Saturday, June 9, 2012

Tuesday through Friday....8th grade promotion, the NBA, NHL, and other things

Let's see, my last post was about Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so it must be time for Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.....wow, have that many days passed since I posted.....time is flyin'!

Tuesday was all about my niece Caroline's promotion from 8th grade to 9th grade, or, in other words, High School!  We had just been at St. Georges School the day before to watch "May Terms", and were back by 9:30am Tuesday for Caroline's promotion ceremony, which, considering there are only 80+ kids, it took almost two hours to present all the special awards, letters of recognition, etc., and then the vaunted promotion certificates.


After the ceremony we headed off to the Flying Goat for lunch.  What a cool little place....they have a lot of beer on tap, but considering the day (rainy, cold, blustery) it seemed like a day for some Guiness Stew and Guiness Beer, so that is what I had, thank you very much.  Just after lunch my brother-in-law had to leave for the airport to catch a flight to Chicago for business.

Wednesday was a rainy day on and off, so Elaine and I drove over to REI to do some shopping for some shoes for her.  REI is a regional outdoors outfitter. REI stands for Recreational Equipment, Inc.  We didn't find what she was looking for a reasonable price, but she did find a shoe that fit, so we will keep an eye out for that shoe at a better price, somewhere else.  After REI we headed north to the local Ford dealership to buy a replacement brake lever boot for the T'Bird.....this piece is not well designed, and we have to replace it every couple of years.....the price has been rising steadily, and this time it cost over $90!  I think the first time I replaced it the cost was $45 about 5 years ago.





I am a mountain biker at heart, but probably do most of my riding on streets now with the Lovely Elaine, since that is what she prefers.  My sister's home backs up to forest land and in that forest land is a great mountain bike trail.  Finally on Friday I got my Intense 5.5 out in between rain storms and rode the trail for an hour, or so.....probably about 6 miles in all.  I will be riding this trail more in the coming weeks....all I have to do is ride down to the end of the street and on to this trail.  


My pictures are a little out of order....this picture is of a portion of Gonzaga University, which lies along the Spokane River.  On Thursday morning my sister, Hilary, suggested we (her husband, Bob, was in Chicago on business, so it was just the 3 of us) all ride down to Riverfront Park along the Spokane River and back.....Elaine and I had done it a few days before, and I knew it was about 17-18 miles round trip.  I reminded Hilary of the distance, but she is one game lady, and didn't back down.  The trip to Riverfront is mostly flat and downhill, so getting there was easy.  Getting back would be the trick.  The weather was slightly overcast, and in the 60's, so it was perfect riding weather.  We left around 10am and rode along High Drive, which provides an amazing view of the valley to the west.


 The view along High Drive




We rode up the west side of the River past the Civic Center, and then crossed over the bridge to Gonzaga, and then headed back down the river on the east side.  On our way home, about half way up the long climb to South Hill I spied a Rocket Bakery at the intersection of Adams and 14th, so I suggested we take a break and have a cup of coffee, which we did, of course!  We arrived back home around 1pm.  


Later that evening I watched, simultaneously, the Celtic/Heat game, and the Kings/Devils game.......the Celtics were beaten soundly, and single handedly, by LeBron James, and my Kings, also lost a close game.


Friday evening Bob returned from Chicago, and my sister treated us to her award winning White Chili.  


It was a very laid back week with rain on and off coupled with very cool temperatures.  We are really enjoying out time here in Spokane, and getting to know the area.  Next week we will do more bicycling, and more exploring.


Thanks for stopping by!

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