Langley City

July 10, 2023

Coincidentally, today’s Washington Post included this front page feature article about the terrible waiting times for obtaining a new or renewing passport in our country now. Overwhelmed by the deluge of applications by folks desperate to travel again after the pandemic years, the agency can’t keep up with demand. Standard wait times are up to 12-13 weeks now, folks are advised to apply for renewal a half year before their planned travel date, and in-person rush appointments are in short supply. We were lucky to have gotten one

And wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, it all worked out for us. There were no adverse surprises at the last minute, and both our passports were there and waiting for us today at the will call window. It’s what was expected of course, but we both felt like a large weight had been removed from our shoulders when we had them in our hands. We’re going to Canada! And even more importantly, we’re going to Spain!

Plenty of time! What were we worried about?

Before that though, we stop in for a visit with dad. We last saw him in March, just before we left for Sicily. We have a good long visit down in the lounge, mostly listening while he retells us many of his favorite stories, some of which we just heard over the phone a week earlier. Afterwards he takes us up to his new apartment for a tour before it comes time to move on. We have an appointment at the passport agency, and even though dad’s doing really well at 94, after a two hour visit he’s ready for a break.

Dad downsized significantly in the move to his new apartment and had to be selective about what came with him. Photos, some of mom’s art works, his favorite westerns (he has a whole shelf of Clarence Mulfords). I was pleased to see that this made the cut.

His five musical instruments made the cut too. This is Dad’s Gibson banjo. He got it second-hand in his youth, and figures it must be about a century old.

We got an early start on the day, leaving Portland just past seven. Traffic was as good as it ever gets almost all the way up, the interaction at the passport agency went faster than expected, and the wait at the border is under five minutes. It’s just turning four when we drive up to our hotel in Langley City, an acceptable but unremarkable accommodation attached to a casino. It’s not the sort of place we’d usually stay, but the location is convenient and the price is right in a city with expensive rates.

An hour later we’re out the door on our way to an acceptable but unremarkable Greek restaurant, a place that serves up portions large enough that Rachael has enough leftover salmon and sides for a dinner and a breakfast. Afterwards we stop off at a nearby neighborhood park for a couple of mile walk before returning to the room for an early lights out.

A glaucous-winged gull, a better look than we got at this species back in Portland. Up here, probably 90+ percent of the gulls we’ll see are this bird.

A red-shafted flicker. When I was growing up and learning the local birds, this was a separate species. Somewhere since then though this and the yellow-shafted flickers have been reclassified as two subspecies of the Northern flicker.

The goal of our short walk was Bryson Lagoon, which on the map looks like a fair sized pond on Nickomeki Creek and a spot that might have some bird life waiting to be observed. And maybe it does, at the right time of year when it’s not so overgrown.

Northwestern Crow, another species I learned growing up that’s been lost to the classification wars. This one’s a really recent casualty, reclassified as a subspecies of the American crow just two years ago.

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