The Savage Traveler: State of Washington 5

Tuesday, August 29—We all got up in a leisurely manner and slowly gathered again on the back deck for breakfast, coffee and conversation. Don died about two month later so this was precious, precious time to be with him for the last time. The Oiens drove back up the peninsula to meet us at the Blue Goose Café along the airstrip at the Port Townsend Airport where we once again ate outdoors on the deck, watching many single engine planes take-off and land. We bid John and the Colemans good-bye and drove towards Tacoma, with a stop at the lovely Elandan Bonsai Gardens, with the world-class bonsai collection and studio of Dan Robinson. We wandered, sometimes singularly and sometimes as a group, among the ponds, waterfalls, sculptures, and lush gardens on the shores of Puget Sound. As we were perusing the Asian themed Gift Shop Dan himself showed up. He took us back out into the garden to talk about his craft and artistry and even did some trimming of a specimen to illustrate his talk. Since Dan has literally written the book on Bonsai-Gnarly Branches, Ancient Trees: The Life and Works of Dan Robinson—it was like a college level workshop introducing us to Bonsai. It made for a memorable respite on our drive to Tacoma.

I didn't get a very good picture of these fine friends. 😒
I think they had all taken a bite of their lunch at the same time.
From the left, that is Marv, Don, Ann Marie, John, Lou, and Janice.

Some of the specimens of bonsai were as old as 1000 years old!

Adding the nooks and crannies to the bonsai is how Dan elevates the skill from craft to art.

This shows how tiny Bonsai are sometimes grouped together.

The oldest specimen in the Garden was over 2000 years old!

Many of the trees had a plaque like this, giving its age, what kind of tree, and where it was gathered.

A close-up of one of the tiny trees.

Dan Robinson highlights the fine points of his art.

We stopped briefly to walk along the Bremerton Boardwalk overlooking the Naval shipyard

Wednesday, August. 30—We had to cram a lot into our final full day in Washington; who knew when we’d be back or when we’d see these dear friends again? We finished our tour of their yard, trying to guess what some of the plants were and envisioning some of the changes they want to make. We also went back down to Stadium High School to tour it on the last day before students returned and it would no longer be accessible. We had a great time wandering the five stories and fancy stairwells and large dining area. It’s a magnificent structure, totally redone and updated in 2014, but retaining the grandeur it was meant to have as a turn-of-the-century hotel. We had had a wonderful visit in Tacoma and could return to East Lansing with good feelings about the area that Janice and Lou have chosen to call home. As for us, we had a fall full of MSU Football games to look forward to, along with a trip to Iceland in October.

Lou flexes his muscles in the kitchen to the amusement of Peggy & Janice

Janice and Lou in the kitchen. They had hardwood floors put throughout the house.

This is the Guest Room where we stayed. We literally "made" our bed
because they had just gotten a frame for the mattress which had sat
upon a blow-up mattress on the floor.

The dining table was replaced at Christmas time with the beautiful
redwood slab table for which we had seen the workshop.

Backyard with patio. They can park their View RV in the long drive beside the house.

Back yard with house

Front patio

Stadium High School sits above the older stadium in Old Woman Gulch

Note the elegant stained glass transoms above the stairwell doors!

Looking up an empty stairwell

A third floor open theater area in the old ballroom for the hotel

The Creative Writing teacher was in his room and spent a lot of time
talking to us about the school and what it took to renovate it. He also was
teaching here when a sizable earthquake hit and told us about
what it took to evacuate the 5 floor building with only four stairwells.