We chose the Clearwater Casino because Nigel stayed there this past summer for a work-related off-site meeting, and befriended the manager, who told him if he came again for a personal stay to let her know by email and she would get him a good rate. Well, he did and she did, basically she gave us the same group rate that the work-related off-site received -- $105 for a lovely room!
The hotel is located in back of the casino, and unlike many casino hotels, you don't have to exit and enter through the casino, which is very nice, because it means you don't have to deal with the casino crowds and noise and smoke-filled air. It's also very nicely landscaped, with garden beds that are colorful and well-tended, and right on the water facing Bainbridge Island.
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| The hotel entrance -- to the left and right behind those pillars is a sweet little water feature |
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| The bar and breakfast area -- breakfast was complimentary |
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| At the back of the hotel is a large garden area, which contains a fire ring where they have a real log fire every evening. |
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| The back of the hotel |
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| The pool and jacuzzi are in the low building on the left |
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| Looking out onto the Agate Pass, the tidal strait that separates Kitsap County and Bainbridge Island |
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| This tall, impressive totem pole was originally part of the Northgate Mall in North Seattle, and was moved here and refurbished a couple of years ago. |
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| I think that sculptural tree against the sky is a Pacific madrona, Arbutus menziesii. The archway leads down some stairs to the very rocky beach. |
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| Colorful Begonias, not exactly cutting edge, but pretty nonetheless. |
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| Can you see Nigel way down there in the distance? This covered walkway leads to the casino. |
Instead of driving home down the west side of the Sound, we decided for fun to take the ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle, then pick up I-5 there.
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| Seattle as we set off from Bainbridge Island |
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| The Seattle skyline as it gets nearer |
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| The Coast Guard and the Space Needle |
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| The Seattle Great Wheel against the skyline |
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| Heading toward the dock |
I'm sure you'll never guess what I was doing while Nigel was playing blackjack. Go ahead, guess...Oh, never mind, you know what I was doing. Plant shopping, of course. It was the last hurrah before the end of the gardening season for several small nurseries on the Kitsap Peninsula, and so I was making the rounds, from Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend to Valley Nursery in Poulsbo to Dragonfly Farms and Celestial Dream Gardens in Kingston, as well as one that was new to me, Bainbridge Gardens on Bainbridge Island. I also visited my friend Debbie Teashon, who created and manages the website Rainyside.com, at her new job as garden center manager for a Kingston hardware store called Henery's.
More on that in a future post.
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| The Plantmobile Junior with my weekend haul |
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| An Endless Summer Hydrangea from Valley Nursery. I had to move the suitcase halfway through the day, onto the back seat, so that I could fit more plants into the hatchback space. |
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Are you wondering about the misspelling of birthday in my blog post title? That's kind of an in joke between Nigel and me. It refers to the tendency of Cockney speakers to pronounce "th" as "f." In fact, there's an ethnic joke, which Nigel told me many years ago, that depends on that for its humor. If you don't like ethnic jokes, then just skip this next part.
A Cockney fella is applying for a job.
"What's your name?"
"Arfur."
"What's your last name?"
"Smiff."
"How old are you?"
"Firty-free."
"Can you spell that for me?"
"Ye can't, mate, it's a bleeding number."
Nigel himself is from Yorkshire originally, although he grew up all over England. His parents, however, grew up in Yorkshire, and had working class Northern accents, which occasionally was problematic for me, an American. If you're wondering what that sounds like, the actor Christopher Eccleston's natural accent is Northern (although he's from Lancashire.) If you've followed the new incarnation of Doctor Who, you may remember that when Billie Piper's character Rose first meets the Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, she wonders why he has a Northern accent if he's an alien. He says, "Lots of planets have a North."
Or, if you're Cockney, "Norf."
