Lake Pearrygin

Sunday April 26- Monday April 27 (Days 437 and 438)

 

Pearrygin Lake is a favorite fishing place for Marilyn and Gene, and so we tag along. We left Wenatchee on Sunday, under beautiful blue skies. The wildflowers are beginning to appear on the hills, turning them from brown to green and yellow and blue.

 This was our site at the County River RV park.

This little place is a favorite roadside stop for lunch and ice cream. Unfortunately, Judy lost her sunglasses here. :( But the chocolate brownie ice cream was good.

 

We stopped at Twisp along the way to check out a quilt shop, (closed on Sundays), and in the yard of the house next door were two little deer resting in the shade. They looked like pets!

 

Marmots or some such creatures are all over the park and this guy is within 12 feet of Howie, chirping away at us in the early morning and late at night.

 

Marilyn's friends from Poulsbo, Al and Sharon Brown joined us for this trip. Sharon cooked us a terrific dinner the first night.

 

Monday morning we took a walk up the hill and a little ways out of the park and geocached (of course) along the way. The birds were prolific and noisy! One cache was in a little birdhouse on the park sign.

One cache was in this old storage building. Fortunately for us, it had been moved from hanging inside (and falling on the ground some feet below the window opening) to a rock along the foundation.

 

Dinner Monday was a recipe that Marilyn wanted to show Harris from the most recent Cooks Illustrated, BBQ pork medalians in Hoisin sauce. It was great!

 The whole crew minus the photographer!

 

Off to Wenachee and Lake Pearrygin

Thursday April 23- Saturday April 25 (Days 433-436)

In what has become an annual tradition, it was time to join Marilyn and Gene (Judy's sister and brother-in-law) in Eastern Washington for some fishing at Pearrygin Lake with a stop in Wenatchee. The weather turned cool, but at least it was dry. Harris and Judy left Thursday after dental appointments and arrived at Wenatchee Confluence Park in mid afternoon.

 Thursday night's dinner was Mediterranean salmon burgers provided by Marilyn.

On a walk Friday morning Harris spotted a hawk to try out his Lumix ZS-50 30x zoom lens.

 Gene found one of the caches Harris and Gene looked for on the bike ride while 

the wives checked out several quilt stores Friday.

The destination of the bike ride was the Wenatche  Public Market

where Harris found fantastic clam chowder and 

Gene equally good chili. 

 One the caches was called Bird's Eye View.

Harris cooked Friday's dinner which was nearly as special as Thursday's.

Since Wenatchee Confluence Park was fully booked Friday and Saturday, Harris and Judy moved 4 miles west to Wenatchee River County Park where they stumbled upon a Fake Deer while Face timing  with their granddaughter River.

On the upside, there was great wifi at the park so they could stream the Mariners game. Felix dominated and Harris captured a  Nelson Cruz home run that went into 

the upper deck at Safeco Field.

Saturday was spent at a couple of wineries in Chelan while finding several caches along the way. Also punctuating the trip was an ice cream stop (which had a geocache on the property) and lunch at a Mexican restaurant which Harris talked the group into doing.

Spring Training 2015 part 5

Sunday March 28- Friday April 3 (Days 427-433)

Harris and Rick suddenly realized that the time to head home was almost upon them. Games were a bit sweeter than earlier games. Rick decided to sample the food from several ballparks so he could return home with all senses satisfied.

One experience  Rick and Harris could have done without was Felix getting roughed up with 5 runs in a couple of innings when the Mariners played the Cleveland Indians. But the weather was warm and once again they found shade to sit in for the game.

According  to news reports, both Phoenix and Antarctica were setting all time heat records for the last week of March. Phoenix temps were upper 90's with one day of 99 degrees. Being resourceful lads, they found an ice arena to hang out at mere steps from the Mariners stadium. For several days they ate lunch and played cards there until it was time to head to the game.

 It is tradition to snap a picture of the two of them and they waited until the very end to do it this year.

 They discovered a neighborhood park adjacent to Goodyear Stadium to hang out prior to the game. This will be added to the ever expanding list of pre game places to  eat lunch at.

On Rick's getaway day, it's tradition to treat Harris to breakfast at the Times Square Diner where the special that day was pork medallions, eggs, hash browns, toast, and coffee. It was yummy!   And Rick was gone...

Harris left Thursday morning around 2:30 AM. He passed by Las Vegas around 7 AM. He was also back in long pants as the weather was chilly.

He paused at a scenic stop a couple of hours north of Vegas.

He paused again in Northern Nevada where he figured there must be a geocache. And there was...in the tree to the left.

 Harris could see the line of clouds promising the end of warmth, sunshine, and dryness. He stopped outside of Boise for a couple of hours sleep and again outside La Grande, OR.

Sure enough! On the eastern side of Snoqualmie Pass the rains came. He made it home by 3:30 PM on Friday for a return trip of 37 hours. His body is trying to recover from the temperature shock of going from the  mid ninety's to mid forty's. 

Spring Training 2015 part 4

Sunday March 21- Saturday March 28 (Days 421-427)


The time is rapidly going by. Days of morning exercise/coffee/breakfast rituals are followed by stopping at a store on the way to a game. Going to the game, and then dinner with cards afterwards  make for full days. The highlight this week was a dinner and play at the Broadway Theater that was putting on Les Miserables. All in all, a great week!

 One of several steak dinners we shared. This one with a super salad and mixed veggies.

 Harris and Rick discovered Catch Fire which was great with lots of ice on a hot post-game afternoon.

 Harris introduced Rick to a Thomas camping favorite...Beans, hamburger, and chips!

 Harris and Rick shared the table with a local couple who raved about the food at the Broadway Theater. They were correct. The steak and salmon were terrific and the Les Miserables production was fantastic.

 Our lunch spot across the street from Surprise Stadium. The pickle ball courts are just across the way.

This life sure is tiring...

Spring Training 2015 part 3

Sunday March 15- Saturday March 21 (Days 414-420)

 

While Harris was awaiting the arrival of his Montana baseball buddy, Rick, he met some great Washington folks camped next to him. Ron and Becky Pike live just south of the Canadian border and were on their return leg from the Florida Keys. Stories were swapped and Harris showed them the ins and outs of watching Mariner baseball. He also introduced them to Total Wine in Phoenix and the benefit of returning to Washington with spirits purchased in Phoenix. They took orders from their kids and left Total Wine with a full shopping cart and a very satisfied store manager. While waiting Harris tasted a Cinnamon whiskey that he figured Rick would enjoy while playing cards and a Cavanaugh Irish crème that he could share with Judy. Forty bucks later he was out the door.

On one of the days before a baseball game, Harris decided to geocache a few miles west of Camelback Stadium. On his third cache he met an Arizonian geocacher named Joe Hike who has over 12500 caches. As Harris tagged along he was amazed at how quickly Joe spotted or figured out cache locations. Before they parted they teamed up on 21 caches, the most Harris has found in two hours of geocaching.

Rick arrived on Wednesday with a thunderstorm in tow. Neither slept well as the rain pounded their vehicles waking them every few hours. The following day they took in a double header as the rains stopped just an hour before game time. The preselected game was sold out when they arrived at Camelback so they drove on to Surprise to watch K.C. and later caught the Mariners evening game at Peoria. The rest of the week was spent attending a game a day and playing cards at night. They continue to seek the perfect 83 degree day.

 Ron and Becky Pike

While finishing the bottle of Horchata on an employee recommendation (which was very good),

 meeting up in WA was discussed after it was discovered that both wives are quilters.

 Joe, the 12,500+ cacher

 Our salad on many nights

 Shortly after the rain stopped and the first game of the double header day

Chicken fettuccine alfredo before the night game at Rio Vista Park

On Friday before the Mariners vs Texas game, Rick introduced Harris to Pickle Ball at the fantastic community park across the street from Surprise stadium. After a training session with Coach Rick, Harris was able to return the ball consistently 3 out 5 tries inside the court.

Spring Training 2015 part 2

 Sunday March 1- Saturday March 14 (Days 406-413)


 Harris has settled into his Spring Training routine (it didn't take long). The rain has disappeared and most days were a perfect 83 degrees. He has Margaritaville on his XM radio playing in the background while doing the "chores" in preparation for heading off to geocache or the game. The week was punctuated with checking in with Judy and granddaughter River about weather conditions in the Great Northwest. Below follows some snaps of the week and relevant comments.
  

 Peoria, ground zero for most of the week.

 He couldn't find the cache hidden at Arrowhead Lakes subdivision, but it was a picturesque place to hide one.

 Down this road south of Goodyear Stadium were 11 caches placed about 1/4 mile apart that Harris found . The bike came in very handy.

Harris hates "Arizona caches" where a small cache is  hidden "in the rocks". He didn't find this one!

 Harris ran into a couple of birders at this cache who told him this was a stopping place for many varieties while migrating.

 This cache was on a 2 mile hike in Thunderbird Conservation Area close to the RV park.

Harris couldn't believe the hoopla surrounding Will Ferrel's appearance at the Oakland A's vs Mariners Thursday game in Tempe, AZ. Will played A's shortstop and M's second base. He saw no action at either position but made his presence felt as the game was slightly delayed while he changed jerseys. He came out of the Mariner dugout with his shirttail hanging out and one shoe untied. The crowd loved it! 

On another sports front, Harris has been kept abreast of all breaking news concerning the Montana boys tournament via the Lubansky newsfeed headquarted in Belgrade. Harris awaits Rick's appearance this week even more than Ferrell fans awaited Will's.