Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else. The pictures from our 2016 trip to Ocean Shores, Seattle, and the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival (and much more!) are now online! We had a great time and so did our friends. Take a look at the pictures!
If you are thinking of going in 2017, let me know!
If you have any questions, just ask. And leave a comment if you want….
2016 Seattle and Bumbershoot photos
What we did on the 2016 trip – part 1
Wait! You should read part one first.
Already did that? Then let’s continue with our Seattle and Bumbershoot trip for 2016.
Friday September 2
First day of the Bumbershoot Festival. We started with lunch at Veggie Grill, then took the monorail over to the Seattle Center, where Bumbershoot happens. It’s our 16th year in a row to attend, ever since we discovered it. First on the bill today was an exclusive, private radio performance and interview with Michael Franti. This was a VIP perk and we we fortunate that all three of us could go. Nice start to the day! Then we caught a couple songs by Atlas Genius, ok but just that. We watch some of the break dancing exhibition, which Josephine liked, and checked out some of the Visual Arts exhibits too.
It’s our annual trip to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. We go every year, since 2001, making this our 16th year in a row. And we love it more than ever. And this year our granddaughter Josephine went with us. Also traveling, our friends Cal, Laura, Mama O, Aunt Sam, and Margaret.
I’ll post some pictures soon, but first, here’s what we did on our trip.
Sunday August 28th
We took the blue van to the airport and then flew Southwest Airlines to Seattle. Once there, we rented a car and drove to Ocean Shores on the Washington coast. On the way we stopped at Chipotle for lunch. We checked in to Worldmark Mariner’s Village, our home for two nights. After a quick trip to the grocery store for supplies we relaxed back at the condo. We saw deer on the lawn and the field below our balcony.
Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else. The pictures from our 2015 trip to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival (and much more!) are now online! We had a great time and so did our friends. Take a look at the pictures!
If you are thinking of going in 2016, let me know!
If you have any questions, just ask. And leave a comment if you want….
2015 Seattle and Bumbershoot photos
What we did on the 2015 trip – part 1
Wait! You should read part one first.
Already did that? Then let’s continue with our Seattle and Bumbershoot trip for 2015…
Sunday September 6
After a leisurely morning, we went for lunch to Veggie Grill, a chain of vegan restaurants that we’ve loved in many cities now. This was the downtown Seattle location and, while the food was delicious, it was more remarkable that Karl and Betty came with us to eat. Why? Well, Karl is a notorious carnivore but he humored us and even found a tasty sandwich that he devoured. A win for the veg people! Then we headed out to day two of the Bumbershoot festival. The first act that we saw was Eliot Sumner and her band. All through the set I kept thinking that she sounded a lot like Sting (in a good way) and that the music was a bit Police-like (later police, not the earlier reggae-incluenced stuff). It was uncanny how much she sounded like him. We were right up in front and Petra managed to get the set list and had Eliot autograph it! As we walked to the stage for next act, I googled her and discovered why the resemblance. She is Sting’s daughter. Doh! It was not mentioned on the web site, in the app, or anywhere, but true nevertheless. Moving on, we watched part of set by Mikal Cronin. His music is kind of power-pop, a bit jangly, and while not bad we soon ventured in search of the next act.
It was time for our annual trip to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. We go every year, since 2001, making this our 15th year in a row. And we love it more than ever.
I’ll post some pictures soon, but first, here’s what we did on our trip.
Wednesday September 2
Nine of us were headed to Seattle this year, eight from Sacramento and one from Portland. We had various flights and ways to get there. Karl and Betty were taking the same flight, in the late morning. They came to our house and we took the Blue Van (Super Shuttle) to the airport. We took Southwest to Seattle, a quick and smooth flight. Once at the Seattle airport (SEA/TAC), we caught the convenient Light Rail and a bit later we were checking in to our condos at The Camlin.
Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else. The pictures from our 2014 trip to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival (and much more!) are now online! We had a great time and so did our friends. Take a look at the pictures!
For most of the musical acts, I took a LOT of pictures, but I only posted 2-4 pictures of each act on here. If you really want to see more photos of any musical act, let me know. Also, I wish I had more pictures of the people we went with, Mama O, Sam, Cal, Laura, Margaret. Everyone was doing their own thing but I should have taken more pictures. Maybe next time.
If you are thinking of going in 2015, let me know that too.
If you have any questions, just ask. And leave a comment if you want….
2014 Seattle and Bumbershoot photos
What we did on the 2014 trip – part 1
Click here to read part one first
I’ll post some pictures soon, but here’s part two of what we did on our trip.
Saturday August 30
This is the day I have been waiting for, the start of the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. We took the monorail to the Seattle Center, the site of the festival, and yes we were early. That’s how I like it. At 11:00 AM, we entered the festival and headed immediately to the Starbucks Gold Lounge, for a free coffee drink. Then we walked over to the VIP Hospitality Lounge and had some snacks there. OK, now time for music. First up was The Lonely Forest in the KEXP lounge (the secret stage). This show and their outdoor show later today were going to be their last shows ever. After some 10 years together they were calling it quits. Too bad, too, because their set was great! Now I discover them!
For the thirteenth year in a row, we traveled up north to Seattle for the annual Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. I’ll get some pictures on here soon. We had a few extra days too, to see the city, but of course the festival is the big draw. As in most years, some friends travel along, this time it was Cal and Laura, along with Sam and Mama O. What did we do? Well….
Wednesday August 28
All six of us had the same Southwest flight in the morning. Once in Seattle, we separated at various points. Petra and I took the light rail to our hotel, The Camlin. The room wasn’t quite ready so we had them hold our luggage while we went to lunch at one of our favorites, Cyber-Dogs, a wonderful vegetarian hot dog place. These dogs are more like meals and really delicious. After that we walked over to Whole Foods and got some supplies for the week. Then it was back to the hotel. Now the room was ready and we went up and unpacked. In a bit, we took the monorail over to the Seattle Center and met up with the rest of the party for a while. Then Petra and I had a nice vegan chinese food meal at Bamboo Garden, where everything is animal-free! And then the monorail back to the hotel. It was a good start for the trip.
Hello once again, family, friends, and everyone else. The pictures from our 2013 Las Vegas mini-trip to Las Vegas are now online! We had a great time even though the trip was short. Take a look at the pictures!
If you have any questions, just ask. Now take a look! And leave a comment if you want….
We needed a break from kid-watching and we had a credit with Southwest Airlines that was set to expire. So, one and one makes two as they say, and we booked a flight and found a good deal on a hotel. Vegas, baby!
So here’s what we did. Most of it anyway. Some of it stayed in Vegas.
Tuesday May 28th
We rode the blue van to the airport in the late afternoon. I made the mistake of trying to make conversation with the driver, asking if he ever had problem riders. So he talked all the way non-stop to the airport about those people, in detail, and he was absolutely NOT happy about them. My bad, I was just trying to be friendly. But in no time we were on the plane to Las Vegas. It was a quick flight and we caught a van to our hotel, The Signature at the MGM Grand. The Signature is one of the few non-smoking hotels around The Strip. It was late evening when we checked in but we were hungry so we took the monorail a few miles to the other end of the strip. Why? Well…
Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else too. The pictures from our 2013 Southern California trip to Indio, Palm Springs, and Hollywood are now online! We had a great time as usual. Check out the pix!
Any questions, just ask me. Take a look! And leave a comment if you want, I’d like that….
We just returned from a week’s vacation in sunny Southern California. We timed it for spring break week, not so we could “party like it’s 1999” but because we had no kids to watch that week! Yow! We wanted some warm weather and we got it in Indio, with temps in the mid -80s. So nice.
We went from Friday to Friday and our first destination was Indio, in the desert but nestled like an oasis with Palm Springs, Palm Desert, La Quinta and other cities. We spent five nights there and then two in Hollywood. Here’s what we did, mostly…
Friday March 22nd
We hit the road early, since it’s quite a ways to drive. Road trips are fun though, so no worries. About halfway there, we stopped briefly in Bakersfield for gas and also for lunch. Lassen’s Natural Foods there has a deli inside that serves a variety of options, many of them vegetarian and/or vegan. Sufficiently stuffed after that, we traveled the rest of the way, through desert, hills, forest, and more desert, until we got to our first destination, the Worldmark Indio. We checked in to our very nice room (actually living room with large kitchen area, bedroom, and bathroom). We took a pleasant walk around the resort, since the weather was beautiful and warm. So nice and warm, in fact that we went to the pool (one of them) and swam for a while, even though it lasted until after 9pm. Then of course we needed a snack back in the room and some rest.
It was December 15th, 2012, and Santa Cruz, California was frigid and rainy. Inside The Catalyst, it was only frigid. Seriously, people wore coats and scarfs through the whole concert. But it was well worth it to see Graham Parker reunited with The Rumour after over thirty years. Their albums from that period are classics, including Squeezing Out Sparks, Howling Wind, and more.
Recently they released an album of new material and the show combined a number of songs from that effort with many of Graham’s best know songs from back in the day. (The full set list follows, plus pictures!).
