Boats, Planes and Automobiles

I am very fortunate to work in Gig Harbor, a small harbor town on the Puget Sound. According to Wikipedia (and therefore irrefutably true) Gig Harbor, based on per capita income, ranks 49th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked. As such, things tend to happen here, what with the marinas, private airport and all.

Last week was a veritable lunch time feast with tall ships and vintage airplanes visiting the area.

The Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain are two working tall ships that sail around the area, stopping in marinas for visits and allowing young people to travel and work on them. The boats are only 20 years old, so as a Brit used to the SS Great Britain etc, it was strange to be aboard such young wood.

The Lady Washington (pictured below) was featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Apparently there's a documentary on the boat at the end of one of the DVDs. It was a most handsome vessel.


The next day, I went to the Narrows airport to see three WWII planes that were visiting and taking off that day. I went with Dean, who since childhood has been into planes. At the airport they also had several guides who had flown or worked on the planes in their hey-day. It was fascinating to learn about the planes we were looking at from an historical and a personal perspective. I won't even pretend to know anything about them. I've linked to Wikipedia for each of them if you're interested.

The B17. Someone in our office told us that him mom worked on the riveting of these planes at Boeing, near Seattle. Up close you can see every single one of them, hand punched.


The B24 - Standing heavy and stationary on the tarmac, it was fascinating to see this leaden behemoth turn into a wobbling fish as it started to roll down the runway for take off. A bomber with no bombs in it has little to fill its belly.


An ex-serviceman who flew on these talked with us for quite some time about his experiences on board. He told us how a great deal of learning had to take place on the job with regard to the design of the plane and the crew's conduct onboard. He said that a lot of men died finding faults in the designs. He saw people jump out the back in a certain way and had their heads cut clean off by the air force.


The P51 Mustang - This plane had been grounded in California with work to do on it. It flew in just in time towards the one. One lucky chap got to ride in it for an hour for the princely sum of $3000.



At the weekend Tony and I went to the Fremont Fair. It's locally and nationally known for its bike parade and er...nakedness.

There was also an Art Car show. All kinds of craziness in car form. There were working fountains, extending arms, a cor covered in shoes and handbags...


And then driving down I5 this beauty was spotted!


What a joy it is to live in such a creative environment, to be visited by pieces of our history, and to have the privilege of talking with living heroes.

Tacoma Twilight Criterium

This weekend was crazy, and I'd love to write a whole blog, but I'm still going on tidying stuff up so I'm just posting the press release here. My pictures are here. Tony's in a great one here.

Wish you all could have been there!

...

We did it! What a great night. Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered, rode, watched, supported in any way.

Here’s the report….

Tacoma, WA. has been waiting for a cycling event for almost as many years as it has been a city. On June 12^th it happened – The inaugural Tacoma Twilight Criterium.

The TTC was the 6^th and final stop of the newly founded Cascadia Crit Series, also supported by Michelob. Stops along the tour began on May 29th in Woodinville, WA. and followed in Fremont, Seward Park, Ballard and the Brad Lewis Memorial before concluding in Tacoma.

The Tacoma course featured a basic 4-corner rectangle measuring about .8 of a mile with an uphill on the back side and a slight downhill finish. Lap times were averaging apppx. 1:35 which gave the crowd plenty of chances to see the race unfold.

US Olympic Short Track Speedskating medalist JR Celski attended to sign autographs and cheer on racers while a sparkling new 2010 Lamborghini SV served as the pace car for the night’s category 1 main event. Over 350 racers attended to put on a show of hard work for more than 3,000 spectators. An art-bike parade featured Tacoma’s best in retro and custom fabricated rolling works of art. More than 60 kids lined up for a shot at racing downtowns Pacific Ave. Local merchants opened the doors to serve the fans while the strips two hottest restaurant bars, Paddy Coynes and The Matador, hosted beer gardens with live music to keep the party going. The bike racks at The Hub’s after party were stacked 3 deep with bikes.

Local Cat 1 racer and staple fixture of the Pacific NW race scene, Russell Stevenson commented on the race in which he took 2^nd: “What a great race. Definitely one of the best events we’ve seen here in the entire NW. We’ll be back for sure.”

The goal for this event was two fold: create a great race for the cyclist and create a festival atmosphere for the city. Great racing, fortunately in the Pacific NW, is not all that hard to do. The WSBA members and officials who help with race logistics are a great team of people. They can pretty much show up anywhere and be ready to hold a race on almost a moments notice.

The bigger goal however was to create the festival atmosphere for the city. After all, what is a cycling race if there is no one to come and watch? As a first time event for a city, making sure that spectators show up and feed the economy is critical.

All goals were achieved. Racers were smiling all night long. Tacoma citizens were glowing. And the taverns and restaurants were seeing their tills overflow as their kegs ran empty.

Look for the Tacoma Twilight Criterium to be back again in 2011.

Let's hear it for New York!

Sometimes there is nothing better than a get-away with the girls. And sometimes that just has to be done in Manhattan. So Julia (my very good high-school friend) and I arranged to meet up with Silvia (see Rainier blog) in NY and spend a long weekend soaking up the city. We had talked about a trip to the Grand Canyon in a camper van but time and practicality got in the way and we decided to meet 'in the middle' was the best idea.



It is a strange thing, going to a city as iconic as New York, having been a UK citizen and now residing in the US. If I were to go to New York from say Bristol, there would be the undoubted tingle of excitement boarding the plane to fly across the ocean to a foreign land. Different money, different voices, different food, all the joys of travel that add to the frisson when you get there. And more so going to 'the Big Apple.'

Flying there from Tacoma however, with a year's US living under my belt, I am sad to say there was no such tingle. I was very happy to be going, and very much looking forward to some time in the city with my friends, but it was much more akin to a trip to Manchester from Washington than a pilgrimage to an international icon.

That said, it was a refreshing and exhilarating trip. I have written here about the beautiful art in Tacoma and how much I enjoy taking part in the happenings around town, but there is nothing to match the high end, world class design and fashion in New York. I realized very quickly how much I valued being able to step into the V & A for a few minutes in London, or scoot past the design districts for some real-world visual stimulation.

The whole voyage was added to immensely by the fact that we had hit the weekend of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and that our friend Silvia, who we were staying with, is deeply entrenched in the world of Italian designer lighting and simply had to attend functions and exhibitions. Naturally, Julia and I went too.

The first day Julia and I met near the New York Times building for breakfast in a 'nice' cafe. Somewhere to clear the head, feel 'nice' and get reacquainted. Then we set off on foot exploring. Grand Central Station was first on the list followed by a meander down to Soho to meet Silvia. I now know why the red-eye flight is called such. A 30 minute nap under a tree was enough to subdue the burning in my head but not enough to dispel it completely.



We wandered the streets enjoying the surroundings and each other. The weather was so hot and humid, I was seriously regretting my decision to wear cowboy boots and woolen socks. But we must suffer for fashion. (I noticed several people on the Subway from JFK through Brooklyn to Manhattan were rather jealous of my boots. I think I'll set up a store there).



As fortune would have it, a mutual school friend of ours also lives in New York now. We managed to meet up with him for tea just after some dental surgery on his wisdom teeth. The dentist had somehow managed to split his lip and pierce his face with a tool, as well as leaving him swollen and numb. So there are understandably no pictures of our visit with Steven! It was very good to see him though, and reassuring to know that even after 10 years, were all still the same at heart.

The evening saw us heading to our first party. Seeing as Julia and I were still in our traveling clothes, we thought it best to just stay out of the way and observe, enjoy the furniture, and learn the etiquette for the next evening which would be the main party.



The ride home turned out to be more eventful than we had planned, with the subways being canceled due to 'Police investigation'. A 20 minute Downtown-late-night search for a cab proceeded with Silvia running into the middle of the road and Julia and I standing back and crossing our fingers! We get in the cab and the cabbie confesses that he doesn't know how to work the car. It is a new hibrid he has been given that day. Congestion slows the passing over the Queens bridge and we see a large artic truck try and ascend a spiral on-ramp...we didn't look back. Around 20 blocks from home, the cab stalls in the middle lane of a stop light intersection. How many cabbies does it take to charge a car battery? More than two!



Saturday starts late and we pretty much just walk and eat, exploring the East side and Little Italy, then on to the site of the Twin Towers. The site itself was a building ground. What struck me was the feeling around it, imagining myself on that day working in one of the buildings. And seeing the memorials to the fallen firefighters on all the fire station doors. Someone asked me before I left, 'Can you really understand what it is like, seeing those towers not there? Or will it be like visiting another tourist site?' The answer is Yes. I can understand. Visualize London without Canary Wharf. Without your friends who work in Canary Wharf. Visualize yourself on the central line trapped in a tunnel while the sky falls in above you. Yes. I can understand. My family are from East Germany. Remember Berlin 1991 (2)? with the scars of the Berlin Wall very much visible in the people's faces. Revisit 5 years later and the wall is cleaned up but still there. Another 5 years and there are actors impersonating SS guards at Check Point Charlie for tourists to have their photo taken with. The scar in my heart burning as we pass them. Yes. I can understand.



That evening's party was on Greene St. We checked in at the narrow door with the PR girl with the list and walk down the thin corridor to the elevator. The call button is pressed and Julia and I are suddenly swamped by most of the Italian population of Soho. The elevator holds maybe 15? All talking Italian. The doors open after an agonizing wait to reveal the consummate New York loft, white walls, open plan, beautiful people. Tony and I had just watched Jeff Goldblum in 'The Fly'. It was reminiscent of his pad there. A waiter stood at the door to offer drinks, the DJ was turning out some Jamiroquai. It was 6.30pm.



We headed to the roof to watch the people and the sun and enjoy the garden chairs. What I found fascinating at all the events we went to was the wide cross section of the design world represented. Architects, designers, buyers, journalists, investors, PAs, sons, daughters, 'hangers on'. And all in varying states of dress. Julia and I certainly felt at home drinking wine from a plastic cup in the $200,000 kitchen. By 9pm we had certainly enjoyed what the beverage center had to offer. We could get used to this.



The night carried on late into the morning. Tacos at midnight accompanied by 80s Europop continued the surreal feel of the day.



Sunday we headed to the Met and Central Park via 5th Ave and the Apple store. We didn't like Central Park. It looked like a landscape ravaged by human occupancy and felt like Oxford St on a Saturday at 12pm. The Met however, was stunning. We passed through the Roman and Greek stuff (British Museum wins there) and headed to the African and Polynesian exhibits. This is an area sorely lacking in most European museums save for some special touring pieces.



In the evening we found ourselves in the Meatpacking District with the great and good but decided to pass on the party and head to the Highline Trail instead. This is an old railway line that has been turned into a public space for city dwellers. It certainly was stunning in the purple sunset with the view across the Hudson to New Jersey.



Monday was our last day. The end of a holiday is always difficult. The freedom of exploration replaced by an impending deadline. We took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and then wandered around Soho and Greenwich Village soaking up the last of our time together.



We certainly had done the city and ourselves proud.



Click here for more pictures.

Leavenworth

What do you do when you have an unexpected free day? Why, drive to a Bavarian mountain town of course! We had been told Leavenworth was something of a Bavarian Disney land nestled in the mountains. The lure of beer and brats was too much. The weather was good, it was going to be warmer over the other side of the cascades, it wasn't snowing so the mountain passes were easily accessible. So we packed the ham sandwiches and trail mix and headed off in the car.
We decided to take the Snoqualamie Pass route there. It's good to see that even in the mountains, refrigerator recycling is top of the list.
It was 21C outside, but at 3,4ooft there was still snow.
Coming round a corner you come across this lake. I think it was a reservoir judging by the walling, but you never know. The circles in the window are Tony's note book. He was designing logos for his new bikes as we drove.

You come out of the mountains and drop into another world with beech trees galore, apple orchards, wineries and goats in fields. It was funny to us to think that we could go somewhere like this on a day trip when we'd seen it in brochures and thought of it as a spot too expensive for even a long holiday.

We arrived at Leavenworth and were not disappointed...

It was Mother's Day so the town had a German festival organised with Oom-pa band, may pole, folk dancers, horse rides and all manner of free food to taste!
The dancers were accompanied by a man with an accordion. They made a beautiful sight in the town square.

Although the majority of the men involved were far on the the other side of 50, they certainly still had some spring in their step!

We brought our hiking boots with the idea of taking a gentle, flat stroll along a vista point somewhere.

We are the Corkes. We cannot do flat straight routes. What were we thinking? So another 5.3 mile 4000ft elevation change trek it was.
We chose the 4th of July trail about 10 miles up Icicle Road. We saw may be 3 other people? It was fascinating walking through a section of forest that had recently had a fire. The scorch marks were clearly visible. The ground was laden with ash. Stones and rocks were showing a beautiful toasted red shade. I collected 7 different kinds of rock on the walk. All different colors.
After about 1hr 30 minutes and having nearly exhausted our single water bottle (what was it I wrote about being prepared for a mountain hike a while ago?) we decided to turn back. This is what we saw at our highest point.


We skipped merrily back down the slopes, dodging branches, crossing streams, stopping to look at more rocks, wondering longingly if the water we were crossing was drinkable and headed back to the car. Thankfully the ranger hadn't been checking tickets. We left our card at home (always be prepared). The drive back to Leavenworth was haunted by the smell of German goodness...


The Muenchen Haus surpassed any expectations we had. The mountain air and piped Volksmusik combined to create Himmel auf Erden.
And they drove home tired, but happy, over the Stevens Pass to dream of chipmunks, sausage and mountain passes.

Garden Update

The garden is coming on a treat. I planted some Aunt Bessie's (?) German Green tomatoes at the weekend, and a horseradish plant.
Ate the first radish out of the ground and have been enjoying the lettuce and rocket for a good while now. These pictures are two weeks old now and it's great to look back and see how much everything's grown! It was really sunny here at the weekend so they were very thirsty and had a good growth spurt. I was a little worried about the turnips as they were wilting when I arrived but two watering later and they were back to full health. Note to self: do not lie hose on the ground handle down when the water is turned on.