We got up around 8:30A and got showered before heading down to have the expected barely edible breakfast. Despite the pandemic they’re still running their normal self-service buffet with the typical items. It seems like folks in Washington are a bit more relaxed in masking than we're used to. We don’t get into the elevator without ours, and we kept ours on while serving ourselves food, removing them only to eat. However, most of those entering the buffet area were sans mask the whole time. At least WA’s governor has been as pro-mask as we’re used to, so we’re hopeful that most residents are fully vaxxed.
After breakfast we returned to our room as we’d agreed with the boys that they’d contact us when they were awake and ready to (perhaps) tour the WWU campus. We were expecting to hear from them around noontime, so I took advantage of the lull to change our Uhaul reservation from a truck to a pickup. Had a quick look at what Robert needs to move and the pickup + car should be more than adequate. Also used the morning time to catch up on these notes.
At noon, still not having heard from the boys, E sent a message and discovered Robert was up and about, but Andrew and Ashley’s status was unknown. We sent word that we’d come over around 12:45 and we’d head out for a campus walk and lunch. The walk was first. There were a couple of large groups in sight when we started, leading Ashley and Robert to theorize that the Summer Start sessions might be underway. We enjoyed a leisurely stroll through central campus before returning to the car. Sadly, with the gray, smoky skies the campus didn’t show as well as might be hoped, so Andrew didn’t experience the environment at its best. It wouldn’t be a shock if this imperfect introduction to the campus means that it is forever excluded from his list of future college options.
We then headed downtown to Robert’s favorite food spot – a small shop serving Russian meat and/or potato dumplings. That’s it. This is apparently a Bellingham institution. In many ways, Robert likened it to Taco Bravo (although clearly much cleaner and serving “real” food rather than greasy tacos). The curry-sprinkled dumplings are served with a small piece of quite good rye bread, (optional) cilantro, sour cream, and hot sauce. Quite tasty – and also surprisingly dense. Easy to stuff oneself full!
We drove back in such a way as to pass the outside of Robert’s soon-to-be apartment before making a quick stop at the place where we’re renting the Uhaul pickup (a self-storage place) in order to pickup a few packing boxes and tape before returning to their apartment. A list of items to be acquired at Fred Meyer was assembled, than E and I left to head back to the hotel while Robert and Andrew were to tackle quick(?) disassembly of Robert’s desk.
We gathered again for dinner, which this evening was a meal at Skylark’s Hidden Café in the Fairhaven district. The kids hadn’t been there, so this was new for everyone. We had a nice time, although there was nothing particularly special about the meal. Due to kitchen timing problems our dinners came out alongside our appetizers, which was a bit disappointing. Eating outside was quite lovely, however. After-dinner we walked about a block away to a favorite Gelato spot of Robert and Ashley and gorged ourselves on ENORMOUS double scoops of tasty dessert. We dropped the kids back at the apartment around 9P and headed back to our hotel for the night.
And now a digression, to get to the bottom of something really important. Let’s talk toilet seats. The hotel had high-tech toilet seats, complete with heaters, spraying and oscillating water, and blow dryers. I’ve certainly seen these online before, but had never experienced one before first-hand…so to say. And now that I’ve tried it? No. Just no. There are some things that technology isn’t meant to assist (or should that be ass-ist?) and toilet hygiene is high on the list of things I don’t need a machine doing.
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