Ride to Artist Point - Mt Baker

Well, Saturday found both of us headed for the office… So much to do! But then…

It was time to play!!

We left Bellevue about 6:00 PM and headed for Mount Vernon where we spent the night before a day of riding on Sunday with Cheryl’s cousin Keith.

Along the way we called my daughter Marissa who lives in Oso, between Arlington and Darrington. They often go to Mount Vernon and surrounding towns like Conway and La Conner. We thought maybe she could refer us to a good place to eat near our motel.

Well, she came through with a recommendation of Skagit River Brewery. Great setting in an old building right next to an active railroad track, where freight and Amtrak trains rumble by…mere feet from our table in fact! Have you ever noticed how BIG locomotives are??? Service was great, food was delicious and the prices were good. Oh, and the beer wasn’t bad either! Haha I had the Skagit River "Steelie" Brown Ale – “Favored for its luscious malt character and smooth finish. The Brown Ale's caramel, roast and chocolate flavors go well with many foods.” We both had hamburgers and waffle fries while we played Five Crowns. Cheryl had a cheddar cheeseburger, and I had a blue cheese burger with bacon added. Yummers.

We slept in Sunday morning – oh yeah… Then about 10:00 we headed out to the next exit north on I-5 where we were to meet Cheryl’s cousin Keith. After meeting up with him we rode Chuckanut Dr to Fairhaven, where Keith’s wife Jane met us for breakfast.

The drive along Chuckabut Drive was beautiful and fun. Hwy 11 travels along Samish Bay and then Bellingham Bay, passing through Larrabee State Park along the way to Fairhaven. (Fairhaven is actually part of Bellingham, but shhhhh… Don’t tell the status conscience people of Fairhaven…). Here’s another site with pictures of the beauty of Chuckanut Drive.

We met Jane at the Harris Ave Café, on yes you guessed it, Harris Avenue. (Thanks for the material Jane!) “The Harris Avenue Café is the kind of place that instantly invites you off the street and into its cozy bosom. Located at street level in a vintage downtown Fairhaven building, this café’s warm and earthy yellow and orange walls at once put you in the mood to just relax and gaze at the world going by.” After waiting for about 25 minutes on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, petting the dogs that sauntered by, we ended up in the patio area – beautiful setting. I had Texas Taters – a scramble with potatoes, chorizo, serrano chiles, a couple different kinds of cheese, and topped, by me, with a healthy douse of Tobasco sauce! Yummers…

After breakfast, Jane headed off to school… She is a principal and getting ready for the new school year requires some extra hours! Keith, Cheryl and I headed for Keith and Jane’s house in Lynden…via backroads of course!

Once to their house, Keith realized we were locked out…but ahhh, there was one small window open. Oh, sometimes it’s not good to be 6’ 5”! haha Anyway, we got in and were able to see the house and meet Sasha and Buddy, their very friendly dogs!

And now… On to Artist Point at Mt. Baker. What a ride! Artist Point – “There may be gold at the end of a rainbow, but that would pale with the reward of reaching the end of the Mt. Baker Highway at Artist Point – a breathtaking 360-degree panoramic view of lakes, meadows, snow and steep mountains. This area is open for only a short time in the summer.”

We wound our way UP Hwy 542 where there were numerous 15-mph switchbacks…and I MEAN 15 mph! The scenery was beautiful – well, at least what I dared take my eyes off the road to view that is! Cheryl actually had the camera out and was taking pictures from the back seat of the motorcycle! She did a great job.

We reached the top where there were still patches of snow! We walked a bit, took some pics, hit the pit-toilets and then headed down. And on the way down we did a lot more scraping of the kickstand and running boards on the way up! Woohoo. Good thing my wife loves and trusts me! Haha



Then we headed for the Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro in Bellingham to meet Jane for dinner. “A no smoking, all ages establishment, The Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro has been in business since 1995, catering to locals and out-of-towners alike. While our beer has won award after award, it is balanced by a selection of food that will bring you back all on its own. All presented to you in a unique atmosphere of energy, artistry, community and hospitality.” Cheryl had the Yam Alechiladas and I had chicken enchiladas accompanied by a “Scotch” - With a similar malt profile to its more famous cousin Scotch whisky, this smooth, strong beer is complex with a lingering hop finish. Original Gravity 1.064

After eating and visiting, Cheryl and I began our 110-mile ride home. We got home at about 10:30 PM, tummies full of good food, lungs full of fresh air and smiles on our faces. And went straight to bed…

All of the pictures from our trip can be seen HERE.

Greg and Megan's Visit - August 2009

Greg, Cheryl’s son, his wife Megan and their three children - Makenah, Ella and Josiah - (representing 27% of our grandkids!) flew in to Seattle the evening of Thursday, August 13th.

In preparation for the visit we realized our Mazda wouldn’t be sufficient for transporting seven people. It was either go everywhere using both the Mazda and the Gold Wing (my choice – haha) or rent a van/SUV (Cheryl’s choice). We decided to rent and found an incredible deal through Budget for a 7-passenger SUV.

Cheryl shows up Thursday afternoon to pick up the car and they have a small 5-passenger rig ready for her. She calmly explains we reserved a 7-passenger rig and shows them our reservation confirmation. They respond with, “Well we told corporate to take that special off of the web site. Why that vehicle rents for $108 a day, not $144 total.” Cheryl responded with, “That’s not our problem. We asked for and need a 7-passenger van.” They said they might have something… Oh yeah, we have a van that just came in but will need to clean it. A minute later they pull in with a new GMC Yukon (4500 miles on it) saying they just “found this one”. It was a nice ride – leather, power everything, xm satellite radio and plenty of room for seven people. Not bad for about $40 a day. :)

We all enjoyed a quiet evening Thursday just catching up on life.

While Doug worked Friday, Cheryl took the gang to the Seattle Aquarium. One of the highlights for the grandkids was the Life on the Edge display. This tidepool allowed the kids to actually touch the sea life, or more appropriately gave them permission to play in the water! Haha After visiting the Aquarium, they toured the Seattle waterfront for a bit before coming up to Doug’s office.

Doug works on the 49th floor of the Two Union Square building where he is the office manager for the law firm of Ellis Li & McKinstry. The highlight of the visit for the grandkids? Feeding paper in to the paper shredder! haha After enjoying the incredible views of Seattle from the 49th floor, we headed off to the Rock Bottom Brewery for dinner. Doug’s fav – the Brown Bear Brown.

Saturday found us headed to the Tukwila station of Seattle’s new LINK Light Rail system. The grandkids all got window seats for the 36 minute ride to Seattle. We passed through a number of Seattle neighborhoods – Rainier Beach, Columbia City, SODO. There was even a long tunnel along the way, somewhere near the Mount Baker station, where the kid's eyes lit up as they realized we were in a dark tunnel. We arrived in Seattle inside the Seattle Bus Tunnel, the only joint bus-rail tunnel in the United States. Well, that is except for the one in Pittsburgh ... but it doesn’t have stations. Read more here.

From the tunnel we went up to ground level and caught a Metro bus to Ballard, where we visited a Cupcake Royale location. Amazingly, there is frequently a line all the way out the door – for cupcakes. Greg and Megan bought “cute” little travel coffee mugs. We visited here with Greg & Megan’s friends from Germany Michael and Marit in January. They bought similar cups and it was fun for Greg and Megan to now visit this store and buy the same cups! After our cupcakes and some coffee (it is Seattle afterall…) we were back on the bus to the Ballard Locks.

The Ballard Locks, officially the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks were a fun time. We watched boats enter and leave the locks, even a boat where a group was gathered on the deck and singing as an accordion player played to the delight of the crowd along the lock. Watching the boats rise from below us to over us as the lock filled up was amazing. The Fish Ladder was a real hit with the kids! HERE are someone else’s pictures of the locks.

When we were done watching boats, salmon and a few seals…we headed for the Lockspot Cafe for dinner. This appears to be a famous diner… After the Catch and After the Catch (episode 2 season 1). They had great clam AND salmon chowder, seafood platters and beer! There was a carved seaman in the restaurant and Josiah would go NOWHERE near him! We tried showing him it was just wood but for some reason it was really scary to him…

After dinner we caught a couple of buses that were to get us back to the bus tunnel, but… There was a festival in town, the Seattle Hempfest where thousands and thousands had gathered and the crowd over-loaded the buses and jammed the downtown Seattle streets. We finally got off the bus and walked to the tunnel!

After getting home, Greg and Doug headed for the RAM Restaurant and Brewery. They have a Saturday special where you can fill your growler (a 64-ounce bottle) for half price - $4.99 rather than $9.99. We refilled the one I had with Buttface Amber Ale and purchased a second one filled with Barefoot Wit White Belgian. Yummers.

Sunday found us on I-5 headed North for the Puget Park Drive-In Swap Meet. For $1 per adult, you can roam the Drive-in lot exploring the wonders people brought to sell. As soon as we parked and got out of the car, Ella sat down to play in the dirt. You know, the dusty, stick to everything kind of dirt. And she was wearing black pants… Oh yeah. Haha We wandered around for awhile and came away with some great deals – a pair of work gloves for $2, 6 CDs for $5, 2# of Malaysian dark roasted coffee beans for $4 and finally a folding cribbage board that holds the cards and pegs inside - $5. Score.

Afterwards we headed for the Taste of Edmonds, but decided we needed a snack on the way. The snack turned in to a full-fledged meal at La Palmera Family Mexican Restaurant in south Everett. Their food is delicious! But then we thought…eating before going to a Taste?!?!?!?!? LOL But really, eating at the restaurant saved us big bucks over eating at this booth and that booth at the Taste…

The Taste of Edmonds featured crafts for kids, rides, craft booths, retailers, roaming artists, wine and beer gardens, live music (at least three stages) and of course booths featuring food from local restaurants. We started at the port-a-pots… LOL Then moved on to bracelet making and crown making. From there we went to the pony rides followed by time on the inflatable toys – the kids (and Megan ;)) really liked these! Then Greg tried the rock wall climb. There was $100 cash waiting to be plucked at the top. But alas, it was rigged… Or at least seemed that way. A little over half way up, the wall juts out a bit. I think that, along with the position of the auto-repeller and limited foot/hand holds, made it nearly impossible. But Greg made it higher than anyone else we saw try! Now on to the desserts… HUGE vanilla, soft-serve ice cream cones for the grandkids and strawberry shortcake for Grandma and Grandpa.
We found a vendor we plan on going back to that manufactures firepits - Outdoor Living Concepts. Very attractive and beats burning wood on the deck in a metal firepit!

As we headed home, all of the kids fell asleep and were put in bed as soon as we got home. Us adults bought Papa Murphy’s pizza which Megan, Greg and Doug enjoyed with some of their RAM brewed beer.

Morning came early as the trip to the airport was at 6:00 AM. Greg and Megan made it back to Boise in time to get to work… Cheryl and Doug went to work, exhausted from a busy weekend, but with a smile on their face.

It’s always strange though to come home in to a quiet and empty house after a visit from family… Seems sad…but quickly we turn our thoughts to the next visit, hanging on to memories of the fun we had during this last visit.


~~~ More pictures here. ~~~

Obama's Health Plan (Post 002)

Here's a post from a member of Cheryl's family on Facebook:

In reading some articles about Obama care, the death preperation councilling certification seems very interresting to me. If you are 65 or older you must be councilled and make preps for impending death and register those plans with the feds. Anyone seen soylent green, read 1984. I guess Obama did.

Soylent Green is a 1973 dystopian science fiction movie depicting a future in which overpopulation leads to depleted resources, which in turn leads to widespread unemployment and poverty. Real fruit, vegetables and meat are rare, expensive commodities, and much of the population survives on processed food rations, including "soylent green" wafers.

Nineteen Eighty-Four (sometimes abbreviated to 1984) is a classic dystopian novel by English author George Orwell. Published in 1949, it is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive, totalitarian regime.

Obama's Health Plan

I have to admit I have been lazy aboout reading much about Obama's healt plan proposal...

But at the urging of some of our friends I think I need to read more and learn more.

Here's an article that happend to be on Comcast.net's News Headlines this morning...

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care," the former Republican vice presidential candidate wrote.

Read the rest of Palin's comments in the story here.

Anyone else have links or stories to share? I am going to find a link one of Cheryl's friends gave us to a disturbing paragraph about senior citizens...

Guys Ride to Loomis WA

A ride inspired by Chuck, a man whose ministry is to serve other men, and Don, an avid motorcyclist. The idea was for as many men as wanted to go, to assemble at Northshore Baptist Church in Bothell, where Don and Chuck are members, and where I used to attend. They would then ride to Loomis on a Saturday for dinner, a night’s sleep and then a ride home after breakfast on Sunday.

There were eventually 5 riders. Don, his long time-friend Bill and Bill’s son-in-law Jeremiah. Rounding out the 5 were Keith (Cheryl’s cousin) and myself. Three Harley Davidsons and two Hondas. I can’t remember the bike types, but will try… The Harleys consisted of two cruisers and one other. One of the cruisers was a 2007 Electra Glide Classic which Keith rode. The Hondas were a 1978 Honda Gold Wing 1000 with a sidecar and my 1984 Honda 1200I Gold Wing.

I left home about 7:15 AM and headed north to Bothell. It was a perfectly clear morning and the temperature was wonderful. But that would change.

Don, Bill, Jeremiah and I left the church at 8:15 AM. Don lives in Bothell, Bill and Jeremiah in Lynnwood, and I am from Kent of course. The plan was to meet Keith in Gold Bar, who was riding from Bellingham.

We met Keith in Gold Bar at the Gold Bar Restaurant & Lounge for breakfast. The food was good and inexpensive and the service was good.

Then we headed out … four men and a sidecar! Haha Sorry, I just had to say that…

We headed up and over Stevens Pass (elevation 4061 feet), stopping about 14 miles east of the pass at Deception Falls for a little break.



Deception Falls has an interpretive loop trail that is an easy access from the car. Short trail with a great view of cascading water and clear pools set in a rain forest at the 2200’ elevation of the Cascades.

Temperature was perfect…

From there we rode in to Leavenworth where we fueled up and headed on… Somewhere along the way, we saw a sign that read, “Sturgis – 1140 miles”.

We continued on Hwy 2 to Wenatchee where we joined Hwy 97 North towards Pateros and Omak. The temperature was still pleasant, most of us in short-sleeve shirts and a couple of us with our chaps on.

From here things started to heat up… I mean really heat up…

We headed north to Tonasket where we ended up at a WalMart! A couple of us, including myself, were showing early signs of heat exhaustion. The time in Wal-Mart, a little snack and lots of water had us back on the road.

There were moments when it felt like someone turned a blowtorch on us. Instant heat and right in our face! A couple of times it was so sudden and so hot that it literally took our breath away. We were all wilting…

From Tonasket we took the Janis-Oroville road north and eventually west on Loomis-Oroville Road. We so hoped the road along Spectacle Lake would provide some relief from the heat… But it didn’t.

The lake itself is beautiful and an oasis of sorts in the dryness of Eastern Washington. I couldn’t find much information on the lake itself. There is Spectacle Lake Resort that looks like a lot of fun. One of the features is a heated pool. Not needed…

We stopped at the Qwik Stop in Loomis – the only store and one with still a little gas in one of the underground tanks… They said it was 110 degrees! Hot.

We rode the two blocks to Chuck’s place where we all got in to shorts, drank some water and rested. Then Chuck served us a delicious dinner (pieces of steak simmered in a bbq sauce with peppers, steamed potatoes, corn and rolls) followed by apple pie and ice cream. And then to bed – we were all exhausted!



I slept in a cabin where I swear it didn’t get below 100! I sweated all night – sleeping bag was drenched in the morning!

After a fine breakfast whipped up by Chuck (scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon) we were on the road trying to beat some of the heat.

After getting gas in Tonasket, we headed south on Hwy 97 towards Okanagan. There we headed west on Hwy 20 – the North Cascades Highway, Cascade Loop Scenic Highway or the Mountain Loop Highway.

We crossed three passes – Washington Pass at 5,477 feet, Rainy Pass at 4,855 feet and Loup Loup Pass at 4020 feet.

Beautiful scenery and fabulous curves built for motorcycles! Oh yeah!

We got to see part of Ross Lake.

Diablo Lake and its effervescent green color was quite a site!

And we found a rocket plane on the road. A man and his grandson designed and built the thing, powered by a Volkswagen engine. The owner let each of us get in and have our picture taken in the rocket/plane. Pretty cool!






We dropped down into Burlington where we had lunch at a Dairy Queen. From there we split up – Keith headed for Bellingham, Don, Bill and Jeremiah headed south on Hwy 9 and I headed south on I-5.

It was a spectacular ride and makes we want to ride more!!

A few more pictures of the ride can be found on Smug Mug.