Recap of Summer 2010

FINALLY, I am getting around to another blog post.  It is the afternoon before we leave for our fall trip and I feel compelled to catch up.  So here is a quick recap of summer 2010.

We stopped in London for two nights on our way back to Seattle/Whidbey Island. It was a fun visit and quite relaxing after the hectic few weeks selling and moving out of our house.  We visited the Imperial War Museum (fascinating!), the Victoria and Albert (saw an exhibit of Princess Grace of Monaco's clothes) and rode the London Eye.

The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel. Each "car" holds 25 people although there was only about a dozen in ours. The views were spectacular and it is really something different.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We were only back on Whidbey Island for a week before we headed to Wenatchee for my niece's high school graduation.  She is the oldest of the grandkids so it was a big deal.  Here is Emily with my parents, Marion and Jack.

It felt like we were hardly home in June because less than two weeks after we were in Wenatchee we took a five day road trip to Sonoma, CA.  The purpose was to see the NASCAR road race there but we also managed to stop and see friends in Eugene, OR (formerly of Italy) and two of my dad's cousins and their families.  The race itself was loads of fun. This picture shows the aftermath of a crash that happened right in front of the randstand. Overall the racing was very good. The weather was sunny and cool but that was a lot better than the cool, rainy weather in Western Washington that lasted until July.
 
 

July 4th weekend we drove to Kent, WA to see the Vintage car races and look at all the cars on display.  They were featuring Alfa Romeos and lots of other interesting vehicles. 
 

In mid-July I went hiking near Snoqualmie Pass with some of our skiing friends.

On the hike we passed two lovely alpine lakes. Of course I have totally forgotten their names.  You can see that the weather was lovely and warm.

On the weekend we usually have our big summer party (that we skipped this year) we went to Enumclaw for the annual Northwest Scottish Highland Games.  This photo shows the massing of the bands that is held each day at 12:00.  All the bands competing parade out and play together.  It is quite spectacular.  Dom is a real pipe band fan.  We checked out all the exhibits and booths, met up with friends and listened to all of the band competitions.  Several of the top bands in the world were there including Simon Frasier University from Vancouver, Canada.
 

There was a break in activity until late August when I went on a three day kayak trip with my sister, Patty, and two friends, Deb and Cindy.  The first day was somewhat overcast but we never got rained on.  This picture of Patty is not bad considering I took it blind over the top of my head!

Here we are at lunch our first day.  Our guide, Wyatt, was very good and lots of fun.  We also had a Canadian couple with us, Brian and Kim.  They hailed from Smithers, BC which is pretty far north. 

Our second and third days were sunny and warm.  The kayaking itself was fun (although rather hard work) and it was fascinating being right down on the water.  We spent most of our time close to shore where we could see down into the shallows as well as the beach activity.  No orcas swam by but we saw porpoises, eagles, sea otters and many other creatures.  Our camp site on Cypress Island in the San Juans was visited by racoons and mice.
 
 

We enjoyed the beach camping.  Tents, sleeping pads and pillows were all provided by Anacortes Kayaking.  Wyatt proved to be an excellent cook.  We brought along plenty of wine and the company was excellent.  The scenery was beautiful including this view of the rising moon at sunset.

Our last day was the sunniest and warmest.  This was our view of Mt. Baker from the kayak as we made our way back to Anacortes.

Before we headed off our last morning the guide for the other group that camped near us took a picture of all of us and our kayaks.
 
Although we enjoyed the trip the paddling got to us by the last day.  I am glad we did not do the five day trip!  Next summer we have plans for another girls' trip that are active but not quite so intense.
 

The week after Labor Day Dom and I tore out our bathroom in preparation for a total remodel this winter.  This is the view of our bedroom looking into the bathroom area.  As you can see we did a pretty thorough job.

There is not much left of the bathroom and dressing area that were there before.  Our plan is to convert this area to a walk-in closet (rather than a dressing room) and make the bath area larger.  It will all be very nice when it is finished sometime in March.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Those are the highlights of our summer.  Tomorrow we are off to Italy to look for a new place there.  At the moment we are leaning towards an apartment but we will see what happens.  We will also spend most of October in Rome.  This is something we have wanted to do but was not practical when we had a house three hours away.  Now that we are between houses it seems like the perfect opportunity to immerse ourselves in the Eternal City.  It will also provide lots of new material for the blog. :-)

An Evening at the Races

Last Saturday Dom and I drove over to Wenatchee (located in the eastern part of Washington State) to visit my sister, Patty and her family. Her son Thomas raced that evening at the Wenatchee Valley Super Oval in the Youth Hornet class. Another friend of ours, Ron, raced in the Legends class.



We left Whidbey Island at about 11:30 and arrived at Patty and Scott's house just before 4 pm. The drive over Stevens Pass was gorgeous except for the heavy traffic through Sultan, Goldbar, etc. We stopped at Zeke's for burgers for lunch.



After an early dinner at Patty's those of us not involved in the pits headed over to the track. It is a 1/4 mile oval located in the hills of East Wenatchee at Fancher Field only about 10 minutes away. On Saturday the temperature peaked at 110 degrees F. and at the start of the races it was not much cooler. Luckily we found seats in a patch of shade and there was a slight breeze. All in all we stayed as comfortable as can be expected given the heat and the hard bleacher seats. I chilled out with a raspberry shaved ice and a bottle of water.



Earlier in the day Ron called and asked Dom if he wanted to help out in the pits. Dom agreed to do so and had a lot of fun. His expertise was much appreciated.



In the stands I sat with Patty, Ron's wife Arlene, our mutual friend Deb, and a variety of Patty's in-laws. For a while my niece Emily was there but she had to go off and console a girlfriend who broke up with her boyfriend. Ah, the pangs of adolescence!



All of us watching were either motorheads ourselves or had spent enough time in close proximity to some that we really enjoyed the races. Like most sports if you don't understand the nuances it can be a little boring. Patty's mother-in-law told me that sometimes she had brought a book to the races. There was a time I would have done the same but no longer.





Here's Thomas looking very racy with his dark shades.





Ron and Thomas in front of Ron's car. Thomas got fast qualifying time in his class and Ron won one of the trophy dash events in his class.





Here's Ron receiving his trophy from the trophy girl.

The chief flagman was incredibly enthusiastic. He was as much a show as the racing! It turned out he raced against Ron years ago in the Tri-Cities.

I kept getting lost in the action so I did not take many pictures of the racing. It is awfully hard to do that well in any case.

Here is Thomas pulling up in front of the flagstand after he won the main event in his class. He has six firsts out of six races this season. Way to go, Thomas!!!

Here is Thomas receiving his trophy.

Here is video of the post-race interview with Thomas.

We had a great time in Wenatchee (in spite of the heat). The next morning we had breakfast at Patty and Scott's and then headed home over Snoqualmie Pass. We stopped briefly at Alpental and then continued on. It was about 4 pm when we got back to our house on Whidbey Island.