Ben and Laura visit

We had the most lovely weekend last week with Ben and Laura Eisenga coming up here. They had not been away from their kids for the weekend in like forever. They left the kiddo's at home with the grandparents and stayed two nights up here.

Saturday we got a chance to go to the apple orchards just outside of town and it was perfect weather.
I had to carry the bucket and picked an apple from about every tree I passed....not sure which ones I got in the end, but most of them are good.

Ben and Laura

We also went up to Mount Spokane and warmed up by the fire in the summit house.

Holy cow is that one good looking couple.

They actually really still love each other even after kids.

Brenda and Laura are a little too much like high schoolers when they get together minus the pillow fights.

With no kids we had a chance to go out to a nice restaraunt downtown call the Catacombs. It was a very small restaurant in the basement of a historic hotel and really fun.

For more details or pics you can check out Laura's blog....off to yet another week of work.

Brenda also made a giant leap into the 21st century this weekend. She finally got a cellphone. After the years and years of resistance we thought it would be good for her to have one for the very long drive she has to take every day. I don't know much about phones, but I have tried to teach her as much as I can and she is now out there and mobile so world beware.

To the westside...last weekend

Thursday I got a chance while the woman was out of town to got o the "Pig Out in the Park" downtown Spokane. There was two stages with great music and about 50 food vendors. everything but the food was free and I had a great time.
Live Bluegrass is so much fun to watch.

Here is what I had for dinner....Gyros are very goodAnd here is another band

And a overview of the mob of people down there on a Thursday night.

So last weekend we got a chance to go over to my parents house in Burlington. It takes over six hours, but with the three day weekend it made the drive worth it and it also was nice that we got a chance to drive through the Cascades. We had a great time going on a couple of walks/hikes and going blackberry picking. Blackberry bushes are on every roadside there and they are huge. It was amazing that at every stop the bushes had thousands of berries on them and no one cared if you picked them. We came home with two big ziplocks and have made a pies we almost polished off with friends last night....it was very good.

Hiking along the waterfront...such a good time.

Here are my rents acting like they like each other...and after three kids.

Sunsets out here are great because there are clouds. In California they only had smog which did make for good sunsets, but then you couldn't breathe... you can't have it both ways.

Fairbanks or bust

It was a week ago now that I was up in Fairbanks Alaska for work. I got a call a couple weeks ago and they needed my services for a job up there for one day and I said sure. Free ride to a state I have never been to....of course. I booked the ticket for being in AK for two days but only ended up being there for about 40 hours total. I got in late the first night and worked the next day and then had a chance to go fishing (good thing I brought my rod). Jason is one of my coworkers from KY and he had been there for about a week so had the spots scoped out and killed them the previous night. Then I flew out the next day which made it a very short trip, but a good time.

Lots of grayling were caught and we had a blast. I got one on my second cast...now I know I am a good fly fisherman, but I think it was also a good spot to fish.

Here is Jason laying siege to the aquatic sasquatches. He caught more than I did, but I know next time to bring more elk hair caddis flies.

Brenda has been very busy since she got hired two weeks ago or so at Northwest Christian. She is going to be teaching PE, health, and a leadership class to Jr. High and Sr. High kids. She loves it and although I lost my home cooked meals when I get home from work...I think she may like that better. Actually I know she likes it better.

This weekend we went to the northern Idaho fair. It was cool to get back to the standard fair atmosphere you only find in a small town.

Here is Brenda posing next to the animal creations out of vegetables and fruit. I can't believe that people submit these things, but I think they were kind of interesting.

We watched the Rodeo and it was pretty interesting. They had all of the standard things, but since it was a "pro" rodeo there were almost no locals entered in the events. Not the small town stuff I was hoping for.

Of course there is a lot of patriotism here. It is really kind of cool to see how everyone seems to really love the US up here and does not complain about it all of the time. Everyone was reverent during the entire national anthem and then they actually prayed in public. In CA there would just be a "time of silence" so no one would be offended (political correctness gone over the edge and yet another example of liberals scarred of normal average Americans).
Here is a bareback riding action shot.

Washington does seem to be a bit behind the times. Example: there is no place to recycle here. I mean, we got bottles and cans coming out of our ears and everyone here just throws them in the garbage....really.