Museum of Flight

Saturday September 29, 2012

Today we took advantage of the FREE National Museum Day and visited the Museum of Flight in Seattle near Boeing Field. It is the largest private air and space museum.

There is an interactive Space Shuttle Mission exhibit. There were so many wonderfully restored airplanes like the Boeing 80A-1, Douglas DC-3, Gossamer Albatross II human-powered aircraft, an aerocar, and the massively cool Lockheed D-21 unmanned reconnaissance drone.

There is an air traffic control tower to watch the planes taking off and landing at the Boeing Field runways.

The Red Barn wing is a restored barn which was Boeing’s original manufacturing plant. There were some nice exhibits highlighting early wooden aircraft structure.

There is a 2 floor wing dedicated to WWI and WWII aircraft.

The first jet-powered Air Force One resides outside.

The new Space building was still constructing the Full Fuselage Trainer exhibit. It will house a shuttle mockup that all Space Shuttle astronauts used to train. The Super Guppy that flew in the large pieces of the exhibit produced quite a frenzy. It was quite a sight to see flying over our house.

This truly is a man's kind of museum. I guess I’ve drug Joe to enough art museums for him to be the dork soaking it all in. 

10 Year Dating Anniversary

Friday September 28, 2012

Although we don’t do anything to celebrate dating anniversaries anymore, I still think it’s nice to acknowledge the 10 years we’ve been together. That’s over a third of my lifetime and I couldn’t ask for my better partner to spend my days with. I love you Ziplock!

Seattle Seahawks vs Green Bay Packers Game

Monday September 24, 2012

After many months begging, Joe bought us tickets to the Packers Monday Night Football game at CenturyLink Field. 

So happy with these seats, about 20 rows up from the endzone. 

I enjoyed watching Clay Matthews warm up before the game, making cool catches along the goal line right in front of us. 

Quarterback Matt Flynn spent his first 4 seasons playing backup for the Green Bay Packers and expected to be the starter for the Seattle Seahawks this season, until rookie quarterback Russell Wilson came into the picture. Joe in the spring said that if Russell got the starting position, he’d buy tickets to the Packers game. I think Joe said it best on what it was like to watch Russell, “Love that Wilson, damn that Wilson.”

CenturyLink Field is amazing. They all talk about it being so loud. It was so bad I got a headache. The buzzer noise played in between plays since makes my head throb still when I hear it through the TV. It’s obvious that the 12^th man really does exist and why there are so many false starts in this stadium.

The offensive line was dreadful in the first half. Aaron Rodgers was sacked 8 times! Yes 8 times in 1 half!

The much disputed controversial touchdown call on Monday Night Football will live in infamy and we were there to witness it.

Russell Wilson’s Hail Mary pass on the last play of the game with 8 seconds on the clock should have been ruled an interception by Packers safety M.D. Jennings. The replacement officials called it a simultaneous catch which gives the offensive wide receiver Golden Tate the possession of the ball. The pass was in the far opposite end zone so we couldn’t see the outcome of the play very well. We just knew that the review of the ‘touchdown’ play was not going to be pretty. If it was overturned, we wanted to get the hell out of dodge before the riot broke out. If it wasn’t overturned, I didn’t want to wait forever and a day to get on a bus home. We did not stick around for the players to be escorted back out onto the field to kick the extra point 10 minutes after going into their locker rooms.

I actually wasn’t that angry about the game on the way home. Yeah it sucked listened to Seahawks fans chant the whole bus ride home. If we were going to lose a game I’d rather it be on a miraculous play by Russell Wilson. I purposely did not watch the replays or anything that night and went straight to bed.

It was on my bus ride into work this morning that I finally saw the play. I was fuming. My rage wasn’t against the replacement refs. They are doing the best they can do to their ability to call a game far above their normal caliber. I know how hard that job is. I used to ref intramural sports in college and that was not fun making controversial calls like that. Who I am mad at is the NFL. They tout about taking care of the players and the quality of the game but they are allowing the players to take advantage of the situation and treat the misplacements like substitute teachers. Thanks to this Wisconsin State Senator Jon Erpenbach, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s phone was probably now ringing off the hook. 

I credit all the Packer players for handling this upset the way they did. T.J. Lang gets mad props for tweeting "fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs" but Aaron Rodgers knew “We shouldn’t have been in that position.” If the team had done their job earlier in the game it wouldn’t have come down to the final play of the game to go in the Seahawks favor.

The NFL may not say that this specific game had anything to do with settling the lockout, but the refs seemed to get their way in the settlement. I’m just happy to see them back again. I would hate to see another team get robbed like the Packers did.  

This pretty much sums it up for me. 

Oregon & Washington Pacific Coast

September 15-16, 2012

Saturday we drove down to the Oregon coast. We made a pitstop of lunch in Portland.

Finally made it to the coast. 

We drove south a few miles to find a campsite at Cape Lookout State Park. The campground was completely full. Half of the 176 tent sites were first come, first served. Time to search for a backup at noon on a Saturday.

We drove further north up to Barview Jetty County Park where we easily found a secluded campsite within walking distance of a water spit, restroom and the beach.  

Once we had the campsite set up we drove north to Cannon Beach, known as the “Carmel of Oregon”.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. 

Haystack Rock 235 feet tall at Cannon Beach. 

Cannon Beach. 

Cold Pacific Ocean. 

It was so nice to have my toes in the sand again. 

Mmm prosciutto wrapped apple snack on a driftwood log at Haystack in Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Haystack. 

Rock formations. 

Oregon coastline. 

Jackie’s loves at Cannon Beach. 

Joe’s loves at Cannon Beach. 

Haystack at Cannon Beach. 

More rock formations on the coastline on the way back to the campground. 

Oregon coastline near Manzanita. 

We had quesadillas for dinner at the campsite in Barview Jetty County Park.

We head out to the beach to watch the sunset at Barview Jetty County Park. 

Sunset on the beach at Barview Jetty County Park. 

Chance enjoyed running all over the beach. 

I love this girl. 

Sunset. 

Half moon. 

Heading back to camp after watching the sunset. 

We had a great time just the two of us talking around the campfire.

The next morning we stopped for a great breakfast at in Nehalem at Wanda’s Café & Bakery.

We stopped in Astoria at Fort Steven’s State Park to view the shipwreck of Peter Iredale.

The four-masted iron and steel barque named for its British owner ran aground in 1906 due to heavy squalls & thick mist near the mouth of the Columbia River. The iron frame and steel plates couldn’t be repaired. Most metal was sold for scrap. All but remains is this skeleton. 

  

There were many people out riding horses along the Oregon coastline.

Astoria-Megler Bridge. The longest continuous truss bridge with a 1232 foot span or 4.1 miles long. 

 

The view of the Columbia River from a top the Astoria-Megler Bridge. 

 

Next we went to Cape Disappointment State Park, once known as Fort Canby, the northern Washington state fort guarding the mouth of the Columbia River. Fort Steven’s State Park guarded the mouth of the Columbia River from the south on the Oregon state side.

We hiked out to Cape Disappontment Lighthouse. First we went down to Dead Man’s Cove to let Chance run free on the shore a bit. 

I hiked out on the algae covered rocks and of course Chance dangerously tried to follow. Joe wasn’t too smart and called her back to him. She ran back to him on the shoreline by taking the path of less resistance: jumping into a foot deep of cold water! 

We climbed our way back out of Dead Man’s Cove. 

National Coast Guard post. 

The view of the mouth of the Columbia River at the Pacific Ocean. 

The view back towards A Jetty and the Columbia River. 

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

Cape Disappointment State Park coastline and North Jetty in front of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. 

We did a little pup training on the trail. 

Next we drove over to North Head Lighthouse.

We hiked out to the point. Looking south at the Washington shoreline near the mouth of the Columbia River. 

North Head Lighthouse. It was under construction for restoration. 

Pacific Ocean hitting the cliff shoreline. 

Jackie and the Washington Pacific Coast. 

Lightkeepers house quarter. 

The lightkeepers walk from the house to the tower. 

We decided not to stay the night at Cape Disappointment State Park and just head back home early.

First we stopped in Long Beach to see a gray whale skeleton. 

Long Beach shoreline. 

Oysterville, an idyllic National Register of Historic Places. 

We had an early dinner at Jimella & Nanci’s Market Café in Ocean Park for some Willapa Bay oysters.

One last sunset over the Pacific Ocean before we got to Raymond. 

Cool colors of the sun from the layers of misty clouds.