I feel like I'm processing a lot right now. I turned 46 yesterday, which means today is the first day of my 47th year. I also spent part of my actual birthday with Ivan yesterday, the one friend I have who shares my same birthday (though nine years my junior), and then he left for Victoria this morning. As ever, details of expectations changed: until several days ago, we thought he was just going to be gone for good as of today, when he's off for a couple of weeks traveling around Vancouver Island, followed by a two-week cruise to Alaska from Vancouver (the city) and back. But, just yesterday he messaged me to ask if he can leave "1 or 2" suitcases here until he flies to Philadelphia sometime around June 1, so he wouldn't have to cart three suitcases around Canada and Alaska.

Of course I said it was fine. I also realized then that we will clearly see him again before he heads back East for the next indeterminate amount of time in his life: he'll surely be staying here again for a night or two before flying out. Which is fine too. I never really had a chance to give him a hug goodbye as usual last night, although that was mostly because the only chance was after he had gotten out of the shower and was only in a towel, which clearly made the idea of a hug awkward. I actually waited out in the living room, reading my new library book, until he got out of the bathroom before I went to bed, so I could say goodbye. "Thanks for everything," he said.

Well, he also has this bizarre habit of, for instance, saying he's leaving in the morning at 7:00 when it's really 7:30. More specifically, that was when his Victoria Clipper boat was schedu;ed to leave—which meant he was still at home a bit later than I expected, so he was still zipping up two suitcases when I put on my bathrobe and went out to get my cereal for breakfast this morning. "Hello," he said. "I thought you'd be gone already," I said, and he just said, "Nope." When he headed for the door just a few minutes later, I said, "I thought you were just taking one suitcase?" He said he couldn't fit everything he needed into just one, so he's taking two. At least it's not three, I guess.

We still didn't hug when he said, "Okay. Take care." But, knowing he'll be back briefly at the beginning of June kind of makes a difference. I was also in just my bathrobe when he left this morning. I just hope I get at least one hug before he leaves after his brief pit stop back here in June.

I almost immediately checked the guest room after he left. The pepper spray he's carried around with him everywhere in the U.S. was left behind on the side dresser. I texted him about it and he told me it's illegal in Canada, where, according to him, you can't walk around with any weapons on you at all. (I did not realize this.) I looked inside the closet and that was actually a bit of a surprise, not quite as cleaned out as I had expected. His own bathrobe and a couple of shirts still hung from hangers, and although he did have one suitcase on the floor, it was also surrounded by several random items quite neatly arranged. I don't know what plan he has for that stuff, maybe he plans to fill it with space left after whatever he brought to Canada in the other suitcases has been used up. He also left several toiletries in the bathroom, which are generally usable so that's fine.

Anyway. I'll get back to Ivan and our dinner out last night later. I need to get on with reporting on the rest of the day yesterday, which will take my mind off how surprisingly sad I feel about him being gone today. I'll get over that fairly quickly, I think. Certainly quicker than the last two times he moved out. This can only keep happening over and over so many times before the impact is diminished. I just assumed it was more diminished now than it quite has been, I guess.

* * * * *

I didn't ride a train yesterday, but I did go walk around on one, a vintage steam locomotive built in 1907 and in use apparently every decade of the 20th century. It was at a place called Lake Whatcom Railway, located just past the southeast end of Lake Whatcom, about 18 miles outside of Bellingham.

It kind of almost didn't happen, and there's a bit of a complex story behind its inclusion for my Birth Week, and specifically on my birthday itself. First off, months ago, I did a lot of googling to find "train attractions" of whatever sort all over the Seattle and Puget Sound area. That was how I landed on Lake Whatcom Railway, whose website indicated holiday weekend scenic train rides throughout the year. I am only realizing just now that this would have meant no available train rides this weekend in particular, if they were actually up and running. However, I got even more confused by their "Buy Tickets" web page only referencing 2019 dates.

So, in late February I found their Facebook page and sent them a DM, asking if they were shut down for Covid and if so, would they still be at the end of April, or if they might still be a place of interest to visit even if no train rides were happening. A very nice person responded that they could arrange a visit to tour their locomotive and passenger cars, also giving me the name of the place's owner, Frank, and his phone number.

So, I called Frank on April 11, explaining that I would like to come and tour the facilities on April 30. He took down the date and time (1:00) but asked that I call again the day before, to confirm that we were still coming, concerned about being there to open the gates and then having a no-show.

So this was where things got complicated: I did indeed call Frank on Friday afternoon, but he then asked me to call again between 8 and 9 yesterday morning, because he wasn't sure how he would be feeling. He had a "tickle in his throat," he said, and was going to get some rest and see how he felt the next morning. After a couple of tries I got him on the phone again yesterday morning, and he said he was "sick in bed" and couldn't personally make it, but might be able to find someone else to be there for us. He did ask if we could do it any other day, and in the moment I said I could do Sunday next weekend but wasn't sure if he could because that day is Mother's Day. He asked if I could do later, "or is that too far into May?" I was polite, but I said, "Well, I wanted to do this for my birthday, which is today." So, he said he would call someone and get back to me in a few minutes. In the meantime, I got into the shower.

I realized in the shower that I did have another option, and wanted to call him back and see if it had to be on a weekend, of if there were any chance he could do it on Wednesday—Shobhit and I could go to the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, which I have planned for Wednesday, as a backup, and then do Lake Whatcom Railway on Wednesday instead? I felt bad for not thinking of that idea during the previous phone call, and by the time he called me back, it was too late for that: he had found another guy, someone named Peter, to be there for us at 1:00. He said he would actually be there at 12:30. So, the trip up there yesterday was a done deal after all.

Shobhit and I decided to leave about an hour early, as he wanted to go into Bellingham first and get some breads at Great Harvest Bakery Co. So, we left shortly after I was done getting ready, which itself was after Shobhit made us both toast and scrambled eggs for my birthday breakfast—thereafter skipping lunch, knowing dinner would be super heavy. We did get some sample olive oil lemon drop bread at the bakery in Bellingham, though. And after the bakery, we stopped at a downtown Bank of America so I could withdraw $50 to offer as a donation to Lake Whatcom Railway for their troubles.

And finally, we drove out to Lake Whatcom Railway, driving past some very pretty scenery as much of the road ran right along the lake itself.

I think when the train actually does scenic rides, it might ride by the lake part of the way too, but, we just went to tour the locomotive and passenger cars where they were parked. That was plenty cool to see and do on its own, honestly, and also offered its own novelty that we'd never have gotten during a standard scenic train ride. The train cars are in an incredibly long train car garage, long enough for us to walk through four connected passenger cars, connected, end to end. Actually one was the sort of ghost of the diner car where they actually sold snacks and refreshments during train runs.

On another track next to it, but also in that garage, was the locomotive steam engine, which we also got to climb up, which was very cool. This was when I learned the train was manufactured in 1907, in New Hampshire, near Mount Washington! We couldn't go inside the train cars that were behind the locomotive, which included both a caboose and a passenger car that had been converted into a four-bedroom home complete with living room and kitchen, which Frank and his family apparently lived in for twenty years. Apparently the car is equipped to attach to any Amtrak train if they really wanted, to go anywhere in the country. I don't know how long it's been since Frank lived in it, but I did learn that Frank is now apparently 81 years old.

The guy who showed us around was named Peter, and he seemed kind of old too. He was very hard of hearing and I had to speak really loudly for him to hear me. He was tall and thin and wore a hat that made him look like a train conductor. He seemed so aged on his own, I was shocked when he told me his own birthday was next month (May), and he was turning "the big five-oh." What? I'm only four years younger than that! Jesus Christ. Maybe he's actually about to be sixty and he was joking. He didn't seem to be though.

There was actually another guy with him, which was very helpful for our entire time there, a local real estate agent named Joe who was probably closer to Shobhit's and my age, maybe even younger, perhaps in his late thirties. He was just very interested in trains and has offered his services as a volunteer to help clean up, and hopefully get trains running again by this summer. If they manage that, Shobhit and I will absolutely come back. Frank himself had already said he was sorry he couldn't be there for us, as he wanted to give us a ride on the "motor car," the motorized vehicle used for maintenance that also runs on the tracks, and was parked right in front of the first passenger car we boarded. This wasn't in the cards with just Peter and Joe, apparently. That would have been a lot of fun.

A lot of the cleanup still needed has far less to do with neglect from disuse over pandemic closures, and far more to do with the area's once-in-a-century massive flooding that occurred last fall, which brought in so much dirt and gravel all over the area that portions of railroad track were covered in a couple of feet of it. It was kind of incredible to see.

We actually didn't spend a huge amount of time at Lake Whatcom Railway itself; we arrived at about 12:30 and left around 1:30. So, just about an hour. It was totally worth it, though, and we are both very interested in coming back sometime, especially if they get the scenic train runs online again. I did give Peter my $50, and hopefully he understood it was a donation to Lake Whatcom Railway and not just for him. I may call Frank again just to make sure, and to thank him again for making this happen for us. He had told me on the phone that he said to Peter, "It's his birthday, and you know how important birthdays are to people." (If Gabriel reads this, he'll probably groan so hard his windows will shatter.)

After that, we drove into Anacortes to visit Fidalgo Bay Fudge Co.'s store, which was closed when we were in the area for our day trip up through Whidbey Island on April 10 because it had been a Sunday. We bought way too much fudge, and after 11 blocks of it had been ordered—including two I decided to get as a birthday gift for Ivan—I said we didn't need any of the confections, and then Shobhit also ordered six of those anyway. The cost got so sky high that I rescinded my offer to pay, and said that he had to.

We went to another plant nursery in Mount Vernon, not far from there, and then drove back home, stopping for gas at the Shoreline Costco. Traffic was so heavy we took half an hour to get home just from there, and then we had maybe an hour and a half or so before we were to leave with Alexia and Ivan for our final dinner with all four of us, this time at Saffron Grill.

Right after Shobhit and I first got home, I gave Ivan his fudge, and he also had a birthday gift for me, which I did not expect at all: it was inside a fantastic gift bag plastered with a black and white photo of four hot guys swimming in nothing but briefs. Inside, one of the gifts was amazing to me, as it was as though he had read my mind: I keep wanting to get more hot chocolate from Costco but they don't have it because it's off season. Well, when Ivan last took a weekend trip to Portland, he bought this nice tin of "Golden Milk Hot Chocolate," which also contains ginger and turmeric. It was honestly one of the best gifts he's ever given me, and I was touched he planned so far ahead as to get it for me back when was in Portland. The other two things were eye creamers that made me ask if he was telling me I'm looking old. He just giggled.

Speaking of gifts, Alexia, who offered to drive us in her car to Saffron Grill, brought a card and a gift for both Ivan and me as well, presenting them to us as soon as we sat down—which we did quickly, as I had called ahead to make 7:00 reservations. We each got a very cute card, mine with a huge fat white cat on it that we all agreed was Shanti. The gift Alexia got us both was a box of caramel sea salt truffles from Fran's Chocolates. So Ivan got plenty of sweets for his birthday this year.

Dinner was great, and as you can see below, just as I had at The Marrakesh on Thursday, I asked one of the wait staff to take a photo of us all together. Alexia kept acting even more emotional than I was that Ivan was leaving, which I found kind of odd. It's easy to be fond of Ivan, true, but she hasn't gotten to know him that well.

We ordered five entrees that we all ate family style, except for the okra Shobhit ordered with "level 8" spice, so the rest of us wouldn't eat it. Alexia still took a couple of bites. We were all stuffed by the time we were done, and although to-go boxes were indeed asked for, not a lot of leftovers were still there at the end. All of us but Alexia ordered a cocktail. I had considered their delicious chai but didn't want to be up all night and am about to make some for today's picnic lunch anyway. In fact I'm pressed for time now and need to wrap this up and post it so I can get on with that.

In any case, yesterday was a good day, a good birthday, and it was nice to spend it with the people I spent it with.

[posted 11:05 am]