Well, the long promised photos of the kitchen project have finally been posted. 

 

I posted two separate photo galleries, the before and after if you just want to see what changed and the kitchen construction timeline, which shows the sequence of work as it is being done.  I've added captions explaining a little about the pictures.  If you want more, you have to buy me drinks.

 

Anyway, highlights are that we started planning the kitchen remodel in June 06, hired an architect (big mistake) in Aug 06, hired a contractor (Stonewood Builders) in Dec 06, basically fired the architect in Feb 07 due to their immense over-extravagance and expense. From there we worked on the plans ourselves and with a few local professionals who were very helpful.   We highly recommend Russ Morgan at Morgan's Electric in Ballard who helped us with the cabinets. We got our permits, finalied the plan and signed the contract in May 07.  The contract had scheduled the process to be done by end of July.  Ha ha, we assumed maybe Labor Day to be realistic.  We moved in the upstairs 2 weeks after Labor Day, so that was pretty close.  Of course, we were not 100% done by then, as a few details were still hanging out there.  We have finally just on November 8th finished the major remaining items:  counters were reinstalled, power service was moved to the front of the house. 

 

There's still a handful of little things to do, but we're on to other projects now.  We've definitely found that the more detail you get into, the more you want to do. It's a downward spiral, and you really have to fight to keep the projects from expanding forever.

We set out for Peggy's Pond & Cathedral Rock around 11 am on Saturday and quickly made our way up the hill to Squaw Lake and grabbed a bite. No major problems on the trail other than the copious pack animal suprises. Weather was high clouds and occasional sun that kept the temps moderate. The forecast, however, was iffy, and seemed to have kept a lot of people from a reportedly crowded trail.

 

After reaching Cathedral Pass, we descended briefly towards Deep Lake and then cut north towards Peggy's Pond. This was harrowing in a few places where scrambling was the only option. We reached Peggy's Pond at about 2:50, set up camp and scrambled around in the upper basin to the west on Mt. Daniel. Part of the trail up the slopes was completely eroded away, so the trail in this area is not easy to follow. The meadows and creek bed were home to some stunning red and yellow wild flowers, and the stark, harsh alpine environment elicited comparisons to a desert in springtime on more than one occasion.

 

Only a handful of people stayed overnight at Peggy's Pond and meadows above it, perhaps unwisely disregarding the forecast. Sprinkles started by 10 pm and rain continued until we hit the trailhead the next day at 11 am.

 

My biggest fear about this hike was not going up Aasgard Pass, it was coming back down the pass.  I've been on some backpacking trips before where there's a long decline.  With the extra weight of the pack, it puts a lot of strain on your knees.  And given the harshness of this decline, I knew it would be a doozy. 

 

We were pretty fortunate to awake to a really nice, calm and thankfully dry morning on Saturday, our hours in the Enchantments Zone.  We got up pretty early (for us), fueled up, packed up and hit the trail by 9 AM.  We got to the pass by 10 am and were astounded that we passed so many people who hadn't gotten going just yet.  Usually we're the lazy ones.

 

I continued my timer-mania with my camera, trying to catch up on all the photos I could have taken earlier in our trip with both me and Jeff in them... had I only remembered the timer.  At the top of the pass we could see all the way up to Mount Baker, so I made sure to catch the photo ops when we could.  Maybe I was just delaying the inevitable.

 

And down we went... 2,200 feet decline in just one mile.  Our handy trekking poles saved the day again.  We were much more stable on the slippery & rock slidey steep trail.  Having 4 supports rather than just two legs really made the journey a lot easier.  There's just no way we could have done it without them.

 

We passed a lot of day hikers and a handful of backpackers who were on their way up to Aasgard.  On a beautiful Saturday, I guess the Aasgard back-door entrance to the Enchantments is really the only realistic way someone could get all the way up and back without camping.  I would NEVER recommend it, because we had such a hard time getting to Colchuck Lake on day 1, let alone combining that hike with Aasgard too?  Wow, these folks were intense.

 

After about 3-4 hours, we were back down to Colchuck Lake.  We did look for a camping spot to take our last night by the lake, but again, since it was a Saturday, all the good spots were taken. So we decided to tough out the last 4 or so miles to get to the trailhead.  And with that decision made we were allowed to start talking about the topic backpackers generally try to avoid... talking about what food they will eat when they are done.  Pizza and beer was ours by about 8pm that night in Leavenworth, and we got into Seattle by 11 pm.

We awoke on Friday AM with fears of the biting winds continuing from the day before.  To our surprise, it was actually calm and sunny, and began warming up almost immediately.  As nature would have it, we needed to relieve ourselves immediately after getting up.  Apparently the goats in the Enchantment Basin are used to this behavior from human visitors, and they have a penchant for the salt in urine.  So to our surprise, a pack of 4 mountain goats appeared in our campsite to stalk us during our morning rituals.  We were delighted to see them, but a little creeped out by their behavior.  They are goats, so, oh well.

 

Side note, check out this interesting discussion about how to get permits for the Enchantments if you ever want to go there.

 

We ate a quick breakfast, packed up for a day hike and took off to the lower basin.  We caught an overlook down a steep hillside to Crystal Lake, a rather secluded Enchantment lake.  Beyond Crystal Lake, you could see towards Ellensburg and the Gorge.  As a point of reference, if you've ever stopped at the rest area on I-90 going eastbound just before Ellensburg, you can look northwest from the rest area to see some tall jagged peaks.  There is a map of the Stuart Mountain Range profile there to help you identify the peaks.  We were up there, looking back towards the rest area from those peaks!

 

We turned back from the Crystal Lake overlook and continued down the valley past more snow fields and waterfalls (a recurring theme) to reach the banks of Inspiration Lake.  We pondered the benefits of camping down here rather than the upper basin, but decided we were happy with where we were (and too lazy to move).  I spotted what I called the psycho banzaii garden on a side trail at Inspiration Lake.  There were several tiny pine trees that had been twisted by the alpine winds and weather. Each was surrounded at the base by green fuzzy growth that had tiny yellow flowers twinkling around the trees.  It's odd to see how nature can so perfectly coordinate something like that without any "plan".

 

After Inspiration, it was down to Perfection Lake, which amazingly lived up to it's name.  We first took in the sights of Perfection from the rocks above, and were stunned by the amazing layers and colors in the shallow end of the lake.  It appears at some time to have been a meadow through which a stream meandered, but was now submerged.  Layers of mud have built up like brown underwater rainbows before reaching the deep end of the lake, with a dark line where the stream used to be.  As we got closer to Perfection, we found numerous instances of similar psycho banzaii gardens, with more twisted little pine trees dotting the lake shores.  As we rounded the lake, we were greeted by a lush forest floor covered by another beautiful green vegetation that we could not identify. Looking back west across the lake to the rock hillside we decended, another stunning waterfall.

 

We contemplated going up Prussik Pass to see Gnome Tarn, a tiny lake up the hill from Perfection. But given some menancing clouds, we decided seeing the lower lakes was a higher priority for this trip, and we would hit the pass on the way back if we had time and the weather looked OK.

 

Perfection Lake has an outlet that drains down yet more waterfalls into tiny Sprite Lake.  This was another delight, and there are several campsites and a backcountry toilet too that would make this a great place to stay.  There was a giant snow field on the hillside above Sprite Lake, and it looks like several hikers took advantage of this by sliding down the hill.  We contemplated what this would be like, since you'd probably end up in the freezing, glacier-fed water.  Well, maybe not.

 

Down the valley further was Leprechaun Lake, probably named for it's greenish appearance depending on the light.  We took this opportunity to stake out a sunny spot on a rocky peninsula on the western side of the lake to have some lunch.  We observed some fish in the water, and definitely a lot more human activity than we had seen in the last day or so.  We watched and heard a pack of people across the lake trying to figure out which way to go.  Hey folks, when you're in the wild in a big group, you're not the only ones out there.  Please try to keep the peace of the wilderness!

 

After some lunch, we made our way down the side of Leprechaun.  It has an interesting shape with a side channel that has a couple small islands and leads to the outlet which flows down to yet another lake.  We ran into a group of 5 women on the trail who appeared to be in their 30's or 40's.  They had toughed out the 4,000 foot elevation gain of the Snow Lake entrance, and they were ready to find a good campsite.  Way to go, especially with the recent trail killings in Snohomish County, it's really important for everyone to be careful on the trail and travel in groups.  And perhaps even more important, they must not let it stop them from enjoying the outdoors and living their lives.  From what I've heard about the mother & daughter victims of this horrible crime, they would have wanted hikers to do just that.

 

Anyway, I digress.  One of the women advised us against spending time to go down to the last lake on our itinerary, Lake Vivian.  She said we could get to an overlook just around the bend, so we took her advice.  Yes, another beautiful alpine lake.  Blah blah blah.   We were getting tired, but we also wanted to go up Prussik Pass to Gnome Tarn. 

 

So we turned around and headed back past Leprechaun, up to Sprite Lake and back to Perfection.  This time at Perfection Lake, we took the turn-off to Prussik Pass at the north end of the lake.  We were greeted by a big fat marmot who was trundling up a giant rock to get some sun.  He was a little camera shy at first, but responded to my high-pitched whistle imitation of a marmot by poking his head up and looking around for some buddies. 

 

The trail to Prussik Pass starts in a large meadow.  About half-way through the meadow we ran into another pack of mountain goats enjoying the sunshine and stopped for a photo op.  We also spotted a young, small marmot, maybe 1/4 the size of the large one we saw down the hill.  He was trying to get to the top of a gigantic boulder, but kept sliding back every time he tried to go up.  If I would have thought of it, I could have used the movie option on my camera and submitted it to some funniest animals video show because it was adorable and funny.

 

Anyway, we proceeded up the pass, looking for a side trail to take us to Gnome Tarn.  We didn't find one, and kept going up and finally found ourselves at Prussik Pass, in the shadow (not literally) of Prussik Peak, part of a range of peaks known as the Temple.  Prussik Peak is pretty amazing.  It looks not dissimilar to a skyscraper such as the Chrysler Building in New York City.  On the other side of Prussik Pass, to our delight, was Shield Lake, one of the Enchantments we did not expect to see this journey due to it's isolation.

 

At this point, I suddenly remembered that I had a timer on my digital camera.  Duh!  So instead of having pictures of just Jeff, I was finally able to get pictures with both of us.  We snapped a bunch more, and headed down.  The pass had some pretty brisk winds and the clouds were still threatening.

 

We made our way quickly back up past Inspiration and Crystal Lakes to our campsite in the upper Enchantments basin.  And really suddenly, the weather seemed to get perfect.  No more threatening clouds.  No more biting winds.  It was calm and clear.  We kept expecting it to turn again, because it seemed to every 10 minutes or so. But the mild weather held from about 5pm all the way to sunset, and allowed us to cook a relaxed dinner, and eat it on a large flat rock next to the stream by our campsite, watching the sun go down through Aasgard Pass to the west.  Note to self... Decaf Chai mix from Trader Joes, plus a little whiskey, is an ideal dinner drink when camping!

 

Even after the sun went down on our campsite, we basked in the reflected sun from the peaks surrounding us.  The perfect end to our final night in the Enchantments.

On Thursday last week, we woke up at Colchuck Lake, preparing ourselves for the rough journey up Aasgard Pass to get into the Enchantment Zone.  Aasgard has a severe reputation, so we were definitely taking on a challeng.  The morning was relatively clear, with an occassional cloud.  We had intended to hit the road by 9:30 or so, but took a slow approach to breaking down camp.  We saw the entire pack of Swiss Family Robinson from Day 1 headed up to Aasgard before us.  If those little teenage girls could go up the pass, you BET we'd make it too!

 

To make life a little easier, we decided to "bear bag" the food for our final night and some extra equipment at Colchuck to pick it back up on the way out.  No reason to carry anything extra up that mountain.  

 

Eventually we hit the trail by about 11 AM.  First, we had to hike the remaining length of Colchuck Lake.  In the morning light, the lake appeared almost blue/green.  At the southern end of the lake was a large boulder field, with rocks the size of cars and small trucks that had tumbled down the steep hillside.  We had to cross these to follow the trail, which was not much fun with 45 lb packs on our backs.

 

After the boulders, we stopped for lunch on another car-sized rock before beginning the journey up the pass in earnest.  Then we set off to do the 2000 foot elevation gain in less than 1 mile (as the crow files).  We were really expecting the worst, but with our trusty trekking poles to help balance and push, the trail was not nearly as scary as we imagined.  Jeff said he felt like an "insect" when using the poles.  I felt like it was closer to a mountain goat.  But whatever animal you choose, we both agreed we would not have done the hike without them.  We also wore knee braces to help keep our knees stable.  It was DIFF-I-CULT, probably the most challenging backpacking trip I have ever done.  But there were very few times where I got vertigo, which is what I expected.

 

On the way, we were able to enjoy some cool alpine flowers and a bizarre forested patch on the hillside which I compared to the garden of eden.  But other than a couple moments of enjoyment, we kept pushing up the hill because the clouds started rolling in.  The forecast said something about 20% chance of thunderstorms.  We were not able to see beyond the immediate valley and mountains, and we even got hit with a little spritz of rain.  The last thing we wanted to be doing was to get stuck in a thunderstorm, climbing over huge, slippery, wet boulders up a steep hillside with 45 lb packs on our backs!

 

We did not see anyone on the journey up until almost the top.  The helpful couple told us we were basically there.  What a relief!  About 7,750 feet above sea level.  It was not nearly as bad as either of us had imagined, but it was darn cold up top and the clouds were still rolling in, so we bundled up and set out looking for a camping spot in the upper Enchantments Basin.  We meandered through a few high lakes, across a couple snow fields and down to a beautiful alpine valley with a stream running through it.  We spotted a back-country toilet, which is a good sign of established campsites close by, and a helpful camper pointed us to several sites that she and her friend had scouted before but decided against.  We quickly picked a spot and set up camp and got dinner rolling.

 

The winds up top were incredibly brutal that night. We decended only a couple hundred feet from the peak height of the pass to get to our campsite, so we were pretty exposed. At that height, there really is not a lot of vegetation to protect you from the winds.  I had every layer of clothing on that I brought with me and was still cold.  I think we ended up taking cover in the tent by 8:00 pm, and the howling winds kept us up for some time.

My long-awaited trip to the Enchantments zone of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area was last week.  Jeff and I sent in an application for a permit last February for the lottery in March.  The Enchantments are an incredibly popular, overused and fragile area due to their beauty and proximity to Seattle (just outside of Leavenworth WA on US 2).  To our amazement, we got our first choice of timeslot in the lottery for the permit, the second week in August. That should be just about the perfect time to visit the high-alpine areas and hopefully avoid major snow and storms. 

 

The Enchantments zone is not directly accessible by car.  A hiker must enter the wilderness area through either the Snow Lake Zone or the Stewart Lake zone, then hike into the Enchantments.  We considered the Snow entrance, but decided against it due to it's reputation of being a hot, slow, long slog up through about 9 miles of steadily inclining, uninspiring scenery.  Instead we got our permit to enter from the Stuart zone to the west, which has a reputation of being extremely tough, but shorter distance and more scenic.  This route requires you to hike first to Colchuck Lake, then up Aasgard Pass to get into the Enchantments.  More about Aasgard later.  The Colchuck Lake trail from the Stuart entrance was rated a 4 out of 5 for difficulty, with 5 the most difficult.  So we planned to camp there for the night before tackling the pass.

 

We arrived at the trailhead after picking up our permit and pigging out at a great cafe we found in Leavenworth.  Most hikers know that when you find a reliable and delicious meal on the road to or from a trail, you treasure the discovery and make sure to go back.  It was the Rennaisance Cafe... 217 8th Street, downstairs in a basement.  We were hesitant and almost opted for Starbucks, but fortunately we took the chance.  The place was filled with some local bubbas when we arrived, and the food explained why.  The breakfast wrap was amazing, and they had lots of delicious vegetarian options on the menu for Jeff.  The chef appeared to be the owner, and she came out to greet the guests and ask how their meals were.  The basement ambiance wasn't the best, but the food makes it definitely worth repeated visits.  They even do bag lunches.  The breakfast wrap was a frequent fond memory during our 4 days in the wilderness.

 

Anyway, our goal for day 1 was to get up to Colchuck lake and make camp.  We started off with heavy packs and uncooperative legs.  Although we had both been on several day hikes, this was our first backpack trip of the season.  The trail was unspectacular and very tough.  We saw quite a few other groups on the trail and had nicknames for them all to keep us entertained as the pranced past us on the trail.  There was the Swiss Family Robinson, a pack of about 8 people, ages ranging from what appeared to be about 16 to mid-40s.  There was the baby brigade, a few friends with babies in tow on their backs going up to Stewart Lake.  But ultimately we could not be too concerned with them.  We had to get ourselves up to Colchuck and find a camping spot.  The way was very tough and Jeff's knee started agitating him.  We just took it really slow and got there by late afternoon.  We also broke out our trekking poles, which will be a recurring theme for the trip.

 

We set up camp at a great spot on the bank of Colchuck.  There was a large rock outcropping just under the surface of the water that allowed us to wade in with the chilly glacier-fed water coming up only to our ankles.  And the site also gave us spectacular views of what we were to attack on day 2, Aasgard Pass.  Yikes.  Given how tough day one was, and the fact that we could not even discern a path up the steep side of Aasgard, we were getting a little concerned.

 

 

It's so funny that she anguished so many years, and then all of a sudden, Amelie Mauresmo has won the year end Championships for 05 and then 2 of the first 3 slams of 06, including Wimbledon.  It's really great to see her finally get over the hump and reach her potential.  I'd love to see her take a couple more.  It was especially sweet to see her stave off Henin-Hardenne who quit the Aussie final against her a few months ago when Amelie was up a set and a break, denying Amelie the opportunity to win a championship point.  But this time Henin had more excuses but thankfully did not quit.

 

Roger Federer also finally put a stop to his losing streak to Rafael Nadal and won his 4th consecutive Wimbledon today.  Hurrah!

 

Could frenchwoman Mauresmo's win be a good omen for the French soccer club's final today against Italy?  Or a jinx.  I will find out soon enough... since it is starting in 1 minute.

 

Ciao, er.... au revoir.

 

I've been avoiding making any prognostications on Wimbledon this time around because I did not want to jinx Amelie Mauresmo. She's been to the Semis there 3 times in a row, and reached them again. Well, she finally got over the hurdle and reached the final just a few minutes ago by beating starlet Sharapova in 3 sets.  It will be a rematch of the Australian Open final against Henin-Hardenne.  Let's hope she crushes Henin again.

 

On the mens side, it's Federer all the way, with a few surprises such as how well Nadal, Bjorkman & Baghdatis have done and how poorly Roddick, Lubijic and Nalbandian did.  Down with Nadal.  I'm over his fist pumps.  Baghdatis to the final, I hope.  But Federer is my favourite to win.

Got to see Sonic Youth for (I think) the 8th time last week at the Moore Theatre in Seattle.  Bundy went with. We got there right at the opening, and stayed for the sweaty (no air conditioning) 90 minute set.

 

These guys have so much material at this point they can really cherry pick through their catalog to create a different sound or atmosphere. This time, they selected things that most closely mapped to their new album, Rather Ripped.  RR is a solid effort, and ... gasp... contains acoustic guitar.  Needless to say, they focused on some of their more ambient back-catalog.  Very nicely done. I don't think they played anything off of Daydream Nation, Goo, Experimental Jet Set or Washing Machine.  They're beyond it.  Wow.

The team went for one of those whacky mystery scavenger hunt things in downtown Seattle.  A good time was had by all.  Here's a few pics. I especially love the ones of our theatrical re-enactments.

Here's a few pics from the weekend day hike to Mt. Rainier National Park.

Well, it turns out that 2 of the people who I wanted to have win the French open the least are the ones who won.  Justine Henin-Hardenne has an aspect of gamesmanship that I find really unappealing, yet she beat one of my favorite women's players, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.  It was Henin's 3rd French and 5th overall slam.  For Kuzinator, it was her first slam final since reaching and winning the 2004 US Open.  Glad to see she is back.  Sadly, she was the better player, but her nerves seemed to get to her and her unforced errors were just too high.

 

On the mens side, although I've never been a big Federer fan, since I always route for the darkhorse.  However, this time you'd almost have to call him that against Raphael Nadal and his now 60 match win streak on clay.  Federer had a few streaks going, including the history clinching opportunity to win his fourth slam in a row, completing the career and consecutive slams, and getting half way to the calendar slam.  But it was not to be.  Too bad.  He seemed to melt down in the same way that the Kuzinator (Brad Gilbert's nickname, not mine) did.

 

Anyway, my fantasy tennis team for ATP did very well.  For a while there I was in the top 1000 players out of .... hmm, don't know... easily over 8,000 players.  Guessed both finalists, 3 of 4 semifinalists, 5 of 8 quarterfinalists.

 

Next up? GRASS!!!!  OK, not what you are thinking.  I mean grass court tennis, the Queens club tourney and soon, The Championships at Wimbledon.

OK, one last post for tonight, and I'll be caught up on current events.  I still have a few concerts to write up about, but hey, that's life.

 

The French Open may be my favourite slam.  Never been there, but there is just something about it that makes me obsessive.  It may be that I like the darkhorse player, that so frequently makes a run at the clay court title.  It may be that I studied french in high school.  I don't really know. It may be the pivotol role it has played in so many big tennis careers (rejuvnated Agassi in 99 and put him in the elite career slam club; sealed Capriati's comeback; brought Serena out of Venus's shadow finally; capped Steffi's caree).  It may be those 4-5 hour matches.  It may be the way it has limited the claims to greatness of players like McEnroe, Sampras and so far Hingis who could never win it.

 

Mens - I'm playing ATP fantasy tennis and here's my team.  So far, I'm 8 for 8 through the first round!  My hope: Federer vs. Nadal with Federer winning it.  My fear.  Nadal wins.

 

Rafael Nadal
Tommy Robredo
Roger Federer
Radek Stepanek
David Nalbandian
Nikolay Davydenko
David Ferrer
Nicolas Almagro

 

Womens - Amelie Mauresmo has my vote all the way, and she's got a decent draw. We shall see if she can slay another demon this year!  However, I'm keeping a watchful eye on Henin-Hardenne, Kuznetsova, Clijsters, Myskina, Dementieva, Hingis and of course, Venus Williams. 

 

I'm hoping for some nice runs from the Americans... James Blake... uh, and... uh... well, not a whole lot else.  Spadea, Roddick, Goldstein, Gimelstob and Ginepri are already out.  Agassi, Fish and Dent never even showed.  Qualifier Kevin Kim earned a match with Nadal in the 2nd round.  Blake got Nicolas Almagro who's been very hot on clay this year.  So there very likely will be no American men in the 3rd round!

 

The women are a little better off.  Besides Venus, there's Shenay Perry, Fed Cup hero Jamea Jackson, and Ashley Harkleroad, who's best slam results are always at the French.  Her path just got cleared when hot pick to win her first slam, Nadia Petrova, lost in the first round to... gasp... Akiko Morigami??? Anyway, maybe we could see a couple round of 16'ers?

I'm finally catching up a bit on the backlog of blogging I thought I would do.  Of course, part of that has to do with the fact that I have abandoned my short-term affair with MySpace for the music aspect of my blogging.  It's just too tedious.

 

Anyway, the topic at hand is Nada Surf, who were on the mainstage at Sasquatch this last weekend at the Gorge in Washington State.  This is the first Sasquatch I have missed in years, I think possibly ever.  I think this is the 4th or 5th and I made all of the previous ones... until this year when they went really big and became a 3 day festival.  I tried to get some friends interested to go early, but they didn't want to. Then all of a sudden everyone was going, but I was pretty much decided not to.  Also, tix were a little more expensive and I have a old house that needs maintaining now. :)

 

Anyway, back to the topic (as if I ever got there).  Nada Surf did an instore the day before they were to play at Sasquatch, so i caught them for free.  They sounded great, however Sonic Boom Ballard really needs to do something about their crappy staging.  Practically no one in the place could see them.  And no one also could purchase anything while they were on, since the stage area is right next to the checkouts.  Hello!  Anyone in there?  Thanks Sonic Boom for bringing NS to your store, but home many hours of zero sales can you tolerate to keep running instores the way you do?

 

OK, enough complaining.  Here's a couple snaps to hopefully make it seem like I could actually see them... however I had to raise the camera way in my hand to full extension to get these.  They did sound great, and they played "Popular", their novelty hit from like... 1994 maybe?  I've never seen them play it live before, but they were taking requests and someone asked for it, so... I thought for the most part they may have foresworn that song, but I guess they'll make an exception.  I much prefer the stuff off of their last 2 albums on Barsuk records, especially The Weight is A Gift, which has some really great power pop songs on it.  Definitely following the Death Cab For Cutie vibe, although with more harmonies.  I think Chris Walla did produce their most recent album too, so if you like them, check it out.

The Border Riders MC hold their big annual club run on the British Columbia holiday of Victoria Day.  The guys come down for the long weekend from Vancouver and Victoria and up from Portland and Seattle to our regular location outside of Wenatchee for a 3 day camping run.

 

This is the first VD run in 4 years that I have NOT been in grad school at the same time.  It was really nice to have the time to get my motorcycle ready in advance and feel prepared.

 

Of course, the sassy Vulcan decided to come up with an entirely new problem on the way to Wenatchee, while of course I had te responsibility of being Tail Gunner for a crew of 8 bikes.  No pressure there.  Ha.  Anyway, it turned out to be a small issue easily fixed.

 

The trip was a lot of fun also because it's the first time Jeff went on a BRMC camp run, so I got to introduce him around.  It was also the 2nd largest VD run of the club history, wth 82 people registering.  Wow.  The creek was *really* high and there were lots of rattle snakes too.  And, the ants were trying to overrun our tent because, as you may know, they want to kill me.  But anyway.  Here's a few pics of the group...

This is my cat Buffy.  She is a very demanding cat. 

 

I'm thinking I want to make her one of those cats that ride around on motorcycles on stupid shows like Evening Magazine or Animal Planet. 

 

Here she is getting ready for the ride.

I've had a hate/love relationship with X for about 20 years.  I first heard them in about 1986, when "Fourth of July" was being played alot on 120 minutes on MTV.  My sister and I used to mock them, with Paulga doing the annoying, warbling, out of tune harmonies of crazy woman Exene Cervenka, and I would do the John Doe melody.

Sadly enough, I let this one song temper my appreciation for the other great work that X has done.  A few years ago, after hearing the continual raves about how influential they were blah blah blah, I decided to give them another try. Amazon.com had a critics recommend thing for a mega-disc mash up of Los Angeles and Wild Gift, two of their earlier albums.  So I gave it a whirl.

It was still a little hard for me to get past Exene, but once I listened to it a few times, I totally understood.  And ended up getting a lot of older X material, even "Heeeeyy, baby, it's the fourth of julaaie ahy". 

Anyway, flash forward to today.  I recognize the greatness of the band, and the individuals that make it up.  I got to see X on a tour a couple years ago (on my friend Bob's birthday) and loved them.  Bob, once again, dragged me out to this solo show from John Doe at the Tractor on a dull Monday night.  We were a few minutes late, but made our way to the main room.  We caught quite a few songs from the X back-catalog, along with many off of John Doe's most excellent solo album from 2005.

It was just John and his guitar.  He's not the most technically skilled guitarist, but he is damn passionate and plays what he does competently.  He broke at least one string during a specific freak out moment.  He also has a much better voice than I imagined, being used to hearing him so frequently with the loud rock band + wailing harmonies.

Dude, John Doe rules.  He skillfully changed songs to their acoustic cousins, and the audience was held rapt.  If you haven't heard his solo album from last year (Forever Hasn't Happened Yet), you really need to check it out!

Well, the Seattle Arboretum is not quite as exotic as going to the desert to see wildflowers, however it can be just as interesting given the manicured lawns and gardens.

 

Mothers' Day brought fantastic weather, and apparently there is some enticement or other for families to bring mothers down to the Arboretum in the early day.  I've never seen it so packed there.  We hit it early (11 ish) with Angela & Atar (and their infant Amir & dog Rex) and mostly walked Azalea Way, which was still the floral pathway that gave it its name.  Peach, orange, red, yellow, white and a few other colors I'm not clever enough to have names for.

 

Hit it later in the day for another more substantial hike with Bob & John.  This time I remembered my camera, and got it out as we hit the Rhodedendron (sp?) glen.  Lots of really vibrant colors.  We ended up hitting Foster Island also, for a quick view of the water, and spotted a couple of very large cranes (or herons?).  And almost on cue, I mentioned that I had heard there were Bald Eagles nesting and one flew out of the trees a couple hundred feet ahead of us and landed in another tree.  Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to capture that with the digital.

 

 

Jeff and I managed to hit Central Washington for a hike during wildflower season out in the desert.  That's the first time I've ever done that.  Umtanum is a state wildlife area on Canyon road between Ellensburg and Yakima.  It was only a 2 hour drive, but still sparsely populated with hikers. We had great weather and there were lots of flowers, however, I'd expect the season to peak in a few more days and last another couple weeks, so you haven't missed your chance.