Margo and Quinn Visit!

After having been apart for over a month, Margo and Quinn joined me in Seattle this past weekend. The firm organized a retreat for its summer associates at the Semiahmoo Resort, near Blaine, Washington. On the way to the retreat, the firm had arranged a tour at Boeing's Future of Flight Center, adjacent to Boeing's Everett assembly plant. That facility boasts the world's largest building by volume - the facility where they build 777s and the new 787. Following the tour, we headed north to Semiahmoo, nearly at the Canadian border. There we had a very nice time - relaxing and exploring the tidal flats. Margo got to meet many of the people of whom I have spoken these many weeks.

After the retreat was over on Sunday, Margo, Quinn, and I went whale-watching on a boat out of Anacortes. We passed on the east side of the San Juan Islands on our way ultimately into Canadian waters. We had been underway for almost 2 1/2 hours before we saw anything as the pod the boat was tracking kept changing directions. We finally caught up to them and the wait was proven to be worth it.

A pod of about 20 or so orcas passed came from a distance to pass in front of the boat. We waited there until they passed, then we paralleled them for another 30 minutes then had to head back. The trip back was just as exciting as the whales. This time we passed through the interior of the San Juans which are themselves pretty spectacular.

The next couple of days were spent sightseeing. We got to take a little cruise in Elliot Bay to get a view of the Seattle skyline from the water. We also got to get a pretty close look at a couple of container ships being offloaded at Harbor Island. The scale of the operation is incredible. These inter-modal containers, which act as semi-trailers when on land, look like toys from a distance. Prior to containerization, ships of this size would take a couple of weeks to unload. Now they can turn them around in 48 hours. I bet this put the hurt on the stevedore industry.

We did a little sight-seeing around Ballard, as well. We went to the Ballard Locks - the passage between the fresh water of Lake Washington and the salt water of Puget Sound. These are some of the busiest locks in the world. What is also interesting is that they have one of the few fish ladders in the world that goes from salt to fresh water. This enables salmon to get back to the streams in which they spawned. The locks have a viewing window where you can see the salmon, some of which are huge, fighting their way against the current. That evening we had dinner, courtesy of Jeff and Sheila, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, at Ray's Boathouse, a Seattle institution. Other than boasting a spectacular view of the Sound, there claim to fame is that they provide blankets for you to wrap up in if you are out on the deck which can get quite chilly.

Quinn and Margo flew back on Wednesday morning, but not without incident. Their plane had mechanical trouble and the flight was canceled. We then had to stand in an hour-long line to try and get re-booked. After a lot of difficulty, Margo got an American flight to Dallas then to D.C., Arriving several hours after the time she was originally supposed to get there. Of course her luggage didn't make (and neither did her mom's, who arrived earlier in the day).

Well, that's it for now. I am starting my last week and am eager to get home.

Photos Uploaded

I just uploaded the photos from Portland and Montana to our Picasa site. Check out the map function that shows where the photos were taken.

http://picasaweb.google.com/margo.beau

The Seattle/Washington album has the trip pictures; the Summer 2007 album has some really cute pictures of Quinn.

Big Sky Country

Having never been to Montana, I thought this would be a good time to take a quick (very) trip. Grabbing my trusty Honda Civic Flexcar, I traveled the 500 miles to Missoula this weekend.

I took I-90 east from Seattle with the intention of following it to Missoula. Well, about140 miles outside of Seattle I saw a sign that said "Grand Coulee Dam." Well, that was too good to pass up so I took the exit. After all, I had just crossed the Columbia about 10 miles back so I figured they wouldn't put up the sign unless it was close by. I had followed the one-lane road for about 10 minutes wondering why I was getting farther from the river. I checked the map and realized it was about 70-80 miles before I got to the dam. Well, I figured it would add on an extra 2 hours or so to my arrival in Missoula, but, why not? As Margo will also attest, I will look for reasons to go off the interstate if I can. This particular trip was very rewarding, not only because of the majestic things I saw (as you will read about), but also the images of vanishing roadside America. So often when traveling on the interstate, you are insulated from the area by tangled off-ramps and fast food restaurants and seemingly endless gas stations. You get off, refuel, then get back on the elevated highway, never really experiencing the location. I'm not saying that driving through a small town at 25 mph gives one a true feeling for a place, but it sure tells you more than doing 75 mph above and over it. But I digress.

On the way to the Grand Coulee Dam, I stopped at Dry Falls (in central Washington) - what is thought to be the remnants of the largest waterfall ever on earth. During the last ice age, there was a glacier
dam somewhere around modern-day Missoula. This dam formed a lake which eventually burst the dam and flooded Montana, Washignton, and Oregon (they say Portland was under 300 feet of water. Apparently this happened a coupe of times. They estimate the lake contained 300 cubic miles (yes, miles) of water. A lot of the water ended up going over Dry Falls (not dry then). The falls were 3 miles long and 400 feet high (compared to Niagara Falls' 1 mile and 167 feet). The water was going about 65 miles per hour when it went over the falls. I would recommend checking out the photos on our Picasa site so you can enlarge them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/margo.beau

The folder titled "Seattle" has these pictures; all other folders contain pictures of a very cute baby/toddler.

There was a visitor center at Dry Falls that I was fascinated by almost as much as I was with the falls. It was built in 1965 and appears to have remained untouched since then, judging from the dioramas. The architecture is also very dated, but that is a good bit of its charm. It's like this little bit of 1965 that the world has moved past. Kind of comforting.


Anyway, after I tore myself away from Dry Falls, I headed towards Grand Coulee Dam. Some of you may be familiar with Woody Guthrie's The Grand Coulee Dam - a song commissioned by the Bonneville Power Authority as part of a PR program. In another song he said that it was"just about the biggest thing that man has ever done." Well, it is pretty big - it is the largest concrete dam (and for that matter, concrete structure) in the United States. Hoover Dam may be more dramatic in appearance, but it isn't bigger. The bottles pictured below were used in the opening of the dam. Water from all of the states and territories was poured over the side by princesses and the queen of the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival.


Leaving the dam, I finally made for Missoula via Spokane and Coeur D'Alene. I thought once I made it to Couer D'Alene I was getting close, but it was still 170 more miles. I eventually made it then ran into the problem of finding a place to stay. I thought it would be no problem to get a hotel room for the night so I didn't make a reservation before I left. Well, even though the 4th was in the middle of the week, the majority of hotels in Missoula were booked. I finally found one near the University of Montana that had a room available. I told the woman I was coming in 15 minutes and got directions from her. When I got there (15 minutes later) she told me she gave the room away because she wasn't sure I was coming. I expressed my displeasure and left. I was fortunate and found a room in a motel down the street. This motel was even more throwback than the first (see attached picture). In turned out o.k., though. The woman who owned the place was from Salida and lived in D.C. for a while after college. Small world.

Sunday morning I woke up and had to get on the road fairly early so I could get back to Seattle at a decent time. Before leaving, though, I hiked up Mount Sentinel to the big, concrete "M" on the side of the mountain. This is similar to the Colorado School of Mines' "M" except they don't use this to punish incoming freshmen like they do in Golden. It is not a long hike but it is fairly steep. You are rewarded, though, with a very nice view of the valley.


After the hike, I hit the road for Seattle. I did stop at the world famous "Silver $ Saloon" along the way. It is like a little "Little America." They have an amazing collection of junk for sale. I think they bought all of the inventory from all the Stuckey's around the country that have bitten the dust. Anyway, the reason I stopped (other than morbid curiosity) is that the signs promised they had 10,000 silver dollars. Well, they didn't lie. They actually have 40,000+ silver dollars attached to the walls of their bar area. I guess it would be too much trouble to change all 300 signs in both directions to reflect the more accurate total. Well, nothing could top that so I didn't even try the rest of the way home.



Margo and Quinn Update
This weekend, Quinn had a wheezing attack and was diagnosed with two ear infections and Reactive Airway Disease. Margo has been Supermom this whole time I've been gone, but this illness has made her work twice as hard as she normally does. I thought this picture was particularly cute.

Fourth of July

Yesterday was, of course, the Fourth of July which is best known for the annual Takoma Park Independence Day Parade. This year I was, as you know, in Seattle and thus unable to attend. Margo and Quinn did, however, get to go and watched the parade from her co-worker Greg's house, an excellent vantage point. There was the usual assortment of nuts and weirdos as we've come to expect in the parade (photos courtesy if Margo).











Yesterday I went to George, Washington (in the middle of nowhere), and saw Willie Nelson and Family at the Gorge, a concert venue to rival, if not surpass Red Rocks. The stage backs to the Columbia River gorge which is pretty striking. On the way there I stopped at the Wild Horse Monument, a collection of metal horses on top of a hill. I was enticed by a sign on the highway that said "Scenic View." Margo will attest to the fact that I will not pass by a scenic view or a historical marker.

The show was great, with many of the stars of alt-country making appearances, notably Son Volt. Willie was fantastic and is a national treasure. His kids played, too. He has two young sons from his latest wife. They are 16 and 15, I think (Willie is 74). I thought they were his grandkids at first. The oldest of the two tries pretty hard to sound like his dad. He has the nasally sound but without the warmth.

I had long been tired of his kid by the time Willie came on. He looks every bit of his 74 years (and maybe a few more) but I guess I am surprised he is still alive, considering the hard living he's done. He played for two hours and sounded great. The Gorge has pretty lax enforcement of their photo and video policies. I took the photo you see here, and I saw several people actually using camcorders right in front of the stage.

I had to drive back to Seattle that night so it was around 3:00 a.m. by the time I got to bed. Definitely worth it to see an American icon.

The Goondocks

After staying in awful, depressing Seattle for the past several weeks I thought it might be nice to head down to Seattle's poor cousin, Portland. I am kidding, of course. Portland is a fantastic city with one of the most interesting downtown areas of any city I know. It is hard to really describe - it is a relatively small area but it has retained a lot of its old buildings. It also has a surprising number of homeless people.

This weekend Portland played host to the Daveco-Billco Classic, a world-renowned golf tournament. Actually, it a annual golf tournament/get-together started by Margo's step dad Dave and her Uncle Bill. Portland is also home to her cousin Per, who I never saw while I was there (I did see her cousin Dan, Per's cousin). Saturday night was a big dinner before the final round and the excitement was palpable. Unfortunately I had to get on the road Sunday morning so I am still unaware of the final results.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning I had the opportunity to visit with my friend Trina, a recent graduate of GW Law. She has long-standing connections to Portland; the federal courthouse is named after her grandfather. A long-time Maryland resident, she and her husband Armando decided to heed the exhortation of Horace Greeley and they went West. Trina is currently studying for the bar and is taking the Barbri class and Lewis and Clark Law School - what a cool campus (but very small - see picture).

Departing Portland, I thought I would take the long-way home. This meant going northwest to the coast, through the Tillamook National Forest. I know you may think all these forests would get old but I assure you, they don't. On the Oregon coast, IK stopped at Fort Stevens, a now-abandoned military outpost. It has the distinction of being the first mainland U.S military facility attacked after the War of 1812. A Japanese sub surfaced off the coast and fired several rounds from its deck gun. No fire was returned from the Battery Russell (the Battery Russell - that is right, its not the Russell Battery). The nearby beach has a pretty cool skeleton of a shipwreck still on the beach.

One of the more exciting parts of the trip was my time in Astoria, Oregon. I guess it is the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies. What many of you know Astoria for is that it was the location used for The Goonies, one of the finest examples of American cinema in existence. The Goondocks is the neighborhood where they all lived. I am happy to report it was indeed saved from becoming a golf course. The house featured in the movie is still around (see accompanying photo). Astoria was once capital of the fur trade and is still a major logging hub. Apparently a few years ago it was voted "Best Place to Retire." Now people move in, can take the weather and leave, leaving real estate prices elevated.

The Battle of Port Gamble

This weekend I thought I'd take another trip to the Olympic Peninsula, this time to visit Cape Flattery. Cape Flattery is the most northwesterly point of the Lower 48. The coastline is as you would imagine in to be....rocky, rugged, picturesque.

On the way to Cape Flattery, I was driving through Port Gamble and saw a detachment of individuals in Civil War era uniforms marching alongside the road. This naturally piqued my curiosity so I turned around and saw dozens of white, uniform canvas tents in two separate locations. Come to find out, Port Gamble hosts an annual Civil War reenactment. I asked if they were reenacting the famed Battle of Port Gamble, turning point of the Civil War, but sadly they were just creating scenarios that might have taken place during the Civil War.

I visited both camps and spirits were high. It was around 8:30 a.m., though, and the South was slowly getting moving. I didn't like their chances later in the day. However, they certainly had the cavalry advantage over the Yankees, whose entire mounted forces are shown below. Since the battle wasn't going to get going for another two hours, I had to take off.

The road to Cape Flattery is a lot like the road to Hana on Maui - coastal and twisty. The actual Cape is located in the Makah nation, a Native American reservation comprised of a single town, Neah Bay. Apparently fireworks are legal in this particular Indian Nation because every block (all five or so) had at least two fireworks stands, usually in someone's yard. Whatever supplemental income this provides looks like it is much needed as poverty is pervasive. Neah Bay supported a small (very small) fishing fleet but other than that, there didn't appear to be any industry other than the small amount of tourism the Cape generates.

After hiking out to the Cape, I made the drive to Ozette, an even more isolated town than Neah Bay. Its claim to fame is that it has a pretty nice little lake and it is the westernmost populated are in the Lower 48. During the 21-mile drive from the main road southwest to Ozette, I passed one other car coming the other direction.

All told, I clocked about 370 miles in my Honda Civic FlexCar. This care is my trusted companion. What a deal, too. The firm pays for the membership and for all rental expenses. You basically rent the car for 1/2 hour blocks. The gas is covered in the rental fee, as is the insurance. You just drive it. If you need gas, you use their fleet card. If you lived in a highly-urban area, this would be the only way to go.

If you want to see all of my Seattle/Washington pictures, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/margo.beau/SeattleWashington

Some may be redundant or not rotated properly, and hardly any are labeled yet.

All for now.

The Suite Life

Last Wednesday I went to my second Mariners game (this one was against Pittsburgh) since I've been in town. This time, though, I sat in the firm's suite instead of the centerfield bleachers. Notice the view. For this game, though, the roof didn't need to be moved into position. For those of you not familiar with Safeco Field, it's not a dome, nor does it have a collapsible roof. Rather, the entire roof sits behind center and right field (in one enormous section - that's it in the upper right) and slides over the field in the event of rain.

Anyway, Saturday morning was spent at a firm volunteer activity at a clothing distribution warehouse for foster kids. Saturday afternoon was spent at REI's Seattle's flagship store. I normally wouldn't take pictures of a store, but this store is pretty special. First of all, you can't really tell it's a store from the street if you approach from the right side. It's surrounded by trees and brush (in downtown Seattle). It is encircled by a mountain bike test track and has the most impressive landscaping of any store....ever. On the inside is every outdoor product currently in production. They have an interior climbing wall ("The Pinnacle"). "So what?", you say--lots of places have one. Well, this one is 65-feet high and terminates in a glass tower. The Denver store is nice, but this one is nicer.

That's all for now.