Mt Rainer (Sunrise) Day Trip

Drove up to Mt. Rainer for a hike. After one heck of a time trying to score on some fresh hot traveling coffee.(took 3 stops) we were on our way. Stopped by the Black Diamond bakery for some goodies to go along with our coffee (the cake donuts are the best). We made it to Sunrise on Mt. Rainer in a little over2hrs. After downing my new hiking / Cycling boots. We were on our way for couple hr. hike. The weather was perfect and the trails down hill were great. Up hill, well what can I say. They are not quite as much fun. Stopped by White River Campgrounds to check it out. The video shows our courageous crossing of the river. Had lots of laughs and I am ready to once again don those boots. Click HERE for more pictures

4th of July Weekend

This weekend started by a short adventure to Whidbey Island to spend the 3rd of July (thats when Freeland Wa celebrates the 4th.) with Jim and Bet. Toured the island that afternoon then joined friends for a BBQ and watch he fireworks display. Sunday the 4th had a leisurely breakfast with Jim and Bet then headed back home to gather out thoughts and head to Key Center for a 4th (on the 4th) BBQ at Billy’s. As usual BBQ Billy’s Gathering was great complete with some down home cookin and Believe it or not. Everyone left with all their fingers!

Back In Portland(PDX) Moving Granma to Her to NEW Digs

Sat: Headed south to help move Carolyn into assisted living from independent living at Carman Oaks. A one bedroom to  a studio.

Mon: Carolyn is settled in and enjoying life

Portland for Grandma, Bill Dresser, & Michael Zimmer

   Thursday June 17th: Leaving early for Portland for the Bill Dresser (Liz’s Dad) funeral and Michael Zimmer graduation gathering. Got a call yesterday that Carolyn ( Anita’s Mom) went to the hospital. So it’s a quick turn and off to PDX this morning rather than Monday.

It’s Saturday already. Anita and I are hanging out at Steve and Liz’s. Anita has been busy running back a forth to the hospital to check in on Carolyn. Grandma is not in the best of health, But her spirits are Great!!

 

 

Sunday: Today or late tonight The Steve Zimmer family will be returning from Maui and their annual family vacation.

Off to visit the Zimanators in Sacramento

Day I: Headed to SMF(Sacramento) for a couple days to visit Anita’s younger brother Jimmy and wife Karen. No problem getting to SMF . Hung out for the day cetching up on life in general. Actually made it to almost midnight solving all the family dramas.

Day II: Up at 6 and having that obligatory cup(pot) of coffee. Spent most of the morning doing computer training. Jim has the BBQ fired up and we are doing steaks. It’s Been Very nice weather wise. Not tooooo hot for a couple of tenderfoots from Washington.

Day III: Went for a good walk. Followed by playing off the rubber from the phenoiclle game from last night, And as predictibal Karen and tommy kicked A$$ :) Shooting for the 4:10pm flt on Alaska back to Seattle.
Once again hanging at the SMF airport waiting waiting waiting. Had a GREAT 3day midweek weekend.

Adam’s 25th Birthday

Went to Bill and Robin’s for a BBQ/Adam’s Pre Birthday/Bon Voyage for Adam. A good time was had by all topped off by the great Oz hat gifts from the Chun’s. Sort of a bitter sweet evening knowing that Adam would be leaving in the morning to take care of the last min provisioning of his boat and be off to Alaska. All in all. Great evening with a lot of hidden emotion’s

Happy Birthday Adam and Enjoy a safe journey to Alaska followed by a successful season.
Love Tommy & Anita

Checking Out Adam's Boat

Thur June 3rd: Bill and I shot up to Bellingham to check out the progress on the MAX POWER Adam's new boat. We stopped off in Edison at the Longhorn saloon for some lunch.

By the way those two beautiful rides in front of the saloon do not belong to Billy or myself. “Darn It!!” Edison is on the south end of Chuckanut Drive. After a couple of great burgers we headed off to Bellingham. Where we found Adam hard at work (fiber glassing) the good ship Max Power. Spent a couple of hr’s giving Adam our crappy advise and installing his new radar. All in all we had a great brother bonding day and I was able to set foot on Adam’s new boat. Looks like he will be ready to head north around the 9th of June

Spokane /Yakima 4 Memorial Day

Day I: Good but WET drive until we reached Thorp. From there on it was a mixed bag of WX. Rain Sun Ect. Arrived at Chez Frey around 2pm with lots of sun.

Day II: Headed out to Diamond Lake around 11am. Hit rain during the drive but it was dry at the lake, But cold!! Did some munching and headed back into town.

Day III: Today we will be heading west. Stopping of at Sowder Farms and Smoke House for some Memorial day ribs. Looking forward to that!! Made it to Sowder Farms for an Excellent BBQ. It was great to see Rich and his growing family. And the BBQ. Ribs “What can I say” After dinner we headed out to finish up our journey. Made it home around 9:30pm. Fat Dumb and Happy!

Behymer Wedding

Jackie Behymer Wedding Maui Hawaii

The Above Slide Show will grow as the Adventure progresses

Day 1: Early start!! Sterling Our chauffer picked us up at 0430. After a checkin line and the TSA line as we approached the gate our name was called for boarding. So far pretty smooth. I am typing this from aboard UA flt 35 now bound for OGG (Maui). Got a couple of fine seats in economy plus along with an extra seat. Just now setteling in for our 4:33 flt across the Pacific. The rest of the creatures are starting to stir now and get settled in. As always when I fly I get lots of thoughts racing true my mind. You know “Miss this, Miss that &  DON’T miss this” So far other than wishing I was younger and able to relive my flying career. The don’t miss this or that wins hands down. Oh Oh! here comes the bevrage cart. Coffee time!! Life is good, Good seats, Great seat partner and smoothe skys.

Picked up our rental car fired up the cell phone GPS and made it to the other side of the island. I was surprised on just how short the drive was. After checking into our digs We contacted the Behymers who are in the same building one floor down and a big direct ocean facing condo. Met Jermaine (the future Mr. Jackie Behymer), Michael (Jeri lees brother) and his partner Felix. Oh yes Michael “Rock Star” Behymer was there too.

Day II: Good Morning. This time change thing is going to take a  little getting use to. I love never missing a sunrise but waiting for sunrise is  whole different thing. We have a 3 hr time change here. I know it’s only three hrs but it’s the wrong way. Anyway it’s almost 4 in the morning here and I am fat dumb and happy slurpping away on my first hot cup of coffee. The dig’s are nice and I am excited on what the day has in store for us. After the normal preperation events of the morning and what everyone was doing. We were off to Twin Falls on the west side of the island. It was an easy 25min hike into the falls capped off by the last 30yds hiking thru a warm stream to the pond below the falls. Sort of though on the feet “Yes my tough as nails feet” but worth the extra effort. I only wish I had brought my bathing suit for a dip under the falls. On the way home from the falls we stopped to checkout some surfers and one amazing kite surfer. I could not believe the ground (H2O) he covered. He must have been clipping along at more than 30mph across one rough ocean. I think If I could even ride that thing I would run out of gas in a Min or two if I were lucky and still be hurting today.  In the evening we attended a little get together hosted by Jer and Jeri Lee at the Marriott.

Day III: Friday May 21st 2010 The Main Event. The Wedding! Once again up early for sunrise and getting my hart started with a hot cup of coffee. The wedding is scheduled for 5pm. Who knows what the rest of the day will bring. Sort of thinking of driving up to the north end of the island.Took a drive to Lahaina this afternoon. The main interesting thing is how this side of the island reminds me of Mexico. Or to put it a little more descriptive on one side you have the beautiful blue Pacific and on the other side of the road it looks like eastern Washington including cactus. Who would have thunk it! Seeing cactus in Hawaii. Around 4pm we headed south to Makena Beach for the BIG DOING’s The Steel Behymer wedding. A nice Hawaiian wedding cermony was enjoyed by all. Followed by a outdoor reception. As normal I ran out of gas due to my nasty habit of getting up the sun. All in all it was a success.  Once again waiting for sunrise with hot coffee in hand

Day IV: We drove up to Lahaina again today and visited our Diamond Lake friends. Got home early and enjoyed a last supper with the Behymer clan. Jerry made up some great spagitti and meat balls.

Day V: .Packing up for our ride home. Got the morning walk on the beach taken care of. Had a few good bye’s in with the Behymer family. And now we are packing up our stuff and getting ready to head to drop off the rental car and go check in for flt UA 36 OGG/SFO. Hopefully we will be able to get on the last UA bird out of SFO this evening. The Loads Look a little tight at the moment. Worse case we will hang at the Red Roof Inn in SFO and try to get home in the morning.after.

Day VI:We are home!! Made the last bird out of SFO Got a little dicey towards the end. Got the last two seats. Strling Bentsen was good enough to pick us up at the airport around 0130. Made it home around 2am. All in All it was a GREAT trip even with the air travel miseries Ticket lines, TSA, and Waiting to see if you will be chosen for the leftover seats. Being the left over seats are the only unique pain for us the price makes it more than worth it.

Where To NEXT?? 

Living Dining Area NE

41 Years

Still Laughing after 41 years

Baby Ducks 2010

The first Baby  Ducks arrived today Monday April 20th. Right on schedule. Every year starting around the middle of April I keep my eyes open and camera ready for the first baby duck sighting. Today mama duck showed with 11 little ones flanked by two proud papas. Hopefully we will have a warm spring and the ever present Eagles are fat dumb and happy. Normally the attrition rate of the first babies of  the season is high. So let’s keep our fingers crossed and give a warm welcome to the lake’s new residents.

Spokane Visit to Open the lake cabin April

Day I: Just arrived in Spokane Great drive over. Stopped along the way to take advantage of Tax Day deals. Starbucks would fill your travler with coffee for free and with a web coupon Taco DelMar provided you with a FREE taco:) Well you now know what we ate and drank on the road. We spotted some great wild flowers between Rye Grass and Vantage as you can checkout in the above slide show.

Day II: (Fri) Looks like a killer day. The temp prediction for the day is 78 yes 78 A perfect day to head out to Diamond lake and get Chez Mini Frey up and running for the summer. We made it up to the lake and the cabin is now people ready. Water and power are on. The ramp is back on the dock. The place still needs a little cleanup,But surprisingly there was no sign of winter damage. Every things works.

Day III: (Sat) Today Anita, Isabel and I went to the Bowel and Picture on the Spokane River and did some hiking and checking things out. We spotted a couple of osprey’s nesting in the top of a tree along the river bank. Also enjoyed some kayakers and rafters coming down the river. Looks like tomorrow morning we will heading back west to prepare for our next adventure to visit Jim and Karen Zimmer in SMF (Sacramento)  Oh yes  once again today was just great weather wise.

Day IV:(Sunday) Back Home

Easter 2010

Easter at Anita and Tommy’s
Jane and Larry arrived yesterday afternoon. After a great sturgeon dinner Adam arrived from Bellingham. This morning we had Easter breakfast. Now we are waiting for Bill, Robin, Everett and Barbara to start the festivities.

Spot oh Spot!! Where Are You??

It's once again spring. But wait! Someone's missing. Spot the man of the house. The bird house that is. This is the first year in about four years that Spot has not appeared to stake his claim outside our window. There seems to be a new master of Spot Arms. Maybe one of his many offspring. Anyway the new residence family of spot Arms are now busy at work feathering their new home.
Also this year we have a deranged towhee that has been trying to hook up with our mirrored window. He has been banging "no pun intended" for the last week or so. Anita tried covering the window but he worked his way inside the covering in order to continue his spring quest. The good news is he starts his ritual as it get light out and is an reliable alarm clock.
Well I better go find a good mirror.

Update: After reading up on towhees I think I will drop my quest for the perfect mirror. Seems all this mirror/window action is due to the fact. He is defending his territory. Not trying to mate with himself. Oh Well. Just thought I would save you all from a personal mirror quest.

Palm Springs

 

Day I:Tue. Off to an early start. Getting a ride to the airport with Ann D. We are traveling on Alaska Airlines. Arrived a few min early and had good flight down. After a stop at Costco we headed to our digs for a couple of days at Steve and Liz’s home in Ironwood. Very impressive! Today we just veged out. They have a tangerine, tangelo, orange, and a lemon tree in the yard. Check out the size of the lemons!! All the trees are full of ready to eat sweet jucy fruit. Now I see why people hang out in this part of the country. Especially in winter.

Day II:

    This has got to be the proper way to start your day. With fresh picked fruit out of the yard on a well manicured golf course. It could almost me want to take up golf. NOT! Just kidding “golf is a good game”. The plans for the day looks like some hiking is in store.
Did the hike thing to the top of one of the local hills. The weather was perfect for the hike and other than being in no shape at all it was a good hike that took about an hr and a half. This evening we met up with a couple of friends whom I went to high school. The have a mega motor home and spend the winter here in Palm Springs. Now it’s off to the sack to dream about what adventures tomorrow will bring.

Day III:Today was spent mostly hanging around the compound enjoying the sun and a few walks. Then in the evening there was a little gathering at Chez Zim

Day IV: Today should be interesting. We are starting out by going to visit our friends and check out their home on wheels. Then off to a tour of the area with Steve and Jeff Foot. This afternoon it’s off to a art fair then we will be meeting up with more of clan zim at our niece’s Jackie Guy.
  We made it to Rittervill USA (our friends Dave & Kathy) It was greate seeing them and what life is all about in the mobile home world. We made it to the art fair. Very impressive. It was real art with lots of good and cleaver art. After the fair it was of to Guy’s for dinner with the Guy family. All in all it was another Great day here in the land of sun and old people.

Day V: As normal our day starts around 0600. Today we will be moving to Virginia Browns for the duration of our Desert Adventure. Made it Virginias around noon. From there we just cursed the street of downtown Palm Springs. As always it was very interesting. Sort of an older version of cruising of yesteryear. An eclectic mix of motorcycles generally ridden by old guys, A few classic cars and small mix of today's exotic cars. Then there is the sidewalk cruisers “the three of us included” Every thing from the old old would be movie stars to kids adorned with tats and pricings.
We ended up the evening by dinner at one of the local hang outs.

Day VI: It’s Sunday morning and we are lazing around doing coffee and making plans for today’s adventures.
Today we decided to head up to Joshua Tree Park. As always it was breathtaking and as on our last visit it was cold and windy Mega Windy! It’s really wired to look out of the car and see nothing but cactus, rocks and desert that looks like it must be 120 out there. And then have to grab your coat. All in all it was a great trip and well worth it. When we got home we went to the St Pat’s Day celebration in Virginia’s complex.

Day VII: After a good nights sleep and a good breakfast al’a Anita we were off for yet another hike. This hike was actually up behind Chez Zim. It was a good hike with lots of blooming cactus and not too damn steep trails. After the hike we stopped by to see Liz and pick up something Anita forgot.  On the way home I spotted a Smart car that I had been eyeing  and decided to call the number in the window. I met up with the owner and took it for a little spin. But I think I will pass. Although it was absolutely like new and the price seemed right and It would not fit under the seat on Alaska airlines. “Jury is still out”

Day VIII: Preparing for our ride home. Actually we made it out for one last hike up behind Palm Springs. We ran out of time so were unable to do the complete loop. Came home for a shower and packed up for our 1:00 Alaska airline flight home. The loads really looked scary, But somehow we made it on and scored on some good seats together. We are now home unpacking and resupplying our suitcases for our next adventure.

Spokane Visit

Off to Spokane to deliver Mary’s new computer.Woke up to snow this morning. First spotting of snow this winter for us. Scored on my new drivers license this morning.

Quick visit to Grandma’s in Portland

Had a quick trip to Portland to visit Steve and Grandma. All went well and the weather was great.

First Dinner in the New Kitchen

Had Bill and Family up from Gig Harbor and Stephanie and Tony over for our first dinner with guests. Everything worked out great starting with Anita’s suggestions for the menu to the mix of the guests. I was really happy and my thanks go out to Billy after arriving home from Sydney the night before proceeded by being away from home since a week before Christmas. Good show bro. You da man.

 

Let the Adventures Begin 2010

We are looking forward to a NEW Year. That will be Filled with many great adventures with Friends and Family.
Wishing you all joyous and great year
Anita and tommy

PS. We will be seeing you