Mount Rainier Hiking near Paradise

Paradise Trails at Mount Rainier Karen and I hiked the trails around Paradise area of Mount Rainier park. The meadows in this area were in peak bloom, which the hiking wonderful. Karen felt like she was always hiking up hill. We hiked half of the Skyline Trial to Panorama Point, which has bathrooms. On our return, we hiked Deadhorse Creek Trail and the Waterfall Trail back to the Jackson Visitor Center.

We snapped a lot of pictures during our hike, which can be seen at our photo site. The day was clear so we got pictures of the peak of Mount Rainier, too.

10th Anniversary Trip

Karen and I had a wonderful time on our anniversary trip.  With it being our 10th anniversary, we considered many different trips.  We decided to include train travel on the trip, because we travelled by train on our honeymoon.

We started out by flying to Seattle, Washington.  After picking up our rental car, we checked-in to our hotel and headed to Pyramid Ale.  We had fun finding their restaurant and brewery, because we thought it was located at 1201 North 1st Street, but it was actually at 1201 South 1st Street.  The lady working at 1201 North 1st Street said she is asked about the brewery all the time.  As for Pyramid Ale, we tried a number of their beers along with a great sausage dish featuring three types of sausage.

For our actual anniversary on August 3rd, we decided to travel to Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.  Our destination was Granville Island, which is a small area within Vancouver that has open markets, artisan shops, boutiques, and restaurants.  The artisans make a wide variety of items including metal works, blown glass, fabrics, and clothing.  Karen had a blast looking in all of the shops.  You could watch many of the artisans work their craft.  We had a great lunch outside at Dockside.  We purchased some bread and sausage to have for dinner back in Seattle.

For our anniversary dinner, we headed back to the hotel and had our bread and sausage for dinner while watching “My Favorite Spy” starring Bob Hope.

The next morning, we went hiking on Mount Rainier near the Paradise lodge.  The trails were surrounded by meadows filled with flowers, which were in full bloom.  On the way to and from Mount Rainier, we stopped in Eatonville, Washington.

As we were driving by Eatonville, Karen spotted a sign for the Eatonville Lion’s Club Art Festival.  Karen loves art festivals.  We found an artisan that had made dishes shaped like fish.  They are shaped such that chips can be place in the body and dip can be placed on the tail.  On our return from hiking, we stopped again tried their famous roast beef sandwich, which was great.

On Saturday, August 5th, 2006, we headed south to Tacoma, Washington to see the Museum of Glass.  Generally, we were not impressed with the museum.  It was very small and this is especially true given the cost of $10 a person.  I suggest that you find a coupon, which we did.  A lot of the pieces are note even glass.  On a positive note, the hands on area, the bridge of glass, and the Hot Shop Amphitheater were great.  When we visited, the hands on area allow us to make something out of glass pieces and wire. Karen's BraceletKaren and I made bracelets.  Mine was not as nice as Karen’s.  The picture about is from bridge of glass, which was designed by Dale Chihuly.  The Hot Shop Amphitheater is a place where visiting artisans can build their glass art while you watch.

We went to Point Defiance Park to see the beach and enjoyed the five mile loop around the park.  On the drive, we take pictures of raccoons.  We stopped by the Camp 6 Logging Museum.

Pike Place MarketOn Sunday, we went to the Pike Place Market in Seattle to see the fish fly at Pike Place Fish.  If you order a fish, I suggest that you stand back, because the fish will start to fly.  We had a great lunch at the Athenian Inn.

On Monday, we started are train ride back to home, but I will post more about that later.

Returning the Treo 650

I have tried the Treo 650 for about a week, but I have decided to return the phone and cancel service with Cingular.

I decided to return the phone, because I know the 700 series Treo is due any day. The 650 has only 32MB of memory and from what I have read on the Internet this is a big limitation. I would really like a smaller phone. The Treo 650 weights twice as much as my Sony Ericcson T68i. The Treo 650 is too big to fit in a pair of jeans. Also, the phone was getting unlocked in my pocket.

The phone automatically locks and requires a two key method to unlock it. Appearently, it is very easy to press the two keys. You will be walking along and hear the phone activate.

I was able to get the data connection working with the laptop after some trial and error. I managed to get a speed of 100 kbps to 160kbps depending of signal strength in the Huntsville, Alabama area.

I just hope something better come along soon, because I am ready to switch away from T-Mobile.

Trying out Treo 650 and Cingular

Well, I have finally made the leap into trying another mobile phone carrier. I have been dealing with T-Mobile for years, but they have not had any phones that meet what I have been looking for in term of capabilities.

I have been wanting a phone that would support a faster data connection like EDGE, it should have bluetooth for connectivity to a Macintosh, and it should be able to sync to a Macintosh.

I have been using Sony Ericcson's T68i, which is a great phone. But, I want the faster data connections.

T-Mobile is lacking in coverage compared to Cingular and Verizon.

I am playing around with the Treo 650 and I like the faster EDGE connection. I have seen speeds as fast as 164kbps on the phone, but I want to confirm it with my PowerBook.

The Treo 650 has two big downsides: weight and age. The weight of the Treo 650 is over twice the weight of the T68i. The Treo 650 is about to be replaced by Palm with something in the 700 family, which will increase the memory and fix many other issues with the 650.

My plan is to try it for 30 days so I have not stopped my T-Mobile service.

Finally Home to a Rotting House

Well, the travelling has stopped for now. Karen and I extended our stay for a week at the gulf, but we are finally home.

Now, we get to work home repairs, because our siding installer informed us that the back of our house is rotting. We have three windows over our deck that have large amounts of rot around them. We are going to have to replace a lot of the wood structure prior to the siding being installed. Bummer!

Kick-n Back at Orange Beach

Aerial Photo of Thomas Alonzo's HouseWe have been kicking back at my Uncle Tommy’s place on an inland bay. The weather has been great. The picture is an aerial photo of his place. His house is the one with the white boat house and the white house near the water edge.

We are heading to the outlet center in Foley, Alabama this morning. When we return, I am going to be searing some sushi grade tuna for lunch.

Family Reunion at Orange Beach

LadiesEveryone had a great time at the reunion.  The main course was 40 pounds of shrimp which everyone enjoyed.  Of course, it was more food than we could eat.  Karen and I had left over shrimp the whole week.

The weather was great with a light breeze and the water was great.  Reynolds Powe water-skied for the first time; while, a number of the adults had see if they could still water-ski.

Karen and I stayed with Uncle Tommy for the whole week.  We had a blast boating out to the Middle Bay Light.

Family Reunion

Here some more pictures from the reunion, just click the picture to see them.

Returning Home

With this trip winding down, I know that Karen will be happy to have me home. But, the next trip is just a few days away.

We are heading to the family reunion at my Uncle Tom Alonzo's house in Orange Beach, Alabama. Karen and I are both looking forward to the trip.

Tanger Outlet @ Foley, AlabamaWe will be hitting the Foley Outlet Center to do some killer shopping, as in, killing our credit card. We had our credit card company call us the last time we shopped the outlet, because the changes were coming in so fast that they assumed someone must have stolen the card. I have my eye on get some new shoes from the Timberland's store.

But first, I have to go catch my plane…

Mission Bell Inn

Tonight, I dined at the Mission Bell Inn in Manitou Springs, Colorado. The weather did not permit us to dine outside, but the restaurant has a nice patio. The same family has been been operating the restaurant since 1962.

I decided to try the Cimarron, which consisted of three cheese enchiladas covered in green chile and sides of rice and refries beans. The meal was lead by a tostada as a salad. The green chile was great over the enchiladas. Our server was lost at performing her job. She was only handling three tables, but she didn't refill drinks even with empty glasses all over the table.

Overall, I enjoyed the food except for a hair issue. The other servers seem very good when compared to ours. The decoration throughout the restaurant were very nice. I would good back again for the patio, which looked so nice and inviting.

Location:

178 Crystal park Road

Manitou Springs, Co 80829

(719) 685-9089