Here’s the first half of a travel piece that asks a riddle; know what whales and blackberries have in common? Me, neither. If you figure it out, write in and tell me, okay?             

                        

                                Blackberries and Whales? (Part One)

After flying in to see son Craig in Seattle, Ruthie and I broke away and drove our rental car south to visit with her older brother, Rich, and wife Cecilia in Vancouver, WA. It was mid-August, the coast’s prime growing season, and lining both sides of the road were patches of wild blackberries so loaded with fruit the branches bent to the ground. Prior visits had made believers of us berry lovers that these kind were the tastiest we’d ever had. Now running more hog wild than ever, they were doubly enticing.

I burst out, “Look at them all! The highway department can’t keep up with cutting them back!” No sooner said when our tires scrunched a berry-covered creeper stretched onto the pavement. Gawking from side to side, I swerved a couple times.

Ruthie tapped my shoulder.  “Dear, zigzagging the whole way to my brother’s place is a no-no. Let’s just stop and pick some.”

We’d known enough to bring buckets and quicker than it takes to tell it we were snatching up blackberries with both hands.

Scratched from neck to ankles in a tangle of brambles and caring less, I held up my bucket and crowed, “Bet I’ve got a gallon already!”

At least this much in her own, she laughed, “Looks like they’re mostly on your face and t-shirt!”

Same as her, I had eaten one for every two I picked, just messier is all. But we were exactly alike in one thing, anyway; not being scared off by their prices in those little-bitty boxes at the store.

She frowned. “But we’re not showing up with you all stained, so change, okay?”

I probably sounded like a six year-old, “C’mon sweetie, they’re as nuts for these as we are! That huge patch in their back yard will have them stained when we get there!”

When we did they weren’t, but Rich laughed, “Gibber, once back from where we’re taking you guys, I’ll look worse than you. There’s patches coming and going!”          They wanted to show us this incredible lighthouse they had been to last month. Next eyeing my shirt, Cec wagged a finger at me a half second before Ruthie did. “But Berry Boy we’re not going anyplace ‘til you change that thing!”

Before long we were at Cape Disappointment, famous for its lighthouse high atop a rock promontory above the mouth of the Columbia River. After climbing the lighthouse stairs to the top, we were met by guide Barbara.

She told us, “The winter winds can get up to 160 mph. here and have caused lots of shipwrecks.” She pointed to where the mighty Columbia spread out even wider into the Pacific. “Many of them are still down there from years ago. Even a ways inland the winds are strong enough to make it the wind-surfing capitol of the world.”

After coming down, we went to the overlook. Rich said, “When we were here last month she said that whales are out there pretty often. We didn’t see any that time, but stay ready with the binoculars.” 

Fascinated by these great, intelligent creatures, I had never seen any except on the Discovery channel. Eagerly scanning our little corner of the Pacific, I jerked up. “I think I see some-maybe a whole pod!” My so-called pod was quite a ways out and obscured by large, choppy waves. Still, whatever-they-were sure looked like humpbacks spouting and diving out there.  

                       

                   “No, people, open your eyes! They're way bigger than porpoises!”  

(Wow, how exciting! Find out more with Part 2!)