The Forgotten Lands

Recently the family and I took trip through the easternmost portions of the state of Washington.  It is a bit surprising to realize that this is area is has experienced the white man longer than virtually any place else in the state of Washington.  Kettle Falls, was first visited by David Thompson in 1811 and and Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Colville opened in 1825.  In 1838 the Jesuits arrived and built St. Paul's Mission.  Not to mention that first peoples had been gathering around Kettle Falls for probably 9,000 years.  It is easy to overlook this sort of thing, as the history of Western Washington seems so much more important.  Tonight St. Paul's Mission, as it sits on a bluff above the Columbia River.  Note the pine trees were not there in the heyday of the mission, it would have been agricultural land, the Jesuits wanted to make the Indians into good farmers.

Hang On!

"Hang On!"  Were the fateful words of Monorail driver Willis Kirk (no relation to Capt. Kirk) just as his red train crashes into a steel girder at the Seattle Center.  Apparently the breaks failed and the fail safe break system also failed. This incident occurred on this date back in 1971.  It wasn't the first Monorail accident, there we a couple similar accidents in 1962 and 1963, however this did lead to 26 injures.  It wasn't to be the last accident either, a fire on the blue train basically ended the monorail as means of mass transportation in Seattle.  After the fire calls were made to have fire escapes built into the trains and the system.  Things only got worse from there and the project was scrapped.  Tonight views from the Monorail.

Departures

In little more than 24 hrs Seattle lost it's greatest clown and greatest hitter.  Both are sudden reminders of the relentlessness of time.  Both will affect the city for months and years to come.  
J.P. Patches was Seattle to those of us that grew up here, before and after school were spent with the Mayor of the City Dump.  I should say J.P. Patches came to represent Seattle those of us that grew up here, for when we were watching we were to naive, to pure to assign values and titles to him, instead we watched because we enjoyed him.  Only later did we associate him with youth and a time when Seattle was a town of homemade characters, such as,  Ivar, the Smith Tower, the Space Needle and J.P. 
Ichiro on the other hand for me at least arrived later in life, I realized almost from the start that he was something special, in an age of steroids and human growth hormone there he was, a human with super human abilities to hit a baseball.  I remember watching his first game, a late inning sacrifice bunt, that turned into a base hit and the rally that won opening night on the way to winning 116 games.  I knew then that he was special.  He was always special when the M's were good and when they were bad, Ichiro was always Ichiro.  I watched and listened to games because he was playing, it was not unique, his type of baseball.  The game had been played his way before, but since the Great Depression.  The names Ichiro chased were not names recognizable in an age of the home run, but to the true student of the game, the names stirred excitement, Cobb, Wagner, Keeler and Sisler, all Hall of Famers, all lost to badly deteriorated new reel footage and dusty library books.  As my son got old enough to watch the game, I would stop him so he could watch Ichiro and he became his favorite player.  Truth be told, Ichiro isn't the greatest hitter in the game any longer, and his request to be traded and his trade to the Yankees is probably merciful, in a baseball sense.  It is painful though, and it is hard to phantom that Wednesday's ball game could be the last time he plays in Safeco Field.  My son's reaction was to fall back against the wall and ask why as the sadness and disbelief broke through his voice.  Understanding the baseball sense or not, I felt the same way.  Once again baseball proves that it was invited to break your heart.  Tonight's photo is from Spring Training of this year.  Little did I know that this would be the last time I would witness Ichiro play as a Mariner.  

Thoughts From the Road

Maybe it's the ambitious nature of our trip or just bad luck, whichever it maybe this trip has challenged us.  Gale force winds, ravenous mosquitoes, budgetary State Park closures and flash floods have gotten in our way and dimmed our enthusiasm.  Through it all though, the good moments finding fossilized seeds, really delicious coleslaw and the dead calm of the Columbia at dawn.  All in all not so bad.

Off To the Road

The family and I will be leaving for the road soon.  The best part of the road is seeing something new.  Or seeing something special again, either way each corner and crest of the hill brings anticipation.

Mexico

About 1993 or so, I went to Mazatlan with a friend.  I didn't really have that much fun, its seems I was much older then and didn't like enjoying myself.  I was mostly struck with the poverty of the place and how the town was basically split into three, the rich folks, the poor folks and tourists.  I have stayed away for years because of a simple reason, that I didn't really enjoy myself.  Now high morals masked the lack of fun, with ideas that we rich Americans should not perpetuate the Mexican lack support for its people dumping a Pesos here or there toward children selling Chicklets.
Well I recently went back and Mexico is still poor, but I have gotten younger in my old age, this time I had a lot of fun.

Sunny Days

Well the arrival of summer has finally come, like most years we wondered if it would actually arrive.  With it the long sunny days that make eight or nine months of rain worth it.  What better way to enjoy a sunny evening than a trip to the Meadowbrook Farm to watch the elk in fields.  By the way, thinking of a place to hold a reception, the Meadowbrook on a summer evening is pretty nice, with Mount Si and a herd of elk.  Anyway tonight recent photos of a trip to the Meadowbrook.

A Lack Of Respect

So today is the 597th anniversary of the death of Jan Hus.  Jan was burned at the stake in Prague back in 1415.  You see Jan had some problems with the Catholic church and specifically with indulgences (sound familiar?).  Eventually the Church got fed up with Jan's free thinking and put him on trial.  During the trial Jan said he would recant if his views of Church wrong doing were refuted by the bible.  July 6th is a public holiday in the Czech Republic and Hus is considered the first Church reformer.  That said, the birds don't seem to be too impressed as evident from the amount of droppings on Jan's statue.

More Great Fires

Today is Independence Day, it is bitter sweet day for Ellensburg, as it is the date of the Great Fire.  Anyone who has spent much time in E-burg knows the wind blows and July 4, 1889, was no exception.  It is believed fireworks were the cause of the blaze that started in J.S. Anthony's Grocery Store on the east side of Main Street.  Within hours most of the town lay in ruins, ten downtown blocks and 200 homes wasted.  Also wasted was Ellensburg's opportunity to be the state capital.  Oddly it wasn't until the late 1990's did fireworks finally get banded in the town.  

A Place of Significance

35 years ago, Ellensburg's downtown was added to the National Register of Historic Places, thus recognizing its worthiness of preservation.  Downtown Ellensburg looks like most Western railroad towns; a few blocks of red brick building that are 2 or 3 stories high.  When I moved to Ellensburg, the building housed actual business and a couple antique stores.  Now days its mostly Antique stores and tattoo parlors.  This is a result of changing tastes with regards to body art and increased pressure on small business by big or bigger box retailers.  In Ellensburg's case it is from Fred Meyer and whereas the presence of the big box neighbor didn't help the small businesses, it did show off the dysfunctional nature of the Ellensburg business district.  The reality was that the landlords charges too much rent and business owners had become complacent as well, providing only limited choices.  The consumer had to purchase what was sold in town or go to Yakima or over the hill to Seattle, for real choice of goods.  The result was the old guard sold out or shuttered their stores.  This has all led to a downtown that is more geared to not the locals and families with streets named for them, but to the college student (which was not catered to in my time there) and the students turned residents.