Practice, Practice Practice

How do you get to the Football Hall of Fame?

 Go to Akron, Ohio on a peaceful Memorial Day afternoon.

 

 

 It's really well organized and all 32 teams are well represented, but it's only natural that as a shareholder I would concentrate on the Packers.  I won't bore you with all that information.  Maybe you had enough of it when we visited the Packer Hall of Fame a few years ago.  Maybe.

 

 If only the Duluth Eskimos had developed longevity.. 

 

It's truly a thing of beauty. 

 

 Nothing can stop a concussion, but they keep trying to develop better protection.  Maybe not smacking your head into a muscle-bound 300-pound guy would diminish the chances.

 

 

Evolution of a football

 

They begged us to compare our flabby arms to these buff guys. 

It only makes me want to curl into a ball to eat chocolate and take a nap.

And Matthew, too

It took me a while to figure out how to get this shot all the way to the blog, but here we are.  Nicholas,  Al,  Pat (who should have primped a little bit),  and Matthew,  

 

We were sorry to say good-bye to such delightful guys. 

Success!

 This is what is looks like when 607 kids graduate from high school.  That's like 2 1/2 Deer Parks.  But it was very impressive and this is a group of highly accomplished students.

 

 

Chrissy, Nicholas, Al

 

 Nicky likes his new belt.

 

 He really likes it.

 

 Tom and Homer like one another.

 

Al and Pat like West Virginia. 

Does a bear need paper in the woods?

We're having a great time with Chrissy, Nicky and Matthew - you'll see pictures soon.  

Yesterday we went to a paper museum at Georgia Tech, which was fascinating, seeing the history of how somebody decided to chop up a bunch of rags or plants or wood, soak it in water,

 smush it all onto a screen, wait for it to dry, then write on it.   

 We stopped for a quick and disappointing lunch at the world famous Varsity where they yell out "What'll ya have?"

 and are notorious for feeding college kids quickly. 

Al had a burger and fries that might have been left from Monday.  

Mine turned out to be a BLT with fry. 

Georgia on My Mind

 We enjoyed our time in Lake Charles and a peaceful drive through Alabama. Along the way we saw 

swamps,

 lots of wooded and well maintained roads, trucks, trucks, trucks,

the Mississippi,

and knew we had arrived in Atlanta when we hit traffic.  Which is challenging enough with a car, but the frustration changes quite a bit when a huge RV is being dragged along.  We're settled in and ready to watch the lickety-split actions of teen-age boys dealing with finals and graduation.  I'm trying to remember way back to fifty years ago but things are a bit fuzzy.  Okay, a lot fuzzy.  

Nothin' But Road

It kind of feels like we have just been sitting on wheels forever.  Friday and Saturday were 12 and 13 hour driving days, but Sunday was broken up with a pleasant stop in Houston for lunch with Pat, Emily, Oliver, Lachlan and Gigi.  We arrived in Lake Charles for dinner with Teri and Willie, who just happen to be visiting Julie and Robert now, too.  Good thing we brought our own house.  In three days we hauled a total of 1,705 miles.  A few days of sitting still will be nice.  

 Al was going to walk a bit, but . . . .

 Most of the drive looked like this.

Or this.

Capital entertainment.

 Wednesday we visited the Hill Air Force Base Museum, which is very interesting 

with all that military airplane stuff.

Remember when computers didn't fit in our pockets? 

Thursday was all about downtown Salt Lake City, starting with the noon organ recital at the Mormon Tabernacle.  How 'bout them pipes?  11,623 of them, played on a five-manual console (that means five keyboards, a jillion stops and adjustment thingies, and a full set of foot pedals).  Amazing!

Then we toured the Capitol, another work of art that make these United States all worth visiting.

After a museum visit we went back to the Tabernacle for the choir rehearsal, which is open to the ordinary public, the likes of you and me.   Four hundred people sure can make a lot of music, especially when accompanied by a full orchestra.  Why didn't we all get that talent?

Well?  Why?

Friday was all about driving.  We left SLC (airline talk - look it up) at 6:40 am and arrived in ABQ at 6:40 pm.  It was a long day but everything went just fine, thank you.  

Look what he did!

We had quite a day of accomplishments -

  Starting with The Great Salt Lake, which is the second saltiest (15 - 25%) body of water on Earth (Dead Sea, in case you forgot 4th grade education), and is 72 miles long and as wide as 30 miles but only 10-28 feet deep.  There are a lot geographical and historical statistics about how it got this way but you'll have to look them up for yourself.

 We went to a little sports bar where he got a chubby.  Really.  Shall I explain?  The Chubby Spicy Guac Burger is served between two grilled cheese sandwiches.  

 See?   Yes, a mouth does open that wide.  And he ate the whole thing.  The whole thing.  

While on the Big Alventure we were lucky enough to see "Peter and the Starcatcher" on Broadway, but those two beers with lunch caused major sleeping through the entire first act of the matinee.  Deep heavy sleep.  But he enjoyed the second act.  A year later we happened to be in San Francisco when it was playing, so determined as I am, we went.  Guess what?  A perfect repeat performance.  By the actors and by Al.   Kind of costly napping. Well, during planning of this trip I was thrilled to discover that it's at a local theater, so let's try it again.  The afternoon nap and large Coke with that ginormous burger worked!  Both eyes were wide open and we both loved everything about the production.  See it if you can.  

Which route should we take next? 

Driving Miss Crazy

Saturday friends from California were visiting and we wandered up to Hurricane Ridge for the gorgeous view of the Olympic Mountains. 

Sunday morning we hopped into Homer and began a Road Trip.  As you can see, sometimes the biggest challenge is finding just the right parking space near the chosen restaurant.  

Now it's Monday late afternoon and this is what we've done in the 34 hours since we left our driveway: 997.2 miles, several pee-and-stretch stops, 2 lunches, one dinner, numerous travel snacks, 16 hours and 14 minutes of driving, one little nap (You get three guesses, but two should be enough), one very happy stop at the Pendleton Woolen Mills fabric shop, one overnight stop in Baker City, Oregon, this many stitches on a baby blanket,

                                             

 lots of "are we there yet?" and one arrival in Salt Lake City, where we'll stay for a few days.  All this  in spite of Mr. Keep-To-The-Schedule's disappointment that we missed the target 7:00 am departure by 22 minutes on Sunday and 34 minutes on Monday.  Check back once in a while for updates.

Choked

Al was disappointed that you didn't see his artichoke plant.  Yes, singular. 

 This isn't really artichoke country, but we'll see what happens.  

Are you on the edge of your chair?

Darn

It has been brought to my attention that no attention has been paid to this blog all winter.  Shucks.  Can hibernation be to blame?  Well, now it's spring and things are popping up all over, including me.

 Al's swiss chard.  With the famous (infamous?) bucket garden lurking behind it.

 Will this corn be knee-high by the Fourth of July?  Depends who the knee belongs to. 

 The Calla lilies are in bloom again.

 A few empty spots in the blue star creepers, but there is hope.

Pee-on-these.

 Life in Sequim is wonderful!