On the Kingston Ferry

Our traveling is over for a few months  now.  Yesterday was the last day of our cross country, Texas  A&M to Kingston, WA  road trip.  The very last part of our journey involved a ferry ride across the Puget Sound. It was a lovely afternoon, so many of the passengers were out on deck taking in the beautiful scenery and just generally enjoying the ride.

On the upper deck, we met a young man from India who was in the area for a conference, and visited with him briefly.  His name was Ganesh. He was surprised when I knew that Ganesh is the elephant god in Hinduism, and that it represents something like good luck.  He has quite a few Christian friends, though, he said. 

He lives with his family in the Portland area, but has to travel a lot for his job.  He told us that they had tried to live in Dallas, since that is more centrally located and would make his trips shorter.  However, they found that it was very hard to live in Dallas because of the extremes of climate there.  Portland is a beautiful city with a mild climate.  Good choice, actually.

Meeting people like Ganesh is part of what makes travel so interesting.  I would love to visit India someday.  We have many friends and colleagues there, all but one of them Indian nationals from several different parts of the country. 

I wonder if Ganesh will tell his wife that he met a woman on the Kingston ferry who knew that he was named after the elephant god.  Hmmm...