01-30SEP16 - Sultan, WA (not much happened)

Sunday, 04SEP, we headed to SkiBonkers in Bellevue.  SkiBonkers you ask?  SkiBonkers is an annual event by one of the biggest sports stores in the Seattle area.  Corrie saw their ad & figured Dan could check out last year’s ski equipment being liquidated.  Not keeping up w/latest ski technology/innovation like he did in 70s, he is not sure if what he purchased will do the job?  Plus it will take over five years of infrequent ski trips to break even over paying for rental equipment!

Sunday, 18SEP, around noontime we headed over to Dan’s brother Shawn & Cindie’s for BBQ (great) & the Seahawk game (very poor performance).  Also there was Shawn’s daughter Kassie w/son Rex; Cindie’s daughter Shannon; & a cousin, niece, & some other’s from Cindie’s family.  A very enjoyable time, too bad the Hawks lost.

The only other “event” in September, was grandson Mason’s third birthday which once again were not in Louisiana forL

16-31AUG16 - Sultan, WA

Tuesday, 16AUG, early AM it was off to the airport for the departure of the Pitres (Rebecca, Raymond, Jaxson & Mason); then back to Sultan to collapse & recover from theirs & son Joe’s short visit!  The next several days were spent removing all traces of the kids & grandkids visit.

Saturday, 20AUG, the Seattle area was still experiencing more record heat.  Late that morning we headed to Rich & Jan Formisano for their annual Riverwalk gathering.  Rich is a Coast Guard friend & classmate of Dan’s; & we were lucky enough to be neighbors in Novato, CA, back in the early 90s.  The Riverwalk is an annual party/BBQ they put on every summer for neighbors, old fiends (like us) & family.  Their house is on the banks of the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River.  The tradition is that at some point guests are encouraged to walk across the river & back.  Corrie made it part way, Dan didn’t even attempt it.  A great time!

Sunday, 21AUG, after record heat the temperature drops 15 degrees cooler than yesterday?  So we bundled up & went to the Fresh Paint art show at the Everett Marina.  This is a jury selected show for “new” artists & crafters.  Our main interest was to the art work of Dan’s cousin Jennifer Hayes.  It turned out to be a pretty big event, w/very good talent.  We tried not to interfere w/Jennifer interacting w/potential customers, but did manage to have a nice visit her & husband Mike.

http://www.schack.org/events/fresh-paint/

Saturday, 27AUG, it was into Seattle for a walkabout.  First stop was Espresso Vivace started in 1988 by David Schomer & a partner.  Why a coffee shop in the hometown of Starbucks & thousands of excellent coffee stands?  Because Schomer has “researched” the perfect expresso for years to the nth degree; & is regarded THE world’s expert on the perfect cup expresso.  Baristas come from all over the world to train under him.  To his credit, he stays small & local.

From there it was a walkabout on Broadway, the “main street” on Seattle’s capitol hill.  Then to the Seattle Center for Festal Tibet.  As we have discussed in this BLOG, these Festals are sponsored by local expats and/or descendants of the noted culture.  Some are great & some are poor; Tibet was average.  They had great crafts on display, but the opening ceremonies dragged on forever; & we thought there was no “local” food.  But after fastfood for lunch we discovered Tibetan foods outside (but there was no indication about the food available inside?).  Arriving back at our car, we find many people (many costumed as super heroes/heroines) outside the Streamline Tavern for “Ring Around the Needle” a pub crawl (7 total) to benefit an ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) charity.

http://espressovivace.com/

http://www.seattlecenter.com/festal/

http://tibet.washingtontibet.org/

http://ringaroundtheneedle.com/

Sunday was the annual end of summer get-together at Hans & Martha Dankers for their neighbors on Reiner Rd.  As described in the below BLOG link this a gathering where they provide the entrees & everyone else brings a dish.  Again, a very good time.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2015/09/01-30sep15-sultan-wa.html

15AUG16 - Sultan, WA (kids & grandkids visit - jour cinq; fin)

Monday, 15AUG, it was off to the University of Washington Waterfront Activities Center for canoeing on Lake Washington.  We only had water access to the northern side of the UW’s arboretum because of the floating bridge freeway construction on the north side.  Half way through our paddle Dan insisted we stop at the UW’s Hiram Conibear Shellhouse to see the 1936 Pocock shell, the HUSKY CLIPPER, used by UW to win the 1936 Olympics in front of Hitler.  (Conibear was the second UW crew coach, & developed the “Conibear stroke” which revolutionized the sport.) Dan strongly recommends reading the book “The Boys in the Boat” & watching the documentary on PBS about these farm kids who had rarely been outside of Washington; & their overcoming unbelievable obstacles to represent the USA in Munich Olympics & bring home the gold!  For a reasonably priced water activity in a beautiful setting, we highly recommend the UW Waterfront Activities Center (especially once the freeway construction is done!)!

 

 

http://www.washington.edu/ima/waterfront/

http://www.huskycrew.com/shellhouse.htm

 

From there it was off to Volunteer Park on the top of Capitol Hill in Seattle, for wading & playing.  Volunteer Park was designed by two of William Olmsted’s sons; & was where many an unsupervised day was spent by the Ryan children when spending the weekend at Grandma Jean Ryan’s.  Sadly all the death traps of Dan’s youth (swings, merry-go-round, see/saw, jungle bars, etc) have been replaced by modern “safer” alternatives.  But Dan did have to admit that the rock climbing structures were pretty neat.  And once Jaxson figured the concept out, he showed no fear in rock climbing.

 

 

http://www.seattle.gov/parks/find/parks/volunteer-park

Then back to house for one last campfire before Rebecca, Raymond, Jaxson & Mason fly out tomorrowL

14AUG16 - Sultan, WA (kids & grandkids visit - jour quarte, & joe departs)

Early Sunday morning, 14AUG, Dan took Joe to airport for his return flight to New Orleans.  Hopefully next visit he will be able to spend more time with us!  After Dan’s return to the house, everyone headed to Osprey Park on the Sultan River.  First activity was the playground.  While there we hiked down to the river, where the grandkids (Jaxson & Mason) entertained themselves by throwing countless rocks into the river.

Then it was decided to check out the “beach” by the boat launch on the Skykomish River in Monroe.  It was not very inviting; so then we headed back home to mow the lawn & dinner.  A pretty quiet day compared to the last three:)!