Lake Sawyer RV Park, Black Diamond, Washington – July 6-12, 2015

Monday was another travel day for us, from Newport to Black Diamond, Washington, just 326 miles away. We were on the road by 9:10 a.m., arriving at our destination, Lake Sawyer RV Resort, by 4:00 p.m. The drive was relatively uneventful, but the closer we got to the Seattle area the more we were reminded of the horrendous traffic. We traveled Highway 2 through northeast Washington, connecting with Interstate 90 in Spokane. The Interstate was an easy drive, up and down mountains, until coming down the west site of Snoqualmie Pass; the highway was pretty rough, so we took it rather slow. (I knew what we’d find inside the camper if we drove at the speed limit—a mess!) A traffic tie-up caused about a 20-minute delay getting off Highway 90 onto Highway 18, but then it was smooth sailing.

Lake Sawyer RV Resort

Lake Sawyer RV Resort is an older park, with sites very close together. They can accommodate up to 100 RVs, have cabins. and some tent sites. They only provide 30-amp service so we all had to watch our AC usage. Thankfully the weather cooled off in the evenings and over the weekend so the temps were easy to handle. We had electric and water at our site, but had to buy WiFi access through a separate company; no cable was available so our new super-duper KING Jack antenna came in very handy. As an aside, Lake Sawyer is one of the area’s largest natural lakes containing some of the best bass fishing in the state!

We got set up, and then headed out to Farrelli’s Pizza in nearby Maple Valley for dinner. YUM! (If you’ve read previous blogs you know that I usually don’t cook on the days we arrive at a new destination.)

Tuesday morning we relaxed a bit before heading into Seattle for an afternoon of sightseeing and a Mariner’s game that night. However…the traffic was so bad that by the time we got downtown time was growing short so we didn’t really get a lot of sightseeing in. We found a parking lot close to Safeco Field and walked around Safeco and nearby Century Link Field. The Mariners won that night against Detroit in extra innings (11), by a score of 7 to 6. Yay!! And, the Mariner (hot) dogs were just as we remembered.

(photos of Safeco, etc)

Clockwise: Safeco Field on Tuesday night; Edgar Martinez is standing with his back to the fans and
his hands in his pockets, in the center of the photo; a bit of pregame fun with fans; the final score;
and the baseball bat mobile at the home plate entrance. 

CenturyLink Field where the Seattle Seahawks and Sounders play. Impressive!

It was a very late night for us two old folks. We didn’t get back to the camper until after midnight. Yawn! But it was worth it to see our Mariners win.

Wednesday morning came early. Because our last property was in Tacoma, Washington, and this is where we worked and went to church, we have quite a few friends in the area. We made plans to catch up with many of them during the week, and hoped to catch the rest at church on Sunday.

Dick met our good friend and former pastor Don Turner for coffee that morning, while I stayed home, did a bit of cleaning, and made brownies. (I figured they could use a bit of bonding time…) That afternoon we drove to Ruston Way, along the Tacoma waterfront, before meeting friends for dinner. Beautiful. The day was calm, so the water of Commencement Bay reflected the surrounding hills. In the distance is Mount Rainier.

Clockwise: the view of Dash Point and NE Tacoma across Commencement Bay; a memorial from Korea to
commemorate the centennial anniversary of Washington State, to embody the sistership between Washington
and Korea; beauty growing among the abandoned; a plaque to remember the sawmills that once lined the shores
of Commencement Bay.  Tacoma sawmills supplied much of the lumber used to build San Francisco. After the 1906 earthquake that destroyed the city, Tacoma mills were called upon for materials to rebuild it. In 1907 a record year for lumber production, 202,559,828 board feet were shipped worldwide, with over half of that lumber going to San Francisco; Tacoma was chosen by Fraser Company, the largest tea dealer in the world, to receive regular shipments from Japan, China and India. The first shipment was received in June 1892 with a return shipment of lumber; a container ship coming into the Port of
Tacoma; and one of the many fishing piers lining the shores of Commencement Bay.

Top to bottom L to R: a memorial To commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the sister port relationship with Mitakyushu, Japan.; the Children's Bell, a gift to celebrate the spirit and  accomplishments of PAVE (an organization that works with
families, individuals with disabilities, professionals and community members in all walks of life with all types of disabilities; friend Jemal and his 2 girls, Rosa and Sophia; flowers at Ram Grill, parasailing aboveCommencement Bay; my friend Tamara and me.

The Ram Grill on Ruston Way is a popular eatery for locals and tourists, alike. We sat outside on the deck, overlooking Commencement Bay. Friends Jemal and his twin 9-year old daughters Sophia and Rosa met us for dinner, and Tamara, a former co-worker of mine, joined us too. What a wonderful evening, catching up on the last 3 years.

Our week of meeting friends continued. Early Thursday afternoon we met friends Rik and Linda for coffee at one of the zillion Starbucks in this part of the country. Ha!

Friends Rik and Linda

A couple of hours later we headed to friends and former neighbors, Bob and Nancy’s, for a dinner of Bob’s freshly caught Pacific white king salmon, corn on the cob and asparagus. For dessert we noshed on my brownies and vanilla ice cream. YUM!!! It was a wonderful afternoon spent getting caught up and meeting their 2 new puppies: Violet (a 3 year old Maltese) and Bambi (a 3-month old “Chiweenie” Chihuahua/Dachshund mix. Funny. After dinner Dick, Bob and George (another neighbor) went out on George’s boat for a spin around Commencement Bay. Nancy and I stayed home and chatted.

Top to bottom, L to R: Bob and Nancy (Bob's preparing dinner); me holding Bambi their little
Chauweenie; Violet the Maltese Pacific salmon hot off the grill; George's boat; Bob driving the boat.

Friday was another busy day. I met friends Kathy and Jackie (former co-workers) for lunch at the Ram Grill. (Did I mention that it was a popular place?) It was so good to get caught up on everything happening with them. Good friends don’t need to spend time “warming up” to one another; it was like we had never been apart. We spent over 2 hours together, doing what we did best…talking and laughing. Great times. Thanks, gals, for being a part of my life.

L to R: Kathy, me and Jackie

While I was having lunch, Dick visited a repair shop to (hopefully) have his iPad fixed. It had developed a black window across the middle of the screen, making it pretty much unusable. The diagnosis is that he needs a new screen. Ugh. Dick decided that it was better for him to buy a new one than put that much money into a fix.

After picking me up from lunch we drove to downtown Tacoma to the Museum of Glass, an iconic fixture along Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway since the 1990s, and one of artist Dale Chihuly’s major interests. Chihuly had grown up in Tacoma, and I’m sure y’all have heard of him and his extraordinary art.

Museum of Glass: Jane and George Russell were huge supporters of the museum, helping to get it off the ground
in the early 1990s; photos of the hot shop where glass is blown and gallery; photo of glass sculptures along
the Chihuly's Venetian Wall; and an outdoor exhibit of glass depicting steam rising off a cup of tea.

Clockwise, all created here at the museum: "Silver Sides," Slider," "knitted glass," and "killer whale."

Two examples of  Chihuly glass: above left = a black cylinder (2006)
below = deep sienna macchia (2009); and a white handblown sculpture
by Lina Tagliapietra.

Children's glass blowing glasses are popular. These are a few of those in their exhibit that were created in the
hot shop, and we thought you'd enjoy seeing: Corndog, Lockness Pig, Sockness Monster, and Snake on a Pole.

Here’s a video of Chihuly's work entitled “Venetian Wall” on the “Chihuly Bridge of Glass” leading to the museum:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH_WYLeRUR4&feature=youtu.be

These two glass sculptures are called the Crystal Towers and grace the 500-foot long pedestrian overpass
Chihuly's Bridge of Glass that connects the Museum of Glass with Tacoma's downtown cultural corridor. The glass sculptures line the ceiling of Chihuly's Bridge of Glass. Beautiful!

The following is taken from the Museum of Glass website: museumofglass.org  (As a note, one of the first jobs I had at Russell Investments was to contact potential donors and contributors to get this museum off the ground.) It is worth the time to visit the museum, and enjoy the beautiful works of art exhibited and created there.

”FROM IDEA TO ICON

It began in August, 1992 in the course of a conversation between two friends, Phil Phibbs, who had recently retired as president of the University of Puget Sound and artist Dale Chihuly who had grown up in a neighborhood near the campus and had attended the university.  Dr. Phibbs suggested that Tacoma should have a glass museum.  He reasoned that artists from the Pacific Northwest had played a major role in the Studio Glass movement as it developed around the world.  In particular, Dale Chihuly had influenced the movement significantly, first through his personal artistry and then through the Pilchuck Glass School, which he had founded in the early 1970s …

A few weeks later, Phil Phibbs outlined his idea and the rationale for a glass museum to the Executive Council for a Greater Tacoma, a group of business and governmental leaders.  He fully expected to be politely dismissed.  Instead, he was invited to stay for the next presentation.  It was a plan for the redevelopment of the Thea Foss Waterway, which at the time was an empty industrial wasteland along a narrow channel of water so polluted that it qualified as a federal Superfund clean-up site.  The Chairman of the Council, George Russell (founder and former owner of the company I worked for), concluded that the idea of a glass museum coincided quite beautifully with the need for a dynamic anchor tenant on the restored waterway.

It was serendipitous that the ideas to build a glass museum and redevelop the Thea Foss Waterway coincided to become a civic undertaking.  Now the Museum is part of a larger cultural district, but it was ten years of visionary leadership, energy and hard work that made the dreams of a revitalized waterway a reality.

By the mid-1990s, the vision for the Museum had become more focused. The site for the Museum along the Thea Foss Waterway was secured from the City of Tacoma.  Although initially the Museum focused exclusively on Dale Chihuly, the artist himself insisted that the Museum should expand its mission to include works in glass by artists worldwide.  This proved to be a practical shift as Tacoma met its goal of recognizing its native son with the spectacular Chihuly Bridge of Glass, and the Museum was able to broaden its appeal by honoring international artists.  In the late 1990s, the mission was again refined to specify that the medium of glass would be presented within the context of contemporary art.

Jane and George Russell, co-chairs of the Museum’s founding Board of Trustees, invited individuals, corporations and foundations from around the world to join them in creating one of the most unique and beautiful institutions in the world.  As the century turned, the Museum passed major milestones.  In September 1997, Canadian architect Arthur Erickson unveiled the Museum’s design concept, which included an iconic, tilted cone…  Construction began in June 2000. The steel frame of the cone was completed in March 2001 and the Chihuly Bridge of Glass was underway by July of that year. Both the Museum of Glass and the adjoining Chihuly Bridge of Glass opened to thousands of visitors and worldwide accolades on July 6, 2002.

Although some of the original ideas about the Museum changed over time, many of the initial elements remained constant.  The concept of a large glass studio, where visitors could watch artists create art from molten glass, was an integral part of the original plan—and the Hot Shop Amphitheater, located inside the 90-foot tall steel cone, fulfills that description today.  The Museum was envisioned as a center that would nurture artists, celebrate the dramatic new Studio Glass movement and encourage creativity.  This vision is realized through the exhibitions in the galleries, the art installations on the outdoor plazas, the hands-on art studio, and the Museum’s diverse educational programs, as well as the Hot Shop.

Today, the Museum’s stainless steel cone serves as a beacon to a stunning contemporary art museum as well as a symbol for the restoration of a waterway and the revitalization of a city.”

After a stop to pick up a few groceries we joined Don and Anne Turner at their home for dinner. Another wonderful evening with friends and a delicious meal: steak, grilled vegies, cornbread muffins, peach cobbler with ice cream for dessert. YUM-YUM! We so cherish their friendship, and are so thankful for them and the impact they’ve had on our lives. Thank you, Don and Anne. (Anne bought my little red Toyota MR2 Spyder for Don as a Christmas gift 3 years ago, and he still drives it—enjoying every mile he drives!)

Joe and Michelle

Saturday was another busy day, as we headed further west to spend the day with friends Joe and Michelle in Gig Harbor. We’ve known them since 1990, when Joe built our home on Lake Coeur d’Alene (see last week’s edition for photos of our Windy Bay house). There’s nothing like spending a day laughing, talking, sharing and just enjoying one another’s company, followed by a scrumptious dinner of grilled Coho salmon (again, thank you friend Bob!), grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and my brownies with ice cream for dessert. YUM-YUM! Again, we so cherish their friendship. Love those guys! (And they let us do our laundry while we were there.  Score!)

What blessing Sunday was, as we spent the morning worshiping with friends at LifeWay, our former church in Federal Way. We arrived about 15 minutes before the first service at 9 a.m., and were greeted by so many people we had come to know and love over the years. We stayed for the 10:45 a.m. service, too, to make sure we didn’t miss anyone. It was like old home week. The only difference was that I was not on stage playing keyboard with the worship team. The message was taken from the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verses 7-19, on upholding those in ministerial and leadership positions in the church. Excellent message!

Afterwards we met friends Rich and Joyce at Panera Bread for lunch. While we were waiting to order, we were pleasantly surprised to see my special friend Sheila there, too. (We had served together in women’s ministry when we lived in Tacoma.) What a special time, sharing and breaking bread together. Such love between friends!

Friends Sheila, Joyce and Rich

That's it for this jam-packed week. Loved every moment of it--with the exception of driving in the horrendous traffic! Monday we head south to Tualatin, Oregon for a night of dry camping in Cabela's parking lot. Then, on to Crater Lake.

Hugs to you all!

RJ and Gail