Five Days in Seattle

Wednesday, April 13, 2016:

We were up bright and early as Laurie graciously drove me to LAX for a flight up to Seattle that over the course of five days would see me visit old friends, speak about life in EuroBall to Seniors at the University of Puget Sound and Pacific Lutheran University, attend the University of Washington's annual Football Coaches Clinic and partake of much of the fine dining that the Queen City of the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

It would also be a bit of a nostalgia trip for me as I first arrived at the UW campus as a sophomore JC transfer in the month of August, 1966 . . . that's almost FIFTY years ago now!?!?!?

Recently, in an attempt to further improve the Seattle mass transit scene, the existing light rail system was extended all the way to having a stop at the University of Washington's Husky Stadium. This particular line starts at the SeaTac Airport so I decided to give it a shot.

The time it took to walk from the airplane to the SeaTac light rail station was only 12 minutes. Trains leave every ten minutes and the ride from SeaTac to the University of Washington stop only took 34 minutes.

 Fourteen stops from SeaTac

to the U of W

Nice Clean Car

After all, I have to get back into a mass transit frame of mind for my upcoming stay in Stockholm, Sweden.

 If that is Husky Stadium in the

background, then this must be . . .

. . . my stop

From the light rail station, it was only an easy ten minute walk to our friend Mark Johnson's home on the Montlake Cut that would serve as my base of operations.

Mark's first surprise for me was lunch at a great spot near his home called The Ram. The real surprise was that we were joined by another great UW friend, Jon Kadletz.

We had so much fun reminiscing that I completely forgot to get the waitress to take a picture of us.

 At the local QFC Market,

Spain is REY!

Mark had a business meeting in the afternoon, so I asked him to drop me off downtown to do a bit of exploring.

The Pike Place Market is

a Seattle MUST!

Inviting Brewery but . . .

. . . I opted for a coffee instead

Of course they have this in the

Pike Place Market

I have been led to believe that they serve other worldly grilled cheese sandwiches

Pete Rosé?

Our grandson Jacob tends

to be Bohemian

I opted to walk South along First Street towards Seattle's original neighborhood, Pioneer Square, and to the two stadiums that house the NFL Seahawks and MLB Mariners.

And more coffee was needed

This was a wonderful tour

when we took it in 1969

Strong looking building

Havana Cigars?

Five cents?

And they have a view!

 Smart cars, smart phones, smart

bombs and now a smart building

Century Link Field Reflection

 Our granddaughter Mary

is nicknamed Beba

 Not today . . .

For dinner we drove through Seattle's Fremont District on our way to the Ballard district for dinner.

Yes, the Fremont district has

a statue of Vladimir Lenin

Doesn't your city?

BURGERS!

Why here you ask?

 Well, that mound of BACON

next to the grill swayed us

Their blue cheese-bacon burger was COLOSSAL!!!

I will soon have further tales on the remaining four days of this trip posted to this blog. I need to do this to keep Paul Sabolic blogpost hungry.

Reading Is FUNdamental

Another author recommended to me by Mike D'Antuono, this book covered the 1963 JFK assassination in . . . Chicago.

Mike has hooked me yet again on another series of historical novels it appears. 

Fascinating read.

A Busy Week All Over SoCal

As this blogpost's title implies, we did a lot of worthwhile driving the past few days . . .

Stephen Wohlert Visits California

Stephen was our Defensive Coordinator during our Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons National Championship season back in 2012-13.

He is an interesting man to say the least. Born and raised in Germany where he earned a PhD in Chemistry, worked in Lyon, France and now living and working in New Jersey. He is fluent in at least German, French and English and I suspect that he may know another language or two as well.

As a football coach, I found him to be a fantastic asset to our club as he brought a great combination of knowledge, competitiveness and passion to the field every day.

He instilled a toughness in our defense that year that was one of the main reasons that we reached perfection ending in a 12-0 record. The job he did getting our squad ready to take on the Wing-T offense in the National Championship game was remarkable.

To this day, the Falcons continue to play with great defensive pride and that is in no small measure a result of Stephen's efforts.

We picked Stephen up at the airport in Los Angeles and headed towards Orange County. The main reason for his visit was a work-related conference to be held in Anaheim.

 Lunch at the Crab Cooker

YUM!!!

A trip on the Balboa Ferry

We had a great visit with a good friend . . .

GOOD TIMES INDEED!!!

A Hike

I opted to go for a three mile nature hike in Santa Rosa Valley. Good for my complexion.

I saw Horses and a Dog

Green Hills

thanks to the recent rains

 A Rattlesnake

He was as afraid of me as I was of him.

Regardless, I gave him a WIDE berth.

Belated Easter

Since we had spent Easter Sunday in Las Vegas with Kevin, Jenn and Andy, it was only fitting that we held another Easter, albeit a week or so late, with Jacob on Saturday.

Jacob's Easter Egg Hunt

There were "treasures"

inside those eggs

Easter Basket Madness

Too much excitement for one day

Traditional Contreras

Pancake Toss

It has been a long standing tradition in our household that when we make pancakes for breakfast, the kids have to catch the first flying hotcake of the day on their plate.

 Today would be Jacob's

first ever attempt to catch one

He may have been a bit unclear on the concept . . .

 "KEEP YOUR EYE

ON THE FLAPJACK!!!"

It was too late, the first one hit the ground but I invoked the "Three Second Rule" and ate it myself later.

The second hot cake of the day

was of the lay-up variety for safety

He liked it and will do better

next time I'm sure

EuroBall Beckons

Normally, my EuroBall talks are made to college Seniors who are looking to extend their careers with a season or two overseas.

This week I met with two coaches.

 Aaron Snyder

Aaron is a Latin teacher and football coach at the Thacher School in Ojai, California.

He and his wife, who also teaches at Thacher, are taking a year's sabbatical leave starting next Fall. They will spend the next academic year living in Zaragoza, Spain.

There are two American football clubs in Zaragoza, the Hornets and the Hurricanes. I think that I convinced him of the joys of coaching in España.

I hope he pulls the trigger.

Dale Widolff

Dale was the highly successful and well respected Head Football Coach at Occidental College in Los Angeles for 30 years (1982-2011).

One of the good guys in coaching, he always was cordial in allowing me to talk to his Seniors about football in Europe.

Since leaving Occidental he has coached as a volunteer with friends and former players all over the country with a season each at Oregon's Lewis and Clark College (2012), California Lutheran University (2013), Minnesota's College of St. Scholastica (2014) and California's Chapman University (2015).

So, in reality, he has been preparing himself over the last four seasons for the logical next step, EuroBall.

I am attempting to hook him up with Vienna's Danube Dragons for a two month, quality control type job next Fall during the Austrian League's off-season. I think it would be a good way for Dale to get his feet wet in the EuroBall experience.

Field Trip to Olvera Street

Rio Mesa H.S. teacher Ben Todd asked me to join him and fellow Spartan teachers Mary Wayne and Ingrid Brennan as a chaperone on a field trip to the heart of the old pueblo of Los Angeles, Olvera Street.

Why not. A good chance to be around positive young people and catch up on Rio Mesa life.

Olvera Street's Main Plaza

 Felipe De Neve 1728-84

Spanish Governor

of the Californias 1775-82

No idea who the guy is seated behind the Governor.

 Typical Olvera Street Shop

Interesting Mural in Olvera Street

painted by David Siqueiros in 1932

 I liked the mural

 The mural was not the only thing

going on in Los Angeles in 1932

Homeboy Industries Tour

near Olivera Street

Father Greg Boyle founded Homeboy Industries as a positive way to get young people out of gang life. Our tour guide, Connie, told us her amazing story.

Father Boyle is on the fast track to sainthood I'm sure.

Michael Turns 40

Yikes!

 Jacob was ready

to help open presents

 NICE SHIRT!

Mary helped blow out the . . .

. . . candles

How can he possibly be 40 years old?

Lunch with Mike and Paul

I had a really fun lunch date with old University of Washington friends Mike D'Antuono and Paul Sabolic last Friday.

Paul brought four years worth

of Husky Christmas ornaments

He gives us one every year but because of our European Adventures we had not been able to get our last four ornaments until last Friday's lunch.

Thank You Paul!

Boston College vs. Georgia Tech

Dublin, Ireland

September 3, 2016

What the hell, I bought a ticket

You only live once. 

Reading Is FUNdamental

Jack Reacher may have had his

all-time lowest body count

Mike D'Antuono hooked me on this Lee Child inspired series of action novels.

On our field trip to Olvera Street, fellow chaperone Ingrid Brennan talked me into reading the first of yet another Italian based series of detective novels.

This series are set in Venice with Detective Guido Brunetti being the reasonable lead character.

I liked it.