Tricia Visits

Well Friday came quick enough and our friend Tricia "Bender" arrived at night. Amy has been having to commute to a town called Sammamish, so I picked up Bender, made dinner (put in the pre-prepared meal Amy had made the night before) and we caught up until Amy came home. The next day we had plans to show Bender Seattle, and the town did not dissapoint showing us typical Seattle weather, grey skies and light rain all day. We trudged through the city in our rain gear and made our way to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). SAM was nice, once inside the lobby there are 3 old cars suspended from the ceiling with lighted wires exploding out of the cars. We also saw a nice exhibit on impressionists. Honestly, it was just nice to get out of the rain. We also wanted to catch lunch at the food network star Mario Batalli's father's deli named "Salumi" but it was closed, so we looked for a restaurant that one of Amy's patients recommended called 2 Degos from Texas. We aimlessly walked to its location, but it wasn't there, so we ended up walking to Seattle Center to see the Space Needle, and have lunch at the EMP (Experience Music Project). We then took the monorail back downtown and walked back to Seattle Public Market and walked around there a bit. Then we walked through Pioneer Square and stopped into a Starbucks for a bit to avoid the rain, until we were to meet up with my friend Leion for his birthday bash at Seattle's Taproom Grille and Gameworks. We walked over to Taproom and got to try a handful of their 160 beers on tap which was fun. I found some great Hefeweizen beers from Germany that I found to be quite good. We met up with the group of 20 and had dinner and met some fun people. Gameworks after

dinner was also fun, and I was impressed how Bender could stay

out until 1:30 am Seattle time, (4:30 am EST). The next morning we first went to Salty's on Redondo Beach (close to our new house!) for their famous Sunday brunch which is rated #1 in the country

by MSN. The buffet there included all of your normal breakfast fare (mimosas for Bender and Amy too), cooked seafood dishes, and a cold bar of oysters and crab legs. I first attacked the crab legs and after an hour or so, we all waddled out of Salty's with full stomachs. We walked down the pier to catch some views of West Seattle and saw some crazy scuba divers out in the Puget Sound. Afterwards, we attended the Fremont Oktoberfest. I know...more beer drinking. Bender told us that you may be worried about us Gerry, but trust me, we only have occasional drinks here and there, then again, denial is the first step. Anyway, Oktoberfest was a smaller version of the beerfest that we had tried weeks ago, and I was not entirely impressed, but the sun broke through the clouds and it was a nice day. We did get to see a very animated character (a man) in tight colorful, womens pants "carving" a pumpkin with a chainsaw. He was quite interesting and relatively entertaining. After we finished our beers, we walked down to show Bender the Fremont Troll, the Lenin statue, and the "waiting for the Interurban" statue. The Lenin statue was obtained by a resident of Washington teaching English in Poprad, where he found the statue lying in a scrapyard ready to be sold for the price of the bronze. He pulled some strings and here it is in Fremont today. His family still owns it. The people statue or Waiting for the Interurban is an interesting sculpture that people dress up to their liking. The funny thing is the face of the dog in the sculpture is said to be modeled after a politician of Seattle, and therefore, the politician made sure that the artist was not paid for this piece. After Fremont, we drove to Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill which Amy and I have been wanting to go to. It supposedly boasts one of the best views of Seattle, and they were right. Unfortunately, Mt. Rainier was under cloud cover that day, but we got beautiful views of the Space Needle, and downtown Seattle below. We called it a day, and went home, as I had to work the next day. The next day, Amy and Bender went to Ballard, so that Bender could see the Locks, and the salmon ladder. They got to see the Wizard of The Deadliest Catch fame go through the locks. Bender left early Tuesday morning and now we are going to begin our packing and moving venture. Tomorrow, we will sign the lease, and move into our new place, and then on Thursday, my sister Vanessa will come visit for the weekend, where we will try to do some whale watching. Until next time folks!

Leavenworth, Puyallup Fair, MUTTON BUSTIN!!

Last weekend we took some time to try to enjoy the last few sun filled days that Washington summers possess. On Saturday, we had a easy day, I let Amy sleep in and we did stuff around the house. Then, we bought a couple baseball gloves and went out to play some catch in the park and then to the driving range to hit some golf balls. It was a gorgeous day, cloudless sky with 75 degree temperatures. On Sunday we decided to head 2 hours east to a small Bavarian town called Leavenworth. The drive was nice, curving through the mountains, it was beautiful scenery. On the way, Amy wanted to stop at a town where the old TV show Northern Exposure was filmed. If you are familiar with the show you may recognize this first picture. I, myself, had no idea what the show was, so we quickly drove in, took this picture of a painted wall, and drove out of this small little town. We also stopped at a great little fruit stand and bakery a few miles from Leavenworth. We drove away with a bunch of Apples and a great Peach Scone from the Bakery. After leaving, we drove upon the town of Leavenworth.  Nestled in the valley and surrounded by mountains, it was a scene out of the movie, The Sound of Music. Old German style shop fronts lined the streets with a gorgeous mountainous background. We parked on the main street and were immediately greeted by a gentleman in lederhosen. They had a small art fair that day so we walked around and enjoyed the small little town. We walked downstairs and found ourselves in a great little cheese shop where you could sample all the cheeses. After a half

hour and many cheeses later, we left the store with a few choice selections. We wandered into a few shops (most selling touristy stuff) and into a store called Kris Kringle to amuse Amy's love and fascination with Christmas. We actually walked away without buying anything!! I was so proud. We then grabbed lunch at an authentic Bavarian restaurant and tried many of the German staple foods.....Knockwurst, bratwurst, and another wurst, wiener schnitzel, spietzel, and sauerkraut,  black forest cake and of course German beer. Besides the German sausages I felt the dishes were very bland, so I was generous with the lemon and salt (not on the cake or the beer). Overall, the meal was ok, (the sour faced photo is the result of putting too much lemon on the Schnitzel, but then I washed  it down with a nice german beer)...the beer was Awesome...and I had a few....We stumbled out of the restaurant and then went back on main street to explore the sites and the wineries for tastings. Along the main street of town lies many wineries that are local to the valley.....and along that road we didn't find one that we liked. We usually walk out of wineries with a few bottles of wine, but we haven't been to thrilled with the wines we have been tasting in Washington so far. Leavenworth was definitely worth seeing, and we enjoyed our time there very much. We hope to maybe return one day this fall when they celebrate their OKTOBERFEST! I enjoyed driving my car back down the winding roads of the mountain while Amy slept for the whole ride. On Monday, we had plans to see our new house!!! Yes, we are moving...and thank god. When we first got here, we were in a pinch to find housing ASAP, so settled on something that we normally wouldn't choose to live in. Now that our 3 month lease is up, I found a nice little beach house overlooking the Puget Sound to move into for the remaining 4-6 weeks that we will be here. We are both very excited to move into the house as the view and location are beautiful. Then, we drove right to the town of Puyallup to their annual county fair. Now, the fair is one of the oldest standing traditions in Washington history, and is the biggest in the state, courting performers such as Carrie Underwood, Fergie, and Frankie Vallie. We walked in and felt immediately engulfed in the fair. It was huge! Besides thousands of commercial and private vendors, we saw a plethora of livestock, (Amy was so fascinated that she coerced me to go watch them walk in a circle), rides and attractions galore, and food everywhere. Of all the walking around we did, we bypassed going on the rides and I got to experience the most incredible event I have ever beared witness to........Mutton Bustin'. Yes, I know what you're thinking, what's Mutton Bustin' and how can I bust some Mutton. Well my friends, Mutton bustin' is "The Toughest Sport on Wool" only for the kids, and is an entertaining, yet disturbing display of child exploitation, where you strap your 3-6 year old child (ewe boy) to the back of an ewe, and see if it can last 6 seconds without getting bucked off. Yes....again,  know what you're thinking...where can I sign up my kid to get bucked off a ewe? Only at the Puyallup Fair. Amy and I also witnessed a man getting shot out of a cannon, which was pretty cool. We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us, so we have been preparing the house for guests, preparing our stuff for moving to a new house. Tomorrow, we have our friend Tricia from Florida coming to visit....great timing having her here while my dolphins play her Patriots, then we are moving in on Wednesday to the new house, and then my sister Vanessa is coming from Pennsylvania to visit for the weekend where we hope to do some whale watching. Until next time............Muttin Bustin' 4 Ever!!!

Weekend Update

Sorry Guys....no fun blog with pictures to read this week. Last weekend, Amy and I ran errands, went to a drive-in to see a movie, did some shopping at the outlet malls, watched football, and did a lot of paperwork to get our Arizona PT license. We are officially staying until October 31st, and I have been doing a lot of research to get us out of the apartment complex that we are staying, and into a beach house on the Puget Sound!! We are moving later this month, and are expecting some visitors, Tricia from FL, my sister Vanessa from PA, and my friends Lauren and Mike fresh from their vacation to New Zealand over the last month. Otherwise, uneventful weekend. We are hoping to attend the big Puyallup Fair this weekend. Until next time...

Tacoma Glass Museum, Bumbershoot

The weekend started off early as the first of our visitors, Jen from North Carolina, flew in late Thursday night. Amy had me cleaning and cooking all week, so I was already a bit tired by the time the weekend came, but it was nice to finally meet Jen, and have our first visitor to take around Seattle. Friday morning Jen went into the city while Amy and I worked. Jen did her own exploration of museums and other sites. That night, I made reservations to eat at Salty's restaurant in Redondo Beach, which was right on the water overlooking the Puget Sound. Amy and I had gone to the Salty's in Alki Beach before, and just like the last time, the food didn't disappoint. The seafood was fresh, and the meal was delicious. The next morning we had plans to visit Tacoma, Washington (a first for Amy and I too) to visit the Museum of Glass featuring the works of Dale Chihuly, probably one of the most renowned glass artists today. Here's Jen standing next to the "Nice Glass" banner outside the museum. We've seen Chihuly's works on the ceiling of the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, in the Naples, FL art museum, and in the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. As we drove towards Tacoma, the oddly shaped spiral cone could be seen from the highway. It is the glass works hot shop where they have live exhibitions of glass making featuring artists from around the country. We also drove beneath Dale Chihuly's "bridge of glass" that is suspended over the highway to the museum. The bridge of glass was very interesting, first with big blocks of blue glass on poles that jetted hundreds of feet up into the air, very much resembling ice cubes or rock candy. Then, as you walk across the bridge, one of the walls consists of a large display of different pieces of glass art. Then, while walking in the tunnel, the entire ceiling holds more different pieces of glass art, much like the ceiling of the Bellagio hotel lobby in Las Vegas. Inside the museum, as soon as you walk up the stairs you are greeted by a beautiful reflecting pool, which is tiered from floor to floor, like a waterfall of pools. Inside the museum, they had some exhibitions closed, but we were able to see the Lino Tagliapietra exhibit, learning how he brought old Italian styles of glass blowing, and


basically transformed the art of today's American glass blowing culture. The pieces of glass art are amazing, and I personally like it because of the amazing symmetry and balance of all the
pieces. Also, the colors and shapes of the intricate pieces of glass were incredible. We also got to go into the Hot Shop where a small auditorium lies where you can see the artists actually make and blow glass art. You can feel the heat emanating from all those gas powered ovens and gas torches that were strewn about the shop, fires lit. It was amazing to see how they shape and mold the molten glass to just the right shape, but also, how tedious it is, putting in and taking out the glass from the oven, dozens of times before the shape is just right. They had ingenious ways to color the glass and mold the glass from different directions. It was very cool to see. We, well just Amy and Jen, saw a 45 minute movie on Lino, I fell asleep. Afterwards, we had plans to do a short little hike near Mt. Rainier so that Jen could have an up
close view of the mountain. We actually spent a little more time than we thought at the glass museum, and underestimated the time it would take to get to Rainier, so by the time we got up to the trails at Rainier, not only was it sunset, but the temperature had plummeted to a brisk 40 degrees. We didn't end up hiking at all, but got to stop at a small bridge to get a glimpse of Mt. Rainier as it had been hiding in the clouds all

day. Also, we stopped at Narada falls and took a few pictures. The scenic drive back was nice too...I just wish I had my


sports car and not Amy's big SUV to tackle those curves and turns. We stopped by a little restaurant on the way back called Copper Creek Inn, and had a decent dinner with some Awesome blackberry pie for dessert. We got back late that night, and prepared for Bumbershoot the next day. Bumbershoot is a big 3 day music festival that happens annually in Seattle Center. Early Sunday we woke up, met with some of my friends from work, and all headed down to Seattle. At first it wasn't that busy, but towards the end, the crowds were enormous. We stopped and listened to a few bands here and

there, we walked out of Keyshia Cole and T.I. because they were bad, but more thoroughly enjoyed the comedy shows. We got to see the stand up comedian, Greg Behrendt, who wrote the book, He's Just Not That Into You. We also saw comedians from MTV's Human Giant. We also got to see Australian Dancers, Strange Fruit, who were attached to these long poles and they swung back and forth acting out skits and plays. The highlight was seeing Doug Benson the stand up comedian from last comic standing last year, he was hilarious. After a long day of eating, listening to music, and watching comedy, we headed back to the house. The next AM we woke up late and drove out to visit 2 wineries and a brewery. We drove 45 minutes and first

visited the Red Hook Brewery. After an entertaining 45 minutes of tasting beers (for only $1) and going through the tour, we were nicely buzzed. So, we walked to the next winery called Chateau Ste. Michelle where we did a tour and some tasting. We countered the wine with some cheese curds from Beechers, and bagel chips. We then walked to Columbia Valley winery where we just did a tasting. We came out very buzzed and with only 1 bottle of Muscat Canelli white wine. We decided to sober up and eat before we went back home so we stopped back at Red Hook Brewery where Amy and Jen got to try their black porter ice cream




sundae before making the trip back home. We tried to have a relaxing evening as Jen packed for her flight the next day, and Amy napped. We watched a movie, had some cheese and crackers, and relaxed. Having Jen visit was a blast, and we look forward to seeing more friends come out and visit. Hopefully, by that time we will have moved out of this "Ghetto" and into a nicer place (I'm working on it). We have officially extended until 10/31 so if anyone wants to come out, they are welcome too....well actually, maybe not everyone....Until next week!! Puyallup Fair and maybe staying in a cabin up on Mt. Rainier depending on the weather.