Although it was a little rainy, we decided to get outside for a while today. Hey, if you wait until it’s Sunny here, you’ll be waiting until Summer!  I love to go visit the Snoqualmie Falls, where some of our power here in the mountains comes from.

After a rainy season, the falls are in rare form – I actually couldn’t get a lot of shots because it was “raining” from the falls! 

We hiked down the bottom trail of the falls and got in a little exercise.

I love walking down by the river – such an amazing sight seeing all of the water move that quickly.

Enumclaw is a small town just down the road from one of the main entrances to Mount Rainier. This weekend they were holding their annual car show, so we stopped by to have a look.

There are hundreds of cars that show up – everything from old World War Two Jeeps to just about every make and model of very old cars and Motorcycles.

My mother and I have a running argument about a particular car she owned. As you can clearly see, mom, it was an Impala. An Impala.

We also took in a few of the towns sights and shops.

And their houses remind me of Port Townsend, Washington, over on the Olympic Peninsula. Absolutely gorgeous!

Well, I’ve been down in Portland, Oregon this week and rode the latest motorcycle there as a “shake down cruise”. It’s about three hours down from Seattle, and I had a fantastic trip, with little traffic, clear skies, and amazing views. Coming home, well, that was another story. But the bike held up well, and I really liked the way it handled. I now trust it enough to take Marjorie or Christina on it.

So this Saturday, while Marjorie had to work, I offered to take Christina up to Mount Rainier. We’ve been up before, but it’s different on a bike. And I thought we might take a detour or two from our normal route, and see a little more of the mountain. We call the bike “the goat”, because of the extreme torque this bike has.

The day was predicted to be overcast and cold, but in Seattle you just never know. You just plan what you plan and deal with the weather as it comes. The morning dawned – surprise – overcast and cold. So we suited up anyway and headed through a couple of the smaller towns, stopping in Enumclaw, Washington for fuel, the food for picnic, and, well….

And then off to the mountain. We stopped from time to time to take a photo, but if we stopped for every stunning vista, we would have been there all day! As it turned out, the weather was absolutely stunning.

We met lots of other bikers on the way up, and became instant friends. Some of them had ridden all the way from California, hitting several mountains on their way to Vancouver, British Columbia. Nice trip indeed!

We stopped for lunch  by one of the many lakes on the mountain, and took a few shots while we were there.

And then on to Sunrise Point, where Christina met a few friends with four legs. A brief hike, and then back down the mountain, stopping for an ice cream on the way home. What a day!

My mother came up from Florida for my birthday and the 4th of July, so I took the first week off I've had in quite some time. Of course we started in Seattle and got her some "real" coffee - and she also got to meet bigfoot while she was there.

Then off to Rattlesnake Ridge - you have to admire someone who is afraid of flying, heights and snakes that at 70 years old flies to Seattle to hike 2 miles up a mountain named after a poisonous reptile!

Then we all piled in the car to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, where we first stopped at a bird sanctuary.

From there it was on to Ocean Shores and the beach, albeit a little colder than the Florida beaches she left. She keeps running into bigfoot up here - this one had a definite beach flair...

Then off to Forks, Washington, where there was some film or other about vampires - an eerie place until the sun came out...

We stopped at a rain forest or two...

Then off to Deer Point, up 6,000 feet where you can see, well, basically everything!

After all the mountains and forests, I think she's pretty worn out. She's been from the West coast of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the tip of the Pacific Northwest and the Strait of Juan De Fuca in just a week!

When we first moved in, my neighbor (who is from New Orleans) found out I cook a lot of Cajun food. He asked us to come to an annual “Fait-Do-Do” (party) that he was holding at his house, where they cooked up a bunch of crawfish (Cajun Lobster :). I of course immediately agreed.

The next year they invited us again, so we brought some fried chicken and experienced a little “South” again – something we miss a lot.

This year, I asked if they were having the crawfish boil again, and was told that at this point, I was part of the family. So I made up a bunch of red beans and rice and we drove to the latest location, at James and Tracy’s home in Federal Way, Washington.

We had a LOT to eat, and got to catch up with all the families. Sure enough, we’ve been adopted in, and now we’re just one of the families that shows up with a ton of food to share.

It’s good to have good neighbors!

I was scheduled to speak at the “SQL Saturday” event yesterday in Portland, Oregon on the 6th so we all decided to go. It’s about a 3-hour drive from here, but if you leave early traffic isn’t too bad. I made some pancakes and strong coffee (is there any other kind?) and we drove down to Portland after breakfast.

I had about 60 or so folks in the room, and we had a really great time.

After I finished work, we drove to the city center. Portland was having its flower festival, where all the floats are made completely of flowers – there were floats from lots of companies and even countries – and there was even a “grocery store” (Fred Meyers) made from flowers – with a few vegetables!

After we saw the sights, we walked all over downtown and stopped for a Thai Ice Tea before having dinner at one of the best Italian places in town – Momma Mia’s. We had lasagna, chicken parm, and pomodoro, all family-style.

The sun is out!  We dropped the top on the convertible and drove to Seattle, parking close to the Public market along Pike and Pine Ave.

Each year the city holds a "cheese festival", and various local and international cheesemongers bring their products and line the streets next to the market.

We bought some cheese and went inside Beechers cheese shop which is just next to the original Starbucks. Out came the water bottles and a few garlic-herbed crackers and the snacking was on.

From there we toured the market, buying some Smoked King Salmon, a little more cheese, more crackers, and a few different types of grapes.

I put all that together for a pretty awesome dinner.

I love the sunshine.

Marjorie had to work this weekend so Christina and I grabbed the discs and headed out for a morning of golf.

Disc golf is like regular golf, with a course, holes and so on, but you use special discs to play. They are a little smaller and much heavier than a frisbee, and you just throw them down the course until you get close to the "hole", which is a basket with chains on it, placed on a stand.

We had several courses near our house in Florida, and the main hazards there were large L-shaped courses, lots of water, and (no kidding) alligators. I lost one disc to a gator once - just too close to pick it up.

Here in Washington there aren't as many courses, but it is growing in popularity. There's not much maintenance on the course, and since everything is done "in the air" you don't have to mow or change a current park to outfit it for disc golf other than putting up the baskets. It coexists well with just about any course.

Some of the places I landed at were "tough lies" - meaning that you had to go up, around or through trees and bushes to get to the basket.

The weather dawned, bright, sunny and warm. OK, the morning didn't actually dawn, it was more that the clock showed 7:00, and it was snowing and then raining. So this weekend we picked an indoor activity!

We visited the Bellevue Art Museum, which is about 20 miles north of here. They had a special series of exhibits that appealed to all of us.

You can't take pictures in a museum, so I'll try and describe a little of what we saw. I assure you I won't do it justice, but you can use your mind's eye to fill in the details.

The first exhibit was on baskets - not your average baskets, mind you, but artwork inspired by baskets. Many weren't bowl-shaped at all - some were made in the shape of a shallow plate, others were square and completely enclosed, and still others were bowls inside of other bowls. There were tiny bowls, huge art pieces, and each were made of something different. I found weavings of thread, horsehair, porcupine quills, film negatives, tape, staples, branches, copper strips, silver wire, gold wire - even one made out of fish skins! There was one box made of silk weaving, and inside you could see a ball that was made of silk weaving as well, suspended in the box somehow. It was amazing.

The next exhibit was on quilts, all from the 1800's. There were the standard quilts you might find in any older home, but there were "crazy" quilts - ones where the scraps of fabric were used however they came, and quilted together. There were huge quilts made from 1-inch squares, and "charm" quilts, which have no repeating fabrics. One had over 1,000 squares of fabric, none of which were alike! And some of the "whitework" quilts, that are hand-stitched patterns in white thread on white fabric, were so intricate they took years to make. Awesome stuff.

And then there was my favorite exhibit, called the "Book Borrowers". This exhibit was art made from books, inspired by books. It's the hardest one to explain, so I'll tell you about a couple of examples that I found most extreme.

The first was a series of animal books, opened, joined and arranged where the pages faced you as you circled it. The artist had cut out parts of the  pages of the book, such that they showed a particular animal diagram, but in 3-Dimensions. The artist left certain words on various pages as he cut down to the picture to tell yet another story, all from within the book!

Another exhibit looked like a life-sized person laying on their side, sunk into the display table - but it was all made from different height books. Still another, one of my favorites, was a "canyon". The artist took a series of old encyclopedias, and pushed them together to make a row of books about 10 feet long. Then he did the same thing with another set, pushing them spine-out from each other. He glued all this together, and then took a sand-blaster to the top of the books and carved out what looked like the Grand Canyon out of the pages of the book, so you looked at it from the top!

Another one of my favorites was a clock, with all the parts of the clock made from books on - what else - clocks!

Most of our trips are rather lengthy affairs, taking a few hours to get to and back. We try to get out twice a month on Saturday, alternating between the country and the city. On the other Saturdays, we all have work, homework, projects and other things going on.

Every so often we're in danger of not being able to go out. Sometimes I'm out of town for work, or Marjorie is at a ladies' group or working, or Christina has a birthday party or some other thing to visit. When that happens, we'll skip a Saturday, but when it happens twice, those not involved in something else still go out.

And that's what happened this week. Marjorie had a commitment in the middle of the day, I had/have a ton of work to do, and Christina was busy with a project. We knew we couldn't spend the whole day doing something out, but Christina and I decided to head into Seattle for Coffee and Pastries, as well as a morning at our favorite location - the Seattle Public Library.

And the pastries - oh, man! We stopped by a Polish bakery on 1st Avenue and I had a chocolate caramel hazelnut twist. Christina ordered a fresh apple cinnamon Piroshky the size of her head. Then a quick stop at Seattle's Best Coffee (SBC) for a couple of Mochas and we were all set.

Thus refreshed, we padded off to the library, which is a huge "upside down pyramid" made of glass and steel. I took along my laptop and while Christina loaded up on books, I finished my article for the weekend that was due Saturday night.

With all that done, we had a little more time to explore the city further, and in the end, Marjorie joined us for a dinner of Smoked Salmon on the waterfront.

So it turned into a great day anyway, and convinced us of what we already knew: the good times aren't because of where we go, but because we go together.

We've always liked to visit the various museums in the area, and the Burke, which is located at the University of Washington, is one of our favorites. So this week we headed out to see the latest exhibit, which was on - of all things - coffee!

They had a great interactive part of the museum where you could walk from one part of the coffee roasting experience to the other, from growing all the way through a coffee tasting on the other side of the exhibit.

I was unaware that coffee was such a manual industry. Other than the roasting and delivery to the cup, almost everything is done by hand by workers around the equator, where coffee grows the most.

It was also interesting to find out about the different climates and how they affect the coffee taste. One area is more "buttery" and the other is more "earthy". When you sample them side by side, you can really tell the difference.

After the museum we headed out to the University District for a late lunch, and then - what else - coffee!  I found a great Turkish restaurant where I introduced Christina to Turkish coffee and Baklava - a honey-and-nut pastry.

We certainly don't have to worry about getting home on time tonight - we don't need sleep for a few days! 

It's been foggy here for two weeks, and we REALLY wanted to see the sun. The fog is kind of strange - it's because of an "inversion", which means that the warm air is on top of the cold, instead of the other way around. That means two things: a fog develops in the lowlands, and the sunshine is in the mountains. So we headed for the mountains.

Just up near Mount Hyak is a side-road that takes you to the Denny Creek trail, and a few camping areas. In the winter, the road thins to one (very narrow) lane, and stays icy and snowy in the winter. The campgrounds are closed, since you couldn't get a car in there anyway, but the trails are open for snowshoeing. We packed up the car and headed for the trails.

It was cold, but sunny. When we hike in the snow, we don't take a picnic lunch, since there's really no place to eat it. But we do take the camera - although I don't take my hands out of the gloves many times to take shots!

It was a great trip - I like snowshoeing because it doesn't require a lot of equipment, everyplace with snow is a place to play, and we have a great time in the sunshine while we do it!

Well, I'm finally back from all the international travels. My last trip was to Barcelona, Spain, where I spoke for Microsoft for a few days. Barcelona is amazing, and unlike other parts of Spain. I worked quite a bit, turning in about 9 hours of sleep for the week. But I was able to get out just a little, and I got to see the incredible architecture they have.

One of my favorite sights was the La Sagreda Familia. This is a church that has been under construction since 1882! That's the longest building program at a church I've ever heard of. It's an amazing sight.

When I got back, one of the major zoos here held a "career day" for veterinarian students. a friend of mine works at the zoo in their IT department, and got a spot for Christina. Not only did she get to hear a great presentation, she got up close and personal with a few of the animals.

Vet school is really hard to get in - only one in ten applicants makes it. But I have a feeling that she's got a good shot.

I haven't posted anything for a while, but it isn't for lack of us doing things. In fact, it's the opposite! In my job at Microsoft, I end up presenting to a lot of technical folks around the world after our product is released. Well, I work on SQL Server, and we just released the new version of that this summer, so I've been traveling quite a bit lately.

Recently I spoke in Olympia, Washington, and I took Marjorie and Christina with me. They browsed the fabric and craft stores while I did my presentation, and then we had lunch at the farmer's market in town before we left. Then I was off to Brazil.

After a 24-hour flight (in coach!), I reached Sao Paulo, Brazil. Now this is a big city - 20 million people! Over 9 times bigger than Seattle, it's bigger than New York, it's just big.

The people are SO nice in Brazil. I met some great folks, and had a great time.

It's Fall here in Seattle, so now that I'm back for a week, I took a stroll around the neighborhood and looked at the leaves. Wow! The colors here are different than other parts of the country - all greens, and shades of yellow and orange. And then there are the deep mahoganies - just stunning.

I'm off to Barcelona, Spain next week, so I'll post some pictures once I get back.

After Grandma's (Marjorie's Mom) visit, Christina flew back with her to Georgia and spent some time with her cousins and all the family down there. After a couple of weeks (during which Marjorie and I were going through "kid withdrawal") Granny (Buck's Mom) drove up to Jacksonville, sat out the tropical storm, and flew back with Christina to visit for a couple of weeks. So now we have the house full again!

Of course, the first stop was Seattle, with the required cup of strong coffee at Seattle Coffeeworks. It was an absolutely beautiful day.

We decided that my mother should have a little taste of "real" mountain climbing. So we fixed up a picnic lunch, and hiked all the way up "little" Mount Si. Mom was a real trooper. Even though we hiked 5 miles up 1500 feet, on hands and knees in some places, she stuck it out all the way to the top.

We traveled back to Seattle to pick up the ferry to Bremerton. Washington state has the biggest ferry system in the US, and we make good use of them. It was another beautiful day.

Bremerton is a Navy town, more specifically a Navy ship-building and repair town. While we were there, we were able to tour the USS Turner Joy, and I have to say that after seeing what the Navy troops had to go through on those ships, and reading the accounts of the men and women that gave their lives. it certainly made me even more proud of this country. Having served in the air Force myself, I understand a little of their service.

And then we topped it off with a trip to Leavenworth, Washington. I've blogged about this place before - it's a Bavarian-style town with lots to see and do.

And this week it's back to school for Christina, and Mom flies out Tuesday. Just in time for the next hurricane!

Marjorie's mom has been in town for the last two weeks, so as usual we've tried to wear her out before we send her home. She's always wanted to ride on my motorcycle, so this was the trip we did it. She did pretty well, and I was impressed with her courage, until she got off of the bike and kissed the ground. I'm not sure that was really necessary!

Then we took her on trips to Seattle, and trips to the zoo...

We took her on trips to the Bellevue Arts Festival....

And trips to NorthWest Trek with Christina and one of her friends...

and we just got back from driving her all the way to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada...

Now all she has to do is get home so she can get away from us and rest!

The sun comes out (not up but out) pretty late these days, starting kind of foggy and then burning off to make a beautiful day. We had the Microsoft company picnic just on the other side of Mount Si, and it was a blast.

There are tons of people - it's actually held over four days to fit everybody - and there is a little something for everyone. We picked up one of Christina's friends and headed out to see the sights.

I love the music we have at the picnic. There was a Japanese-style drum band that sort of dances as they play. It's amazing to watch.

And of course what picnic is complete without a motorcycle stunt show.

The sun came out, and we sat while the girls played. Marjorie and I checked out some mountain bikes and went on a trail ride. I discovered quite quickly just how out of shape I am. Ah well. It was a great day.

My birthday is the 2nd of July, and I love the 4th celebrations as well, so this year we decided to head into town and celebrate it big.

We stayed near the "Space Needle", which is in the north part of the city. When we got there, I saw a huge number of people in suits and nice dresses, all waving little American flags. We followed them in to a large arena, and found it was a group of people gaining their citizenship, taking the oath on the 4th of July. If you ever want to see a group of people that love this country, look no further. It really makes you thankful for what you have.

From there we walked to the south end of Lake Union, and took a look at the Wooden Boat center. They are so beautiful - the craftsmanship is unbelievable.

Speaking of craftsmanship, one gentleman had built a 23-foot long Titanic replica out of Legos! It was pretty impressive - it took a year and $15,000.00 worth of blocks to do it.

We then decided to walk up to the north end of Lake Union and watch the fireworks at "Gasworks Park". This is an old Natural Gas facility that is now a park, and there had to be over 20,000 people there. I couldn't believe how many people came out to celebrate. The Marines lowered a 50-foot flag from a helicopter and flew it around the lake - a truly awesome sight.

We walked back to the hotel room - I think we calculated 9-10 miles of walking on the 4th - and got back to the room after midnight. We slept in a little and then I tried out a new coffee shop in Seattle (imagine that) and headed home.

I listen to a classical radio station from Seattle and the other day they offered a discounted trip on the Victoria Clipper boats that go on whale-watching trips. So I took a day off from work on Thursday, we got up at 4:00 in the morning, and took the train into Seattle to board the ship.

We were greeted at the docks by an otter that clearly knew where they kept the Krispy Kreme dounts - which I think were originally intended for the guests.

Even though it's the end of June, it's still quite chilly, especially in the early morning and out on the water. We stayed bundled up and bounced back and forth between the top deck and the inside with the hot coffee. I was thrilled to find good coffee on the ship, but hey, it is Seattle...

We headed out towards the San Juan islands, which sit between Victoria (Canada) and the mainland of Washington. We saw a lot of marine life on the way, and lots of beautiful points of land complete with lighthouses.

We passed "Point No Point", which is named that way because it looks like a peninsula from one side but in fact isn't. Christina and I got into a philosophical argument because I think if it isn't a point, you can't name it "Point" No Point. Christina took the side of "That's the 'Point', it's not a Point". After a heated discussion, we agreed to disagree, and decided that if it were in the South it would be called "Ain't No Point". Marjorie tends to stay out of these discussions between Christina and me.

Along the way we saw two different "Pods" of Orcas - which although they are named "Killer Whales", have never been recorded to have killed anyone. These beautiful animals have a similar lifespan, reproductive and so on to humans. Several of the Pods (there are J-Pods, K-Pods and yes, even an I-Pod) are endangered.

the ships do a pretty good job of not harassing the animals, by shutting down their engines and staying well away from their activities. I had to use a pretty good zoom even to get these pictures. And they also track the animals (you can tell the different ones by their "saddleback" markings) for the scientists.

We eventually reached "Friday Harbor", which is a small town in one of the San Juan's. We had our traditional picnic lunch of olives, bread, deli meats (mmm - Black Forest Ham) and cheese.

When we got back to Seattle, there was a sailboat regatta, and we stayed on the docks for a moment watching the race. A quick dinner of Indian food was followed by a  long bus-ride home (the train was long gone by that late in the evening).