Spokane Summer Getaway

This is what a troublesome monsoon in Las Vegas looks like in San Diego.  That monsoon delayed our flight 3 hours.  So we stopped along the way and used up some of our wait at Coffee Coffee.

This is the shuttle stop in the *economy* lot, NOT the *long term* lot.  This is an important distinction.  Because when you return and try and get on the shuttle going back and you say "long term lot" ... you're wrong.


Mono Lake from high above.


Somewhere over Washington, from high above.  Looks like a cartoon drawing.
Wouldn't be a trip to Spokane without a visit to the gardens at Manito Park ...


My [literally] sweet niece with chocolate lips ...



My MIL's garden rivals Manito gardens in beauty ...
Drove out to Green Bluff for lunch. Cherries in season.


Pie cherries.  So for lunch, I ordered cherry pie.  Nothing else, just pie.  Yummm.


Little Dude having a huge serving of huckleberry ice cream.


My SIL is a beekeeper, y'all!  Her bee hive is sooooo pretty.  I wish I had a snapshot of her happy hive, but I only grabbed 1-second video footage of them.


My FIL took us to his top secret stash of wild huckleberries.  Ok, not so secret.  There were lots of people out foraging berries there...


My pickings near the beginning of our outing.


I spy 2 dudes ...



My pickings after 90 minutes.  Between the four of us, we probably accumulated about a full 1 quart bag.


On top of Mount Spokane for our picnic lunch.


With huckleberry snacks.


The view was pretty swell.




My perspective.


Big Dude's perspective.  Why, yes, I am double fisting the cameras.  Of course.


Mount Spokane's Vista House.  It's like it grows right out of the stones.




Surreal Little Dude.  Art.



The impetus behind our visit:  Big Dude's 30th high school reunion.


I might have eaten tons of berries every day.  In the form of cobbler, ice cream, pie, cake, pancake, and waffle.


Went to Chaps for breakfast.  It was indeed "sweet".  If you're ever in Spokane, go.



Cloud splendor.


Salton Sea from above.  This lake is HUGE.  The biggest in CA, as a matter of fact (by area, not volume).


Coming back into SoCal...  Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

1 Second Everyday: Mar-Apr 2017 edition

1 Second Everyday: Jan-Feb 2017 edition

Better late than never, eh?  Way back in the new year, Middle Dude had a "man bun" (it's gone now, btw) and College Kid was home between semesters.  He got a new [to him] Soul [car, that is] and slept in. A Lot.  My always annual Christmas cards became New Year's cards.  There was weather and bodypump and crafts. We celebrated my big 5-0 and went to Hawaii.  There was weather there, too.  February included life mundane-ness & minutia plus a super neato trip to El Paso to visit Julie and her girls with roadtrips to Carlsbad Caverns & White Sands NM.

Reagan Library

Whenever my most favorite father- & mother-in-law come for a visit, we hit the road and go on some sight-seeing adventure.  This time we were going to grab everyone and spend the day at Universal Studios.  But when we heard rumor of the long lines & huge crowds and saw how much 7 tickets + parking was going to cost, we decided we would way prefer to go to the Reagan Library. (and the dudes all promptly decided to skip the library and go instead to their weekly ultimate frisbee game)   Btw, all photos via my phone: LG G4



There were big crowds at the library, too; but no long lines for rides – woot!



Pete Souza is a photographer whose work I much admire.  He has been the Chief Official White House Photographer for President Obama.  But way before that, he was the Chief Official White House Photographer for President Reagan.  It was delightful to see his imagery larger than life…



What a hoot this old 1744 map is.  CA is shown as an island!  A gift from Margaret Thatcher to Reagan…



This huge window and the scenery beyond it … beautiful.



A 10,000 jelly belly bean portrait …



Big Dude listens in on the summit between Reagan & Gorbachev …



And then, back at the ranch, he shares his insight and opinions with Ronnie while riding …


At the risk of dating myself, I was there on the day this happened … and he was sooo tickled.  A fun memory.



Reagan by Rockwell …



“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”  A piece of the wall …



And then we had to make our way thru Los Angeles traffic (bah. blech.  phtooey.  I’d go to more museums more often, if not for the traffic).



And one for the dudes.  WAR is coming …



“Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction.  It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.  Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again.”  ~Ronald Reagan