Happy Thanksgiving from Seattle Turkey Trot 2010!

Julie and I just returned from doing the 2010 Seattle Turkey Trot, a 5K charity run/walk for the Ballard Food Bank.

When we signed up in late October, I worried about doing this walk during a rainstorm. Never did I think about doing it in 30 degree weather on ice and snow covered streets. But we did. And so did alot of other people. Nearly 2,000 people signed up, raising over $35,000 for the Ballard Food Bank. The inclement weather may have kept many people from actually running, but as you can see there were many who still did.

The hardest part of the run was actually getting to the starting line! First, wind down a hilly S-curved street full of ice, which probably should have been closed to traffic, to park at the finish line. I literally skidded down the hill. Next, climb back up the same hill (via 3 sets of snow covered stairs) to get to the starting line. It took us 20 minutes of walking just to get to the check in. Once checked in, it was time to TROT! We encountered a small sleet shower during the hour, but nothing that kept us from reaching the finish line.

Even though this 5K was a fun run with no official times, I appreciated that there was a clock at the finish line. We walked our 5K in 1:04:34, not bad considering the icy conditions. At the finish, breakfast sandwiches and juice were provided by Dante's Cafe, with all donations going to the Ballard Food Bank.

We enjoyed the experience, and hope to make it an annual event.

Help Everett Library win $10K

Please help Julie and her co-workers at Everett Public Library win $10K! Everett Public Library is a NATIONAL FINALIST for the $10K grand prize for best circulation display for Playaway.com's Picture This! contest.

Go to www.vote.playaway.com and click on Everett Main Public Library and follow the prompts to place your vote for our local library.

Then pass this on via your own Blogger, Twitter, or Facebook accounts. Email your friends, co-workers: the more people who vote for our library, the better odds of winning. The contests ends Dec. 17th.

Thanks for all your help!

R I P Dave Niehaus

Yesterday was a sad day for all of Mariners baseball. Our beloved Dave Niehaus, the Mariners Original broadcaster, passed away from a heart attack at the age of 75. He had called the Mariners games since their inception in April 1977. He will be greatly missed.

Just catching up

It's been a long few weeks. Our computer completely died, so we bought a new one, but now I don't have all those pictures on this computer to share. They are on discs somewhere, but I'm not betting on me getting back to documenting our trip again too soon.

Latest news...
I am going to take my state board exams in March. My application is almost done, and so as soon as I get my doctor's signature on my internship documentation and take a current photo (tomorrow at work) I'll just be sending off my application & big fat check. Then it's only a matter of studying.

Thanksgiving Day Julie and I will be running a 5K race, Seattle TurkeyTrot 2010, supporting a local food bank. A nice way to celebrate everything we are thankful for.

Christmas plans are to be a Julie's Mom's house. All of her family will be there, including Kelly (and family) from Maryland and Molly&Richard from Great Britain. Will be nice to see everyone again.

I'm now on Facebook: where are all those pics!

Day 4 On the road again

MAY 30, 2010

Well it was time to hit the road again, this time driving from our campsite near Boulder, CO to Wichita Falls, TX. Once you get away from the Rockies, we were definitely in the country of wide open spaces. Not much to see here, but you could see forever and a day at the same time.

While on this part of the adventure, Julie wanted to make sure to follow part of Route 66, the famed roadway that runs from Chicago to Los Angeles.The midpoint of the highway sits just west of Amarillo, TX, and we went there just for the photo! Of course, there were many sights to see along Route 66: such as this restored Phillips 66 gas station (with the old truck in front), and you might recognize the creme and green colored gas station, which was used as the model for Ramone & Luigi's gas station in the movie "Cars".

COORS FIELD in Denver, Colorado

So we finally made it to our first MLB ballpark of our vacation: COORS FIELD, home of the Colorado Rockies.
We arrived at 3:30pm, approx 2 hours before the gates opened (slightly early, but arriving before rush hour started) and found a parking place right outside the gates which was empty. We soon found out why! If you go to a game here, don't arrive before 1.5 hours before the game. Signs warned that all cars still in the up close parking lots would be towed prior to the scheduled "opening of the lot" at 1.5 hours before gates open. Luckily Julie saw the sign and we moved to a "legal" spot. We decided to spend the time browsing the Rockies Gift Shop till the gates actually opened, but found out that they temporarily close the gift shop before the game. (You'd think they'd want visitors before the game) So we made the best of the situation and went down the street to The Breckenridge restaurant and ate dinner there, rather than pay exuberant prices at the ballpark. It was well worth it. Our bison burgers were delicious and reasonably priced.


Bellies full, we finally got inside the park to watch batting practice.I tell you, the thin air sure does let the balls fly. There was an exhibition homerun derby contest by some pro softball players and they hit balls that would make any MLB player proud. Fun to watch.


Of course, part of the reason to get to the ballpark early is to attempt to get an autograph. We were lucky, and got 3 Los Angeles Dodgers to sign for us. They were Reed Johnson, Jamie Carroll (shown at left) and Casey Blake.







The ballpark itself was beautiful, with landscaped bullpens, and excellent views of the Rocky Mountains.
One of the interesting features of the ballpark is the row of purple seats found circling the ballpark in the upper deck. If you are familiar with the city of Denver being the mile high city, then it makes sense that those seats sit exactly 5,280 ft above sea level. I wanted a picture of myself in those "mile high seats", but wasn't expecting to have to fight the seat nazis (which are worse than at Safeco Field) for the right to go up and take a picture in a cheaper location. Luckily, getting a picture of Dinger, the Colorado Rockies mascot was alot easier.

Denver, CO and surrounding area

Day 3 Denver, Colorado and surrounding area


Finally, a day without major driving. The day started with a morning walk around Pelican Pond within the campground. Saw plenty of wildlife, including great white pelicans and a canada goose family.




We then went into Boulder, CO to tour the Celestial Seasons Tea factory. While I don't drink tea, Julie was in heaven being able to sample 25 different blends of tea while viewing the original art pieces produced for the boxes.




Once the tour actually began, we were lead to the warehouse where all the different ingredients (known as infusions) are stored. We saw pallets and pallets of hybiscus, clover, wisteria, and other fragrant items.
We went into the Green Tea Room, where all the tea leaves were kept. The aroma from that room was overwhelming, and not really to my liking. The next room we saw was the MINT ROOM and this was my favorite. Pallets and pallets of peppermint leaves, speariment leaves, and catnip, all grown in the state of Washington, which is, of course, my current residence. The intoxicating smell was wonderful, even being so overpowering that it made your eyes water and sting. I could have stayed there alot longer than the tour guide let us.




Our next planned stop was Coors Field in Denver to attend a game and see the stadium. Well, it was still hours till we needed to go and we didn't feel like driving back to the campground to eat, so we headed to downtown Boulder to have a picnic along the creek that flows thru the
city.
Instead of a nice quiet picnic, we found a Memorial Day festival, so we went with the flow and enjoyed the activities, until it was time to head to Denver and see the Los Angeles Dodgers take on the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field!

Jerome, ID to Boulder, CO

Friday, May 25
Day 2, another 12 hr drive

Plan: Start early and get to our destination and set up camp. This was the beginning of the Memorial Day Weekend and we had reserved a campsite, so arriving late was not going to be a concern.

Plan accomplished, with the lone exception that it was quite windy that evening in the foothills of the Rockies, so we went out for dinner rather than cooking at the campsite.

A Long Drive along the Oregon Trail

Thursday, May 27
DAY 1: 10 hour drive

The Plan:
Travel from Everett, WA to Twin Falls, ID and secure a campground for the evening.

Planned to Visit: Oregon Trail Interpretive Center

Of course, nothing ever goes totally right and you have to make adjustments while you go. On this first day it was the weather and road construction which accounted for slower (but safer) driving and a longer than planned day. Our 10 hour drive had become 13 hours and we weren't where we wanted to be. Then came two other setbacks: time change from Pacific to Mountain, which lost another hour, and the big one: WEATHER. It was raining hard and the forecast was for more of the same. We quickly decided that camping was out of the question that night.

Solution:

Stay dry in motel in Jerome, ID, and get out early (5am) to catch up with our schedule.

ROADTRIP 2010

Julie and I just finished a 6000 mile journey across the USA to visit family in Texas and Louisiana. Along the way, we found plenty to do. Here's a sneak peek:


Attending Memorial Day Festival in Colorado

Midpoint of Route 66

Alligators! (with amazing video)

Following the Oregon Trail

Louisiana Gulf Coast

MLB ballparks (3 of them)

Visiting family

and of course, George came along for the ride!



Over the next few weeks, I'll be blogging about our adventures. Check back to see more pictures and links to some amazing videos.

PS: Be sure to check out George's blog also, he's been a very busy monkey and has his own views of our trip. Here's his link: http://georgeandjulie.blogspot.com/

April Fool's (and some of what I've been doing)

This will be my last blog. We won the lottery! 2.7 million dollars. Julie and I are off to follow the Mariners. First in Oakland, then wherever the schedule goes. Can you say Road Trip! Ok, just a joke, which Julie hates, but I needed an opening line.

Well, I've really gotten into watching Y&R, and one of my favorite actresses has joined the show and her first scenes will be on Tuesday, April 20th. I'm talking, of course, about Eden Riegel, who was 1/2 of the ever popular BAM on All My Children. Eden will take over the role of Heather Stevens, Paul Williams' daughter and Assistant DA. Liz Hendrickson (Y&R's Chloe Abbott) was the other 1/2 of BAM, and so the girls will be reunited, although not as a couple. I'm still expecting alot of scenes together, esp since Heather recently slept with Billy Abbott (Chloe's ex and the father of her daughter Delia).

I recently had some fun on my Wii, allowing my avatar Eden to box it out with Charles Pratt (the headwriter at AMC who destroyed BAM) and posted these on twitter. Check 'em out if you get the chance.

Happy Birthday Will!

Today is William's second birthday! He has grown sooooo big! Happy Birthday! Love,

Julie, Debbie, Kiwi and Cheddar

The Sewing Diet

Julie is trying to keep busy sewing and crafting to keep her mind off food, sew far sew good. ha ha. This week she made a raincoat and hat for her American girl doll, and a knitting organizer. Cheddar wants to help, but he doesn't make a very good model. She also made the bunny slippers and a sweater that is under the raincoat. No, the buttons aren't functional, Hooray for velcro!

SAINTS WIN SUPERBOWL XLIV

I've died and gone to heaven! The New Orleans Saints have won SuperBowl XLIV, beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17. I'm on Cloud Nine, and so excited for all my family and friends back in southern Louisiana. The Who Dat Nation stands tall today!

Two plays stand up as the PLAYS of the GAME:

1) the onside kick to begin the 2nd half.

who does that? We did and it worked. Then we drive down the field and score the go ahead touchdown.

2)Tracy Porter's 74 yard interception for a TD when it appeared Peyton Manning and company were closing in on a game tying score. This one gave us a two-touchdown lead and all but assured us the victory. (But I had to wait till 44 seconds left to be sure...Peyton can work miracles)

But all the miracles were on the side of the Saints this time and Mardi Gras has officially began 2 weeks early!

I watched the game from a co-worker's townhouse SuperBowl Party and had a great time. Keith and Melissa were great hosts, and I enjoyed my time with them and other friends/c0-workers. I got to meet David and Amber's little girl, Phoebe, who was a hit with everyone who attended, including myself. She was a cutie pie.