Spokane Visit

A trip down memory lane - I was in Spokane last week visiting Sandy, a childhood friend that I had not seen for many years.  We grew up living right next door to each other until we were 12 years old.  I have not been to Spokane for a very long time so Sandy and I spent several hours visiting our old stomping grounds.  We had a blast!  The highlight of the week was Ziplining in Wallace Idaho at Silver Streak Zipline Tours. What an experience!

The guides get you all suited up at the home base in Wallace. Then you climb into a large truck for the ride up to the ziplines.

 

Sandy is all geared up and ready to go.

Nick and Ian were our guides for the afternoon. The entire process takes about two hours and you ride 6 different lines.

Sandy is getting hooked up to the trolley that you hang onto with your hands while zipping down the line. 

 Sandy has just stepped off the platform.

 

 

Sandy is approaching the platform and is getting ready to grab the orange line, which is part of the braking system. The last line is a dual line where you can race the person next to you. Sandy and I are approaching the platform.

The longest zip line is 1100 feet and you reach speeds of 50-60 MPH.

The views of the surrounding mountain ranges and of Wallace were spectacular.

 

Beer is provided at the end as a reward for finishing the trip.

 

We went to Riverfront Park and rode the historic Looff Carousel.  As far as we can remember there was not one child on the carousel during this ride, but there was an entire football team on board.

The Spokane Falls are pretty low right now, but we still had fun riding the new gondolas.

I took the next few photos around Riverfront Park.  

The famous garbage eating goat from the 1974 Worlds Fair, and yes, he is still eating. 

We took a drive up Mt. Spokane and visited several harvest businesses in Greenbluff. We stopped and took this photo while driving up the mountain. The road has not changed one bit. 

The road to the newest lodge was blocked off so I could only get a photo of the runs and the old lodge. the Vista House can be seen in the top right corner of the photo.

We also spent a few hours visiting our old neighborhood and checking out some of the houses that friends and family have lived in.  This is the house my family lived in until I was in the 6th grade.
 

This is the backyard of the same house but showing the garage my Dad built.

This is the house, right next door to the one above, where Sandy lived through high school.

Dale and MaryAnn Moll lived in this house, a few doors down from our house.

My grandmother on my Mom's side lived in this house on Cleveland for many, many years.

Mom and Dad moved into this house on Juliann Drive in 1966.  The house is just a couple of blocks 

from Whitworth University.

This was my house on Hughes Drive off County Homes Blvd.

I took Sandy on her first Geocaching adventure and she found a cache!  We had a great time catching up with each other after all these years. 

Leavenworth

We went to Leavenworth yesterday, the first time either one of us has been there when there wasn't a special event taking place. While there was a good crowd, it wasn't so bad that we could not get into the stores. When we arrived, the first thing we did was go Geocaching in Riverfront Park. I did not know Leavenworth had a park. It is just beautiful!  

The Wenatchee River follows the south side of the park and circles around Blackbird Island.

It was great to see many people enjoying both the water and the park. We could not have asked for better weather.

A small path deviated from the main park path, which provided an excellent place to hide Der Cache. The tree cover made this cache a little hard to find as the signal kept bouncing around.

The paths are wide and well maintained making it easy for people in wheelchairs or with strollers to enjoy the park. 

We located the Sneaky Bavarian Micro cache close to this building. There were several "muggles" around but we managed to retrieve the cache, sign the log and replace the cache without anyone noticing.

Highway 97 is the closest route to Leavenworth from our house, and as most of you know, the Taylor Bridge Fire jumped across the highway last week. These next two pictures are not totally in focus as the speed limit is 70, but you can see some of the scorched earth that the fire left behind. 

 

The darling mailbox located outside the Gingerbread Bakery. 

A picture of the new hospital and medical center. A new hotel is being built across the street from the medical complex. 

One of the many murals around town. 

 

King Tut, Port Susan, La Conner

Susan and I spent last three days in the Seattle area. On Friday, we went to see the King Tut exhibit. Since this is the last time the exhibit will be in North America and it is so close, we thought we better take advantage. This is a staue of King Khafre.

The Head of Amenhotep III in the Blue Crown. Fashioned of unbaked clay, perhaps late in Amenhotep's reign, depicts a young king.

Sarcophagus for Prince Thutmose's Cat. Cats played an important role in Egyptian religion, and were associated with Amun. They were also household pets and could be valuable in controlling snakes and rodents. Thutmose, Amenhotep III's son, buried his cat in this chest in a cemetery in Memphis.

Elaborate Box with Cartouche of Amenhotep III. A gift to the non-royal in-laws of Amenhotep III, this box originally contained jewelry. Repeated hieroglyphics on the side wish life, endurance, and prosperity to the recipient.

Pair of Sandals. Created specifically for the afterlife, these gold sandals still covered the feet of Tutankhamun when Carter unwrapped the mummy.

Unguent Vessel. This elaborately carved oil container has its own stand. The flanking openwork design symbolizes the unification of the two lands, Upper and Lower Egypt. Papyri, representing the north emerge from lilies, representing the south.

Pectoral of Mereret. The scene depicts Amenemhat III triumphant over enemies, inlaid on one side and engraved on the other. Despite its military theme, this piece adorned the neck of a royal woman.

Latrine/Toilet Seat. Sanitary conditions reached a high level in the palace of Amarna, with stone toilet seats placed over boxes that collected waste. Excavations at non-royal houses in the capital have also revealed wooden seats for the elite.

After viewing the exhibit, we drove up to LaConner and spent the afternoon shopping and finding a geocache. The geocache was hidden at the public docks. There was a yacht and car show in LaConner on Saturday and we got to see a few of the yachts that were already in town. This view was taken near the ViewPoint cache.

While driving back to our hotel in Everett, this motorcycle rider passed us on I-5 and I just had to take a picture.

We had a wonderful time at Port Susan visiting with Mom, Dad, Bruce and Marie and we found three other caches before leaving Port Susan and heading home.

Yakima Bears

Last night Susan and I went to what will probably be our last baseball game in Yakima.  The Yakima Bears are leaving town after this season. The Bears played the Eugene Emeralds. It was still hot and sunny when the teams were warming-up. Our seats were in the shade the entire time.

This is Boomer, the Bears mascot. He is standing with K.L. Wombacher, manager of the Bears and Tony O'Rourke (red shirt), Yakima's new city manager. It was Hawaiian night at the ballpark, which explains the hula skirt.

Our seats were great - right behind the catcher. I have never seen a game from that view before and it was quite exciting. The Bears won 2-0 and they are in the playoffs.

Go Bears!

Seattle Visit

Last Friday I went over to Seattle to spend the weekend with my friend Gina. She and her husband, Alex, and dog, Riley, live in Bothell, north of the city. Here are a few pictures of her house, yard, and of course, Riley.

Riley is a 7 month old Labradoodle and he loves to play.

Gina and I went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit at Seattle Center on Saturday. I took so many pictures that it was really hard to pick just a few of them to post. This sculpture is called the Sealife Room. The 15-foot tower takes inspiration from the sea and Puget Sound. The sculpture includes forms such as starfish, octopus, conch shells, sea anemones, urchins and manta rays.

The origins of the Niijima Floats dates back to 1995 in Nuutajarvi, Finland where Chihuly experimented with temporary installations along the shore of the nearby river and tossed glass forms into the river to see how the glass would interact with water and light.

Chihuly began the Macchia series in 1981 with the desire to use all 300 colors available to him in the hotshop. It is named after the word for "spot" in Italian. Chihuly realized that the glass panes looked more clear and vibrant against a cloudy sky than a blue one. This idea inspired his experimentation to separate the interior and exterior color by adding a white layer in between a "cloud". Each work is speckled with color, which comes from rolling the molten glass in small shards of colored glass during the blowing process.

The glass ceiling.

The Glasshouse and one of the garden statues.

Next, Gina and I rode on the Seattle Great Wheel, a new ride that opened the last week of June. The wheel is 175 feet tall and 200 feet off the water.

The ride is located at Pier 57 on the waterfront. The 280,300 pound wheel holds 42 gondolas, allowing for 252 passengers at full capacity. Here is a view of Mt. Rainer and both stadiums.

The ride lasts for approximately 12 minutes after being fully loaded. Even the floor of each gondola is glass so you can see outside from every direction. The gondolas are temperature controlled however they could not keep up with the temperatures over the weekend. 

The space needle is visible while on the ride.

Looking down at all the umbrella's shading customers from the 90+ degree heat.

What a fantastic weekend to be visiting a friend and seeing the sights of Seattle. 

Hello Dolly

Last night Susan and I went to see Holly Dolly at the Warehouse Theater in Yakima.

We have not been to a production at this theater for a few years, but we both enjoyed it so much that we are considering buying season tickets.