Kayak Update

I know everyone has been waiting with baited breath to find out about my kayak and what happened to it. Here goes...



This past weekend, I borrowed the neighbors saw horses and pulled the boat out. I took a garden hose, and filled the inside through the front hatch. After just a few minutes, water was pouring out of the back scupper hole. Not the drain plug, but the scupper hole (specially designed holes in the body of the kayaks to drain water out where your gear is). So that's not good.

I drained all of the water out, and flipped it over. That's when I saw that a piece of pvc was separated by at least 1/4 of an inch, which is allowing the water in. In comparison to the front, there was no gap.

So, we stopped by Appomattox River Company in Yorktown where I purchased the boat, and they said it likely could be sealed. They suggested contacting Hurricane Aqua Sports (the boat manufacturer) and see what they had to say.

I called and talked to Summer and she said that she would send me some epoxy sealant right away, and to try that. If it didn't work, to call her back, and see what else could be done. So, right now, I'll give that a shot, and update here with my findings....

AMW

Baseball

One of the many things I like about summer is going to a local baseball game. We have the Tides Baseball team, a AAA farm team of the Baltimore Orioles. They used to be a farm team for the New York Mets, but that changed a couple of years ago. The Tides play in a beautiful park in downtown Norfolk, named Harbor Park. It overlooks the water, and is a top notch ballpark.



Closer to home, there is a collegiate summer league that plays during the summer, the Peninsula Pilots. I can't say much about them or their park, because I haven't been to one of their games. It's ironic, cause they are extremely close to home, but just haven't made it out there yet. (Ok, on the to-do list for THIS year!)



Looks like we'll be able to hit a Major League game this year, to see the Orioles. I've only been to Camden Yards once, and it was a while back, so I'm looking forward to going again to see a game. I really enjoy the inner harbor of Baltimore, so that's a plus, too...



AMW

Summertime!

I love summertime! I love the outdoors, the warm air, the long days, warm nights. Summer is definitely my favorite season... The smell of fresh cut grass (especially when someone else cuts it!), warm sand between your toes, daylight until 9:00pm, everything's in full bloom, baby animals everywhere. Summer is just the best and never lasts long enough in my book...

I also love the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the summertime! Most of the locals or even folks up our way would say I'm crazy, but there's just something about the hustle and bustle down there, all the touristy shops, the great restaurants, and yes, even the traffic. Then you go off the beaten path, just slightly, and you find some hidden gem. Or the long, secluded drive down Hwy 12 to Hatteras, or the ferry over to Ocracoke. All places of extreme interest, and culture! I'm pretty sure one day I'll have a vacation place down there somewhere. Just not sure where yet.

For now, I'll keep enjoying the summer and the things that are planned and the things that pop up unplanned...

AMW

Camping

How many of the 4 or 5 readers of this blog like to camp? I certainly do. I've been camping since I was a kid, but not always on a real consistant basis.

Most of my life, my camping has been in a tent, at a campground where facilities are available. I'm not sure I'd really, truly enjoy the real roughing it kind of camping. I like being outdoors, sleeping outdoors, cooking outdoors, and all. But I really enjoy being able to take a shower in the middle of it all, too.

The last few years of camping in a tent have gotten a little rougher. Age, maybe? Lack of climate control? But probably the straw that broke the camel's back, were the last two times I camped in a tent.

• 1st of the last two, was during Tropical Storm Ernesto, which didn't quite develop into a Hurricane, but was close enough in my book. Tent was set up. Left during the storm (smart enough to not try to ride it out in the tent), only to return later to make sure all was well. Nope! Tents aren't made to withstand tropical storms or hurricanes. The tent was still intact, but since the campground flooded, so did the tent. We had a 5 gallon bucket, and emptied the tent 5 times. 5x5=25 gallons of water. We slept in the car that night. Not fun.
• The 2nd of the last two times, was Memorial Day weekend (2007). Same park, different storm. Not an actual tropical storm or hurricane this time, but a great Thunder/Lightning/Electrical storm. Again, a tent is not the place you want to be. Sat in the car for quite some time. Drove , and I think finally drove home to sleep at home. Went back the next day, all was well, and enjoyed a somewhat muddy weekend.

Now - some of our friends to this point have been camping in a pop-up camper for a couple of years because of the same situations that we were in. They were always dry and rested the next day.

And so the hunt began. Last year, a pop-up camper was found on Craigslist for a reasonable price for a great camper. Yep - it's been in the driveway for nearly a year now. Bought in August last year, it got 3 good uses before it was allowed to take a break for the winter. We took it out a couple of weeks ago for a test run of the season. And whaddya know - the AC breaks. During a hot spell. 98 degrees during the day, and not much better in the evenings. We muddles through , and limped it home. There were many suggestions around the campfire as to what the culprit may be, but we had to wait to see...

The culprit was the capacitor. (The only thing I could think about was the "Flux Capacitor" from "Back to the Future". We found a trailer guy that specializes in camper-trailers, and he had it switched out in no time. Now it's cooler than ever and will probably freeze me out of the camper on our next trip. Which will be Labor Day weekend.

I'll try to post an update to let you know if I still like camping. It was getting a little dicey there for a bit.....

AMW

Billy Joel Concert

I should have blogged this a while back, but for some reason I'm just getting around to it...

A few of us met up at the Billy Joel concert on Saturday, June 21st at the Verizon Wireless Virginia Beach Amphitheater. We had lawn seats, and were told to tighten up the spot, even though there were 8 of us in the little piece of property we were on. We were reminded that there would be 15,000 people on the lawn. 15,000!

As for the show - BJ was the only act. He started singing right around 8:00pm, didn't have an opening act, and sang for 2 1/2 hours. No intermission. He played one instrumental (Rootbeer Rag) to rest his voice, and brought a "roadie" out to sing a song ("Highway to Hell"), but other than that, it was all him.

We all knew all of the songs he sang, and the whole place was singing along with all of them. I couldn't think of any song that I wanted to hear that he didn't play. He was phenomenal! I can say it was probably one of the best concerts that I have ever been to.

He may be a bit older now, but he is still a great artist, and one that I will see again if he rolls back into town......

AMW

Helping People Move

Do you remember a post I did a few months back about physical labor? I should have added that moving falls into that category as well. Some folks are cut out for it, and some folks aren't. I will admit, that I have this odd nack for packing a car or trailer or truck full of stuff to maximize space. I must get that from my dad. He can pack a space like there's no tomorrow. And so that was my Thursday last week.

Now, I don't mind helping someone move. Especially when (like this person) they would help me out in a second (and she has). I just don't particularly care for all the lifting and carrying and such. If there was a job for moving that just involved getting things packed into vehicles, that'd be all for me....

And it was a WARM day. 98 at it's hottest (which felt like all day). But we got an awful lot accomplished, and managed to get the majority of it done. I left a little lighter (from all the sweat) and with a few more marks that weren't there before... But I sure slept good!

AMW

East Coast vs. West Coast

There really is no comparison between the two, as it's like being in two separate worlds. The EC, as I know it, is VERY flat, and quite hot and humid, even in May. The WC, as I just saw it, is anything BUT flat, and very cool. They are both beautiful in their own rights, but vastly different from each other. There is something soothing about being able to park, and walk onto a sandy beach, and just walk for miles while staring out at the ocean on the EC. The WC has cliffs and mountains that go straight into the ocean, and has mesmerizing Sea Stacks. The scenes are spectacular.

I'm glad for my trip out west to see all the sites I got to see. But I'm glad to be back home, and see my very flat town.

AMW

Seattle

What a great city. There is soooo much to see and do, that it would take MUCH more than the one day we had there. We had great guides with us that knew where everything was that made it much easier to get around. And we packed an awful lot into one little day. So here goes....

The Seattle Underground Tour - this started off our morning. Very interesting stuff. First 20 mintues were history and background. Then off to go underground. This is where it started getting REALLY cheesy. While still enjoyable, our guide was Mr. Cheese himself. After so much of it, and getting the jist of the tour and the underground, we left at the first sight of the main street.

Headed to the ORIGINAL STARBUCKS in Pike Place Public Market. I'm no coffee drinker, but this was cool to see. The coffee drinker went to town, and bought a TON of souvineers that can only be purchased at this location. I got to meet a really cool GoldenDoodle named Pepper that reaffirmed that I really do want one of these dogs!

Then it was off to Groundspeak Headquarters for a brief tour. To most of you, that doesn't mean a thing, but to us, it's the HQ for our hobby, and was very cool to see where the hub of it all is. No need to bore you all with the details here...

Off to the Space Needle! We took a monorail ride down directly into the center of the Space Needle stuff. We tried to get seats at the restaurant, but they had just stopped seating for lunch and wouldn't be seating for dinner for a few more hours. We went to the nearby food court to wolf down something to give us some energy to keep going. We got our tickets to go up, and waited about 20 minutes before we got an elevator. The view from the top was spectacular, and just barely clear enough to see Mt. Ranier. It was packed up there, but was still fun to see some pictures in all different directions. Imbedded in the floor, were compass points to let you know which way you were facing. That was a nice touch.

Pike Place Market was the last stop of the day. Unfortunately, we only had about 1 1/2 hours until they closed (you could spend a FULL day here!). I so wish we had something like this at home. But nothing compares. This is the place where there are several fish markets, and they throw the whole fish around. There are flower vendors set up with some of the prettiest bundles of fresh flowers for you just to pick up, purchase and take home. Fresh veggies line tables around every bend. Vendors selling everything you can imagine are there, just waiting to lure you up to their booth. We bought some fresh goat cheese, and some fresh salmon to bring home. If we had known then that we had extra room on the way back, we likely would have bought much more there. But it was a great way to end the day in Seattle.

I know there were a ton of things that we didn't get to see, and know that we didn't even scratch the surface on this fine city. But it was fun!

And no rain! It didn't rain a drop the whole time we were there.....

AMW

Eating on Vacation

Ooooh boy! Do I love to eat! Ok, so on vacation, you know you have to eat out fairly regularly. Not too many places to cook a home cooked meal. Now, in general, I prefer to eat at mom&pop type places, or local owned places as opposed to chain restaurants. I will eat at chains, I just prefer to support small local business.

This trip, we ate at our share of chains, simply because sometimes that was the only thing available. We did find some gems along the way...

In and Out Burger - ok, so this is a chain. But it's one we don't have on the east coast. We saw quite a few of these around the Sacramento area. Popped into one for lunch on a Friday. The menu - simple. Burgers, Cheeseburgers, Double Cheeseburgers. Limited options. They were packed, and were turning over burgers at a pretty good clip. The parking lot was PACKED, so the "In and Out" part were a little tough going.

Eel River Brewery - This place is a local brewery in Fortuna, Ca. It was a little bit of a wait on a Sunday night, partly because a lot of locals visit this establishment, and partly because it's walking distance to at least 3 chain hotels. They have a huge selection of Seafood on the menu, nightly specials, traditional fare, and a whole line of beers! YUM! We each had a "California Blonde" beer. A pale ale. The seafood was fresh, lightly breaded, and plentiful. We could hardly walk out of there, we were so full. Luckily, our hotel was across the street.

Beacon Burgers - This little bitty dive (said affectionately), was in Crescent City, Ca. We looked on the GPS for a burger joint and this came up. We almost didn't find it, as it was a small shack tucked away near other larger restaurants, and near a marina. We got the "special" and then were asked if we wanted: fries, onion rings, "jo-jo's" or "jims". HUH? Jo-jo's or Jim's? One was potato wedges, and one was tator tots. We each got one of those.... The burger was big and juicy and messy. Everything we were looking for. The Jo-jo's and Jim's were delicious. One of the favorites of that leg of the trip. Will head back there again, if we ever get back to Crescent City.

Mo's - In Newport, Oregon we stopped for lunch at a place called Mo's. Looked promising from the outside. Appeared to be your local dive. Inside was a little unorganized, but the atmosphere was pretty cool. The food was fair (although fresh and local) and the service was a bit slow. The place was pretty full at lunch time with what appeared to be locals and tourists mixed. A semi-chain as they have about 6 or 7 locations along the OR coast. The best part was dessert - peanut butter pie, and triple leches cake. Both were scrumptious!

JJ's Fish House - in Poulsbo, WA. YUM! Best seafood we had out west. Perfect little local owned place. In an awesome little Scandanavian town that was picturesque. It looked like we walked into a villiage in Norway somewhere. The architecture, the shops, the whole experience. But back to the food. They had the best Fish and Chips of any restaruant we had tried, and the Fishwich was superb as well. Some else with us had the grilled Halibut and said that is was excellent. BIG thumbs up for JJ's Fish House.

One last thing... At the friend's house that we stayed at outside of Seattle (Shelton, WA to be more precise), our friend cooked breakfast for us each morning. Eggs one day. French toast another. But the icing on the cake were the pancakes. So, this sounds gross... But it's good! These folks put peanut butter on thier pancakes. Yes, you read that right. Peanut butter. Not instead of syrup, but in addition to. I was not going to try this, as it sounded downright un-appealing to me. But curiosity got the better of me, and so here I sit, blogging about peanut butter on pancakes topped with syrup. Yep - it was good. Pancake on the plate, thin layer of peanut butter, top it with syrup. Really adds great flavor and creaminess to the pancakes...

Well - sadly, I think the longest post for this trip so far has been about food.......

AMW

Sea Lions

Somewhere along the Oregon coast, we turned a corner on Hwy 101 and there was a Huge building with huge signs for the "Sea Lion Caves". Decided to pop in and see what all the fuss was...


WOW! So glad we did... What we found here was simply amazing. Not nearly as cheesy as we first imagined it might be. Yes, it was a roadside attraction, but it was much more than that. This place had a stellar spot to view Sea Lions in their element. They've built a viewing platform with amazing views of the ocean, and back in the 60's, an elevator was put in to take you down to a cave where the Sea Lions spend most of thier time in the winter. It was a sunny day, so most of them were outside. We could see pods of them swimming and playing in the ocean, tons of them sunning on rocks below, and some jumping in and out of the water onto the rocks. They were very vocal, and could hear them almost from the parking lot. We managed to get a few good pictures, and some very limited video.

Once again, the pictures don't do this area justice. You have to see it to believe it...

AMW