paid? Nope. (See "cons" below.) One host gave us a few ample gift cards to local stores, and another host who required a bit more animal care offered to pay us a small stipend but given their enormous vegetable garden that we had full access to, we declined.

As an aside, there are paid housesitting gigs out there... if you know where to find them, please let us know!

~~~~~ Pros ~~~~~

You'll see more off-the-beaten-path places. Sure, we stayed in a thriving little neighborhood in Melbourne and a familiar neighborhood in Portland. But we also stayed in a quiet farmhouse in Corvallis and a quiet farmhouse in Sundre. And Vernon, British Columbia? Have you heard of this place?

Getting to and from successive housesits also took us through Montana, Calgary, Vancouver, Bellingham - places we've never been able to spend much time in the past.

Kootenai Falls suspension bridge - Libby, Montana

(But, that's something to consider - do you have transportation to get you places? Hosts may not be willing to pick you up, and once you get there, can you get around?)

You really live like the locals. We volunteered throughout the summer in Portland. We attended the annual Ukrainian Christmas party and junior league hockey games along with our neighbors in Vernon. We hiked almost all 38 miles of trails in Moran State Park on Orcas Island.

the west really IS the best

We shopped at thrift stores and farmer's markets, and sought out free events and good beer, everywhere we went. Basically, we transplanted how we lived in Portland for five years into each housesitting opportunity. It was awesome.

You can find longer-term opportunities, making leftovers a possibility. After living meal-to-meal for so long, believe me - this was HUGE. We froze pesto and berries in Portland. We dried heaps of tomatoes, apples, and pears in Corvallis. We made a surplus of wontons in Vernon. We enjoyed waffles for days and days on Orcas. HUGE.

wonton soup for you!

You get your pet fix without the long-term time and expense commitments of having a pet. We loved all our "temporary pets" - they all had their quirks, but they were all pretty sweet and we have fond memories of all of them. And? We were happy to have our freedom back when we left the housesit. (But we'd go back to each housesit in a heartbeat!)

You get to travel and settle down at the same time. Generally speaking, medium-term housesitting was a great way for us to take a breather and regroup after two years of international travel. It also gave us the dual benefit of roaming around and settling in for a few weeks, so it was a gentler transition back to a more sedentary lifestyle.

~~~~~ Cons ~~~~~

You still spend money. We got by on about $13/person/day while housesitting. (It doesn't sound like much on a day-to-day basis, but eight months equated to just under $6000, which is quite a bit when you are living off a travel budget with no income to replenish it!) We have no regrets about the money we've spent while housesitting but we definitely see that doing this long-term would be a much better arrangement for travelers who work from the road.

Locations can be isolating. This could be great if you're traveling solo while writing the next great American novel, but not-so-great if you crave social regular interaction. (Groceries and gas are also more expensive in the remote areas... just something to consider.)

It may not be as flexible as it sounds. Depending on the pet, you may not be able to get away for day or overnight trips - dogs have to be walked and fed, sometimes cats are on schedules too. And farm animals are definitely on a schedule!

We missed out on a few very intriguing hiking and sightseeing opportunities due to pet schedule limitations, but that's okay - they would've cost additional money, and now we have a reason to go back to those places someday.

It can be dreadfully boring at times. And I repeat: "Let's housesit in the mountains for the holidays!" "Seeing that part of Canada in the winter will be great!" "Getting snowed in, watching movies and reading books all day, hanging out in the hot tub - it'll be fun!" ... said no sane person ever.

I suppose it sounds awesome if you work 40+ hours a week, 50 weeks out of the year, but after one week of our five-week Vernon stay, I was done.

Your hosts' priorities may not match yours. Cleanliness, energy efficiency, recycling, how the hosts have equipped their kitchen... These have all been minor issues as we've gone from home to home.

For me, the cookware was the biggest challenge. We ended up traveling with multiple coffee pots and basic kitchen supplies, which took up more car space than one would expect!

~~~~~ Up Next ~~~~~

So there's some food for thought... Our next post will feature some tips for those of you considering this as a way to extend travel or just to see another part of your home state or country for a little while. If you've tried housesitting and have anything to add, please leave a comment!

Almost eight months of housesitting on $13/person/day.

Housesitting does not equal "free" - well, not the way we've done it, anyway. There are paid housesitting gigs all around the world, but we weren't quite sure how to find them so we opted for Housecarers.com opportunities.

You can certainly save a lot of money housesitting through sites like this but you still pay for groceries, gas, personal expenses - pretty much everything you'd normally pay for with the exception of rent. Sometimes you get lucky and the hosts have a lovely garden and/or laying chickens, which can help to offset your grocery bills. Oftentimes, hosts give you free reign over their oils and spices (and various other foodstuffs), which helps too. And one of our hosts gave us a nice gift certificate to a local market. But for the most part, you're on your own.

When we arranged our first housesit in Portland last year, we didn't actually set a maximum budget because we didn't have a clue about how long we'd be doing it post-Portland. We figured that when we ran out of travel budget money, we'd get jobs... Or something.

That said, Canada's average of $28/day seemed like a reasonable target to shoot for (mainly because we put so much effort into developing that budget three years ago and I wanted to get a little more use out of it!). So we shot for it in Portland, and then Corvallis, and then Alberta and British Columbia, and finally on Orcas Island. I think we did pretty well.

Anyway, here's the lowdown...

Initial budget: $28/day
Actual cost: 220 days at $5775 ($26/day, $13/person/day)

not my best work

• Groceries: $2059 - about $10/day for both of us, also roughly what we spent internationally whenever we had regular access to a kitchen
• Alcohol: $1142 - about the cost of a pint a day, also known as our running average when the beer is good
• Transportation: $998 - gas and car insurance
• Meals: $266 - mostly eating out in Portland, which was mostly lunches or happy hours
• Gear: $441 - minor car upgrades to hold all our crap (like the roof rack), random housesitting supplements (like a coffeemaker for Portland and used board games from thrift stores), winter clothes for Alberta and BC
• Entertainment: $508 - rainy day matinee movies, a few concerts, a few happy hours with friends, minor league hockey games in Canada
• Miscellaneous: $359 - toiletries we never know how to classify, gifts for friends, and important things like eye exams, driver's license renewals and library fines (ahem Patrick)

This is not exact. It doesn't include the transportation and lodging costs to get to our housesit gigs, our mobile phone costs, gear and groceries we purchased between housesits, and random other housesitting-related bits and pieces. (It should include these but I'd already made the pie chart when I realized this. A rough estimate of these costs would be about $1500, with mobile phones accounting for more than half of that.)

We definitely spent more (percentage-wise) on groceries, alcohol and entertainment during our housesits than during the times we stayed with family and friends between housesits, or just about any other time during our travels. Part of that was due to being in new towns and wanting to enjoy the local fare and fun; part was due to having lots of free time to try new recipes requiring random ingredients that we still have; and part of it was because housesitting really can be quite boring sometimes (at least for us - more on that in the next post).

Other fun housesitting facts...

• New dog friends made: 7

Ruby & Rusty

 

 

Danny

Jack and Willie!

 

Obi & Roxy 

• New cat friends made: 4

 

Boston

 

Felix

 

Oscar

 

Ziggy 

• Miles traveled: about 1750

 our least meandering route yet!

• Miles hiked: a shamefully low 40, mostly on Orcas Island... but we did run a lot in Portland!

We got a taste of housesitting in Melbourne and Honolulu in 2014, and a good dose of it over the last eight months. We're happy to have a break from it but we'd absolutely consider it again! Like WWOOFing, camping, and just about any other means of travel, housesitting isn't for everyone. One day soon I'm going to post a FAQ as well as some of the housesitting pros and cons from our perspective... If you have a specific question, feel free to leave a comment here and I'll try to answer it in the upcoming post!

Friday five: amazing Orcas Island.

Orcas Island is one of those places that Pacific Northwest people gush about. I mean, seriously gush. Don't get me wrong, I hear that all of the San Juan Islands are nice, but there's something about Orcas that makes people actually gush.

So naturally, when I saw the housesit ad last summer I immediately pounced. We exchanged a few friendly, funny emails with the host, and a few days later she made us the offer. (I may have squealed when I read her email. I may have also done a brief happy dance.)

From that point, whenever we'd mention to people that we'd be on Orcas for a month in February, their eyes would pop and huge grins would appear on their faces. (See? Gush.) We wouldn't be there for whale migrations, and we wouldn't have expendable budgets for eating out or whatever else people with jobs do when they visit Orcas - dolphin tours? sailing? - but we knew this would still be something special.

It was even more special that this would be our last housesit for the foreseeable future. And because we were watching three pretty self-sufficient cats and our host was very generous in letting us stay a few days before and after her trip, we had plenty of time to explore the island.

Here are our top five recommendations whether you have a weekend or an entire season to explore this beautiful part of the world...

1. Take a hike. Moran State Park offers 38 miles of beautiful trails, several waterfalls, many lakes, and hundreds of ginormous mossy trees. Trails are flat, steep, windy, long, short - there's something for everyone.

Cascade Falls

how could I not?

Cold Springs trail

As the story goes, the land for Moran State Park was donated to Washington State in 1921 by former Seattle mayor and shipbuilder Robert Moran. In the early 1900s, at age 47 Moran was mentally and physically exhausted, and his doctors thought he would die of heart disease. Moran sold his business and chose Orcas Island as the place to live the last few months of his life... where he recovered and lived to the ripe old age of 86. A fine lesson for us all, eh?

Cavern Falls

 

 Mountain Lake loop

Daily passes are $10 so we invested in the $30 annual Washington State Park pass, and we definitely got our money's worth just from our visits to Moran State Park. I'm pretty sure we hiked almost all 38 miles and there's only a small stretch of steep trail underneath power lines that we wouldn't recommend (only because it's tediously boring compared to the other 37 park miles, but mountain bikers should totally check it out!).

And although Turtleback Mountain Preserve is much smaller, its 8 miles of hikes are truly stunning.

we can see Canada!

(or maybe the Olympics - it's easy to get turned around up there)

the most perfectly placed bench we've seen in three years

Turtleback's small parking areas, more remote location, and limit on group size (15 or more requires an advanced call to the Land Bank) all mean you’re far less likely to run into hordes of people on your hike, like you might in Moran. An added bonus for hikers is that bikes are only allowed on even calendar days, and horses on odd calendar days. These restrictions enhance your hiking experience while helping to preserve the land for future generations. And? It's free!

2. Grab a flight. No, not to another island - which you can easily do (if you're one of those people with jobs who visits Orcas). We're talking about an Island Hoppin' Brewery flight.

best partnered with a rainy day 

and a map to plan our upcoming road trip

Unique brews, lively atmosphere, friendly staff, board games at the tables for entertainment. (And yes, by the end of the flight we'd figured out our road trip plan. Managers, take note - beer gets stuff done.)

3. Eat local. There are lots of organic farms on the island and a Saturday farmer's market May-September, but we also recommend picking up some organic produce and grass-fed/free-range meats from Coffelt Farm. This particular farm was sold to the San Juan County Land Bank in 2011 and the nonprofit that now manages the farm works very hard to "demonstrate sustainable, island-scale agricultural practices, promote environmental stewardship, and provide opportunities for education and research, while honoring Orcas Island’s rural heritage" (direct quote from their mission statement). It's a really interesting model for modern agriculture.

The farm hosts events throughout the year as part of its educational component. During our stay on the island, we joined a free farm tour so that we could see the spring babies up close and personal...

four days old 

thirty minutes old

how now, baby brown cow

Coffelt Farm's market stand is open year-round, Tuesday-Saturday from 1-5pm. Products vary by season and availability, but they always have something good on hand. Tell Charly we said hi when you stop by!

4. Birdwatch. We're not birders by any means - the best identification we are routinely capable of is "LBB!" ("little brown bird!"); we'd rather enjoy coffee in our PJs than hit the trails at the crack of dawn to see a "lifer"; and our binoculars stink. But we do love birds, and over 100 species exist on Orcas Island.  

 pileated (aka "Woody") woodpecker

blue heron #1

blue heron #2

(they look so different with their necks stretched out)

plover (I think)

Supposedly there are puffins. We saw no puffins, but we did see bald and golden eagles, falcons, hawks, cormorants, ducks, and a hundred billion elusive American robins. And a few LBBs.

5. Enjoy the view. There will be days when the skies open up and the wind howls, and you just want to sit somewhere with a beer and watch Mother Nature unfold. There will be other days when the skies are so blue and the cove is so calm, and you just want to sit somewhere with a beer and ponder why all the driftwood on the beach doesn't wash away with the gentle but persistent tide.

Either way, the White Horse Pub offers draft pints at happy hour prices 3-6pm. We went a few times during our stay and were pleased to find that Island Hoppin' and Portland's own HUB were on their tap (as well as your usual mainstream beers).

$3 view

Can't vouch for the food there, but who cares? Do you see that view?

Speaking of food, things are a bit pricey on the island so we didn't eat out but we did enjoy a coffee and pastry from Brown Bear Baking (yum). We also gave tofu waffles a try (needs more experimentation but I love the concept), I discovered Alton Brown's waffle recipe (highly recommend!), and Patrick tried his hand at baking bread (he's a natural, my work here is done).

So yes, our last housesit for the foreseeable future could not have been more perfect.

Well, that's not completely true - the Orcas Island plan didn't really include east coast family emergencies, but as the wise Mike Tyson once said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Such is life. Patrick got several weeks of solo time during my mouth punch, which was good for him, and I got a beautiful retreat after an especially crappy start to 2016, which was good for me.

And we got to hang out in a lovely house (and sometimes, also a tiny house!) with three ridiculously sweet cats.

shy Ziggy

not-so-shy Oscar

fat Felix in his favorite pose

More photos of all of this here. We're definitely going out on a high note with this housesit...

Time for one last road trip as we round down this phase of our little three-year-and-counting adventure. Camping along the cold, rainy Pacific Northwest coast in February with the least amount of gear we've ever carried - what could possibly go wrong?

A southern detour.

I had to make an unexpected trip to North Carolina right before our British Columbia housesit ended in mid-January. After three weeks here, I must admit that while the flatlands of Rocky Mount pale in comparison to the snow-capped Canadian Rockies, the southern hospitality has definitely been a welcome change from Vernon's unpleasant vibe!

If you've never experienced southern hospitality, here's how it works: Men go out of their way to open doors for me. People chat with me in the grocery store line (and several folks have insisted that I go ahead of them when I had fewer items than they did). "Sir," "Ma'am," and "pardon me" are the norm. Folks I pass on the street look me in the eye, ask "how you doing?", and actually wait for a response. People will "bless you" for just about any reason. (This is not to be confused with "bless your heart," which basically means "you're an idiot.") Driving around town I haven't been honked at once for not going as soon as the light turned green, and four-way stop signs have usually involved lots of waving.

In addition to acclimating to this southern hospitality, I've had to adjust to the southern accent. Dad has a bit of a southern drawl and most of Mom's extended family in Maryland use common southern words and phrases, so I know what a "clicker" is and what someone means when they're "fixin' to" do something, and that sort of thing. But my family's accents are not as strong as the ones down here and I've definitely had to tune my ear.

(And then for added fun, one weekend my Jersey cousins came down to visit and I had to tune my ear again...

(stolen from Google, source unknown)

And then for even more added fun, Dad and I took a weekend trip up to Maryland where I could understand everyone just fine, but extreme rudeness, terrible drivers, and expensive gas prevailed. Seriously, how do you Marylanders do it?)

This is the most time I've spent in North Carolina to date, and although I could never live here myself I can see why northerners flock south. My only beef with the state so far is that they have no idea how to deal with inclimate weather. My visit coincided with Snowpocalypse 2016, and half the state shut down for a few days.

ice, ice baby

Granted, you could say the same about Portland... But to be fair, Rocky Mount's fallen-tree-branch-due-to-ice-storm collection service was pretty darned efficient. Definitely can't say that about Portland!

Speaking of Portland, they keep it weird in Rocky Mount and the surrounding areas, too.

at Good Old Boys Flea Market -
the Pot Man asked me to share this picture widely

queued for next week:
"road to hell paved with unbought stuffed dogs"

Whirligig Park, Wilson

And on the food note, if you find yourself in the area and hungry, the barbecue in Rocky Mount isn't so great but the Highway Diner, El Tapatio, and Mama's Pizza more than make up for that.

Anyway. While I tended to some family things on the east coast, three cute cats and a lovely little house on Orcas Island, WA were awaiting our attention. As soon as our Vernon housesitting hosts got back, Patrick made his way over to Vancouver and then down to Washington to our final housesit for the foreseeable future.

Along the way he enjoyed some sights...

Vancouver's Chinatown

Bellingham's Big Rock Garden

the west coast's Pacific Ocean

... and some tastes.

some of Vancouver's finest

some of Bellingham's finest

He also met up with fellow travelers Gillian and Jason of One Giant Step - thank you again for your hospitality, new friends! I'll meet you somewhere, someday.

In a few days I'll join Patrick on the west coast for the rest of our Orcas Island housesit. Looking forward to some nice hikes, lots of cat time, and that lovely Pacific Northwest winter weather - adjusting to this bright and sunny sky here in North Carolina has probably been my biggest acclimation!