Travel: Fort Casey

Fort Casey State Park

Whidbey Island, WA

Travel: Hawaii x3

Maui, HI

Menehune Shores x2

These were all taken around the condo where we stayed. In fact, the middle picture is the condo where we stayed. Other highlights include 1. The view from the condo roof, 2. A grassy trail, 4. Some beach chairs and 5. a 15 megapixel photo of an 8 megapixel photo of the sunset. 

Travel: The Unknown

Big Beach, Makena State Park

Maui, HI

Unbeknownst to anyone in my traveling party, on the other side of this wonderful beach we attended exists a place called Little Beach. You might think they named it that because it's small and short, crammed in between two big rock formations. However, the locals might say it's called that because it's like a little slice of Europe. The Europe they would be referring to is the nudist beach part of Europe. I can confirm that the beach on the other side of the rocks is in fact a nudist beach because the stoner who offered me a joint said in order to get to the cliff jumping rocks you had to go up over the large rock mountain and around the nudist beach. After I was told this, I was also asked to not tell anyone that said person who was smoking a blunt was in fact smoking a blunt because his Dad was a famous politician on the island. Hawaii !!

Travel: Puka 'ana La

Maui, HI

Menehune Shores

If you can't take a decent sunset picture in Hawaii you shouldn't own a camera. 

Seattle: Mighty are the Memories

Husky Stadium

November 5 . 2011

(click on the picture if you believe it should be larger)

I took a shot similar to this a few weeks ago when I was at the Colorado game. I posted it a few posts ago. But this was the final game at the Husky Stadium that was the Husky Stadium before it will become the new Husky Stadium. So clearly I needed a final panorama to celebrate the occasion. Some things will change with the refurbished stadium, most notably that track will be gone. Though it will be great to have that eyesore out of the way, it will be sad to see a few other things go by the way side. The most obvious of course being the tile peeing walls in a select few men's bathrooms. Sure most of the peeing walls had already been replaced by troughs or in a few cases urinals, but the few remaining walls were special to me. Where else in the world was it not only encouraged but expected that you let it all out all over a wall. No need to aim, no need to worry about back splash up on to the rim of the bowl, no need to think really. Just pee. To the right, to the left, up, down. Sign your name in cursive. Play a quick game of tic tac toe with your neighbor. Wherever and however you wanted to pee was fine at Husky Stadium in the special walled urine depositories. It's a little kids dream to be given the freedom to pee all over a wall. Husky Stadium made my little dreams a big reality.

Bellingham: Taylor St Boardwalk

Taylor St Boardwalk

Bellingham, WA

I was late to a steak dinner my mother was preparing in my honor last Monday evening. The reason I arrived at my parents house later than the time in which I had earlier in the day declared I would be arriving at was due to powers beyond my control. When I finally got to my parents house that evening my mother asked, "why are you late?" I responded "Because I couldn't leave a sunset like tonights." She looked me in the eye and said "it had better have been worth it". You be the judge, was it worth it? 

(The above dialogue was based on a true story. The actual words spoken may have been exaggerated in this retelling for the purpose of dramatization)

Travel: Willkommen

Highway 2

(near) Leavenworth, WA

A week ago I went to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, the land of lederhosen, dirndls, beer and brats. The drive on Highway 2 in the month of October is a trip worth writing home about. We only stopped once to take a few pictures and for that, I am truly sorry. Sorry for you and sorry for myself. If I was in charge and didn't need to worry about the needs of others I would have stopped on the side of the road at least 12 to 15 times. I never would have made it to Leavenworth. It would have started to get dark and I would have turned back. These pictures aren't really that great, don't tell the whole story of how beautiful it was and generally just serve to make me wish I had more accurately captured what I saw on our little weekend trek. 

Seattle: UW vs CAL

Seattle WA / Husky Stadium

UW vs Cal

The U of W won the game. And we all know that when the Huskies win, America Wins. You're welcome America.

Travel: Kettle Valley Railway

Kelowna, BC

Myra Canyon/Kettle Valley Railway

Kelowna has more than just a big lake, nice golf courses, perfect summer weather, endless outdoor activities and a vibrant touristy downtown area. It also has a hiking/biking trail converted out of an old railway line up in the hills. No trains or tracks anymore, and a few years ago the old train trestles didn't exist either. They burned down in a massive forest fire. But they were rebuilt, and we walked over them. 

Travel: Kelowna means "Grizzly Bear"

Kelowna, BC

I was in Kelowna this past weekend. A nice little tourist town on Lake Okanagan in British Columbia. We swam, boated, kayaked, hiked, bocce'd, frisbeed, Pacho'd, and generally participated in other things of that nature. The weather was as you would expect it to be in this part of the world during this time of the year; a nice and dry 32 degrees celsius. After such a nice trip, I wanted to find out a little bit more about our 4 hour away neighbors to the North-East. I did some research and found out that 18.5% of Kelowna's residents are of retirement age. Nearly 1/5th of the total population! In addition, in July of 2007, "Wakefest", a wake boarding competition and music festival was canceled due to "general rowdiness". From these facts we can assume that Kelowna has one of the highest percentages of unruly old people in North America.

The Husky

Kato

Tyrell has a dog. A dog that is a husky. A husky dog that has eyes. Husky dog eyes that are unlike any eyes you have ever seen. They make diamonds look like rusty playdough globs. 

Seriously... those eyes. 

Travel: Labor Day

Deception Pass

Whidbey Island, WA

I don't like to brag. I really don't. Sometimes to a fault. I find I don't tell people things, perhaps important life things, because I feel like I may be bragging. But I must say, my 2011 Labor Day weekend was better than yours. It just was. That's what happens when you camp at the beautiful Deception Pass on the best weather weekend of the year. But I'm sure you had a nice little weekend as well.

Bellingham: Summer Recipe

North Cove : Lake Whatcom

Bellingham, WA

Summer Recipe:

- From the North Cove (pictured above) paddle board 25 minutes South to Camp Firwood on a clear as could be August evening. Set the temp to 74 degrees. Set the timer to 7:50pm.

- Hang out at camp all evening. Watch Center stage, ET and consume a serving dish sized bowl of Lucky Charms.

- Paddle board 20 minutes North on Lake Whatcom back to the North Cove on a clear as could be, starry filled August night. Set the temp to 64 degrees. Set the time to 12:15am.