August 2002

August started with fast jets and a scenic trip in a small airplane. As it progressed, it saw visits from relatives from both sides of the family. On the work side, it marked the beginning of my journey with the CPR team.

August 2

The first weekend of August is my favorite weekend for Sea-Fair in Seattle. That is the weekend that the US Navy Blue Angels demonstration team performs over Lake Washington. They usually arrive in midweek and practice Thursday and Friday for the weekend show. This year my friend, Suman, and I took a long lunch and drove to Boeing Field to watch the Blue Angels take off and land.

The Museum of Flight is the epicenter of all Blue Angels non-flight activity. This is where the planes are parked when they are not performing, so it is the best spot to witness the pre- and post-show performance of the pilots and the crew. We drove past the museum and the large crowd that had already assembled. At the south end of the airport, we pulled into a potential viewing area, but were not satisfied with the view. We jumped back into the Honda and drove north past the museum to a small parking lot a quarter mile further up the highway. We gathered our cameras and binoculars and quickly walked back to the museum. We squeezed our way as close to the fence as possible and Suman started snapping shots at a blazingly fast pace. The pilots marched out along the tarmac and each saluted his crew chief and boarded his plane. On a signal from the leader, each pilot started his engines.

The preflight continued until all planes and pilots were ready to go. One by one, each pilot taxied his plane past the admiring crowd to the end of the runway. The first four planes arranged themselves in the classic diamond formation. As one, they all increased throttle, turned on the smoke, and started rolling down the runway. Shortly after the formation took off, the soloists (planes 5 and 6) taxied into position and departed.

As the show progressed, the team occasionally flew directly over us as they rejoined for the next maneuver. Since Suman was busy taking snapshots, I decided to shoot videos with my camera. In one shot, the diamond formation flew directly overhead with the soloist chasing from behind. As I tracked them they flew through the sun, making an excellent picture. The sound of the screaming jets going by thrills me to the bone. Unfortunately, the videos are much too large, so I did not upload them. You'll just have to come visit me if you want to see them ;)

After 45 minutes of flying the team returned to Boeing Field in formation. One by one the planes peeled out of their formation and turned 180° to the left to enter a downwind pattern to land. If you think this sounds interesting, go catch a Blue Angels performance in person. It is certainly worth it. If you're like me, you will be filled with pride as you watch how gracefully F-18 fighter jets can be controlled by the skilled hands of United States Navy and Marine pilots.

August 3

After several years of longing, I finally planned and scheduled a trip to McMinnville, Oregon, to see the Spruce Goose museum - formally known as The Evergreen Aviation Museum. For this trip, I scheduled the Cessna 182 that I was recently qualified to fly (see July 19, 2002). Todd & Danielle were touring the Tillamook, Oregon area and we planned to meet at the Tillamook airport and fly to McMinnville together. Before we left for the airport, I downloaded the latest weather reports for the route and was disappointed to see that the coastal mountains of Oregon were in the clouds and the coastline was under a thick layer of fog. The forecast called for improving conditions, so we decided to check one more time before taking off.

At the airport, I finished preparing for the flight. The weather was no better on the Oregon coast, so we called Todd and told him that we'd see how it looked from the air and call him again from McMinnville. We left Boeing Field and climbed to the southwest along a flight path that crossed Olympia, Chehalis, and Longview, Washington, then Hillsboro, Oregon before reaching McMinnville. The 182 climbed like a rocket - compared to the 172 I normally fly - into the clear morning air. Around Olympia puffy cumulous clouds began to build and congregate in a scattered fashion along our flight path, so we continued to climb to 8,500 feet - as high as I've ever been in a small airplane. As we passed Hillsboro it was apparent that flying to Tillamook was out of the question. The coastal mountains reach up to 3,500 feet and the clouds were less than 1,000 feet higher. I tend to avoid situations that require me to flirt with mountaintops.

As I neared McMinnville, I started to descend to the pattern altitude of 1,200 feet. The problem with descending is that your range of sight is diminished. Having never been to McMinnville - by land or air - it was difficult to find the airport. The GPS said that it was 3 miles in front of us, but we couldn't see it. I turned the plane to enter the traffic pattern at 45° angle to where I believed the runway to be when I finally saw the numbers. I flew the pattern, landed, and taxied to an open parking spot near an old hangar.

I shut down the plane and climbed out into the cool morning air. As usual I was wound up and hyper from the exhilaration of flying. We locked the doors and tied the plane down, then walked to the Fixed Base Operation (FBO). On the way we called Todd and let him know that we were not flying to Tillamook today. The FBO was a cute little building - more like a resort cottage than an FBO. Inside we met the owner and asked about getting the 182 topped off with fuel and transportation to the museum. She sent her lineman out to the plane and called the museum to rouse the courtesy van driver. Within minutes our ride arrived and we were on our way.

Riding along toward the main entrance, the museum continued to grow in stature. It is a large building, no doubt, but it just kept getting bigger and bigger as we approached. The entire front of the building is glass, but the reflected sky and clouds obscured our view inside. We could see a giant gray mass with tiny objects moving about around it. The gray mass turned out to be the Spruce Goose and the objects were people. At that moment I knew the years of longing were not in vane. This was going to be an amazing day and I was not going to be disappointed.

I was hungry, so I ordered a taco salad from the little deli inside the museum. Susan didn't eat because she needed to wait a certain amount of time after taking her medication. I ate outside on the patio and we enjoyed the fine weather. After eating, Susan decided that she had waited long enough, so she went inside and ordered a taco salad for herself. She came back outside to eat and I enjoyed the fine weather even more.

To get the most educational bang for the buck, we signed up for a guided tour. As we waited, I talked airplanes with a museum volunteer. Our guide showed up and we began the tour with the Wright Flyer replica, naturally. It was hard to concentrate on the small planes with the hulk of the Spruce Goose looming near and above us. Our tour guide did a wonderful job explaining the history of the plane; including the original design goals, the construction process, the testing, and the eventual failure of the concept. The Spruce Goose was only "flown" one time, and that was during a high speed taxi test. I highly recommend visiting the official web site. The most memorable thing our guide told us is paraphrased below.

The Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. has the original Wright Flyer; we have a replica. They have the original Spirit of St. Louis and just about every other aircraft of historical importance. But we have the original Spruce Goose. If they want one, they'll have to build a replica.

excerpt from The Evergreen Aviation Museum web site

First designated HK-1 (Hughes/Kaiser), later changed to H-4 when Henry Kaiser withdrew from the project, The Hughes Flying Boat is commonly called the "Spruce Goose". The aircraft is a cargo-type flying boat designed to transport men and materials over long distances. Originally conceived by Henry Kaiser (famous for the production of liberty ships) the aircraft was designed and constructed by Howard Hughes and his staff. The Hughes Flying Boat is of a single hull, eight-engine design, with a single vertical tail, fixed wing-tip floats, and full cantilever wing and tail surfaces. The entire airframe and surface structures are composed of laminated wood (primarily birch). All primary control surfaces except the flaps are fabric covered. The "Spruce Goose" hull is divided into two areas: a flight deck for the operating crew and a large cargo deck. Access between the two decks is provided by a circular stairway. Below the cargo deck are fuel bays divided by watertight bulkheads.

Time passed and before we knew it, it was time to fly back to Seattle. We arranged for a ride back to the airport with the courtesy van driver. Back at the FBO, we asked to use a phone to call the Flight Service station. The owner pointed across the drive and told us we could just walk over and talk to a briefer in person if we wanted. That was a nice change from the ordinary process. We walked over, were buzzed in, and met with a real live breathing briefer and we talked about the weather along our route. After a few minutes, our flight plan was entered into the system and we were on our way. We paid the owner for our gas and she commented about how lucky we were to be flying a new Cessna 182 - and she is right; I certainly feel that flying, let alone flying new aircraft, is something far too few people get to enjoy.

We left McMinnville and pointed the nose towards Seattle. As we entered Boeing Field airspace, I was told to do the standard Vashon approach over West Seattle, then turn right downwind to land to the north. While I was turning right and flying downwind, I noticed two jets flying parallel to me on the opposite side of the airport. When I reached my turning point, one had already landed and I informed the controller that I had an F-18 turning base and flying straight towards me. How cool is that?! He said, "Cessna 965 Charlie Whiskey, extend your downwind and follow the aircraft on short approach. You're cleared to land, number two, following the F-18 on final." You never know what to expect when you fly into Boeing Field. What an excellent treat to conclude a great day of flight-seeing and museum touring!

August 5

All companies that write and sell software have support teams in place and on call to handle customer emergencies. At Cisco, we have a frontline team called the Technical Assistance Center (TAC). Customers call TAC with large and small problems every day, 24 hours a day. When TAC cannot solve the problem themselves, they call our Critical Problem Resolution (CPR) team here in Seattle. I started my four month rotation on CPR on this day.

Due to the around the clock support that TAC provides, CPR must also be available around the clock. This is handled by rotating pager. Each engineer on the team gets the pager for a few days every couple weeks. It's not all bad, though. The engineer gets paid to carry it, even if it doesn't go off. If it does go off, that is extra pay. So, I don't look forward to the pager, but I don't mind the thought of a little extra in my paycheck.

August 8

For the first time in a few years, both of my parents came to Washington to visit for more than just a long weekend. My mom wanted to stay for two weeks, whereas my step-dad wanted to stay for one week. They compromised and come for eleven days. With my brother living about 100 miles away in Chehalis, my parents have to split their time between us. This time, the plan was to start in Seattle, then visit my brother's family for about 6 days, then return to Seattle for the remainder of their time.

August 9

For the first day of the visit, I mapped out a nice Seattle area park tour. All the parks were within five or six miles of each other, making for short trips in the car from one to the next.

We started the tour in Edmonds, along the waterfront next to the ferry dock. The tide was low and there were several scuba divers making their way into and out of the water.

The next stop was Richmond Beach. This park is also on the water, thus the word "beach" in the name ;) We continued on past Golden Gardens Park and Shilshoe Marina to the Chittenden Locks in Ballard. Before entering the locks, we stopped for lunch at the local fish stand.

The locks are one of my favorite spots to visit and enjoy the weather. The locks connect Lake Washington and Lake Union to the Puget Sound, thus separating the fresh water from the salt water. In the summer, they are always busy, with boats ranging from 12 foot fishing boats all the way up to commercial fishing vessels hundreds of feet long. The coolest part of the locks, though, in my opinion, is the fish ladder. Over the years I've seen the ladder both completely void of fish and overflowing with fish. On this day, there was a good number of returning salmon in sizes up to four feet long passing through.

The next stop was Volunteer Park, which is located on a hill above Seattle. According to its description, it has a tower that offers the best free view of Seattle. The view from the Space Needle is without-a-doubt the best, but it's certainly not free. We arrived at the park and found the tower. We hiked up the hill to the entrance, only to find that the tower was closed indefinitely for repairs. What a bummer.

We continued our tour by meandering through the Arboretum, the across SR 520's floating bridge to Kirkland. We picked up Lake Washington Boulevard and followed it along the lake to Bothell. In Bothell, we stopped at the Yakima Fruit Market and picked up some fresh corn for dinner.

For some reason, it was decided to wrap the corn in aluminum foil and cook it on the grill. After what seemed like the proper amount of time, the corn was removed form the grill and passed around. Well, it wasn't quite done yet, so we decided to throw it in the oven for a while. Before long, we started to smell something burning. Sure enough, our corn that was undercooked was now burning in the oven!

August 10

The day dawned cool and cloudy; not what we had in mind for the Logger's Jubilee in Morton, Washington. The plan was to go to the jubilee, then to Tom & Lanna's house, then back home, leaving my parents at Tom & Lanna's for the week. We loaded the Honda with everything my parents needed for a week visit down south and drove to Morton.

When we arrived, the weather had not improved much. We met my brother outside the local drug store where Lanna's mother, Nadine, works. We all went inside and Susan bought a sweatshirt in hopes of keeping warm. We set up shop on the edge of the street in anticipation of the big parade.

The parade is always a big hit with the kids. Last year, Tom drove his log truck in the parade with a load of long poles. Susan, Mom, Kendra, and I sat on the back of the load throwing candy while some other friends of Tom's sat on the front. It was a lot of fun, but it sure felt odd watching the parade as a participant instead of as a spectator. This year's parade was full of the usual displays: fire trucks and emergency vehicles, and logging industry equipment. There was plenty of candy for the kids, too.

After the parade we wondered through the fairgrounds and ate the usual fair food. By now the weather had improved immensely and it was starting to get hot. We finally decided it was time to head over to Howard & Nadine's house. Howard let the kids ride his horse for awhile, then we all climbed into the back of Howard's truck and he drove us up a logging road to a landing overlooking the valley. After returning, we continued our trip to Tom's house and spent the night. The next day, Susan and I returned home, leaving my parents to entertain the kids.

August 16

My parents time down south was up and it was time for them to come back to Seattle. Rather than have us drive down to pick them up, they decided to ride the train. They gave us the details and we agreed to meet them at the King Street Station. An hour before they were scheduled to arrive, we left for Seattle. We thought it would be fun to wait for the train along the tracks near Boeing Field, then race the train back to Seattle. I found a nice observation point with a clear view of the tracks and the airport. After a while, an airport security vehicle pulled up on the inside of the fence to see what I was up to. I told him I was waiting for a train. He told me that this wasn't a train stop (No, really?). Rather than argue, I decided to just move further up the road, away from the airport.

The arrival time came and went with no sign of the train. Finally a light began to grow along the tracks. Could it be the Amtrak train? Yes! I started the Honda and the race was on. The train had momentum on its side and it blew past us like we were standing still. I accelerated to decrease their lead as it slowed to enter Seattle. Susan waved frantically to the passengers on the train, but we didn't see my parents. The road climbed to cross the tracks and we lost site of the train as it passed underneath us. We hurried on to the station and tried to find a place to park. We realized with dismay that the late arrival of the train was coinciding with the ending of the Mariners game a few blocks away.

Susan left to find my parents while I tried to maneuver in the massive crowd. Ten minutes later they returned and I hadn't moved an inch. They loaded the Honda, then I fought to get back out of the parking lot as others were still trying to get in. Eventually we escaped and made it home.

August 17

Today's plans involved driving to Seattle to meet Todd & Danielle at the Tall Ships show on Lake Union. Tom & Lanna were planning to come later, so we had plenty of time to tour the ships and still make it home before they arrived. We arrived pretty early - for us - and parked in my office building. The walk to the show was longer than I expected, especially since the temperature was already on the rise. When we arrived, we were dismayed to find throngs of people standing in lines going to and fro with no apparent form. We walked along one of the lines and found Todd & Danielle less than half way from the entrance to three ships. We debated about the decision to join them, then decided to go ahead and jump in line with them.

On board the shipmates stamped our 'Passport' book and we toured the nooks and crannies of the wooden ships. The ships were not only beautifully maintained, they were also being used as educational tools. Each ship had a crew young adults, traveling the world and showing off the ship.

After touring these ships, Todd & Danielle headed home and we toured a ship with a short line. After this tour, we gathered around a picnic bench under a shady tree and discussed our plans for the day. At this time, we realized that it was much later than we thought. We called Tom & Lanna and learned that they were already in Bothell! Oh no!

We hurried back to the car, but on the way, Susan decided to get a souvenir for her dad, Mom decided the get a fresh-squeezed lemonade, and Ray and I decided that we needed ice cream. When we finally reached the Honda, we jumped in and raced home to meet my brother. On the way, we took another little detour to the Yakima Fruit Stand in Bothell to pick up some veggies for dinner and strawberries for dessert. We called Lanna to let her know we were getting close and to ask if she could buy some hot dogs and burgers for dinner. We finally arrived -- several hours late -- and found my brother's family making themselves at home in our back yard. Dinner was cooked on the grill and strawberry shortcake topped off a great day.

August 18

With a house full of people and my brother's truck available for hauling, we decided to spend some time working in the yard. Tom, Mom, and I went to Home Depot to find landscaping blocks. The blocks were for a small retaining wall around my shed that I plan to build someday. While we were away, Ray found the weed eater and began whacking my assorted weed collection. Lanna and Kerissa found the garden hose and started squirting my trees and shrubs. Susan and Kendra went next door to play with the Days.

When we returned, Tom and I unloaded the blocks and loaded the leftover wood from the shed construction. Time wore on and eventually Tom & Lanna went home. We rented a DVD and relaxed the rest of the day.

August 19

In an interesting timing arrangement, my parent's flight was scheduled to depart twelve hours before Susan's parent's flight was to arrive. In order for my parents to catch their early morning flight, they needed to leave the house at 3:00am. Since this was a work day for us, they allowed us to call the Shuttle Express to pick them up. I vaguely remember my Mom saying goodbye, as I fell back to sleep. After work that evening, Susan's parents arrived at 6:30pm.

August 20

Since I'm not a top management VP with gobs of vacation hours to burn, I decided to save some of my remaining vacation hours and go to work. Susan -- although not a top executive, either -- took the day off and took her parents on the Boeing Tour at Paine Field in Everett. The tour takes visitors inside the 747 production building, where they can see several 747's in various stages of completion. Unfortunately, the view is from an elevated room far from the action, but it is still amazing to see all those enormous planes under one roof.

August 23

Susan and I took the day off work and took her parents to see my favorite mountains; Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. We got up early and headed south. On the way, we stopped for a quick snack at the Taco Time in Auburn. We drove past Mt. Rainier, but didn't spend too much time due to the low clouds. Continuing on towards Mt. St. Helens, we stopped again at Bear Meadows for another snack. Continuing on, we stopped again at the logger's burnt out car.

After many miles of twisting and turning highway, we finally reached Windy Ridge. We all started the long hike up the ~600 steps to the ridge. The combination of elevation gain and thinner air was too much of a challenge for the parents, who called it quits about half way up. Susan and I continued to the top and enjoyed the peace and solitude of being seemingly alone in the vast volcanic blow down zone that was once an endless evergreen forest.

August 24

After yesterday's driving marathon, we decided to stick closer to home today. Our first destination was the Arboretum in Seattle. We packed a nice lunch in the cooler and drove to Seattle. At the Arboretum, we stopped at the Japanese Gardens.

The Japanese Gardens are absolutely spectacular. Every inch of the garden is filled with some type of landscaping. The large pond in the center is crossed in several places by decorative bridges. In the pond, the large Koi (giant goldfish) swim around with turtles and ducks. Tucked away in various locations are small ornamental decorations or monuments. Note: these probably have some important symbolic meaning, but to me, they were just interesting objects to be photographed. In one particular object, a square hole was carved completely through and people left pennies inside.

After walking through the gardens, we found a covered picnic table near the top of the hill and broke out the picnic goodies. From the hill we could see the parks beauty all around us. All fueled up, we packed our cooler and headed for our next destination - the Pacific Science Center.

The Pacific Science Center has several IMAX movie theaters and one was showing Space Station 3D, a three dimensional space documentary. To enter the theater, we followed a descending spiral path inside a huge domed building. At the entrance, the ticket taker gave us each a pair a futuristic goggles. Inside we found seats near the middle and waited for the show to begin. When the show started, we donned our cool goggles and looked at the screen. The images that were fuzzy without the goggles became crystal clear and it felt as if we had entered the action. The objects on the screen appeared to be around us - we could almost touch them. If this show comes to an IMAX theater near you, go see it - you will be amazed!

Even after all that, we were not quite ready to return home. I suggested that we drive up Queen Anne hill and visit Highland Park. This park offers great views of the city, from a northern point of view. On a clear day, Mt. Rainier can be seen in the distance, magically hovering above the horizon. Mr. H and I snapped one photo after another, while Susan and Mrs. H tried to stay warm. Once we determined that the skyline was not going to get an prettier, we loaded ourselves back in the Honda and left Queen Anne.

For some reason, I still wasn't ready to go home, so I drove south to a golf course south of Sea-Tac airport that has a great view of approaching aircraft. After watching planes land for several minutes, they finally convinced me that it was time to call it a day and go home.

August 25

Russian submarine tour.

August 26

Susan's parents leave.

July 2002

July was filled with outdoor activities. Air shows and flying endorsements topped the list, with a nice day hike and overnight camping trip thrown in for fun.

July 4

Deciding what to do on the fourth is always a challenge. This year, we decided to go to the Freedom Fair in Tacoma, Washington. The ad mentioned free transportation from the bus stop, so we drove to the bus stop and waited for the free bus to come by. Actually, there was no wait at all; the bus was already there and a long line of people were waiting. The bus took us through downtown, then along the waterfront to the town of Ruston.

We got off the bus and walked a block to the edge of the fair. The fair stretched for about a half mile along the waterfront and featured many food concessions and booths selling arts and crafts. We saw a pair of jugglers entertaining the kids, a couple bands playing for the older crowd, and the usual local fire and law official's displays. In the parking lot of one restaurant was a classic car display. We bought something to eat, walked down to the water's edge, and watched the air show.

The weather was less than perfect and Susan didn't feel well, so we headed back up the hill to the bus stop. When we arrived at the bus stop, we found a line waiting for the next bus, which was just pulling up. In our rush to get on we didn't realize that across the street was another bus stop - and it was heading in the direction we wanted to go. This bus was not heading back to the same bus stop. We ended up miles away from where we wanted to be. We told the driver our sad story and she called up headquarters and they gave her the OK to drive us back across town. There we were, just Susan and I, alone in this big bus. The driver was very friendly and we talked the whole way back and had a nice chat.

July 13

Before the house was painted this summer (see June 11, 2002), our painter, Dan, power-washed our house to knock off the years of grime and mildew that had built up, thanks to our damp climate. In the process, the windows were left covered with residue. Having a beautiful, clean house with dirty windows just wouldn't do. Susan put together a cleaning concoction of water and corn starch and I grabbed the ladder from the shed and headed for the front corner window. Susan cleaned the windows and I rinsed them with the garden hose. We continued from window to window until we worked our way all the way around the house. While cleaning the bedroom windows, I noticed some odd streaking below the living room windows that we had just finished cleaning. On closer inspection, we determined that the streaks were coming from the run-off from the windows. The thought of repainting under all the windows put me into a momentary state of shock. We tried to clean the streaks, but they wouldn't come off. The harder we tried, the more streaks we created. Finally, to our relief, we realized that the streaking was just from the water and that when dry, the streaks vanished.

July 14

Today we made our nearly yearly trek to Arlington, Washington to attend the Northwest Experimental Aircraft Association Air Show and fly-in. I say nearly yearly because for a few summers in a row, the air show fell on the same weekend as our vacation, so we were out of town. In the past, big name air show performers have entertained the crowds, both in the air and on the ground. The most famous performer/pilot I saw was test pilot Bob Hoover. His flying career began back in World War II, where he flew P-51 Mustangs with Chuck Yeager.

This year, we planned to meet Todd & Danielle and watch the air show. On the way up I-5, I noticed a truck up ahead the looked very familiar. As I pulled along side to pass, sure enough, it was Todd & Danielle! Wow, what amazing timing. With luck like that, you'd think it would be easy to meet up and enter the grounds together, but somehow that was not the case. We stopped to grab some cash from the ATM but they continued on to the airport. We drove over a few minutes later, parked, and walked to the entrance. They were nowhere to be seen. We called their cell phone, but got the messaging service. After awhile we decided to just go in and look for them along the flight line.

Along the way, we stopped and bought some typical air show junk food and looked at the vendor exhibits. One of my favorites was the Cirrus Design truck with a full size mock up of the SR-22 inside. Being a Sunday afternoon, they were preparing to leave, so they hurried us through and out the other side. Needless to say, I didn't buy a new airplane while I was there.

The air show was about to start, so we walked to the flight line and found a nice spot on the grass to set up camp. We spread out our blanket, set up our camping chairs, pulled out the binoculars and sunscreen, and waited for the show to begin. Every few minutes, we scanned the crowd in hopes of spotting Todd or Danielle. Eventually we did and waved for them to join us. The show began and we watched in amazement as the performers did impossible and impractical maneuvers in their airplanes.

After the show, we walked the flight line and enjoyed a close-up look at all the old and new aircraft on display. One that caught my eye was the old B-25 "Super Rabbit". The "Super Rabbit" was featured in the July 2002 edition of AOPA Pilot magazine, so seeing it in person after just reading about it was a nice treat.

excerpt from AOPA Pilot, July 2002

Super Rabbit, a reference to Bugs Bunny, is a North American TB–25J Mitchell Bomber that began life in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1945 as an orphan — it never went to war, it went to storage. Nobody wanted it. After that, its life improved little. Sold to foster parents in Venezuela, it was finally left to rot in La Paz, Bolivia.

Time can be a friend as well as an enemy. As the years passed, enthusiasm grew for the restoration and preservation of warbirds. The twin-engine bomber was found and given enough attention to fly it home to the United States. In 1987 it returned to American airspace, but could fly no farther. Near Cocoa Beach, Florida, an engine quit; 10 minutes later the second engine failed. Out of engines and options, the bomber safely belly-landed in a swamp and finished its journey to a Florida airport on a truck.

The rough times weren't over. After extensive repairs, the aircraft made its way to California where the present owner, Jim Morgan of Salem, fell in love with it. During the flight to Oregon, Super Rabbit proved it still had one violent burst of bad luck left to exorcise. Near Fresno, California, the left engine erupted in flames that threatened to burn off the wing. The pilots that day were Jeff Wright and Wayne Cartwright, two of several pilots still flying it for Morgan. But that was the day the bomber's luck changed: Cartwright and Wright got the engine shut down and the fire out. After extensive repairs and restoration, the aircraft is flying the airshow circuit today.

We were all hungry, so we decided to meet up again for dinner. We got to choose, since we were more familiar with the area. We decided to go to the Everett waterfront and watch the sunset over the Puget Sound. The hostess showed us to a table on the deck. Since Todd & Danielle had recently "tied the knot", we picked up the check. After dinner we walked along the waterfront and found a little shop that sold ice cream. By this time I could already feel the first sign of sunburn on my forehead. We had sunscreen at the air show, but I hadn't bothered to apply any, so I had to pay the price.

July 17

One of my all-time favorite classic rock bands was on tour and chose Seattle as the first stop on their tour. The band Yes was playing at the Paramount Theater in Seattle and we had tickets. I bought the tickets online an hour after they went on sale and was counting down the days to the concert. The day finally arrived and we drove to the city early to eat dinner before the show.

With great anticipation, we entered the theater as soon as the doors opened and waited for the show to begin. The band took the stage and gave us a nice show. The sound was great, the singing was perfect, the lights were mesmerizing. But in the end, I have to say that I was completely disappointed. I vowed that I would never spend that much money on a concert again. Why was I so disappointed? In the two hours they performed, they played only two songs that I've ever heard, and one of them was the encore. I had considered myself a pretty good Yes fan, but I guess I was wrong. Even so, I think they should have at least played a few of their biggest hits.

July 19

One of the motivations for a pilot is the challenge of learning to fly bigger and better aircraft. In all my years of flying, I had only flown four different types of airplanes: Cessna 150, 152, 172, and Piper Cherokee. All of them are simple training aircraft. The next rung on the Cessna ladder is the 182. It is considered a high performance aircraft and the FAA requires a special endorsement in the pilot's logbook to fly it. A high performance aircraft is any plane with an engine of greater than 200 hp.

I was planning a big flight to central Oregon and I wanted to fly the 182. I signed up for a checkout flight with an instructor at Galvin Flying Services on Boeing Field and today was the day to take the next step. When I signed up for the plane, I picked up the required open book aircraft knowledge form that is required to fly any Galvin airplane. I also bought an Operator's Manual for the Cessna 182 to help with the questions and to study the aircraft systems before my checkout. The checkout began with a discussion of the various aircraft systems. The majority of the talk involved a thorough explanation of the inner workings of the constant speed propeller. The rest of the 182 is very similar to a 172, so there wasn't anything new to discuss.

The checkout flight came next. The flight involved all the usual maneuvers; slow flight, stalls, steep turns, and touch-and-go's. The maneuvers felt very similar to those of a 172, but doing T&G's in the 182 is much more challenging. The plane is considerably heavier and therefore requires more force on the control surfaces. It is also considerably faster, so you must be prepared to slow down before entering the traffic pattern else you will carry too much speed and float half way down the runway instead of landing on the numbers. Then there are the cowl flaps to keep in mind. These are openings in the engine cowling that are controlled from within the airplane. They must be opened during takeoff and closed during approach. And the trim settings must be adjusted while on the ground else the plane will quickly climb and approach a stall situation on takeoff. I've heard that it takes 60 pounds of force to push the yoke forward if the trim is not set properly on takeoff. That's quite a lot of important things for a guy to remember.

After many T&G's at Tacoma Narrows airport, we flew north and I learned how to use the autopilot to control the airplane. Yes, you read that correctly - this plane has autopilot. The autopilot can control all three axes of rotation, so the pilot can sit back and enjoy the scenery, or more likely, prepare for the next phase of the flight, look out for other traffic, and talk to air traffic control.

After two hours of tooling around over the Puget Sound region, we returned to Boeing Field and parked the airplane. My instructor was sufficiently impressed and I was sufficiently wore out. We went inside and he endorsed my logbook for high performance aircraft. Be on the lookout for future articles involving the Cessna 182.

July 20

Todd & Danielle had planned a camping trip with a hike to Stuart Lake and they invited us along. They left after work on Friday afternoon to set up camp. They wanted to start hiking pretty early the next morning, so we had to meet them before they left the campground.

We woke up early, gathered our gear, and loaded the Honda. Our destination was the Upper Johnny Creek campground outside Leavenworth, Washington. We left Bothell and headed east to Highway 2, then followed that across Stevens Pass to Leavenworth. Once in town, we stopped at the Forest Service office to buy our park pass. They only accept cash, so we went for a walk through town to the nearest ATM. With cash in hand, we returned and bought an annual pass. We called Todd to let him know we were in town and to see if he needed any supplies, then we crossed the road to buy some groceries and snacks for the hike. With pass and food, we were set for our 24 hour forest adventure.

We headed out of town on the Icicle Creek Canyon road that wound its way up a long, slender valley that clearly showed the signs of recent forest fire activity. About twelve miles in, we reached the Upper Johnny Creek campground. We found Todd & Danielle's lot and began to unpack our stuff. Danielle greeted us with, "Look, clean people." We finished getting organized, then piled into the Honda and drove to the trailhead of the Stuart Lake trail.

View Larger Map

The trailhead is at 3,500 feet above sea level, and the elevation rises to 5,100 feet at the lake. The trail is relatively flat for the first mile or so, then begins to climb steeply. Along the way, we crossed a stream on a nice wooden bridge. At each resting point, we were swarmed by small flying creatures of unknown type, so it was in our best interest to keep moving. Eventually we left the forest and entered a marshy meadow that offered a fantastic view of the distant mountain peaks. At the end of the meadow, the trail began to climb again. At this point we were all ready for the lake to come into view.

At the top of the rise, the lake came into view. We continued down the trail to the edge of the crystal clear water and dropped our backpacks and enjoyed the splendid scenery. We ate lunch, then I went off alone in search of the perfect picture. We hung out on the large rocks beside the lake for what seemed like a couple hours, then decided to start back before it got too late.

The hike back was much easier, since it was all down hill. Susan led the way, and seemed to be in quite a rush. I was able to keep up, but Todd & Danielle fell behind. We stopped to wait a few times, but then decided to just carry on without them and join up at the trailhead. When we finally arrived at the trailhead, the reason for Susan's pace became apparent, as she dashed for the outhouse.

Up until this hike, we felt the most beautiful spot on Earth was the mountains outside Banff, in Alberta, Canada. We were pleasantly surprised to find this gorgeous location right in our own back yard.

We all lumbered back into the Honda and drove back to the campground. We were all tired, hungry, and most definitely sweaty. The first task was to find a way to get clean - or at least cleaner. The girls pulled out the Wet-Wipes, but Todd and I weren't interested. We grabbed the soap and towels, jumped back in the Honda, and headed upstream until we found a bridge across the river. We parked and walked down the bank to the waters edge. We slowly walked into the water and our feet immediately began to ache from the chill of the mountain stream. I thought I'd never be able to wash myself in that cold water. Considering the alternative, I walked out to knee level and washed my lower half. That wasn't so bad. Then I started splashing water on my chest and I just about fell over from the shock of it. Whoa, that will surely take your breath away. I quickly washed my upper half and headed for the safety and warmth of dry land. We dried off as quickly as possible, being careful not to fall off balance into the river. Back at camp, Todd cooked dinner and we sat around the campfire and stared at the stars. What a beautiful day it had been.

July 21

On the way home from Leavenworth, we crossed Stevens Pass on Highway 2. As you cross the pass and drive down the west slope, you can see a long covered railroad bed on the opposite side of the valley. I've always been interested in seeing them up close. There was a documentary made about an incident that occurred along those tracks years ago, and I wanted to see it up close. Susan was interested too, so we took a right turn of the highway onto Old Stevens Pass Highway and started back up the pass. The road took us along the railroad tracks and past the modern tunnel entrance. We followed the road for about a mile and a half before we came to a section that was apparently washed out at one time. The highway crew replaced the bridge with a narrow walking bridge, for some reason, so we were at a dead end. Not knowing how far we might have to walk, we decided to try to find the other end of the road at the top of the pass.

We turned around and drove up the pass again on Highway 2. At the top we found a somewhat hidden road to the left and turned onto it. Sure enough, it was the old highway. We followed it for about two and a half miles when we saw a very small sign pointing down a narrow gravel road. We figured that the sign must be there for a reason, so we followed it. Within a minute we arrived in a nicely maintained park-like setting. We stopped and read the sign and realized that we were now standing in what was once Wellington, Washington. Looking around we saw no sign that there was once a town at this location. How could a whole town just disappear?

excerpt from The Iron Goat Trail Home Page

The story of the Iron Goat began over 100 years ago when the last spike of the Great Northern Railway was driven, completing one of the most remarkable engineering feats of the nineteenth century. It marked the crossing of the Cascades at Stevens Pass which helped open the Pacific Northwest to settlement and trade with the rest of the world. This feat was recognized by establishment of the Stevens Pass Historic District in 1976.

The Great Northern route was the best engineered of the transcontinental railways. The original route over the pass consisted of an intricate set of switchbacks cut into the mountainside. While the switchbacks were an engineering triumph, they had serious disadvantages.

The Cascade Tunnel, completed in 1900, bypassed the switchbacks. Several snowsheds were also added for safety, but winter conditions still presented serious hazards. Trains were often stopped for days in winter storms.

In 1910, snowslides delayed two trains at the town of Wellington. A vast section of snow on Windy Mountain broke loose and crashed down, sweeping both trains off the tracks into Tye Creek below. Rescue efforts were quickly organized, but nearly one hundred lives were lost.

Wellington was the site of one of the worst railroad disasters in the nation's history and also the most tragic snow avalanche. This prompted more improvements to avoid such tragedy striking again. As rail traffic increased, a "new" Cascade Tunnel was completed in 1929. This eight-mile tunnel is still in use today by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. The opening of the new tunnel made the old grade obsolete and it was abandoned completely. It is this abandoned stretch that comprises the Iron Goat Trail today.

We followed the trail west and soon came to the opening of the Cascade Tunnel. We then turned around and followed the trail east and soon arrived at the first at the first showshed. We followed the rail bed for another quarter mile when we came to a lookout point, overlooking the Tye Creek below. It is very chilling to think that on this spot, many passengers lost their lives to a killer avalanche nearly a century ago.

June 2002

June started with a major home improvement project and ended with a wedding. Along the way, several smaller improvement projects were accomplished. I also bought a few more toys this month.

June 1

Tom & Lanna went to a wedding reception and asked me and Susan to baby-sit the kids. We quickly accepted the offer because it is rare for us to go to G-rated movies with kids in tow. Besides, that's what aunts and uncles are for.

The movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron was playing at the local cinema and everyone was excited to see it. We arrived at the mall early so we could take care of the necessities -- bathroom stop and plenty of snacks. Once inside, the kids ran straight to the front of the theater. We decided that a compromise was necessary. I sat in the fourth row with Kerissa and Susan sat in the third row with Kendra. The movie eventually started and all was well. Popcorn and soda was passed back and forth among us. About ¾ of the way into the picture, Kerissa began to get fidgety. She'd stand up, then sit down, then stand up and turn around, point at something, mumble something indiscernible, then sit down again. Then she'd do it again, but point at something else. I was in over my head, so I tapped on Susan's shoulder and asked for reinforcement. Susan put Kerissa on her lap and before long, Kerissa was calm and relaxed; magic.

After the movie, we drove to Borsch Park. The park is a favorite destination for the kids. The first stop was the lake. We collected our day-old bread and went searching for ducks and geese. The birds weren't interested in our free lunch, so we gave up and headed for the playground. We played on the jungle gym, then the monkey bars, then over to the swings, and round and round we went. This went on for about an hour until we all decided it was time to eat.

For dinner, we drove to the local Shari's restaurant. I went to the bathroom to clean up and when I returned I found Kendra sipping on a root beer float -- at 7:00 pm! I looked at Susan with shock and dismay and wondered how in the world we would remove all that sugar from her system by bedtime. Susan realized her mistake, but it was too late. We'd have to figure it out along the way.

After dinner we drove back to Tom & Lanna's house and immediately began the wind down process. We started by playing the classic board game Sorry. This went well for Kendra, but Kerissa just didn't get it. We gave her the Jenga blocks and that kept her entertained for a few minutes. At 9:00 we started the bedtime preparations. The kids were fitted with pajamas while I pumped up the air mattress. When I returned we pulled out the Disney storybook and read several condensed classics before finally calling it a day.

June 2

After being covered for over a year, we pulled the weed stopper off our planting beds. We decided that this year would be different; this year the sun would shine and our garden would grow. I pulled "The Claw" from the shed and went to work loosening the soil. The Claw works wonders on soft soil -- just like the ad on TV.

Once the soil was prepared the planting proceeded. Last year we received several packages of plants from somewhere. One of the packages contained dwarf sunflowers that only grow to 24 inches. We planted four rows of sunflower seeds in one garden bed. In the other bed we planted four Lobelia plants that were given to Susan by our new neighbors, the Days. Let's see if they will grow!

In other backyard project news, I dug up the dirt in front of my shed and planted grass.

June 3

When we moved into our house in 1999, we knew that we would need to paint it soon. Three summers came and went, yet fresh paint continued to avoid touching our house. This year we called two contractors and asked for estimates. The estimates came and we chose to meet the contractor with the lower bid. We called Dan and arranged a meeting. He stopped by and we grilled him thoroughly -- we asked when he could start and we liked his answer. We gave him a check and he said he'd start the following morning!

June 4

The weather was cloudy and raining, but that didn't stop Dan. He arrived as promised and pressure washed our house. Since he had the equipment at our house, Dan suggested that he go ahead and do our back porch and driveway at the same time, for a small additional fee. Both the porch and the driveway were in need of a good washing. We agreed to let him do the porch, but we didn't agree to the driveway because we thought he was asking too much. See June 9 for the driveway story.

When we returned home from work, we were so impressed by the cleanliness of our house that we thought about canceling the painting contract! Not really, but we were amazed at the difference a little pressurized elbow grease made.

June 5

In July 1996, Susan decided to stop eating meat. For six long years, I watched Susan question her waiters for details of the ingredients in all their menu items. Tonight, Susan & I went out to eat at Gordon Biersch with John Cook. During dinner, Susan surprised me by eating one shrimp. The age of vegetarianism has come to an end!

June 6

Continuing his work, Dan stopped by with his son and caulked all the seems and nail heads on our house. In other news, the neighbor's fence was completed today.

June 8

Jethro Tull concert at Benaroya Hall.

June 9

With the house and back porch sparkling clean, we decided to pressure wash our driveway. Todd said he had an old pressure washer sitting in storage and he'd let us borrow it. I picked it up at work and brought it home. Susan & I started working on the driveway, one grid at a time.

The first grid cleaned up quite nicely. After a short break, we started working on the second grid. Again, this grid cleaned up quite nicely. After another short break, we started the third grid. I thought I noticed something odd, but I couldn't pinpoint it. Then the smell of burning plastic reached my nostrils and the sound of the pump screeching to a halt reached my ears. Uh-oh. I unplugged the pressure washer and let it cool off for a half hour before giving it another try. Unfortunately, the cool off period didn't prove beneficial. The damage was already done.

June 11

After a year of paying way too much for Internet service, I decided to find a cheaper solution. I talked to Todd about DirecTV and he told me that it was much better than cable. I looked at the price of DirecTV versus cable and it was almost identical. I came to the conclusion that installing a DirecWay dish with support for Internet and DirecTV was the way to go.

I took the day off from work and waited for the installer to arrive. It just happened to work out that Dan was also stopping by to paint the house. This was a wonderful coincidence because I wanted to be around when the house was painted.

Dan arrived first, but soon realized that the paint was not the proper consistency. He told me that he needed to go back to the paint store to get more paint. While he was gone, his son started masking the windows, doors, and gutters.

Soon afterwards, the dish installer arrived. I showed him where I wanted the cables to come through the wall and where I wanted the dish installed. He pulled his ladder off his van and started installing the dish.

Dan returned with new paint and started preparing it with his mixer/sprayer. Dan started painting at the southeast corner and worked his way clockwise around the house. The installer finished with the dish installation as Dan worked his way around the back of the house. The installer moved inside and drilled holes in my computer room and living room walls. I pointed him to the crawl space entrance and he soon vanished below my house.

Dan continued painting and the installer struggled with the cables in my crawlspace. While he shoved the cables from below, I poked around in the wall with a special grabber tool to catch the cables. After a considerable amount of time, I was finally able to catch the cables and the installer was able to leave the crawl space.

The installer continued his work in my living room and computer room. He was about to hook up the default tuner, but then he told me about the upgrade option that included support for Dolby Digital surround sound with optical audio connections. That was a no-brainer upgrade option for me, considering my recent audio upgrades. With the tuner installed and working, he moved into the computer room and started tuning the equipment. It didn't work, so he called headquarters and got the issues resolved and the Internet began pouring into my computer at 400 kbps or greater. This was definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

Meanwhile, Dan continued working his way around the house until eventually he came full circle. His son kept himself busy by removing the masking from the areas that were already dry. Dan called it a day and told me he'd be back to do the trim on Thursday.

June 12

One of the nice features of DirecTV is the ability to order pay-per-view (PPV) movies. The way I understood it, all PPV movies were broadcast in widescreen format with Dolby Digital surround sound. I ordered my first PPV movie, Behind Enemy Lines, from the DirecTV website with great anticipation. The movie started, but the Dolby Digital indicator on my receiver did not light. I played with the surround sound options, but the light would not come on. I called DirecTV and explained the situation to the operator. He asked a bunch of questions about my hardware and I told him that I had everything I needed. He thought about what might be wrong while I continued pressing buttons and changing settings. He eventually gave up and offered me a month of ShowTime as consolation. I accepted his offer. In the mean time, I tuned another channel showing the same movie and was pleased to see my Dolby Digital light turn on. By this time the movie was half over, but the PPV purchase lasts all day, so I was able to watch the movie again from start to finish. It was worth the effort. The sounds of the battles and explosions were amazing when coming at you from all sides. I then realized that very few movies are broadcast in Dolby Digital. The program guide on the web site distinguishes those by placing "LBX" beside the title.

June 13

Dan returned to finish the trim work and paint the front door today. The initial paint made a huge improvement to the look of our house, but the trim made a much larger improvement. The lines of the house became extremely clean and distinct. All traces of the fuzzy over-sprayed edges disappeared and the job looked complete.

June 15

Susan & I went to see the Gathering of Warbirds in Olympia, Washington. This is an annual event sponsored by the museum at the airport. This year, the turnout and quality exceeded my expectations.

We arrived a little late, but after the first military fly-by went over my head, my excitement level began to return. We hurried to the entrance, paid our donation, and went through the gate. We entered a hangar and moved through to the static exhibits. The exhibits ranged in period from WWI through WWII.

One of the main attention-getters was the P-51 Mustang. Not only was it a beautiful aircraft, but it was being used to give rides. The rides were pretty expensive (I think it was several hundred dollars for 15 minutes), but there was still a long line of people waiting for a turn. Although I desperately wanted to go for a ride, I resisted the urge and enjoyed watching others receive the thrill of a lifetime.

The rides began with the starting of the huge 12-cylinder Merlin engine. The sound is raw, explosive, and perhaps intimidating. You can tell by the sound alone that this plane was designed for performance. The pilot then taxied to the runway and started rolling. Soon after liftoff, he retracted the gear and performed an accelerating, climbing turn back towards the show. This was followed by several low, high speed passes. Eventually, the pilot returned and the process repeated.

June 16

Having a paved driveway is nice, but it is not maintenance-free. One of the tasks I've overlooked since buying the house was edging the it. Due to my lack of maintenance, the grass and clover tended to grow onto the concrete. To solve this problem, some of my neighbors let landscapers take care of their lawns. Others have power edgers. I settled for a simple edging device; I hardly felt the need for a motorized device to trim 40 feet of driveway. Now, my driveway has a clean, sharp edge.

June 17

For my work on the New York City Mayor's Cisco Unity installation, I was selected for CAP award for my Failover improvements. This was a financial award that was given to me by my peers for work beyond what is considered part of the normal job.

June 19

With the fresh paint on the house, the old address numbers started to show their age. Like most modern sub-divisions, all the houses had the same style of numbers. Rather than polish the corrosion from the old, boring numbers, we decided to get new numbers. We went to the local Lowes store and found big bold gold numbers that met our fancy. The new numbers can easily be read from the end of the driveway. Besides that, our house is now ever so slightly more unique in the neighborhood.

June 23

Every so often I feel the need to upgrade my computer. This time I desired a super-fast graphics card to drive Microsoft Fight Simulator 2002 as smoothly as possible. After doing some research, I decided to go with a card powered by the GeForce 4 graphics accelerator. I drove to the local CompUSA store and found what I was looking for. While I was there, I unintentionally walked down the monitor row. There I saw a gorgeous flat screen monitor made by Samsung. The price was high, but with the recent CAP award money in the bank, I was compelled to buy it, too.

June 28

Thursday we flew from Seattle to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to attend Gina & Ed's wedding. We spent the night in a hotel and made plans for Friday. Since the wedding rehearsal was scheduled for early evening, we had some time to tour around, so we decided to go to Hershey's Chocolate World.

In fifth grade, I went on a school trip to Gettysburg and Hershey, Pennsylvania. Two of the highlights were Hershey's Chocolate World and Hershey Park. I thought it would be fun to revisit the Chocolate World twenty-four years later to see what changed.

The first challenge was finding the place. We found Hershey, but we had difficulty finding the Chocolate World. We found a place to park near the amusement park and started walking. We walked down the main street of town, but found no sign of the Chocolate World. Eventually, Susan asked someone and we discovered that we weren't even close. We walked back to the car and drove about a mile to the entrance.

Once inside, we bought tickets to take the tour. My memories of the tour included riding in a cocoa bean car from the plantation, through the ovens, and then past a conveyor belt covered with candy bars. When we walked through the gate, our first site was a painting of cocoa being loaded on a large ship; exactly like I remembered. Around the corner we boarded the cocoa bean car and the tour continued, pretty much as I recalled. One difference to note was the candy bars were now Hershey Kisses instead of Hershey bars.

After the tour, we visited the gift shop. My memories of the gift shop included a room with large plants and humongous, foot-long, five pound Hershey bars. I was disappointed to find that the largest Hershey bars for sale now are only seven ounces. I'm not sure if the bars shrank or if my memories from childhood are larger than life. It's probably a little bit of both.

With gifts for the kids in hand, we headed for the wedding rehearsal in North Umberland, Pennsylvania. The rehearsal was in a well groomed, small park along the Susquehanna River. As a bridesmaid, Susan was busy learning her parts while I walked around and took pictures.

Once the rehearsal was complete, we drove a few miles to Ed's parent's home and ate dinner. Ed showed us around the back, including the barn with all the animals. As the sun descended behind the hills, Ed's uncle disappeared for a few minutes. When he returned, we all walked to the front of the house and discovered the reason for his brief departure. On the small pond at the bottom of the hill floated a large wooden heart shaped raft with candles lining the edges.

June 29

Gina & Ed's wedding was held in a park in North Umberland, Pennsylvania. Susan was a bridesmaid and I was an invited guest with a camera. The temperature was on the rise and I was in no hurry to change from my shorts into my wedding attire. As the time drew nearer, the wedding party arrived and pictures were taken by the professional photographer. At this time, I changed into my nice clothes and joined the friends and family that had gathered outside the gazebo.

The wedding procession began, led by the parents and followed by the wedding party, and finally the bride. The wedding proceeded as I moved about to A) find good camera angles and B) seek shelter from the sun. After the mandatory "I do's" and "You may kiss the bride", Gina & Ed were introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Ed Hoffman.

The wedding party formed a greeting line and the guests streamed by, hugging and congratulating the couple. After all had passed, Gina & Ed returned to the gazebo to perform another ceremony; the releasing of two white doves.

The doves came from Ed's parent's house. Ed's parents have a mini farm with lots of animals, including goats, chickens, rabbits, and doves.

After their release, the doves circled the gazebo once, then flew off to the east. According to Ed, the doves always return home after being released.

The guests soon started to depart for the reception at Watson's Inn in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. As part of the wedding party, we stayed behind and waited for Gina & Ed to get ready. Meanwhile, their white limousine arrived and all of us still waiting oohed and awed over it. The kids all climbed into the cavernous back seat and Gina & Ed joined them. The parade of cars then traveled the short distance to the reception, honking and waving to everyone we passed along the way.

At the reception, Gina asked if I could take lots of pictures, since the professional was only hired to shoot the wedding. I gladly accepted, knowing I would take lots of pictures anyway. We ate dinner, then the couple cut the cake and the party began. After a couple drinks, even I was out on the dance floor, having a great time, boogying to all the wedding classics.

June 30

It is now time to return home. We drove back to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, returned our rental car, and flew back to Seattle. Along the way, I saw several areas of smoke rising from the ground. Unfortunately, I do not know where the forest fires were because airlines still do not provide position information to the passengers.

Thanks to some favorable winds, we arrived in Washington earlier than expected. The captain put the plane into a holding pattern near Mt. Rainier. As I looked out the window, I saw Mt. Rainier pass by twice, then we were cleared to continue our approach to Sea-Tac airport.

May 2002

May marked the beginning of flying season and introduced some new electronic hardware to our household entertainment system. It was also a month of blockbuster movies.

May 8

Continuing what we started in April, we once again set our focus on removing the moss from the front yard. This time I decided to call in the heavy artillery. We went to the local equipment rental shop and rented a power rake.

The power rake is a gasoline-powered machine with metal fingers that rotate on a drum and rip out everything in their path. The moss and dead grass pours out the back of the machine forming a drift of debris. After one pass over the entire front yard, the moss was gone.

I pulled out my grass seed and spreader and covered the front yard. I followed this with a layer of fertilizer. With a little luck, we will have a nice thick yard full of grass this summer.

May 10

This week was pretty nice, and Friday was the certainly the nicest. To celebrate the beginning of a beautifully forecasted weekend, I decided to rent a plane and practice touch & go's. After work, I drove to Boeing Field and checked out N43GF. Todd showed up a few minutes later and we walked out to the ramp to preflight the plane. After I was satisfied with its airworthiness, we taxied to runway 31R and took off to the northwest. The Mariner's were playing at Safeco Field, so I had to divert to the east to avoid the temporary flight restriction that covers all major sporting events in the country.

When we reached Paine Field, Susan was waiting for us at the Jet Deck Bar & Grill. I taxied the plane right up to the restaurant. I can't get over the look on people's faces as I pull up in an airplane; its just so cool. Susan talked me into staying for dinner. The service was very slow, so by the time we finished eating, I had exceeded my rental period. I called Galvin Flying to let them know that I'd be late and we headed back to the plane.

As we left Paine Field, the sun was just touching the horizon. I stayed in the pattern to do one touch-and-go on the small runway; it is only 75 feet wide compared to the 150 foot wide big runway. After the touch-and-go, I departed the pattern to the south and headed for Boeing Field. I dialed KBFI into the Global Positioning System (GPS) radio and it showed that we were 20 miles out. I felt like we were the only plane in the sky, for such a nice night. Boeing Tower told me to enter the pattern over Seward Park for runway 31R. We landed and taxied back to Galvin Flying. What a privilege it is to be able to fly above our country, while most people on this planet can only dream of flying.

May 12

Mother's Day weekend in Seattle tends to be beautiful and this year was no exception. Since my mother is thousands of miles away -- which makes taking her out to lunch very difficult -- I took Susan and Todd flying instead. We met Todd at Boeing Field and loaded ourselves into N95129 - a late model Cessna 172. Our destination for the day was the San Juan Islands, which are located in the Puget Sound in the northwest corner of Washington, near the Canadian Border. Getting there by "normal" transportation involves driving over an hour to Anacortes, waiting in line at the ferry terminal for up to an hour, then riding on the ferry for 45 minutes. Returning home is just the opposite, but with a much longer wait at the ferry terminal. It takes only 45 minutes in a Cessna. :)

Our first stop was Eastsound airport on Orcas Island. I had never landed at this airport before, so I was excited to add a new destination to my logbook. Once on the ground, we parked in the grass with the other general aviation airplanes and walked about a mile into town. There we found a nice restaurant with outdoor seating and ordered lunch. Orcas Island is shaped like a horseshoe and Eastsound is situated on the inner water at the narrow portion at the top of the island. The two thick portions of the island are rather mountainous, leaving the town in the valley between the peaks. From the deck of the restaurant we enjoyed the sunshine and the view.

After lunch, we hiked back to the plane and flew to Friday Harbor airport on San Juan Island. From the airport we walked the quick six blocks into town. Since we had lunch in Eastsound, we decided to have dessert in Friday Harbor. Along the waterfront we found a small ice cream parlor and each had a single scoop waffle cone.

By the time we finished, the sun was beginning to set in the western sky. We walked back up the hill, past the ferry terminal queue of cars and campers, to the airport and climbed back into our magic carpet for the quick flight home. As always the sunset over the Olympic Mountains from 3,000 feet over the Puget Sound was truly amazing.

May 18

I started the day planning to work out on the BowFlex. I turned on my stereo, popped in a CD, and instead of hearing the clean, crisp tones so common from CD's, I heard this ugly, scratchy, hissing noise. I switched to FM mode and the results were the same. After thirteen-plus years of excellent service and lots of decibels of clean stereo sound, my old JVC receiver finally called it quits.

The history of my JVC now follows: While in college, oh so many years ago, I worked as a co-op student in Richmond, Virginia. Co-op wages were three times anything I'd ever earned previously, so I was anxious to spend some of my hard earned cash on some nice stereo equipment. My second semester in Richmond, I went to Circuit City with my brother, who was in town following Thanksgiving. I signed up for their "no interest if paid in full by such and such date" cards and was turned down. Tom, on the other hand, had no problem getting the line of credit, even though he wasn't shopping at the time. I decided to skip the receiver this time and I bought a JVC CD player instead. The following semester of co-op, I returned and bought the JVC receiver to match the CD player. That was back in 1990. The CD player, by the way, is still going strong.

With a strong desire to replace my receiver, I started surfing the Internet to see what was available. Crutchfield had a nice assortment to choose from, including a nice JVC model with all the bells and whistles that I wanted: 100 watts of power through two separate sets of speakers, tons of inputs -- analog and digital, and support for Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

At this point I was sold on the JVC receiver. The next step was to find one locally for a great price. As expected, Video Only came in with the lowest price. A few minutes later, we were on our way to Lynnwood to see one in person. Knowing all the specs and what I wanted, the salesman didn't have to work hard to complete the sale!

With new receiver in hand, the next logical step was to start looking for speakers to support the 5.1 surround stereo sound capability. I already have four nice speakers, so I didn't want to buy six new ones. The salesman showed me his selection of center channel speakers and subwoofers and I was impressed. He went to the back and grabbed two more items while we wandered around the store. When he returned, we were standing near a Sony demo system with Terminator 2 playing on a big TV. I was amazed at how clean and pure the Sony system sounded. I knew right away that the center speaker and subwoofer would be staying at Video Only. Although the Sony system sounded great, I wasn't sold on the whole package, so we left with just the receiver. See May 19 for the continuing speaker saga.

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Back at home, I didn't have much time to enjoy the new receiver. Susan and I bought tickets along with Todd to go see Steven Wright at the Paramount Theater in Seattle. We met Todd at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at Pacific Place Mall. Todd took us to one of his favorite restaurants in the mall and we had dinner. After eating, we started walking towards the theater, but Todd wanted to stop for a drink at another one of his favorite places.

We made it to the Paramount a half hour early and had to kill some time in the lobby. Finally the doors opened and we entered the theater. The Paramount is a gorgeous old theater with amazingly ornate detail and architecture. Since we had some time, we went down to the front to see how the 'spendy' seats compared to ours. Then we went all the way to the top mezzanine levels, then to the front row of the mezzanine. The view was pretty good no matter where you sit.

Finally it was show time. There was a short opening act, then Steven Wright came out on stage. For the next hour and a half, he had us holding our ribs in pain from laughing so hard. His unusual observations on life are hilarious. I highly recommend going to see him if you have the opportunity.

May 19

After only one day with the new receiver, the search for new surround sound speakers became my new priority. I figured I'd let my ears be the judge and not worry too much about the price. Our first stop was Best Buy. Surprisingly, they had absolutely nothing that interested me. We then drove down the road a few blocks to Magnolia Hi-Fi.

Magnolia Hi-Fi has a reputation for carrying high-quality electronic gear. Stepping through the door, it is apparent that their reputation is well deserved. After browsing a few minutes, we were approached by a salesman. My expectation was that he would try to sell us something that we didn't really want, but instead he surprised me by asking lots of questions to better understand my existing hardware situation. At Video Only (see May 18) and at Best Buy, the salesman tried to convince me that I should get rid of my existing speakers and buy a complete system. But here, the salesman asked if I liked the sound from my existing speakers and suggested that I keep them.

Our first task was to find a center channel speaker. Surround sound consists of five primary speakers (front-left, front-center, front-right, rear-left, rear-right) and a subwoofer to drive the deep down bass that movies develop. The center channel is the primary speaker, delivering nearly all of the dialog in a movie. The salesman was concerned that the center speaker match the audio qualities of my existing speakers. He said he didn't want a Ferrari to change to a Ford and back to a Ferrari as it pans from left, through the center, to the right speaker. First we listened to several sets of speakers until we found a pair that sounded similar to the ones I already have. Then he let me listen to several center speakers, starting with the best and working down to the worst. At first I heard no difference, but after a point, the remaining speakers had poor, thin sound. It was very easy to then point to the first speaker that sounded cheap, and pick the next better speaker from the lineup.

The next task was picking a subwoofer. This was difficult for me because I think they all sound the same. I was about to settle on a 10 inch speaker, but Susan convinced me that the 12 inch speaker sounded better to her. You can imagine my surprise when she chose the more expensive model. Wow, and I thought she didn't care about stereo equipment.

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In preparation for Gina & Ed's wedding in Pennsylvania, Susan started applying tanning solution from a twin cylinder assembly. One cylinder contained tan goop and the other brown goop. When the applicator is pushed, goop from both cylinders is extruded. Once mixed, it is applied and left to do its magic for 15 minutes. After a few weeks, it is supposed to provide a natural tan. Who dreams up these products?

May 21

John Chambers in Seattle.

May 25

Spiderman.

May 26

Mariner's versus Orioles.

May 27

Planted grass in front of shed.

May 30

Star Wars Episode II.

April 2002

April showers bring May flowers, so they say. In Seattle, April marks the end of ski season and the beginning of the damp months before summer finally arrives in July. Our new neighbors move in and we declare war on the moss in our front yard.

April 6

Another ski season comes to a close. Susan and I planned to meet Todd at the Bellevue Park & Ride to carpool to Crystal Mountain. We were a little early; Todd was a little late. When he arrived, we moved his ski gear into the Honda and locked his skis into the racks on top. Just as we pulled out to head south, Susan realized that she forgot her ski jacket. Ahhhh! Too bad she didn't realize that sooner; we would have had time to go get it while waiting for Todd.

After little debate, we decided to all go back to Bothell, get the jacket, and head for the mountains. Forty-five minutes later, we were once again making progress toward our goal. We arrived late and hit the slopes. The snow was turning to slush, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

April 14

A good day for some yard and automobile maintenance. The Honda CR-V is fully maintained; good for another 30,000 miles. In addition, today was the first day this Spring that combined a weekend day with sunshine and grass cutting motivation. I pulled the mower from the shed, gave it a quick inspection -- I checked the gas and oil and wiggled the spark plug wire -- and headed for the front yard.

First, I went over it on the high setting. Once complete, I went over it again at a lower setting to expose all of the underlying moss. After the second pass, I was completely convinced that our yard is 90% moss and 10% grass. To help shift the balance more in favor of the grass, we raked out some of the moss and dead grass and applied a spray-on moss killer. I just hope my whole yard doesn't turn black!

April 16

After two years as a rental and six months sitting empty, the house next door now has new occupants. John, Lorri, Hanna, and John Ezra moved in today. The realtor told us that they plan to build a fence. I wonder if we can talk them out of it...

April 25

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) has a division called the Air Safety Foundation (ASF) whose mission is to educate pilots about safety issues. Every year they tour around the country and hold discussions. The discussions are free to all who want to attend and are announced months in advance.

This year's topic of discussion was spatial disorientation. Spatial disorientation is caused by several factors. It usually occurs when the pilot is flying through clouds and all visual references to the ground are lost or obscured. Usually it is the result of the pilot moving his head too quickly and upsetting the balance mechanisms in the inner ear. Without input from the eyes to verify what are inner ears feel, we quickly become disoriented. This sensation can easily be reproduced on the ground by covering your eyes and having someone spin you on a stool for a minute. Your friend can then stop your motion, but your ear will think you are still spinning.

Although my current pilot's license forbids me from flying in the clouds, I have started the process of acquiring an instrument rating which would remove this restriction. The best way to avoid becoming disoriented is to know the reasons why we get disoriented in the first place.

April 28

Another year has passed and it's Kerissa's birthday once again. This year, Tom and Lanna decided to have the party in a park. Although the weather is usually very predicable (cold and cloudy) this time of year, today the weather was perfect. Susan and I drove south on I-5, past Chehalis, to the Napavine exit. The park was on the right and Tom and Lanna were setting up camp in the covered picnic area. The kids were enjoying themselves in the playground.

As more kids began to arrive, I pulled out our newly purchased collection of lawn games, which contained all the classics. I set up the volleyball net, with help from the kids. Susan and I played with the kids while all the adults -- we still don't consider ourselves part of that crowd -- sat around and told tales.

And then it was time for cake. Lanna brought bags of goodies so the kids could design their own toppings. That looked way too sweet for me, so I temporarily assumed the role of an adult and passed on the customized cake decorating fun.