That's alotta concrete

Seattle, 5/9/2015 - 5/12/2015...It's a wonderful thing in a guys life when your two grown boys call you and want to spend quality time with you. Max and Sam invited me to be sponsored to a long weekend of Mariner baseball, good food, lots of walking and great fellowship. who says that getting old is tough, this deal is the pay off.  It was a bit serendipitous to me as 34 years ago MP and I stayed 5 days downtown just a block away from the Kimpton that Max put us up in . We must have had more money than good sense in those days but we're always chasing a good time and it is some of the best memories me and her share...mmmm.....and did I tell you Max is now 34 years old.

Back then it was the Hotel Hungerford and we'd wander next door to the Olympic and spend time at Shuckers Oyster bar which is still there and just the same. Just up one block is the Kimpton Vintage. Max works for the chain so we got the red carpet treatment, I have to tell you if you're a Wine Lover this wine themed Class A Hotel is for you. Every night they have a 'wine tasting' hour sponsored by a local vineyard. Then at 10 pm they have a Port wine/ truffle night cap. When we checked in Max had a bottle of Red in his room and next door I had an iced bottled of Chardonnay in mine. Each room has Vineyard name and the head board of the bed is made of wine bottle corks and they have a wall of wine in the lobby and well.....you get the best value for your money here if you're not a tea tottler. Here's pic of the name above my door, kinda magic if you ask me being in love Mary Patricia Brown. And another pic of one of the many slogans near the elevators etc.

I guess as I'm on the subject of enjoying the simple things in life I guess I can't miss this. I have to say that as much fun as I had this weekend I was certainly feeling a bit out of my element. I mean the Max and Sam are city guys and they know the way. Me, I was dumb founded by the Uber cab and the App Sam uses to get a brand new car with a cool rider to you at anytime in 4 minutes. And Max lead me on the bus system the same way, easy peasy....and just when I was getting used to how different my life is compared to theirs I saw this...

I told MP I had the secret to a get rich scheme. After all we're pretty much in the parking business here at Mile 14 and I have a real nose for parking business trends etc. What we do is buy a parking lot in Seattle and subdivide it...And for any of you still thinking we're charging you to much here at Stewart's landing hold your horses on that deal....we only charge 20 bucks to park and the Boat Launch is free...and you get to used that wonderful water closet with the blue water, not to mention it overlooks the beautiful Kenai River and not just more concrete like this place. So please keep coming to Mile 14.

It wasn't hard to find our King salmon. Twa, twa,twenty eight dollars a pound, but they'd fillet for free. I asked the fish monger if people really came in and bought a whole 35 pounder ( $ 1,015.00) ...he said of course they do, I thought you were going to buy one by the way you were looking at them...I must have sent mixed signals  because what I was really doing was trying not to puke.

The best part was the Mariner game with 42,000 people just like us. Sam went over the top and had first level seats about 15 rows back directly behind home plate, man them umpires miss a lot of calls. We got to see King Felix throw his 2,000th strike out and although our reliever made it interesting the Mariners won 5 to 3. At first it was a bit of sensory overload for me but once i got into the game and had a couple cerveza and a large order of garlic fries I was good with the world. Here's a cool pic of Felix and another of us way into the game.

On the way to the game we walked by a vintage guitar store that I was drawn to the next morning on

my daily exercise walk. What can I say about this place ???? well, I've just never been in place like this. EMERALD CITY GUITARS  where I met Jay and his son Trevor who showed me around the

store. The guitar maven, Liz was stringing up a 1980's vintage Gretsch Hollowbody and insisted I wait until she was done so I could play it.  These people are the folks that music's made of. My brother's wife Lisa has a brother named Danny Mangold who gig's in Seattle so asked if they new him...and of course they did , kizmet in my book. They had it all, a line of telecasters from the 50's to now starting at about two grand and ending up at eighteen. And a gold top Les Paul that the pic speaks for itself...I'm not saying that guys like me think all this $$$$ stuff is better....it's the music. When you see it you wonder....where's it been , who's played it, I can hear it now. It's part of the magic of music and my new friends @ EMERALD CITY GUITARS know that. Thank you guys for making me feel so welcome and a part of it all.

On Monday it was the museum of Flight which Max navigated us to on the bus for 2 bucks ( alone I'd have taken a 60 dollar cab ride ) . This is a must see deal for any of you who like me are inspired by the human courage and genius that the development  of manned  flight took to achieve. I still am amazed  I can go from Soldotna Alaska at 40 degrees and arrive in Seattle at 70 degrees and fly 1200 miles in 8 hours, and that's with the drive to Anchorage to jump the jet. Here's me and my best buddy and my favorite plane. These B-47's were the first real jet bomber threat the USA developed. They were also really early the sweep wing design. When I was kid at Fort Wainwright I remember so well seeing them lined up on the tarmac when we go to Eielson Air Force base to swim....the jetter's had a pool.

So as I left Seattle I could only think how lucky I was to have these two kids do this for me. They're really way more than that, they're friends and I seek their counsel, they've turned into 'steady'  young men....and when I use that word ' steady' it's the highest praise I have, and ever will...  But you know me, I decided to do a little golfing on the way home, don't pass up chance for a little airport fun.  I really think I'd have hit that putt and won the Sea-Tac  U.S, Open if the guy ahead of me hadn't walked on my line.

This morning I woke up and after days of city life I had to, just had to....go to the river. MP had a big day today and I feel so good about it.  I know the sport of marine salvage takes to so much hope, patience and awareness that you wonder if you'll ever be  good. . But  I brought her along slow. We started out just looking for sinkers and then worked our way up to lures. We'd only look for minutes and now we're up to hours. And now she's full blown salvager with her first anchor, found all on her own, the holy grail of our sport. I feel like I've had a small part on helping her along the way...."ah grass hopper, the joy is int the pursuit ".