Pike Street Market

It was a nice cool day so we went down to Pike Street market, and the Aquarium. Sun came out and it was a nice day to be on the water. We got some Piroskys from a bakery to snack on, and then went down the Aquarium to see the new additions. It turned out to be a nice day; after all the travel it was nice to just loaf around.

Myrtle Beach

Debbie and the girls few to Atlanta to visit with Elinor, and then drove to Myrtle Beach where I met them. Catherine was the photographer while they were in Atlanta- she did a good job. They visited the Coke Museum, and the Altanta Aquarium.

In Myrtle Beach, we stayed in a nice condo in Kingston Plantation right on the water. It was a really nice setting. Tom and Nicole brought Elaina and Sarah over and we spent several days visiting. While we were there we spent some time on the beach, and hit the local tourist places. The kids got to swim, and play in a water park on the property several times. Tom and Nicole took us to Brookgreen Gardens, this is a can’t miss stop in the SC low country.

Brookgreen was one of the largest rice plantations in South Carolina during the height of slavery. It is located on a tidal river which made it very effective for managing the flooding and draining of rice fields - which were built by slaves. We took a boat tour where you could still see the system of levies that were built in the 1850 to manage the fields. After the war, the rice business was not economic, and several huge plantations just went back into the wild. In the 1930s the property was purchased and turned into a sculpture garden by the Huntington’s. They preserved what was left of the original plantation gardens, and it is a now a world renown sculpture garden - with over 1000 pieces of American sculpture.

My flight back to Seattle was cancelled so I got to spend an extra night in Myrtle Beach – the girls were already on their way back to Atlanta, so I was by my self. Since it was a mechanical cancellation US Air put me up in a nice Sheraton right on the water and I got to explore the beach alone. I found a really nice beach bar with live music and that’s where I spent the evening – watching the waves roll in. The girls spent 4 more days in Atlanta, and got in Friday night (after their Thursday flight was cancelled). It was a nice trip, but it was nice returning home to 70 degree weather!

Flowers in the Yard

All of the plantings in the yard have really taken root. The 14 hours of sun has really caused the flowers to pop in the last few weeks.

Skagit River Raft Trip

We took an 8 mile raft trip on the Skagit River this past weekend. We drove about two hours north of Seattle into the North Cascade Mountain range. This was more of a float trip than a wild river rafting session, there was only one short section that was slightly tricky but it was nice being in a guided raft. We were in a 9 person raft – Debbie, Catherine and I were the best paddlers by far. The Asian family of four we shared it with was nice, but not very good paddlers. Caroline started out not very happy but after about 15 minutes she got in the groove of things and had fun. We managed to make the whole trip without any one falling out of the raft - but at the take out point Debbie lost her balance getting out of the raft and went all the way under! After drying off we drove a little farther into the Cascades to Diablo – a large dammed reservoir, and then turned around and headed home. We were starving so we stopped for hamburgers at the Red Robin. They do this float trip in the fall as well, this is where the eagles come to winter so there are supposed to be thousands in this stretch of the river. I want to see it, apparently they put you in wet suits in the fall.