Day Six. This post is a day late because Blogger was going through a few maintenance issues it seems. But since Blogger allows to edit the post date, this entry will be shown under 5/12 date. Back to the road trip…

After arriving near Kenmore (which is home to Bastyr University, the reason for our coming to Washington state), we grabbed dinner in a restaurant within a two minute walk from our hotel. It was, as per usual, raining so we ran through the sky water to replenish ourselves before turning in for the night.
The next morning, we woke up in a relaxed manner, mom and dad scanning the internet and researching the next stages in our journey a little before going to get hot water from the breakfast bar so we could assemble oatmeal and Irish tea.
Then it was off to Bastyr!

Driving through the towns that surround Bastyr, which has a small campus set in a national park. Pardon the lines, I was photographing through the back window of the car.

Once we parked the car in visitor parking at the university, we made our way to the admissions office. We got lucky and when we were in the admissions office, a student completing her masters in a very similar program to what I want to study (oriental medicine and herbalism to start) at Bastyr happened to be free enough to take us around campus and explain about the school. 

The picture was taken by dad on a hill over looking the inner campus, dorms (which are the buildings in the upper right area), and gardens that the university uses to teach. 

Another dad picture, looking back from the same hill at the university's buildings which houses all classrooms, labs, cafeteria, and offices of staff and faculty. The university is incredible. I am very much looking forward to studying here. The atmosphere is relaxed yet centered around education in natural practices and healing. Our kind guide took the five of us all around the school. She brought us to classrooms and we got to see class in session. She guided us to the basement floors where most of the labs are located and we got to peek into the herbal medicine lab where I would apparently be spending a large part of my time when I transfer top Bastyr. 

After the labs, we got to see the bookstore on campus, the cafeteria (which smelled incredibly delicious) where we picked up a snack while discussing what we had learned on the tour. We were shown the gardens that are grown between the university buildings and dorms. There are gardens specifically for students with nutrition majors; gardens for cultivating medicinal herbs used to teach N.D. (doctor of naturopathic medicine, another goal of mine) students, herbalism students, etc. The grounds are astoundingly beautiful, surrounded by forests and reachable by a long, winding drive that leads to the secluded school. Luckily, we visited on a relatively clear day. Only large, white, fluffy clouds hung in the sky which was bright blue.

Walking to the dorms. Since there was one dorm without a current occupant, our guide let us in to see what the dormitories look like.

Inside the empty dorm. This is the bathroom, and each bedroom has its own bathroom (thankfully not a public bathroom!). The bedrooms and bathrooms are private, while the rest of the dormitory (living room, kitchen, laundry) is shared between the residents.

The bedroom. Furniture is provided with the room, but such things like linens have to be brought to school by the student. The room itself is quite large. It has cabinets and closets--plenty of space.

The hallway and a partial shot of one of the two laundry stations. The inside of the dorms it very interesting, as is the outside architecture. Wood everywhere!

The kitchen and living area. There are two refrigerators, and as the guide explained, there used to be only one, but since most if not all students at Bastyr like to cook, one was just not enough. There are two stoves, a large freezer and a lockable, private cabinet for each student living in the dormitory. There are eleven dorms on campus and each buildings houses up to twelve students.

During the tour of Bastyr, our guide said that we should absolutely visit the clinic where the N.D. students get clinical training under supervision of naturopathic physicians, since it was the deciding factor for her.

Driving there, we passed through more quite towns that sit along a lake near to the university, called Lake Washington.

The streets are all lined with beautiful trees, some blooming, others leafing out.

The local tattoo parlor.

The neighborhoods in the area.

After arriving at the Bastyr Center (university clinic), we left the boys in the car, and mom, dad and I entered the building. I was not sure what to expect, but we walked in and talked to teh receptionist staffing the front desk. She said that the clinic was in the middle of changing shifts and she was not sure if anyone was free to take us around the clinic, but we should just sit in the waiting room and she'd see what she could do. And within a few minutes, an N.D. student five weeks from graduating came out and introduced herself. We would be our guide around the clinic and explain how the teaching clinic worked, what it was like to be a student there, and the kind of work they did (equipment used, how the clinic is operated, etc.). 

  The clinic was just as amazing as the university. We got to see exam rooms, rooms where supervising physicians and students discuss the day's cases, the different methods of treatment, the dispensaries (Chinese medicine and naturopathic), and classrooms onsite at the clinic.

  She explained how "team care" works, which is that a four-year student and third-year student examine and interview the patient and halfway through the interview the supervising physician enters and helps finish the examination so that the students improve their skills. It was incredibly interesting to see Bastyr Center since I've imagined it so many times. 

After leaving the clinic, we headed to a cafe nearby for the days coffee break. We ended up caffeinating ourselves at a small cafe named, Kuma Coffee (kuma meaning the Japanese word for bear). 

And even though we had planned on staying two days in Seattle, everyone decided that they really did not want to go back to downtown Seattle, and then after Bastyr we would just head to Oregon.

Departing from Kuma Coffee, we set the navigation, and turned the Explorer in the direction of Oregon. Weaving our way through a little bit of traffic, those of us in the passenger seats gazed out at the distant mountains.

A view of Seattle, and the Space Needle towering over the city below, from the highway as we drove away.

 Looking back at Seattle's skyline.

  Piles of logs awaiting the transformation into paper, or so we assume since a paper mill was next to the stockpiles.

Crossing into Oregon from Washington in the middle of a bridge.

Oregon's beauty.

Lastly we arrived in Astoria, near the landing place of Lewis and Clark on their journey starting from St. Lewis, Illinois. The picture above is the view from our hotel room that looked out over the water. All those polls standing above the water's surface were once docks.

A large ship passed by the restaurant we were enjoying our meal at just as the sun was setting and created the silhouette of the ship against the setting sun's sky.

Dinner that night. Eating vegan is a little difficult when traveling through the middle of America. But now that we are finally on the west coast, most restaurants have vegan options or a menu that can be made vegan by substituting ingredients. Traveling in Oregon is definitely easier.

Next is on to Portland, stopping along the way at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park and perhaps a small town on the coast dubbed Seaside. 

じゃあね！