2011 Poulsbo Summer

Once again Linda and I headed out for another summer in the Northwest. It was our fifth since we began working on a new place to live up there. We passed our final inspection last summer and Linda's mother Cathy moved there from Florida.

I began the trip by riding the Buell to deliver it to its new owner near Austin. Linda picked me up there in the GTI and we met Kevin and Danielle for lunch at the East Side Cafe. We spent the night with them in Dripping Springs and went on to the Kerrville Music Festival.

We've learned that going to Kerrville on the way to Washington saves hundreds of miles compared to doing it as a separate round trip from Wylie. This year we left in such a scramble that I forgot all about photos until our camp at Quiet Valley Ranch, so that's where they begin.

This was an especially important Kerrville for those of us who are part of Camp Coho. Since last summer, Coho lost it's mainstay, Michael Terry, as well as Jack Hardy, who always comes from New York to spend his festival time with us there. Dozens of friend turned out for a celebration of the lives of two of the truly great Kerrverts.

 

 

 

Linda's hats always draw a lot of interest

 

 

 

"Too much Corona, You Get Lime Disease"   Jack Hardy

 

 

 

"Everything's Bigger in Texas"   Jack Hardy

 

How to make Coho Coffee, as illustrated by the master, Michael Terry

 

 

 

Sun dried cheese and Texas wine. It doesn't get any better.

 

 

 

Ross, are you sure?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time for the main stage, with . . .

 

Susan Werner

 

Cheryl Wheeler

 

David Wilcox

 

Time to pack up way too soon

 

and head west

 

First stop is the home of friends in El Paso

 

John has a smoker just like the great one he gave us a few years ago

 

 

 

Our great host and hostess

 

The York kids (especially John) like the new snow cone machine

 

And Deb likes Linda's hats

 

So does John

 

That look is right on

 

El Paso by night

 

and by day

 

Too soon time to roll on

 

 

 

 

 

San Xavier mission, on the Tohona-O'odham Nation reservation, near Tucson

 

 

 

Our mission was to get some of the great fry bread

 

Mission accomplished

 

See the dome on Kitt Peak in the background

 

You can't miss it now

 

 

 

 

 

The McMath solar telescope

 

Looking up at the celostat

 

One of the mirrors is placed by the trolley on this track

 

 

 

One of the research astronomers we met there

 

another who gave us a close up look at the McMath focus

 

Linda checks out the sun with a Coronado

 

Our friend from earlier works at the celostat

 

 

 

 

This is always my favorite view of the mountaintop

 

 

Hoover dam from the new bypass bridge

 

 

 

I took the helicopter ride last year before the bridge was completed

 

non-stop thru Vegas.  I've already been too many times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you spot Mt. Whitney?

 

 

 

 

 

Mono Lake, near Lee Vining

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enough of that

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may have seen this from 30 years ago on our living room wall

 

 

 

 

 

Rosies is always a good place to stop in Tahoe City

 

Statue at the Donner Party site

 

The old Truckee Hotel

 

Mt. Shasta

 

 

 

First time here for either of us

 

This is our idea of spelunking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crater Lake is still a must

 

 

 

 

 

Looking toward Mt. St. Helens from the town of Hood River

 

 

 

Rainier is home to Main St. Cookie Co. and Zambuto Optical

 

 

 

A good cigar is the secret to the quality of Zambuto mirrors

 

 

 

Blanks for the next five Teleports

 

 

 

The base at Bremerton

 

 

 

and here we are

 

Ursula was waiting

 

as well as Cathy

 

this tree was looking toward the house, so . . .

 

Digger Dave prepares the trench for water and power to the new shop

 

Supervised of course by Quixote

 

Who was rescued by Barbara

 

 

 

A hose bib for Barbara's garden

 

Clearing brush for the new hammock space

 

Our computer area and the yoga space

 

the theatre

 

The new kitchen

 

I modified these Ikea cabinets in the LTFWT and we hauled them up

 

Cathy's flower garden

 

What was stored in the garage for the winter

 

had to get relocated to the new garage/workshop

 

as soon as it's new loft was finished

 

the hammock is a perfect fit in the cleared space

 

The water and power connections are now complete

as is the countertop for the new range cabinets

 

I sourced the Okume plywood for the next Teleports here at Edensaw in Pt. Townsend

 

Pygmy boats will provide kits for the kayaks we want to build next summer

 

 

 

We tried out a finished one here

 

Cleaned up the Ducati

 

and filled it's tank before heading for the motorcycle "Rally In the Gorge"

 

The Tacoma Narrows bridge

 

My favorite breakfast place in Spanaway

 

Can you guess which of the five volcanoes in the area this one is?

 

The road to Windy Ridge was still closed with snow. I rode it last summer.

 

 This road, NF-25, was just opened a few days ago

 

You can look but you can't go

 

Our campground for the rally is the city park in Stevenson

 

The finest in covered parking for these bikes

 

and tent sites on the north bank of the Columbia

 

 

 

Looking south toward Mt. Hood

 

Hood river has great windsurfing

 

Do you remember Clem Salvadore (center) from our Edelweiss ride three years ago?

 

 

 

Overlooking the Columbia river near Multnoma Falls

 

Reminded me of the Rhine

 

This hike promised a view of the five nearest volcanic peaks

 

St. Helens

 

Ranier

 

Adams

 

Hood

 

Jefferson

 

Will I ever learn to identify these five peaks?

 

Thanks to these fellow riders for the photo of me

 

Clem shows a photo of 750 Honda like mine from 1969

 

Time to dry and pack the tent

 

I headed east along the Columbia

 

 

 

After they tapped all the available hydropower, they turned to the wind

 

 

 

Headed up the road out of Ellensburg

 

 

 

Since I would be close, I had to stop by the Table Mountain Star Party

 

Missed seeing Hulan Fleming, who painted the portrait of Carl Zambuto

 

I've been to the TMSP three times before. It's a great star party.

There seemed a good turnout this year

 

This was my first time to cross the entire mountain. The Ducati was up for it.

 

 

 

I met Linda and Barbara for an outdoor concert featuring some of our songwriter friends

 

These are our friends, and we even admit it.

 

Pierce Pettis

 

Cary Cooper

 

Tom Prasada Rao

 

 

 

 

 

It went on into the evening

 

Please try to imagine many cool photos at the place in Poulsbo in this space here.

Somehow I lost about 40 of them taken during the last part of our time there.

We start again here on the return trip home with Barbara.

 

The home of Bill and Mary Muse, our friends in Missoula, MT.

 

The Two Muses will soon be moving back to the Texas Hill Country

 

Down there is Nederland, CO

 

and the home of our friend Darryl Purpose

 

 

 

 

Darryl has a great view of Nederland

 

We met Bernice Lewis, from Massachusetts, for lunch in Pueblo

 

We stayed that night with our friend Tim Keller in Des Moines, NM

 

We stayed in Christina's Studio C. She was away in Santa Fe.

 

 

 

Tim recommended this café, named for the nearby mountain. Good breakfast!

 

We met up with friends from Australia and Texas at Comanche Springs Observing site

 

The 3RF campus is the largest public observing facility in Texas

 

Three Rivers Foundation is the brainchild of our friend Fred Koch

 

My old dome that came from the White Sands Missile Test Range.

I had donated it to 3RF to welcome visitors to the campus.

Linda and I plan to create a series of proper signs for it this winter

They will tell the story of how Clyde Tombaugh was once in charge of it.

 

That's all folks!