A Visit to the Seattle Seahawks Training Camp

"Quarterback competition" has been the key word in the Seattle Seahawks training camp which has been going on for two weeks now.  Kay Lynne and I visited the training facility yesterday morning accompanied by son Doug who planned and organized the outing.  Many thanks, Doug; it was a most enjoyable time.

Newly signed Matt Flynn (from Green Bay), rookie Russell Wilson (U of Wisconsin) and veteran Tavaris Jackson (last year's starter) are all vying to be the starting quarter back for 2012.  As of today, it looks like Matt Flynn is in the lead, named to start Saturday's game and play the first half.  Wilson will get the nod in the second half.  Same as the first game.  TJack, unfortunately, is rumored to be on the trading block.

I took a few photos, and above are Flynn (15) and Wilson (3) getting ready for a passing drill with several of the top receivers -- Sydney Rice (long hair), Doug Baldwin (89), Deon Butler (11), Golden Tate (81) and Braylon Edwards (17).

Above, in a quarterback drill, Russell Wilson hands off to rookie running back Robert Turbin from Utah State.  He's a tank who can squeeze through small holes with blinding speed.  He should be fun to watch this year.

Above, line coach Tom Cable works with the versatile 300-lb behemoths who make up Seattle's offensive line.  These guys are not only big, but they can move like cats.  Cable teaches each one to play any line position (except center) so he has ultimate versatility and substitution capabilities.  Seattle is expected to give the 49ers a run for the NFC West title -- which may be a daunting task.  We shall see.  Btw, click on any photo to make a larger image.

Three Ancient Jocks Attempt to Conquer Spring Training in Phoenix

POST #1 – Almost A Strike Out on Day One

I can’t remember exactly when we decided to go to Spring Training, but I think it was back in January. Several of us San Jose State college roommates (from back in the late 1950’s) had been emailing about which San Francisco Giants games we wanted to attend this year – something we did initially a few years ago.

Somehow we struck on the idea of going to Spring Training in Arizona where “you can see the teams and players up close,” rather than going to regular season games. After many digital discussions, we picked some dates that seemed to work. The Cubs at the Giants home stadium in Scottsdale last Tuesday afternoon (above photo), the Indians (also at Scottsdale) on Wednesday afternoon, and the Mariners at their home stadium in Peoria against the Giants on Thursday evening. We were happy with the schedule.

The two other guys, Dwight Klassen of Discovery Bay, California, and Joe Medal of San Jose, California are Giants fans of course. I’ve been a Giants fan since the Bobby Thompson home run in 1951 against the Dodgers, which got them into the World Series that year. All three of us lived together in college and have been friends ever since. Our birthdates are separated by only a month, and all of us love every aspect of the incredible game of baseball.

I should point out that we played a fairly high level of organized softball together for almost 10 years after college – not the slow pitch variety that is so popular now, but the fast pitch version where the ball travels nearly as fast as a baseball, but the pitcher’s mound is 20-feet closer to the batter than in baseball. If you blink at the plate, the ball is in the catcher’s glove.

Enough history. We planned to meet in Phoenix at Sky Harbor airport last Tuesday morning about 10:30, which would give us plenty of time to get to Scottsdale by the 1:05 game time. Or so we thought.

I tried calling Dwight’s cell phone as soon as I landed about 10:15. I muttered as the phone message said, “the Verizon customer you are trying to reach is unavailable at this time.” “Where could he be?” I thought. Dwight is not exactly a techno freak, and I immediately wondered if he had forgotten his phone (which has happened before).

I called his wife a bit later when I realized that Dwight and Joe came in at one terminal and I had arrived at another. There was no way we could meet “at baggage” as we had arranged, because each terminal had its own baggage pick up. STRIKE ONE.

I determined that the best chance of meeting up with them (especially if Dwight had no phone) was to take the shuttle bus over to the car rental center and we would likely run into each other there. Wrong. After an hour’s wait, I finally called Dwight’s wife at their home and asked if she knew if he had taken his phone with him. She had no idea, but thought so. So I told her I was at the car rental center in case Dwight called home asking if she’d heard from me. Turns out it was good that I had done so.

I then went over to the car rental agency with whom I knew he had made the reservation and asked if they had a car ready for Klassen. After several minutes of looking, the agent said, “We can’t find a thing under that name.” STRIKE TWO. And it was less than two hours to game time. I was getting very antsy.

Finally, a half hour later, here comes Dwight and Joe, looking frustrated and a bit disheveled. “Where’s your phone? I ask him. “It must have dropped out of my pocket in the car before I walked into the Oakland airport,” he said sheepishly. “I don’t have it.” Fortunately, he had been able to call his wife and find out where I was.

Ok, now to solve the car dilemma. Of course the biggest dilemma was the comedy of misunderstandings, wrong turns and incorrect assumptions made by three old men who used to be able to easily get ‘em out on the ball field. Age is not kind, even to old athletes.

To make a long story short, using my cell phone, Dwight finally tracked down the persons with whom he had made the reservation (a “travel club” with special deals) and we were able to get our car and head towards Scottsdale. In the frustrating process, we learned the rental agency would have been happy to provide us with a car for three days – but at more than $800! Our “club rate” was only $165, so we were pretty freaked until Dwight got it worked out. Amazing how supply, demand and a simple advance reservation can affect the price you end up paying. O yeah, and spelling the customer’s name correctly (they had it under Klaason, not Klassen, so the computer search did not bring it up).

Our buddy Joe just sat contentedly under his large, fedora-like wide-brimmed hat while Dwight and I stewed over the mix-up. Joe is a straightline guy – relatively unaffected by circumstance.

We finally arrived at the stadium just as the National Anthem was being sung. But of course in downtown Scottsdale, there wasn’t a parking place within a half mile of the stadium. We finally found a spot quite a ways away and began the long, slow walk. Tres viejecitos andando mas despacio.

The first good thing that happened to us that day was in the form of a pretty young college gal who was driving a converted golf cart that was carting passengers from their cars to the field. We jumped on, and, later minus $10, arrived at our seats just as the Giants were coming to bat.

The Cubs eventually won, 8-6, but something happened after the game that had NEVER before happened to any of us. We couldn’t remember where we had parked. New city. New ballpark. New streets. Pretty girl driving the golf cart. We were doomed.

For 45 minutes after the game we drove around the stadium area to no avail. We kept explaining to the kind post-game cart driver where we thought the car was, and he would drive there – but our car was nowhere to be seen. Dwight might could be excused as he sat up front next to the young lady, while Joe and I were talking in the back and never paid attention to where we got on the jitney. And I didn’t mark the gps on my phone.

Eventually the after-game driver found the car, based on descriptions of the area we each thought we remembered. Ageing is wonderful in many ways – but not when you’re in a strange place. It was almost STRIKE THREE, but we finally, sheepishly, got in our car and headed for the hotel.

Drive Around and Onto Mt. Rainier Brings Scenes of Beauty Unsurpassed

As long as we’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest, my wife and I had never driven up the road to Mt. Rainier and Mt. Rainier National Park. Yesterday we not only did that, but we also continued on around the back side of the mountain (eastern hemisphere), making a big “loop” as we headed home, and were rewarded with nothing but serendipitous beauty. Above is halo-clouded Mt. Rainier from still snow-laden Reflection Lake. You can click on any photo for a larger, down-loadable image.

We approached the great mountain and National Park from the western entrance, and in so doing, you pass through the little town of Elbe, six miles north of Mineral Lake and about 17 miles west of the Park entrance. It is here where the Mt. Rainier Railroad originates and makes summer weekend trips along rickety tracks to the Lake and back. We passed on the railroad ride and continued up the winding mountain road by car.

But while in Elbe, we stopped to take a photo of a beautiful, little white church for my buddy Ed Wall (who collects same), and to our surprise, not only was it a 105-year-old Evangelical Lutheran Church, but it was also a German Lutheran Church (Ed’s heritage is German). The photo above is the church, with Kay Lynne pleasingly gracing the entrance. (Eddie – if you need a shot sans KL for your collection, let me know, as I have one).

We used our Senior “Golden Pass” to gain free entrance into Mt. Rainier National Park and made our way another 15 miles or so to historic Paradise Inn and its famous restaurant, where we planned to enjoy the scrumptious Sunday Brunch Buffet. They did not disappoint. Below is Kay Lynne by the entrance to the Inn.

Sous chef Newnell had prepared to perfection just about every imaginable breakfast and lunch delicacy. There was more food than the eye (or the stomach) could absorb – salads, pastas, fresh fruits, pastries, blueberry cheese blintzes to die for, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, waffles, salmon/lox, and an array of roasted meats. And that doesn’t even mention the devilish desserts of seemingly infinite variety.

We finally decided we’d had enough to last the day and, following taking the above shot of the Tatoosh Mountain Range across the canyon to the south of the Inn, continued our drive eastward along Stevens Ridge, through Box Canyon, arriving finally at the Grove of the Patriarchs and the east Park entrance (exit in our case), Stevens Canyon. The shot below looks north eastward from Reflection Lake toward our exit point.

From there, we drove north along Hwy 123 and merged with WA 410 just a few miles west of Chinook Pass. The drive home from that point was absolutely gorgeous with outside temps varying from 73-degrees at the elevations to 86 in the windless canyons. We followed the White River Canyon down into Greenwater and Enumclaw which approaches the back yard to our area.

All in all, an incredible Day Trip with wonderful memories.

 

New Pontoon Boat Hits the Water

Late this afternoon I finally got the new pontoon boat onto the water at nearby Spring Lake. Thanks to Kay Lynne for going along and taking the photo of the momentous event.

The boat is made by the Creek company, popular manufacturer of pontoon boats, float tubes and a zillion fishing accessories. I got it online and on sale at Cabela’s for a ridiculously low price. So, with the money I saved, I decided to get an electric trolling motor and a marine battery (both also on sale). Does anyone pay full retail anymore? The question I’m avoiding is how much I had to spend to get all those great sale prices.

We can at least pronounce the maiden voyage a success as far as the nautical aspects are concerned. The fishing part of it was not as achieving, but I was only out for an hour or so. I marked quite a few fish at 10’ or so in the 12’ – 15’ water depth range, but none chose to taste my tempting power bait offerings. Not even my new Scotty pole holder bolted to the front rail could shake the skunk off.

Thankfully, I had saved my portable, battery-operated fish finder that I bought many years ago when I didn’t own a boat and was just renting them. A set of new “C” batteries and it revived perfectly. A fish finder may show you where the fish are, but unfortunately you've still gotta catch em!

I’m glad to get the “test run” out of the way, and it feels good that everything works as it should. Hopefully I’ll get some serious fishing in this next week with my cousin Joel who has a neat, new inflatable Sea Eagle boat and troller. I’m thinking we’ll knock em dead at a hot lake just south of here, which will remain our secret for now.

Fishing Lakes Abound and the Season Is Here (Weather Notwithstanding)

Earlier this evening Kay Lynne and I took a drive around the new area in which we live – the southeast burbs of Seattle. Or, at least that was ostensibly what it was.

In my head was a route that I knew would take us past a beautiful park (which she likes) but also would get us to three lakes that are in a cluster about 15 minutes away from our home. All had reported good trout fishing in the last week.

The first body of water we stopped at was Lake Devine, a 72-acre beauty out in the country just past city limits. It is a gorgeous setting with a country club and high-end homes along much of its shore. As we drove on, we saw several fishermen hauling in their catches from today's efforts on the water at Shady Lake, a tiny, 21-acre portage that holds cutthroat trout as well as rainbows. The season at this lake just opened yesterday. Several nice limits were noted with the largest fish about 16” best I could tell.

The last stop was at Spring Lake, just to the east of the other two. This is where I shot the photo above. It’s also a beautiful setting, and I’ve decided to try either Spring Lake or Shady Lake on Saturday morning when I plan to give my new pontoon boat and electric troller its inaugural fishing test.

Though it was still chilly and rainy today, Saturday is forecast to be sunny and a welcome 70-degrees. I never cease to be amazed at the sheer beauty of this State -- and most of it permeates the areas in which we live.

The Roslyn Café is Still There

Early this morning I jumped in the old “fishing buggy” and headed east over the Cascades to do some reconnaissance on potential trout lakes. However, the pic above is a good indication of how the “reconnaissance” went.

On my way from Lake Easton to Cle Elum Lake, I passed through the little town of Roslyn, the town where the popular 1990’s TV series, “Northern Exposure” was filmed. Of course on television the town was not Roslyn, Washington but Cicely, Alaska.

Let’s just say that there is not much in Roslyn, but the famous TV landmark of fictitious Cicely is still there. As you can see, the large wall mural looks like it was freshly painted.

As far as fishing lakes goes, I swung by almost a half dozen lakes: Keechelus, Lost, Kachess, Easton and Cle Elum. Only wet a line at Easton, with little results. I forgot what summer does to lakes on the much warmer eastern slope.

Just about every one was low, shallow at the accessible shoreline, and virtually impossible to fish unless you had a boat – which I didn’t. And in many cases the water was too low to easily launch even if you had a boat.

But I did get a nice picture by which to remember the excursion. However, the moose that walked down the street in the TV version was nowhere to be seen today.

Experience Adds Appreciation

There are certain things in life that you must experience in order to fully appreciate. I suppose a variety of things could fall into this category, but (a) kids and (b) grandkids are certainly two of them.

On Monday night a second cousin of mine gave birth to a beautiful, healthy little girl (click here for their blog story). The feelings and involuntary responses that she and her husband have experienced since then could not have been “explained” to them, nor could they have felt them, ahead of time. But right now they are overwhelmed with love and feelings of bonding for their little sweetheart.

The same was true when Kay Lynne gave birth to our sons, first to Gregg and later to Doug. The intense feelings of love and total acceptance we felt and experienced following their arrivals came totally out-of-the-blue and ended up deep within our beings from where we could not extract them.

The same has been true at the birth of each of our grandchildren. And I’m very happy that things work that way.



For the past two days we were privileged to enjoy time with our sons, daughters-in-law and grandkids at a beautiful ocean beach front vacation home on the coast. Pictured above are all of us just before we left for home (except moi, of course, the “taker”.)

All I can say is that this pleasurable experience has already woven its way deep into my psyche and memory and will forever remain there to “call up” from time to time.

These times together are also occurrences you have to live through to fully grasp. Even so, much takes place at the feeling level, almost subconsciously, and the reality of it all often doesn’t totally sink in until you’ve had a chance to process it.

I think I’m continuing to do that right now, and I’m deeply thankful for each and every one of these incredible human beings whom God has brought into our lives.

Underwater Excitement at Seattle Aquarium

Yesterday Kay Lynne and I had a chance to meet up with our son and grandson at the Seattle Aquarium, right on the waterfront. I snapped the above pic with my cell phone just before we entered.

We had a great time trying to keep up with our grandson as he wanted to see everything and is getting really fast on two feet. He loves to watch any living thing, and fish are among his favorite things to observe.

In one section of the aquarium a large, underwater dome lets you view just about every fish and sea creature said to swim in Puget Sound. Seeing the underside of a large sturgeon provided the biggest surprise (for me, at least); it almost seems as if they have four “legs” on their belly (I think they’re actually stabilizers). Hmmm.. wonder if they once walked around the area. They are said to be prehistoric, you know.

Anyway, we had a great time. I think the boy did too. He was asleep quickly once in the car on the way home.

Fishing Bug Causes Me To Check Out Nearby Lakes

The fishing bug has been annoying me a lot lately, and it usually takes a catch or two to assuage it.

Rather than actually going fishing today (I did throw the pole in the car, however) I visited three lakes within a 30-mile radius of home for the purpose of doing some reconnaissance work. On my leisurely drive, I stopped at Lake Stevens, east of Everett, Flowing Lake, north of Monroe, and Blackmans Lake right smack dab in the city of Snohomish.

The first stop was at Wyatt Park on the west side of Lake Stevens. There is a beautiful fishing dock there alongside the boat launch but the wind was kicking up quite a bit and I found no one fishing. The largest of the three, Lake Stevens may offer some good trouting later on toward spring.

I then went to Flowing Lake, a beautiful spot tucked into the back roads on the north side of Monroe (on US Hwy 2 about 20 miles east of Everett). There are both a State Park (fee based) and a free public boat launch that have nice docks for fishing. At the free dock I met a very interesting, 80-year-old retired Chicago chef (top pic), who told me that he fishes “eight days a week,” mostly here at Flowing Lake or at nearby Tye Lake. My kind of guy, this man named McCann.

During our conversation I discovered that we had a lot in common. We’re both retired, both lived in Chicago, both spent a lot of time fishing in Wisconsin and Michigan and we both are writers of sorts.

But the astronomical-odds occurrence was that he went to high school some 65 years ago in Eau Claire, Wisconsin with a brother of my late Aunt Beatrice who grew up on a farm near Eau Claire that was actually closer to the little town of Mondovi.

My cousin Linda (Beatrice and Bill’s daughter) and Linda’s daughter Kelly and son Erik all live nearby in the greater Seattle area. I can’t wait to let them know of this wild coincidence to see if there’s any name recognition with the man I met today. (I guess they might see it here first. :)

Final stop was at Blackmans Lake (above), a watershed basin within the city of Snohomish. Three guys were fishing on the dock, and I saw a very nice 13” rainbow reeled in while I was there.

I’ve made this conclusion: all are good lakes for trout fishing from a dock (which is what I was looking for), and I plan to return to all of them. All are good for trout fishing with a boat, if a person has one (I’ve long since sold my last boat but one of my sons does have a beauty). Flowing will have the best tasting fish (from what my new friend said), Blackmans likely has the largest fish but it’s a shallower lake and the fish quality can deteriorate in the summer, and I’m sort of in the dark about the quality of fish at Lake Stevens.

Whale Watching Near Victoria B.C.

Today four of us went whale watching on the Straits of Juan De Fuca near Victoria, B.C. Pictured above is a large male Killer Whale (a.k.a. Orca) that I caught with my telephoto lens. We were actually about 150 yards from the gorgeous mammal. Click on the photo for a larger image.

My old college buddy Dwight Klassen and his wife, Lynnette, are here from Discovery Bay, California visiting Kay Lynne and me for a few days to celebrate the beginning of Dwight’s and my eighth decade on this earth. Our birthdays fall within five weeks of each other. And that’s all I’ll say about that, except to add that we’ve known each other for 52 years.

We went out with Puget Sound Express, the whale watching company that originates out of Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. The day was unusually calm and in a very rare occurrence, all three resident Puget Sound Orca pods – J pod, K pod and L pod – were out together enjoying a Sunday afternoon frolicking on the water.

Pic is Dwight and Lynnette on the boat with the Canadian shoreline in the background.

It was a wonderful, invigorating experience enjoying the incredible scenery, the lazy ocean swells and dozens of one of the most beautiful creatures God has created. A day we will not soon forget.

Hiking & Fishing in Glacier National Park

Way up near the northwest corner of Montana, adjacent to the Canadian border, lies Glacier National Park. Our son, his wife, and our granddaughters just spent four fabulous days there, adventuring out of their RV (see previous post), away from television, computers, phones, and even electricity.

Gregg called this morning from on the road, when they were back in cell phone range, somewhere on the way to Yellowstone National Park. He sounded euphoric.

“It was spectacular!” he said. He quickly related just one of the incredible experiences. Talli and Hayley joined their Dad on a six-mile hike back into one of the glacier-melted lakes (similar. I assume, to the one pictured above) to do some fishing. They caught over a half dozen native cutthroat trout but quickly returned them to the water, observing appropriate catch-and-release practices.

Talli caught the largest, over 15” long and probably a “pounder”. Hayley caught at least two, casting a shiny small kastmaster. I can only imagine that Elaine and Aubrey did some hiking of their own but stayed nearer to the RV.

To say the least, they are having a vacation time they will probably never forget. More later as it comes in.

On the Road in the RV – But Not Like the Movie

Our son Gregg, wife Elaine, and their daughters Talli, Hayley and Aubrey are on the way to several National Parks in the Rocky Mountains. But fortunately, their trip so far has been nothing like the "adventures" the Munro family endured in the 2006 movie, RV.


Pictured above is their 28-foot long RV, purchased pre-owned two years ago, parked in an RV facility in St. Regis, Montana, where they enjoyed the beautiful scenery and spent a night. We haven’t heard much from them for a couple of days now, so we assume they’re enjoying every minute.

They took along all manner of recreational stuff from bikes to hiking gear to fishing poles. What’s great is that with an RV and an “open” schedule, you can enjoy the fun all along the way and stay as long as you want whenever you want. I think they plan an additional week and a half on the road.

Included are scheduled pauses at Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks and an overnight in the Grand Tetons. You can follow their trip on his blog (click here) as he submits posts from places along the way that have wi-fi.

Wanna Play (Miniature) Golf Online?

Today, it’s time to have some fun. My cousin in Chicago emailed me this online miniature golf game that can be a lot harder than it looks.

Click HERE to play the game.

Of course, as with any online game, once you get the hang of it, it gets a bit easier.

Have fun! But be careful; it can be addicting.

One Incredible Weekend – Virgin America, City Walk at Universal City, the Getty Center and the stage play/musical WICKED in Hollywood

We’re back at home after a whirlwind weekend in Los Angeles, compliments of my son, Doug, and his wife, Jamie, our daughter-in-law.

We flew on Richard Branson’s Virgin America, and it is truly an adventure into the future. Check the Star Wars-like cabin interior in the photo. But the big thing is that you have your own personal multi-media computer/screen on the back of the seat in front of you. You’ve gotta try Virgin America soon if you haven’t already.

Doug put together the weekend for his mom in celebration of her May 1 birthday. She got to pick every venue and chose extremely well. Last year Doug took his dad on a four-park midwest Major League Baseball tour in which his brother Gregg joined us to make a memorable excursion for dad and sons.



This year the focus was on mom, and I got to go along as a happy accompanier. As an added wonderful bonus, Kay Lynne’s brother, Rick (a birthday on May 2), and his wife, Danielle, flew out from Chicago to join us for the two-plus days in LA. We stayed at the Hilton Universal City, an incredibly good experience in hospitality. The photo above is of the six of us just after breakfast this morning at the hotel. (L to R) Jamie, Doug, Danielle, Rick, Kay Lynne and moi.

Doug could easily have been highly successful in the travel business, but instead he’s a theology professor (well, technically, an assistant professor) who just had his first book published (I’ll post about that in the near future).

Friday night we ate at the Daily Grill in City Walk overlooking Universal City Studios, and we went to the incredible Getty center on Saturday afternoon before the stage play. More posts to follow on the fabulous weekend in Los Angeles. But we miss our dog Buddy – he’s still at the kennel until morning.

Bad Fish

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am a fisherman. However, here in the Northwest, a Northern Pike is not a common prey. I did fish for them and catch them in Michigan as a kid, and thankfully I never ran into anything like this poor Scandinavian guy did (click below to play):

Today’s Clemens Hearing Shows How Pitiful Our Leadership Has Become

There were deaths today in Iraq as a result of war. Older very ill warriors in our Veterans Hospitals were today given less than sufficient care. Families today were forced to walk away from homes they had purchased due to the mortgage fiasco. Worse yet, some very poor families are today mourning the loss of a loved one because they could not get proper health care (not only a problem for the poor).

And yet, for several hours today on television, we watched a Congressional Committee grill a man and his accuser about whether or not he was injected with an illegal substance which might have made his body bigger and stronger – a deed that cannot now be prosecuted in any court of law because the statute of limitations has passed.

What’s wrong with this picture?

So much is wrong that I can’t even begin a first sentence. My only thought at the moment is that the one candidate for president who advocates real, substantive change maybe ought to be given his chance. Even for him, the quagmire we’re all in may be beyond his or anyone’s ability to get us out of.

SENSORY OVERLOAD in Las Vegas Shows

I don’t think I’ve ever before been in a venue where I could not take in all that was going on.

But it occurred twice this past weekend in Las Vegas where we saw a couple of incredible performances under the “umbrella” of Cirque du Soleil (which has grown exponentially to sponsor shows in quite a few of the major LV Strip hotels as well as around the world).

We saw LOVE, a show that visually, auditorily and spectacularly celebrates the music of The Beatles through dance and gymnastics (and is quite nostalgic), and we also took in Mystere, a “classic” Cirque du Soleil show that combines powerful athleticism and high-energy acrobatics with amazing visual imagery and fabulous new age music.

Both shows take entertainment to an altitude perhaps never before achieved. You simply can’t absorb all that is happening at any point in time. You kind of have to “pick and choose” among a seemingly endless variety of sensory stimuli. On a scale of "10", I'd rate LOVE a "12" and Mystere an "11"

The music is in surround-sound so it seems like it’s going right through your head (instead of just into your ears). The visuals are as good as any Hollywood screen production, and the human acrobatic performances defy the laws of nature. All are choreographed to create a blended and synchronized presentation.

Plus, the shows are performed in large (up to 1,000 people), specially built, bowl-like Casino theaters with a “wheel-and-spoke-like”, multi-sectioned center-stage. Each section is individually hydraulically controlled so entertainers can appear from below and then disappear to the dark depths just as quickly. The action takes place from ceiling to floor, and permeates the atmosphere, much like a fireworks display, with acrobats in the air and on bungees, thousands of light impulses seemingly everywhere, confetti, panavision-type movie screens and all varieties of stage activities and entertainment “smoke”. And that doesn’t even describe it adequately.

All together, it’s sensory overload!

We were fortunate enough to be able to enjoy these entertainment spectaculars due to the generosity of Kay Lynne’s brother, Rick, who invited extended family to share in Danielle’s festive commemoration (see last post). And we are deeply grateful for his gesture.

The bottom line is that if you want to kick your “show-going” activities up a notch, take in a Cirque du Soleil performance, either in Las Vegas or when it comes to your area. You’ll long remember it.

It’s Starting To Hit Me

It’s starting to hit me that I sold my boat. The inanimate, but comforting, friend that used to sit at the foot of our front yard is no longer there. No one telepaths a “goodbye” as I drive away anymore nor nods a friendly brain-wave “hi” as I return.

I’m not ready to seek counseling yet, or anything like that, but pretty soon there will be warmer winds that will bring buds on the trees. And that will signal the trout in nearby lakes to awaken from their lethargic slumbering state.

My last boat could accommodate the chasing of salmon in Puget Sound. However, the truth is that I only do that about half a dozen times a year. I can rationalize charters for those occasions.

Trout fishing is quite another matter. If I had my druthers, I’d be trout fishing once a week. And the truth is, you don’t need a big, expensive boat for that. Key word "need." Heck, I could get by on an aluminum 14-footer with a 10-horse four-cycle engine.

You know what? As I write this, I’m feeling better as I go, sort of solving my dilemma with each successive key-stroke. The photo above is off of “Boat Trader Online.” I suppose this used Smokercraft Alaskan model would “do” just fine.

But let’s see… It doesn’t have downriggers ($500) or a side control console ($750) or a canvas top for our Northwest weather ($900). Plus the cost of the boat. Yikes, here we go again….

The Sun Always Shines When Granddaughters Are Here

Two of our sweet granddaughters, Talli, 13, and Aubrey, 5, are here for a few days visiting their grandparents who are loving every minute of it.

In the meantime, our third granddaughter, Hayley, 10, is on her own adventure, half-way around the world in India with her dad on a fortnight-long church mission. We miss them.

Today we just “hung out” and then this afternoon we went to a nearby State Park here on the west coast of Puget Sound.

We took our dog Buddy along, who posed for above photo with Talli and Aubs on some monster driftwood (big logs, actually) on the beach. That’s Ballard across the water in the distance behind them.

Grandma, the girls and Buddy had a grand time walking and running up and down the beach in search of shells, crustations and whatever else had washed ashore. It was fun, fun and more fun, as they came back with a big bucket of beach "stuff".

It’s been cloudy for a week, but the weather has cleared marvelously for the girls’ visit. Truth is, no matter what the weather, the sun always shines when our granddaughters are here.

Tomorrow we may catch a ferry boat and venture over to Seattle for a visit with Aunt Jamie and Uncle Doug. And of course all the girls may do a little “shopping” in the city.

I’m just the chauffer.

The Historic Belmont Hotel in Port Townsend

Last Sunday, on our day trip to Port Townsend with our California friends, the Walls (see last post), we had a late lunch/early dinner at the vintage, red brick Belmont Hotel.

The historic inn is the city’s only remaining 1880s waterfront restaurant and saloon and is recognized as one of the “Northwest Best Places” by AAA.

Much of downtown Port Townsend’s main drag is lined with improved or restored Victorian edifices.

A walk up and down the quaint sidewalks takes you past building after building and store front after storefront that causes you to feel like you’re experiencing what it was like 120 years ago. Only the horses and buggies are absent.

In 1885, saloon keeper George Sterming erected the building that still bears his name. He put offices on the upper level, and the lower floor facilitated the soon-to-be famous restaurant and saloon. Sterming’s clientele was an eclectic mix of rowdy sea captains, arguing cargo brokers, adventurers, gun and rum runners, gamblers and hustlers.

In spite of the carnival atmosphere, the Belmont also was often a welcome conclusion to a terrifying sea passage for those seeking a fresh start in life.

The cuisine was sumptuous, and the ambiance was equally splendid. If you’re ever up in the Northwest’s Olympic Peninsula, the Belmont Hotel and Port Townsend are worthy stops.