German and Spanish
Mixed with English, and I can
Babble with the best

A 28-year-old man was found dead Thursday evening after he disappeared while swimming in the east fork of the Lewis River near La Center, Wash.

The man, whose name was not immediately released, entered the water in a designated swimming area, then disappeared below the surface about 8:20 p.m. and never resurfaced, according to the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

The man reportedly could not swim, said Clark County Sgt. Scott Schanaker.

Rescue teams found the man's body just before 10:28 p.m.

The drowning is under investigation, Schanaker added.

(Text highlighted by me)

If you cannot swim, why go in the water?

If your balance is bad, would you attempt to walk a tightrope?

If you're afraid of heights, would you rock climb?

If you don't like loud noises, would you go shooting or play with fireworks?

If you are clumsy, would you try gymnastics?

If you have asthma, would you repeatedly go into a burning building?

Well, yes. Especially if alcohol is involved.

OK, OK.  I know.  I'm probably preaching to the choir.

And actually, I already know the answer.

People.  Are.  Stupid.

German and Spanish
Mixed with English, and I can
Babble with the best

It was a week of traveling, exploring and seeing new sights.  Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington & some of Oregon.  Our goal was Yellowstone National Park, but we got in much more than that.

Headed East on I-84, we saw a bit of eastern Oregon.  Wind turbines, grassland (Hilda says it reminded her of Little House On The Prairie), and the incredible onion odors headed into Ontario, Oregon remain in my mind.

Our base of operations was at the White Buffalo Lodging in West Yellowstone, Montana.  It's owned by a nurse friend, and was a great place to stay.  The three-bedroom cabin we stayed in was warm, well-equipped and had all amenities of home.

Living room

Fully-equipped kitchen

Bedroom with natural gas fireplace

We liked it so much, we extended our stay from two nights to three.  We highly recommend it, and you can find more information here.

West Yellowstone, Montana, held some memories for me.  I was there 40 years ago - my great-aunt owned a restaurant & gift shop, and my grandfather ran the store.

I ventured into the gift shop and found that the lady working there was the widow of the man who bought the store from my aunt 39 years ago!  She was very kind, and I ended up being the recipient of some old documents and mementos from my family, courtesy of what she had stored in the basement.

This is what they look like now:

West Yellowstone also has some pretty interesting sights itself - the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center and the Historical Center, which is housed in the oldest building in town - the Union Pacific train depot.  My father has the very first telephone installed in West Yellowstone, which hung on the wall of the depot.

Yellowstone National Park, of course, is simply a huge, amazing place to visit.  We were most impressed with the waterfalls, the hot springs (especially Mammoth Hot Springs), and the animals.  Bison swirled around the Willy Wagon, and we saw grizzly bear, black bear, elk, the Yellow-Bellied Marmot, and others.  There was so much to see and experience - I've just got to get back.  I wanna try fishing, too!

Following our Yellowstone expedition, it was time to start heading West.  Our goal was to find garnets for Hilda.  We ventured through Virginia City, Montana, and stopped in Deer Lodge, at the Prospectors Playground.  There we sluiced for garnets and sapphires, and panned for gold.

Next stop was Garnet, Montana.  Garnet is a ghost town, but in the 1860's it was a bustling town full of gold miners.  Christopher, who had no luck panning for gold in Deer Lodge, redeemed himself.  It's a pretty remote place to find, but very interesting and full of photographic possibilities, especially in the old hotel.

Then it was off again, through Idaho and into Washington, our next destination:  Desert Winds Winery in Prosser.  We were booked for a Fathers Day lunch and winery tour.  Lunch was Red Wine & Ribs, and was a delight.  Damn, that was some good food!

The tour was very interesting, and we did some sampling from the aging wines.

Special thanks to Darrah, our tour guide/hostess, who made it a great afternoon!

The winery itself is spectacular.  Done in adobe style, it offers a large gift shop & tasting room, a demonstration kitchen, and very nice accommodations.  One interesting feature is that the public mens' room has small flat-screen televisions, broadcasting sports, hung over each urinal.  Benjamin & Christopher were particularly impressed by that offering.  Personally, I believe that, at least in this venue, you may find the men going to the bathroom in pairs, instead of the women, just to partake in their sports fix.  Hilda noted that there were no such reciprocates in the womens room...

But the best comment came from Benjamin, who noted that if they installed games, you could 'Wee-wee while you Wii'...

After spending the night there, pampered in our elegant room, and having a delicious, freshly prepared breakfast delivered, we checked out, took our case of Ruah, and headed West again, following the Columbia River Gorge.

What is Stonehenge doing overlooking the Columbia River, instead of the Salisbury Plains?  Well, it turns out that this replica is the very first WWI memorial in the U.S.  It's part of the Maryhill Museum of Art, which is just down the road from the Maryhill Winery.  So, of course, we stopped there, too, and joined their wine club...

After a quick lunch we were back in Oregon, skirting Mount Hood via the Apple Valley, and stopping again at the Rainbow Trout Farm in Sandy.  Filling our bucket full of fish, it was time for the final segment and home.

Oh, and even more images from the trip can be seen here!

After just one night back in my own bed, I was off one more time, this time for 4 days with my boys in Seattle. 

We took in two baseball games, watching the Seattle Mariners battle the San Diego Padres.  The first game was a loss for the M's, but the second game, a matinée, saw them win.

Neither Michael or Gaelen had seen a baseball game previously (I'd only seen two, myself), and so I got to explain the who, what, where, when & why to my boys.  We had a blast!

We did some sightseeing, rode the amphibious Duck tour, and checked out Archie McPhees for the second time (I passed on the bacon-flavored floss, and the bacon-patterned clothing, but DID score some bacon-patterned bandaids), but we also just hung out, played board games, and re-connected.  Of course, during the visit, the car crapped out & needed a new alternator. 

But now it's back home, working on personal stuff, photography stuff, sociology (the first step of my nursing classes), and trying to drum up some EMS shifts and maybe even some 'good' calls...

I'm in Seattle, spending a few days with my boys.  We attended our first baseball game together last night, watching a great game between the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners.  Despite a good start and late rally, the Mariners lost.

We're off to do some exploring and re-connecting.

Oh, and some results from recent caption contests...

#23 (Police Officer & Police Dog):  the winner is Sister Staci with "OK, my eyes are closed and I'm going to start counting, NOW GO HIDE!!!"

Also, there were some great Lols created here!

And for #24 (English Police Officer):  the winner is Drew with "*THWACK* HOW MANY FINGERS AM I HOLDING UP? *THUMP* HOW 'BOUT NOW???"

Great stuff, and another caption contest coming soon. 

We're back from an awesome vacation!  6 states, 2169 miles, about 800 photographs.  I'll be adding details and links to the finished images in a few days.

In the meantime, I'm headed to Seattle to spend a few days with my boys. 

So here's a teaser...

We're headed out the door on our way to Yellowstone.  Blogging will be light to non-existent for the next week.

The topic - how to explain why the saturation level stays the same when the affinity for oxygen molecules drops when you have a left shift in the Oxy-Hemaglobin Dissociation Curve?

Talk amongst yourselves...