Two artisans at work

This is a great video of Sam helping Kirk.

the wedding and reception

Went to Tyler and Charla's wedding today. The wedding was nice and the reception was held at a park that had a lodge. Here is a picture of the bride and groom. Charla wore her mom's dress (her mom died when Charla was a young girl).
Here are the three Malmberg boys. The best man, Knut, was a long time friend of Tylers. When he offered a toast at the wedding he mentioned the first time he met the "eccentric" Malmbergs. His brother took him to the house and the front door was open. When they got to the door they heard a commotion and then Lance came flying from upstairs running out the house yelling "Tyler don't." Then Tyler appears with a blow gun and shoots Lance in the back.
Here is Beth holding Daniel and Amber's daughter Ava (we all went to Red Robin the night before).

Here is Sally holding Daniel and Amber's new son Mason.

Here is Perry (my cousin) and his wife and daughter.

Sea Kayaking

We had the opportunity to kayak near Deception Pass. Here's a video of Gayle paddling:

We paddled near the coastline with a guide and a few other kayaks.

We got to nose in to a small cave:

2 cool bands at the fair

Stilly River Band:



Spoonshine:

Skagit County Fair

When I was a teen I would go to the Skagit County Fair which was always held during my birthday. Gayle and I had a chance to go there today. It is a small, laid back fair just as it was 40 years ago.Some great fair food: raspberry shortcake!
Biggest cow we have ever seen:

Horse-riding competition:

small town

From Leavenworth to Everett we came across a unique store in the middle of the mountain pass. It is a post office, grocery store, deli, and antique store.

I have never seen a sign like this that was in the mens restroom:

Farther down the road was the smallest church building I have ever seen.

beautiful river

Going through Stevens pass we stopped and did a wonderful little hike to this small waterfall and river.

The hills are alive!

At Leavenworth they have an outdoor summer theater program. We saw a great production of the Sound of Music. It was very well done and went from 8pm to 10:30 pm. From a parking lot we had a short hike up to the theater which was past this building.

This is about a half hour before the play began. The scene changes were ingenious. This is the set up for the abbey.

Marc: Overall I thought it was great and I had a fantastic time. My favorite parts were some of the impromptu audience participations. The wedding scene had the bride entering at the back and walking down through the middle aisle of the audience. Everyone stood up like it was a real wedding. During the scene when the winners of the singing contest were announced the real audience acted like we were all actually there and cheered the 3rd and 2nd place winners. When the Nazis were searching for the Von Trapps (who were hiding off stage) they were shining flashlights into the crowd and someone yelled "They're not here!" Hilarious. The whole audience laughed. The Nazis got a few boos (for fun) at the curtain calls. Maria and the kids were my favorites. They acted and sang wonderfully.

Gayle: The setting was amazing! We were up in the mountains and the play actually started with Maria in the grass on the hillside next to the audience. The final scene was of the Von Trapps singing "Climb Every Mountain" standing on the hillside next to us. I wish I could have taken pictures of the show. The sets were great and the singing was wonderful. We both thought that Maria was fantastic and the whole cast was great. Three of the kids were actually siblings who are home schooled. It was a perfect evening and as I said last night "it was a dream come true!"

Leavenworth, WA

Leavenworth has been great. It's the German version of Solvang, CA.

We ate a a German restaurant. The food was great.

Columbia River Temple

On the way to Leavenworth, we had the opportunity to drive by the Columbia River Temple.

Old-school diner

We made it to Baker City, OR and stayed at the Oregon Trail Motel and Restaurant. We got a free breakfast at the restaurant. It is the type of place where old-timers come and the waitresses know their names. There's nothing better than eating under a stuffed animal head:

Tough to leave

We had such a great time. Everything was wonderful. Here are some pics from our last day walking the beach:

Surfing beach

Turns out that one of the best surfing beaches is off the main highway near mile marker 21. We only new about it because of the excellent guidebook we had. People just park on the shoulder and walk on a path to the beach.

The beach's nickname is Infinity because you can get long rides there. Here's a few shots of it.

Notice the people on the beach? There are none. Many of the beaches here have few people on them.

Two frogs hugging

That is the name of a store in Lihue, Kauai. Best name of a store ever. This statue was out front:

It's a home decor store.

Gecko

We heard some geckos but did not see one until the last day. Here it is:

Lighthouse and birds

We had the opportunity to visit a Lighthouse.
This is next to a wildlfie sanctuary.
There were lots of birds. Gayle took this shot through a telescope:

Kekaha Ward

We attended the Kekaha Ward today. It was their ward conference. Interestingly, on the fourth Sunday, Relief Society does their meeting in Hawaiian. This was the fourth Sunday so Gayle had a chance to sing the opening hymn in Hawaiian and hear the language for the prayers and opening. The lesson was in English.

By the way this is where we have been staying this week:















Here's our view:















Here's a sunset from the beach:

Wrangler Steakhouse

In the small town of Waimea, near we we are staying, we laughed when we saw this restaurant name: Wrangler Steakhouse. However, we actually ate there based on a recommendation we read. It was a delightful Hawaiian restaurant and we had a great salad and fish dinner.





























We had a special guest:















Here was our table out on the porch:

Weird Signs

Saw some unusual signs on the trip.
For some reason, all of the stop signs in the Windward Mall (Kanehoe) parking lot are blue:



















Here's a sign at the Marine Corps Exchange parking lot. It has a special parking space designated.















Do not feed the Hene. These signs are frequent.















This was on a post of a walking bridge over the Waimea river.



















On the north shore of Kauai there are 4 or 5 one-lane bridges. There are no stop lights, just signs like this one. It says: "Local courtesy is 5-7 cars."
















Check out the hours of this store: