Visit From An Old Friend - Part III

So we went to the Phillies game on Friday and saw them lose, didn't have tickets for Saturday's game and they won so........

Let's go Sunday when Cole Hamels pitches. He's been arguably the Phils best pitcher so far.

Well, Sunday was Father's Day and one of the first Phillies jerseys I saw reminded my of Father's Day 47 years ago.

Yep. Father's Day 1964 and Jim Bunning's perfect game - the first in Phillies history.

Joe and I remember missing that game on TV because it was so hot we went to the Fourth Street Pool in Lansdale. We found out about the perfecto when it was announced over the PA system at the pool.

Seriously - when was the last time you saw a Jim Bunning jersey?

Anyway, we got there early enough to see Mount Vernon's own Kyle Kendrick holding court down the left field line.

Here he is with Friend of the Reading Family Paul Woodmansee (left) and Tim Woodmansee (right - in Phils jersey)

Signing autographs......

and working out with Cliff Lee......

There is no other way to say it. The game flat out stunk.

The Phils managed three lousy singles and one of them came with 2 outs in the ninth.

This guy pitched great, but was tagged with the "L".

But Lydia did manage to snap a pretty decent shot of two dorks sitting next to her.

So to recap.......

Dave and Joe attend two games, Phils lose both.

Dave and Joe miss one game, Phils win.

There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Oh well, the sun will come up tomorrow - and it did, literally. It was a beautiful day.

I had the admittedly brilliant idea to take a ferry ride over to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island for lunch at an outdoors deck with a great view.

We boarded our granddaughter's favorite ferry, the Elwha, for the always glorious ride across Puget Sound.

We walked off the boat and straight to Friday's Crabhouse.

With three levels of seating, there is only one place to be on a day like this.

Outside on the third deck where the view is grand.

Microbrews were flowing, fresh seafood was ordered and we had visitors soaring overhead.

And our most excellent server graciously took one final photo of the dorks.

We did good for a long weekend!

Visit From An Old Friend - Part II

With no baseball game to attend and no reasonable chance at sunshine on Saturday, we decided to take Joe up to Mount Baker.

Any trip up Hwy. 9 must include at stop at Everybody's Store in Van Zandt.

It's a tiny place in the middle of nowhere. They sell everything and anything and all high quality stuff. Great food, drinks, snacks....and tambourines.

We always forget how long the drive to Mount Baker actually is, but we kept going until........

The road just ended.

Wait, was that on the map?

Ummm, no.

So a small detour was required and we went as far as we could go.

It sure didn't look or feel like summer.

Lydia decided to share some of our snacks with the birds.

They found her.

She's pretty amazing.....

The bird took some for herself and then stuffed her beak and mouth full to take back to the nest in the tree in the background. She returned several times.

We could hear the lonely and throaty sound of what we believed to be an elk in the quiet distance. Never did get a glimpse of him / her / it.

Oh, cool - look on the side of the road!

Chipmunks must also be fed, but we had to feed a few birds to get them to leave for Alvin to summon his courage to come out.

On the way home we just had to stop at Nooksack Falls.

On the drive up, we saw an eagle perched in the top of a tree.

Hours later, on the way back - there he still was.

So we headed on back home to watch the Phils beat the Mariners on TV.

Visit From An Old Friend - Part I

When I found out that the Phillies were coming to Seattle this year during inter-league play, I knew I had to get tickets.

I also knew I had to get my buddy Joe Leister out here from PA to see the games.

Even though he had about four months notice, he waited until one week before the series to book his flights.

No worries, I was there to pick him up at the airport and whisk him down to the waterfront for lunch.

It was a gorgeous day and we sat out on the deck with beers and food and soaked up the sun and the atmosphere.

We were amazed at how many people were outfitted in Phillies gear at the restaurant. We overheard one group mention "Lansdale" and we had to jump in tell them we were from Lansdale as well.

After lunch, we strolled around the waterfront and admired the views.

And the fleet was in......

Time to go to the game - we wanted to see batting practice.

The first 20,000 fans entering the ballpark received an "Ichiro" jersey identical to the ones the team wore to the game. They were wasted on these two Phils fans.

But a family of four Mariners fans sat next to me and I could tell that they arrived too late for the two kids to get a jersey. So a deal was struck.

We gave our jerseys to the sweet little kids and the father stopped haranguing us about being Phils fans.

Win-win.

Did I mention that we had great seats?

This is one thing the Phils did not do enough of.....

...but I'm proud of the photo.

Sitting in the next section over from us was someone else with a Philly-Seattle connection.

Souderton's own Jamie Moyer. Former Mariners and Phillies pitcher. Still loved in Seattle, he and his wife Karen received a great round of applause when shown on the giant screen.

Roy Oswalt pitched pretty well, but his team couldn't hit and the Phils fell 4-2.

No problem - I had tickets for Sunday's game too!

39th Anniversary

Since our 39th wedding anniversary conveniently fell on a Friday, we decided to spend the weekend in Seattle.

One of our favorites places is the MarQueen Hotel.

When we mentioned to the desk clerk that it was our anniversary, we were upgraded to a beautiful suite.

The view from the room was pretty good.

We had both had a long work week, so drinks were in order.

Across the street from the MarQueen is T.S. McHugh's. They boast 21 fresh draughts and 32 single malt scotches.

They managed to serve Lydia the single worst margarita we've had for a while, but redeemed themselves with fantastic peeled shrimp.

Urban Hipsters that we are, one bar is not enough for us so up to Capitol Hill we went.

We had dinner reservations at Lark, Johnathan Sundstrom's fabulous restaurant. We were early so we went next door is Lark's sister lounge Licorous.

The place is very cool and became instantly cooler as soon as we arrived.

After drinks, a memorable dinner at Lark.

The wild nettle soup was a wonderful surprise and the foie gras was superb.

Our server was perfect, especially after she brought us complimentary champagne when we announced our anniversary.

She took our picture and I honestly cannot see any difference between her photo and our wedding photo.

(The wedding photo is the one on the bottom.)

Of course, we were hungry again the next morning.

Toulouse Petit has been named One of the Ten Best New Restaurants in the Nation.

By whom, we do not know, but we are buying it. It was packed and lively and bright and fun.

That is a photo from the restaurant - not our honeymoon.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation just moved to a new campus last week and their open house was Saturday. It was within walking distance and the day was glorious so we wanted to take it in.

The green area is the roof of the parking garage, which cover 1.4 acres - a living roof.

Nice view from inside.

We walked around a lot and somebody got tired.

So we needed a place to go rest.

Lydia decided that Seattle Center was the place for that, but I didn't want to walk that far.

Too bad.

An aborted trip to the horrific Experience Music Project ended with a full refund.

So there is justice.

But the best part of the day (and maybe the weekend) was sitting (best parts always involve sitting) at the Seattle Center fountain and watching the kids play. We were there quite a while.

Photos can't do it justice.

The kids revel in the cool water, but don't get too close.

Then the water stops and draws them in........

Then the water comes back in full force and they run like hell.

After that long respite, we needed drinks. Man it was hot.

Well, Seattle hot.

We wanted to be near the water and what better place than The Edgewater Hotel.

Specifically, the Six Seven restaurant outdoor seating at the Edgewater.

That's what I'm talking about.

The Edgewater is famous around here for being where the Beatles stayed when they played in concert here in 1964. No other hotel would accept them, but The Edgewater welcomed them. They hung out of the window from their suite to fish, resulting in this iconic photo.

They stayed in suite 272 and it can be rented today for about $1,050 a night. It's been refurbished, of course.

Anyway, back to 67 and our drinks.

I'm always with the prettiest girl in the place.

And the Olympic Mountains were right behind me.

And yes, we did get sunburned.

Shut up.

The restaurant is named 67 since it would be Pier 67 if a pier existed there.

Next to us was a cruise ship docked at Pier 66.

It was freaking enormous.

That's Qwest Field in the background, home of the Sounders and Seahawks.

But it didn't stay docked for long.

It passed right by us.

And so we sat and enjoyed our drinks and the incredible view of which we never grow tired.

We took a ferry from Seattle over to Bainbridge Island. We didn't stay long - the main purpose was the ferry ride itself.

I love this view of the city from the ferry.

And Mount Rainier as another ferry passes in front.

On Sunday we slept late, (well, I did) and went to the Farmer's Market on Capitol Hill, tragically unphotographed.

It was a great weekend.