On Friday Judy and I took a three day trip to Victoria BC aboard the high speed Victoria Clipper. We parked the car and downtown Seattle and spent three days walking the streets of Victoria.

This was not the Tijuana of SoCal! Sure we needed passports and processed through customs as we disembarked the ferry. Canada redesigned their currency a few years ago and the new bills have a clear panel with holograms. Very pretty. Cash was easy, I just hit an ATM at a close by 7-11 for Canada dollars. Credit cards are seamless with a 1.7% foreign transaction fee.

This is the view from our hotel balcony. On the right is the Clipper in the background.

The Clipper schedule is designed to accommodate day trips. We arrived at 10:30 AM and the ship was docked until about 5:30 PM if you want to return the same day.

The BC Legislature Building sits right next to our hotel. The fountains ice over in the winter creating beautiful sculptures. (click image to enlarge)

A shout out to my father. Dad and I sold carillons in the late 1970's for the IT Verdin company.

The Netherlands Carillon contains 62 bells. They played automatically during our trip but can be played by the carillonneur, she would climb the steps to the clavier (keyboard) to play the bells. It gets rather loud sitting just below the bells.

We could not visit without an afternoon enjoying tea at the Empress Hotel.

This landmark hotel frames the boat harbor and provides first class service. We sat at a window just under the Empress name. The tea room occupies that whole area. The front door is off to the left in this picture.

The Bard and Banker represents the British style pubs at pepper Victoria. This one captured my heart with great beer, scotch, and atmosphere. The interior is designed to look like authentic Scottish pubs.

My pictures do not do justice to the rich woodwork and warm atmosphere. The mussels were excellent and I loved the tables for two tucked away in every quiet corner. We must return.

Thank you Jane for hanging with the kids.

Today I took Carl for a checkup at Children's Hospital today. The doctor is 9.25 miles from our house and the terrain is rather flat. I tracked the ride using Strava on my smartphone. You can view it here. We rode the tandem. I picked Carl up from school and we flew down 24th street. With a 7% downgrade I am riding the brakes the whole way. After that the only noteworthy spots are a few intersections and railroad tracks.

I told Carl there was one slight uphill during the ride. He laughed when he saw the garage entrance at Children's. It is 6-7% for about a tenth of a mile. The funnest part is the valet parking at the TOP of the drive! I may recommend they move that to the bottom for valet drop off, and leave the pick-up at the top. Now that would be great.

Snoqualmie Falls is my new goto. Today we made a daytrip of it. Veronica had an eight hour babysitting gig so I loaded up the car with the boys and Jane. Traffic was light, we made it in under 50 minutes.

From the top you hear the roar of rushing water. I am not sure the extensive viewing platforms at the top ever show anything. This is my second trip and I really think they have a sound system blasting noise to give it that mysterious feeling. After listening, we made the hike to the bottom of the falls.

On the way down we passed this little patch of snow. I believe that was there last month when Judy and I made this trek. At the bottom there is a boat launch for those brave enough to tackle the rushing river.

Finally we get to see the falls. Jane posed with each boy for pictures. It really is a great sight. After viewing the falls there are plenty of picnic tables for lunch. The older section of Snoqualmie has wonderful restaurants too.

Here is a round-up of late December events! We had the Fourth Annual Redpath Holiday Party with White Elephant Gift Exchange! This party was nice because my co-worker Judy from Huntington Beach who now works in Everett (below in Santa hat) was able to attend, plus Kurt, Laura, and Brenda who attended our previous parties in Wichita! (First and Second documented, apparently we were too overwhelmed to post the Third last year! Here is a late entry.)

Kurt and Laura were at our first and second parties, missed last year's because of the flu. This year Kurt opened a present that may or may not have been regifted to our friend Richard...

I was also organized enough to find my template & recipe to make gingerbread houses for the kids this year.

Kevin McCarthy and Aoife build a gingerbread house.

Étienne, Carlton, and Veronica show off their creations.

The Rain City Flyers qualified for the regional Junior Olympics. Veronica participated and sports her new shirt.

Étienne is waiting for his turn to audition for the Loyal Heights Alice in Wonderland musical. If you look under FAQ->Company Posting you can find both Carlton and Étienne!

We are very proud of Étienne's audition.

Christmas Eve Manger Service at Ballard First Lutheran! Carl and Étienne are shepherds.

Pastor Erik as one of Santa's elves, or something. He is not supposed to jump on top of the pulpit anymore!

Home from church, along with Cousin Jane.

Christmas morning arrives with color and plump stockings!

Étienne, Carlton, and Veronica enjoy the Santa gifts and stocking swag!

This year I made a pork crown rib roast stuffed with a cornbread chestnut dressing. Behind it you can see the roasted acorn squash with pomegranate seeds. We bought the pork roast at Better Meat, which is just a mile from our house, and they supply all the fishing boats out of Fisherman's Terminal as shown on Deadliest Catch!

Later that day, Veronica put together a beautiful lattice crust cherry pie. I think there is some Kyle K influence coming through here.

We finally made it to the Boeing Museum of Flight during winter break.

On the honey-do list is a task to dye the white curtains in our house. The curtains are extra long and pool on the floor. We dyed, shortened, and rehung them. What do you think?

You can see the original white in the background.

We had a wonderful second Christmas in Seattle!

Étienne and Carl enjoyed some snow time before school. Within the two hour school delay, my back yard went from white to almost all green as the boys rolled up large snowballs.

Étienne tries to roll Carl into one of the large snowballs. Just good clean fun!

Today, Seattle Public will start two hours late. This is our view at 6:30 AM.

This year we made a last minute flight to Lancaster CA for dinner with Judy's family. Both of her siblings came with their families. After working the day at Nyer Urness house cooking and serving a turkey dinner for 120 people, we hopped a flight to Burbank CA.

I made use of the full video option on my Galaxy S3 to entertain the boys with yet another Markiplier YouTube video. You can search YouTube yourself for a sampling of their entertainment.

These two pictures call for a little explaining...or maybe not.

First we have Judy watching previews before Catching Fire, the latest Hunger Games movie. Second we have a tooth from Carl's impeccably clean mouth! This tooth has caused nothing but pain and complaints for the past three weeks! I was about to yank it out myself. Two weeks ago I thought he did pull the tooth as he held up a molar and said "Hay look, I lost a tooth!" To my dismay it was not the one bothering him, but a different one I never heard about. He always feels cheated by the Tooth Fairy so this time he left a note for the Molinator.

We finally made it to the Pletsch residence and stumbled into a cutthroat game of Apples to Apples.

Carl is answering the question "What is Relaxed?". Teachers did not win, the winner was Noodles.

And now for the big event: Turkey!

Judy and Erin work the kitchen before dinner. Erin organized the whole meal, thank you Erin. With fifteen mouths to feed you did a great job planning a meal from across the state.

This gathering is all about the grandchildren. Here they are in all their glory.

Carlton, Étienne, Eleanor, Veronica, Julianna, Meghan, Charlotte, and ... I guess Blitzen was out getting more pie.

We stepped out for a little cool air and got the run down on the neighbors house lights.

Grandpa Ron seemed puzzled by the technique of hanging empty light strings. We thought this was a sly attempt to thwart bulb thieves! Lancaster must be riddled with them.

It turns out the neighbor is an Air Traffic Controller and wanted the placement of each bulb to be precise without extras dangling on the ends. Here is the result. Great Job!

Time to introduce the host of honor. This is the grandmother of all seven grandchildren, Kathy. We all gathered to wish her a warm thanksgiving. Happy Holidays Kathy.

It is not a holiday without the carving of the bird. I made it through 120 turkey portions at Nyer Urness House on Thanksgiving day without lifting a single knife. Today was my chance to carve the bird.

No party post is complee without a picture of the party girls. Charlotte & Erin, and Erin and Meghan.

The real couple can be found here. Cousins!

Eleanor and Étienne

This trip is made possible by the loving children of Ron and Kathy. Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All.

On Sunday December 1, we headed to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

That is it on top of the hill. From here it looks overcast but the day was sunny and clear.

Since our last visit over ten years ago, the museum added free IPod Touch tours. You simply check out an IPod and headphone and click your way through a tour. We chose a Monsters Angels and Demons tour geared for children. It included reviews by children in their own voice. Several pictures were narrated by characters in the frame. Carl's favorite was described by a small pig in the lower corner.

This is a typical installation. When the descriptor panel has a reference number, we can type that into the IPod and get more information.
Before I visit a museum, I try to pick out an exhibit to look for. This time I selected a Rembrandt. I remember seeing this painting in my grade school textbooks. This was my opportunity to see the real thing!

Here the kids show of our find. You can click on the pictures for a larger image but to really see it, the Getty website has high resolution digital images of their complete collection.

After the rich world class paintings, we can rest our eyes with a stroll across the plaza.

Every season is beautiful in LA, here is a beautiful sunny fall day in LA. Over Carl's right shoulder you can see downtown LA. The plaza offered nothing but beautiful vistas over every outlook.

Étienne and Uncle John are having a moment. We met John and Erin's family at the museum. For a Sunday morning, the crowds were not bad.

Meghan, Erin, and Charlotte Pletsch pose for a glamour shot!

Here are both families enjoying the art.

I even caught an artist at work. She took an opportunity to soak in the sun, beautiful people, and architecture of Getty Center.

When I first met The Judy we visited the original Getty Villa in Malibu. The Van Gogh Irises had just been cleaned and put on display. The painting was bare, no security glass, and surrounded by a red velvet rope. I could lean in and put my nose within a couple of feet of the canvas. To my surprise, the picture was on display again. Here it is secured behind glass and drawing quite the crowd.

I did verify that pictures are allowed. Flash pictures are prohibited and a few areas forbid all pictures. One lady near me shot several flash pictures that drew the attention of the docents. I held my DSLR low hoping they did not mistake me for the culprit. They caught up with her and expressed a polite reminder.

Canterbury and St. Albans: Treasures from Church and Cloister
I had to take this picture. I looked around for any restrictions but missed it in the darkened hall. I too got a polite reminder. I took about 200 pictures and this is the only forbidden one. I post it here for your enjoyment.

The large window on the far wall is the real deal! You can read about it on the Getty Center website. I spent my high school years selling church bells with my father. I remember sitting beneath the large stained glass windows of the Midwest churches. This room offered several pews facing the windows for thought and reflection.

The typical vistas of the Getty Center. LA does not have clear skies every day. Actually they can be few and far between. We got one this December 1, 2013.

On our way out of Lancaster we took a drive down The Musical Road. Enjoy!

Do you recognize these rocks? I remember them from a few episodes of Classic Star Trek. It is hard to miss them on the drive along Highway 14 between LA and Lancaster.

Another rare find:

Veronica qualified for the regionals this year. We headed to Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR for the event. Our friends Grace and Clara Fjermedal joined me for the trip. They will run in the 11 year old 3k event and Veronica will run 4k. Since it was just the four of us, I used Judy's car and picked up the girls right after school on Friday. The 230 mile trip should have taken about 3 hours and 30 minutes. Leaving at 2:45 PM on a Friday I hit every traffic jam and drove well over 6 hours with all the stop and go traffic. The girls were great, making sandwiches and watching movies during the trip.

An intoxicating mix of nail polish, beer, wine, and pre-race jitters

Go Rain City

Veronica, Grace, Coach Cory, Clara
We arrived in time for the traditional team gathering in the lobby of our hotel. The team paints their nails "Go Rain City" while number bibs are passed out. This event uses an RFID tag on the bibs to make the scoring very easy.

11 year old girls 3K start line (Click on the picture. Can you find Grace and Clara?)

Go Grace (#2601)

Clara looking strong (#2600)

The Finishing Chute. Grace spent much of the race with hair in her face.

The Finishing Chute. Clara looking fabulous as ever.

Immediately after a race, the participants simply type in their bib number and get a print out of the time.

Veronica is warming up for the 4k. The temperature is right at 40 degrees and there is a slight breeze out of the North. On the way to the race from our hotel, the twins asked Veronica what Kansas looks like. She noted that except for the mountains in the background, this is it. Flat terrain with a biting cold wind. Although the girls are in shorts and a tee-shirt, the spectators are trying to keep warm with coats, hats, gloves, and even the occasional sleeping bag.

Again, click on the picture for a larger version and try to find Veronica on the starting line.

2/3 of the way through the race and Veronica is looking strong. I like this picture it shows a chicane over her left shoulder. This course is relatively flat and open. It was so flat that the route was confusing with all the turns and backtracking. At several points the runners retrace a section of the course in the opposite direction. We did not do the walk-through on Friday but were told that it really did not help. The organizers used a garden tractor as a rabbit for all the races. The tractor lead the way so the lead runners know which way to go.

Veronica in the finishing chute

Crossing the line

Great job Veronica. This is a personal best.

After purchasing an event sweatshirt, we headed home. Without traffic the trip only took about three hours. Thank you Judy for the car. We averaged 36 mpg and returned home with gas to spare. All that on less than a tank of fuel. Gotta love that German diesel.

Today I needed some quiet time to make a few phone calls and make a few arrangements for Thanksgiving. Although I have an office in our home, I thought a little quiet time with a view would make the day more enjoyable. After dropping the boys at school, I rode the 10 miles to interstate 90 floating bridge. The picture above is looking East and I am about to cross it. That is Mercer Island at the far end.

The wind on the bridge is very cold and stiff. With temperatures in the low 40's today, I wore my neoprene booties, full head mask, and ski gloves. There was very little bike traffic on the bridge and only about six pedestrians. The sights are great but the traffic noise is very uncomfortable.

I found a little public beach on the island with great views and some sunshine to warm up. You can just see the West end of I-90 (above left edge of dock) where the first picture was taken from. I got out my pen, notepad, snack, and water bottle to relax and complete my phone calls.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from Erin Pletsch. This conversation made up for all the other calls I needed to make.

Here I am sitting in the park, enjoying the view and getting business done. A 15 mile commute (one way) on a sunny day with no traffic. I call this a good day at the office.