As we said in our last BLOG, our dear friends Anneke & Chuck
Guldenschuh arrived yesterday in their RV for a visit.
So Saturday morning, 01JUL, Dan took them into Seattle for one of his
whirlwind tours. Unfortunately Dan’s
camera memory card was full, so going from his memory he thinks he showed them – the
view from Kerry Park, Seattle Center, rode the monorail, Pike’s Place Market,
Seattle waterfront, Pioneer & Occidental Squares, National Park’s Klondike
Gold Rush Historical Museum, Fremont neighborhood, Volunteer Park, & ???.
Sunday we then took the Guldenschuhs on an extended auto trip. First stop was to Fall City for breakfast at the Raging River Café. Then on to the view at Snoqualmie Falls. Next we drove thru Snoqualmie - North Bend – Mt Si – to Rosyln (used for the TV series Northern Exposure). Last stop was Cle Elum to visit the gravesite of Douglas Munro (the Coast Guard’s only Medal of Honor recipient). While in Cle Elum we checked-out the Telephone Museum before heading home.
“Cle Elum was one of the last cities in the country to use a manual telephone switchboard. In September of 1966, the Cle Elum Historical Telephone Museum was established when Pacific Northwest Bell deeded its building to the Society for a museum of telephone history. It is now the oldest complete telephone museum west of the Mississippi, with displays covering the history of telephone technology from 1901 to 1970. In addition to the telephone displays, the museum features a collection of coal mine artifacts which were donated by local miners, and a selection of memorabilia from Cle Elum State Bank, built in 1906 by Frank Carpenter and run under his direction for over 50 years.”
Monday was a day of rest for everyone in preparation for tomorrow’s Fourth of July. Tuesday (4 July) Dan’s brother & wife, Shawn & Cindie, came by for a Fourth of July BBQ dinner. After they departed we entertained the grandkids w/fireworks in the yard. Wednesday morning Chuck & Anneke departed & we commenced cleaning-up the fireworks mess.
Friday, 07JUL, Dan, Rebecca & kids head out to & hike part of the Iron Goat Trail. As we have described previously in our BLOG, the trail follows an old railroad track is a very easy hike. See below BLOG link for our last hike on this trail.
Saturday early morning we headed to Alki beach in West Seattle
for the Seafair Pirates Landing. The
Pirate Landing is the official opening of Seattle’s almost month long Seafair
Festival (see below BLOG link of our last witnessing of this event for more
details & more pics). We made sure to get there very
early because of limited neighborhood parking.
Upon arrival we had an early lunch at Spud (note – Spud, not Spuds) –
their food was not as good as it was in 2008?
It was a three hour wait for the pirate’s landing barge; but the grandkids
were just happy to play on the beach & in the water. We saw the pirates land from afar, but didn’t
fight the crowd to get close; before heading home.
Tuesday, 11JUL, Dan drove to a University of Washington medical clinic in Seattle for the start of his hand treatment that our May BLOG detailed. Step one was the injection of Xiaflex to soften the palmar fibromatosis. Next week will be step two, the “breaking” of the fibromatosis.
Early Saturday morning, 15JUL, it was off to Green Lake in Seattle
for the Seafair Milk Carton Derby, w/Rebecca, Jaxson & Mason. We last visited in Milk Carton Derby July 2013 (see BLOG link for more details & pics). The one in 2013 was bigger & more
entertaining than this oneL The
grandkids found it interesting, but soon became bored. So we headed to Volunteer Park on Capitol
Hill last visited 15AUG2016, where they played for hours. As we were leaving the Park we ran across
some teens/young adults(?) dressed up as characters from the movie
“Deadpool”. Apparently they were not
embarrassed by being in public & being stared at (& laughed at).
Tuesday, 18JUL, we paid our respects at the funeral for Bonnie
Kiesel’s (Dan’s cousin Steve Kiesel’s wife) mom (Jackie Hand). Unfortunately we only had limited time to
offer our condolences, since the remembrance was just before we had to head to
the UW Seattle medical clinic for step two on Dan’s hand. Dan’s hand was locally anesthetized, so he
felt nothing. Thankfully! Because from what we witnessed, it looked
like the doctor was breaking every bone in Dan’s hand!!! After the doctor was done it was straight
into therapy for the first of his rehab sessions.
Friday, 21JUL, was spent mostly at Jetty Island in Everett, with
Rebecca & the kids. Jetty Island is
an island only open to the public during the summer. The only access is via private boat or the
seasonal ferry. The island is so
popular, that reservations for the ferry are strongly recommended. We didn’t have reservations, so got there
early because there are usually seats open on the early boats. We would have been on the first ferry, but
due to extreme low tide there was no ferry runs for over an hour. It was an OK time once on the island, but Dan
feels there are better beaches within driving distance, where you don’t depend
on a boat for access.
Saturday, 22JUL, was Dan’s cousin Steve Kiesel’s birthday. As we did in 2010 we met Steve & wife
Bonnie at Snoqualmie Casino around lunch to celebrate. We were soon joined by their daughter Joleen
& husband Nathan for the lunch buffet.
There were no winners but Steve & Bonnie had so many points on
their casino cards, that everyone’s lunch was freeJ! Upon returning home we sets up the new pool
purchased by Rebecca for the kids.
Sadly Sunday, 30JUL, was Dan’s cousin John Peter’s remembrance. John unexpectedly passed away on the 16th of
July, at a young age. Adding to the
tragedy is the fact that John’s wife, Michelle, also passed away back in April
of 2011. Now there are four very young
children without parents; & one young man (their son William) that must
take the place of his parents! John’s
sister Jennifer & husband Mike have stepped-up & volunteered to take in the children, but family &
friends still have trouble accepting or understanding the loss.
