The Ship Tavern

Today I planned to meet my cousins for lunch at the Ship Tavern, a 75-year-old pub located in the corner of the historic Brown Palace. Today is the first day of Dave's conference, and my first day on my own. I spent a couple of hours walking through the nearby streets, taking pictures of the 16th Street Mall, and enjoying the historic buildings. I was early for lunch, so took my time walking through the Brown Palace. The inside atrium lobby is stunning, a 6-story space with wrought iron balconies, and a stained glass ceiling. They serve high tea here during the day.

This is one of those historic buildings with great stories associated with it. The hotel has been open every day since its opening on August 12, 1892. Every U.S. president since Teddy Roosevelt has visited, except for Calvin Coolidge. The hotel still uses its original artesian well, 720 feet deep beneath the lobby floor. Soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division, who first trained on Mt. Rainier, stayed here. They scorned the elevators, and often rapelled to the ground from the lobby railings.




The Ship Tavern is just as amazing. It's paneled floor to ceiling, in fact, the ceiling is also paneled. In the center is a mast that vanishes into the ceiling, giving the feeling of being below decks in the captain's dining room. The room is filled with models of ships, and outside, there are three curved glass windows, each protecting a scale model of a ship.

Our First Taste of Denver

Today was our first day in Denver, Colorado. Leaving Seattle was reminiscent of my last trip to Dallas—our Alaska Airlines jet was one of about 10 jets in line to take off, and we taxied north, then south, then north again while we waited our turn. Seattle is getting too crowded! I love that Denver is only a two-hour flight away... why haven’t I come here more often?

Once we landed and picked up our rental car (a spiffy Mazda 3), we headed off to explore and pick up a few geocaches. It’s been years, too many years, since I’ve been here. My folks both grew up in Denver, and I still have two cousins here, so I’ll always have sentimental ties to the mile-high city. Today we had lunch in old-town Golden, drove up to Red Rocks, then north to Boulder. From there we did a loop drive up Boulder Canyon, then south through Black Hawk and back to Golden, with lots of stops along the way.


We’re staying at the Hyatt Regency in downtown, just across the street from Bubba Gump Shrimp. I thought this was an urban legend, but no... it really does exist. We wanted to check our dinner options, so wandered east toward what was obviously a restaurant sign, and found nightlife central. Denver has an entire pedestrian boulevard, lined with shops and restaurants, lit by gaslight-imitating streetlights, bricked with the real thing. No cars, just peddle-cabs, horse-drawn carriages, and the occasional hybrid-electric bus.


We chose Marlowe’s, in the beautiful and historic Kittredge building, which was built in 1891 and once boasted a rooftop beer garden and amusement park. It was Denver’s tallest and most modern office building, with iron columns, steel beams, electricity and steam heat, elevators, and faced with pink granite and rhyolite.

Marlowe’s has inviting wide-open windows to the street, lots of outdoor tables, and a huge list of wines (many of which are half-price after 7:30 pm). Our Caesar salads were terrific, so was our South Australian Chardonnay. It was fun to sit and enjoy the show as it walked past out windows, and we loved being just a couple of blocks from the hotel.

Welcome to Colorado

On our first day in Colorado, we were drawn to the Front Range like a magnet. With just enough time for a drive before checking into our hotel, we drove north to Boulder, then into Boulder Canyon. I love how you're instantly in the mountains. This is something that made a deep impression on my last visit to Denver, and I've never forgotten it. We don't have this kind of mountain access here in Washington—there are only 5 east-west mountain passes, and most of the land is national forest or wilderness or national park, with limited access by unpaved forest service roads.


Once through Boulder Canyon, we headed south, still deep in the mountains. Enjoying the twisty roads and views, we suddenly rounded a bend and I said, "Stop!" We're well acquainted with the yellow caution signs about curves ahead, but this is one we've never seen before. I actually got out and photographed it, and plan to share it with my Miata friends. (From here on, whenever we'd see this unique sign, Dave would ask if I wanted another picture of it.)

Have you ever noticed how wildly at odds the suggested speed limits can be to the actual road geometry? There's one near our cabin, just a single curve that drops down a hill, that has the slowest speed I've ever seen—15 mph. Even in the truck, we don't need to slow down this much!

Sports car drivers seek out these awesome twisty roads. And I've heard some of our Miata friends say that when you're driving a sports car, just double the recommended speed and add 10!

Staying Cool... the Fun Way

Kent has a new city plaza, which is full of fountains, and it draws the local kids like a magnet. Today I spent my lunch hour there, on the sidelines, just to enjoy the fun and photograph it. The kids were so entranced, they never even noticed me. It's the perfect place for kids of all ages to hang out and get cool on our hot summer days.

My favorite water feature is this huge marble, about 4 feet across, which rotates in its own pool. The boys were trying to jump up on it and make it move, and this little girl was happy just to splash.

A favorite technique is to hover over one of the fountains, and wait for it to start up. One little boy waited patiently for his favorite fountain, then giggled and ran around when it soaked him.

Next time you're in Kent, check it out. The plaza is just a block south of the Kent Station parking garage, and across from the Kent library. Sharing space on the plaza is the antique Morford family carousel, another special feature worth checking out.

We knew it was hot... now it's "official"

I knew we were in trouble when I headed home last night, and my Explorer thermometer read 108°. I've seen it read that hot once before... in Walla Walla. Never here. It was a toasty 104° at my house, 6 miles and about 200 ft higher in elevation. I went to bed with a cold wet towel on top of me. Sounds weird (but less clammy than wetting the sheets, which a friend suggested). The towel, plus two big fans running on high, did the trick. We broke the temperature record for Seattle today... wonder if we also broke the nightime high temperature record? 99° at 9 pm should have made a blip in the record books, don't you think?

To roadster, or not to roadster... that is the question

On any nice day in the Pacific Northwest, it's tempting to take my garage queen to work. Said GQ is a 2006 MX-5 Miata, shown beautifully on my banner (photo by my friend, Teresa Adams). Driving topless (the car, not me) on a gorgeous day is heaven on earth. Except when the air conditioner can't keep up with the outside temperatures. The 3rd generation MX-5, which mine is, has a fabulous air conditioning system. But as amply tested a couple of weeks ago in eastern Oregon, it has its limits. I figure 90degrees is the breaking point (this is when I start to sweat and need a constant stream of iced drinks to stay comfortable). Any hotter, especially in direct sun, you need to put the top up to feel remotely comfortable. So, knowing that today's temperatures may be destined for the record books, I paused briefly, sighed heavily, and fired up the Ford Explorer for my daily drive.

Is 103 Hot Enough?

A hundred degrees when I left work, and 103 (briefly) in downtown Kent. This town is like a skillet on a hot stove--the valley is always warmer than the "official" temperature. It's only 98 degrees at the farm, which sounds so much cooler compared to triple digits! I'll be bringing out the big fan tonight.

IT'S HOT

I realize this isn't a news flash to anyone else currently living in the Pacific Northwest. But it deserves mention here (in future years, I'll want to look back and remember these rare uncomfortably hot days... or will I?). My office windows look south, shaded by a couple of big trees, with a view of more trees and a Kent wetland. Beautiful, nice, cool... it's a lie. I just walked through the machine shop to the engineering offices, and when I stepped through that door, the heat was like a wall I had to push my way through. Yikes! how do the machinists stand it? It was 90-something on my car thermometer at lunchtime; I wasn't brave enough to look closely enough to read the second digit. I wasn't worried about this lack of knowledge... going home tonight, it will most likely be in the triple digits.

The First Blog of the Rest of My Life

OK, I admit to feeling the pressure. After all, this is the very first entry on my brand-new blog. The journalist in me is holding out for the perfect lead. The technical writer in me says to just start writing, and let the editor clean it up (that's me, too). The best thing of all? Once I've posted a few notes, this one will slip to the bottom, out of sight.

At least, that's what I thought... but then I figured out how to change the posting date, which means I can write a blog about anything that's happened in the past. So although this blog title records my first ever blog, it isn't the first blog anymore.

Some Things Just Aren't Fair

I got in touch with an old friend from Tri-Cities today, and got some sad news. Another friend from those years was diagnosed with lung cancer last September, and the day before he was due to start chemotherapy, they discovered that the cancer had grown at an alarming rate, and he passed away a month after he was first diagnosed. Mark was always health-conscious and in great shape, and he never, ever smoked. We always laughed that Mark went to an early morning aerobics class of women; he was the only guy. For him to die of lung cancer is the supreme injustice.

So I write this in memory of Mark Edward Massart, 1954–2008.