Pooks Canyon

Last week we headed down to Portland, but not before preparing ourselves with a weeklong marathon of Portlandia episodes.  We arrived on Columbus  Indigenous People's Day at Hayden Island, which is technically Portland.  This island was first encroached-upon by European-Americans in the early 1800's when Lewis and Clark came here. It was okay out on Hayden Island (Jantzen Beach RV park) but the whole place is overcome with big-box stores catering to Washingtonians looking to make large, tax-exempt, purchases.  Not quite the Portland we were hoping for. We made several forays, each round trip drive taking 45-60 minutes, to visit stuff like OMSI, Hopworks Urban Brewery, and Pier Park.  We even went to a ping pong bar (yes) called Pips and Bounce to celebrate my college friend Jen's birthday.  It turns out Portland is rad. Driving from Northernmost Portland in a giant truck is not very rad. For this and other more complex reasons, we have checked the fifth wheel into

Axel and I took a trip to Bainbridge Island. We drove the giant truck over to Kent station near our RV park in order to board the Sounder Train to Seattle.  The first trick was to parallel park said giant truck in a very small spot. Axel got out to help me not run into anything. Did I mention a train was currently blocking the tracks so I had an audience of backed-up cars to observe my attempt? Somehow I managed to shoehorn the truck in to the spot with straight alignment, close to the curb, and perfectly within the lines. As I exited the truck I recieved several nods of approval from the idling cars. One man rolled down his window and congratulated me, saying he is a limo driver and my parking was amazing. "That truck is a beast," he said, "great job." :)  After that we walked over to the platform and bought our tickets. Soon the train arrived. Axel in front of our ride to Seattle.   From the train station we walked to the ferry terminal and

We crammed our last weekend in Seattle with as much stuff as we could: Disc golf, museums, Space Needle, and spending some time with the Sandpoint newlyweds, Anna and JT. The honeymooners were married in Anna's hometown of Sandpoint but they live and work in Seattle. Disc golf in Seattle is great when it is not raining. We visited Fenwick Park, Lakewood Park, and SeaTac Park.   Here is a leopard slug that looks like it escaped from a Wes Anderson movie. It was found on the way to tee 1 (or tee 17 if you actually knew the right place to start) at Lakewood Park disc golf course.   Jon teeing off at Fenwick.   Axel climbing trees at Fenwick.   Me putting from the boat at Fenwick. After all that outside time, the rains came and we did our indoor time.   The Seattle Art Museum is about to open its Yves St. Laurent fashion exhibit. Here is Axel on the virtual runway.   Axel enjoyed this room, which had many art as optical illusion pieces.   The rains broke in time for us to head down to

On our way from Sandpoint to Seattle we boondocked in Mattawa, Washington at the Ginkgo Forest Winery. This was good because as long as the pantry is tightly stocked with wine bottles they won't break. This is what I tell myself. We got there just in time for a wine tasting and to buy a case of assorted wines. On the way in to Mattawa there were some spectacular views.  Hermes even got out on a walk. Jon inspecting the wares at the winery.   Free range disc golf. Reviews were mixed. All was fun until they both lost a disc in a ditch full of weeds.   Pulling out of the winery and off to Seattle!

On September 21st we traveled from Spokane to Sandpoint, Idaho for the marriage of my cousin, Anna, to this really nice guy named JT. Included in their vows were solemn promises always give awesome high fives. I am also a fan of high fives so I really enjoyed this part. Here are the cute kiddos the night before their wedding. Speaking of cute kiddos this is my dad (left) and his large collection of siblings. Mother of the Bride (my Aunt Barbara) is the one in blue. The ceremony was located along the beautiful Pend D'Oreille. I did not take many pictures at the ceremony, preferring to soak in the proceedings sans smartphone. That said, I did sneak in one selfie with Axel before the start. My lovely Aunt Consie is an accidental photo bomber. At the reception, the cutest thing happened. My cousin, Arthur, taught Axel how to tie all sorts of different tie knots. Arthur is a reliable source of fancy men's clothing techniques having completed an internship at Bank