We are in Seattle to board a cruise ship to Alaska and Canada. Of course, we had to explore early in the morning… for exercise, for sightseeing, and especially to catch some Pokemons. This is a great picture of the Space Needle seen behind the EMP Museum (the Experience Music Project Museum). It is a cool museum in a cool building.

Just passing through the mountains gives glimpses of mountains set off by clouds. The sights are wonderful.

Looking out my train compartment window, the blue sky and the white clouds made a very interesting combination of shapes and color. Sitting on the train for hours really gives me a chance to practice being quiet and being in the moment. I am so used to doing things constantly and being bombarded by information. Quiet is nice.

Ron and I are off on an adventure to Seattle as our first leg of an Alaskan Cruise. The train is a great way to travel… very relaxing. School has started for most, so there are very few children on the train.
PokéNote: the train travels too quickly to hatch eggs and for some of the trip the Internet is poor. Oh well.

The flames of the Sand Fire light up the smoke coming over the hill behind our home. It looks really close, but is actually a large hill away. Bags are packed and we are waiting for an evacuation order. None so far.

When we woke up today, the sunlight was an eerie orange. At Oakridge Mobile Home Park, we had all seen this before when the park burned down in 2008. By the afternoon, the residents were getting pretty edgy. Many of us packed bags and prepared for an evacuation order. Luckily, by the evening, the sky did not look nearly so ominous and the Sun no longer looked like a red ball. Whew.

There is a rather large and beautiful cemetery tucked away in the San Fernando Valley, not too far from where we live. We have always heard that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are buried there along with several other stars. With the help of the Internet and the built in GPS on our phones, we were able to locate their gravestones. They are not fancy, but fun to find. They were both such wonderful entertainers. We still watch their movies. We also found Stephen Boyd from Ben-Hur (and Fantastic Voyage) and Montie Montana who we used to see every year in the Rose Parade. This is all at the Oakwood Memorial Park.

Being home for a week between APSI’s, Ron and I went on a little adventure. We visited the historic Mission Inn in Riverside, CA. While it is a fun place to see, we really went to have dinner with old friends, Mary Ellen and Skip.

My third summer workshop was held in Indianapolis, Indiana. Yet again, a wonderful group of teachers. Some were brand new teachers and some were “seasoned” veterans. I picked up some new ideas. These workshops are exhausting, but fun to teach.

I had a large, friendly group of teachers to work with at Texas Christian University. The weather was fairly hot and humid, but we stayed cool indoors.