01-14JUN10 - Monroe, WA

After our enjoyable Memorial Day weekend at the Kiesel’s in Kittitas, WA, it was back to our almost “permanent” RV spot at the Evergreen State Fairground in Monroe, WA. Unfortunately, June was living up to why long time “Seattlites” call the month Junuary. So we decided to take advantage of any forecasted sunny day & get out of the RV for short road trips (or should we say Toad trips?).
Saturday, 05JUN, we headed to the Georgetown section of Seattle for a “farmers” market. Georgetown was the original location of Rainier Beer, Dan’s drink of choice back in the 70s. Back then in Seattle, you were either a Rainier (aka MFR for Mountain Fresh Rainier), drinker or Olympia (aka Oly) drinker. Since the Oly ads always emphasized “It’s the Water!”, Rainier guys would say “It’s Water!”. Sadly now the brewery is gone; what little Rainier that is in the stores is brewed in California & trucked in; & your choices in taverns now-a-days are the usual tasteless Bud products or tasteless Miller products. True Seattlites still speak fondly of the MFR TV commercials from the 70s & 80s (many starring Mickey Rooney), & the near riot when the wild MFRs were run down 1st Avenue during the first ever Fat Tuesday! Dan recommends going to You Tube & searching using the key words – Rainier beer commercial. The below link features Mickey & former UW Husky Coach Jim Owens hunting the elusive MFR.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64-Ieeu7oIA

Anyway, Georgetown was a pretty seedy, industrial, section of Seattle, that now is enjoying a revitalization. There are still many machine shops, lite industry, etc; but slowly but surely these businesses are be displaced by artists, coffee shops, boutiques, restaurants, & bars. Turns out this market is in its inaugural year, & is the latest effort to develop a sense of community & continuing to improve the neighborhood.

After the market we headed to the old Sears building that dominated the south Seattle skyline on 1st Avenue. The building, which was completed in 1915, was the largest west of Chicago for decades. It started out as a mail order center for Sears & added a retail store in 1925. Even though back then it was on the outskirts of Seattle, hotels opened next door so that mail order customers could sleep overnight while waiting for their mail orders. Sears even built a major pedestrian bridge over the train switching yard so that hundreds of sailors on cargo vessels could easily walk to & shop at Sears. There still is a Sears retail store in the building but the major portion of the building (including the tower) have been sold a couple times since the 1990s. Now the building is world HQ for Starbucks, as well as one of their corporate training centers. So not only have we had coffee at the first Starbucks in Pike Place Market, but now their world HQ.

Taking the scenic route back to Monroe & the RV (with Dan its always the scenic route) we discovered a Green Egg BBQ “convention” called an “Eggfest”. There were many “teams” BBQ’ing everything from pork, beef, chicken, salmon, to fruits & veggies. At first we thought it was a competition, but it wasn’t; it was just a gathering of Green Egg fanatics. Apparently the health authorities were not aware of the event, because everyone was passing out samples left & right; usually a big no-no unless you get a temporary health permit (ie pay money to county). Most of you know Dan loves good BBQ & he was impressed with the quality from the Green Eggs, so we checked out the prices. The smallest (and we mean teeny-weeny) was over three hundred bucks!!!











For three days (including travel), 08-10JUN, Dan went back to New Orleans for another business trip. This time he invited the kids to meet him for dinner. Unfortunately, Raymond, Rebecca’s husband, was out of town. But Rebecca came in right after work & was treated to a 1st class meal at the Bon Ton Café, one of New Orleans best. Joe couldn’t make it until almost 9PM, so he was treated to pizza in the hotel bar.

12JUN, Saturday, the sun returned & we took a Toad trip along the coast of Puget Sound to the small town of Stanwood, & then around Camano Island. We first stopped at the Stanwood Café for a nice breakfast. Then we crossed over to Camano Island where we drove around the island, stopping at the public beaches to enjoy great views of the Olympics across Puget Sound, & walks on the beach.
Also during the last couple of weeks we have met with the house company on our property to determine a suitable building location & get cost estimates on the necessary excavations. Dan once again has decided on another building project of shelves & a workbench like at Corrie’s brothers in Canada back in AUG09 using excess lumber, this time in our in barn.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/09/04-18sep09-sprucewoods-mb-via-swift.html