Church Service of a different kind........................pews not included

I'm sure that some of my faithful readers have been wondering where I've been for the last few weeks. The blog has been a little idle to say the very least.

Well I'm about to answer that question. The fam and I have been in the north central part of the state visiting my "old man" and just getting away from it all.

So without further ado, here is the quickie version of his place.


My dad lives in the original church in Riverside. It was constructed in 1907. He's a glass blower and an artist so I can think of no better place for someone of his nature to live. Conventional housing just wouldn't do. Average summer temperature: 100 degrees daytime/low 80's at nite.

So the first shot you see is the top of the Bell Tower which he raised by 10' 2 years ago. There is an angel statue looking out over the town now and at the very peak he installed some of his own stained glass art and back lit it. Looks cool at nite.




The second pic is the wrap around deck under construction 2 years ago. The finished product is great for lounging and hosting a barbeque.

This shot is looking east at the building. The window you see is in the pantry area of the kitchen. It's a weird shaped kitchen and not all that well thought out. It's not my dad's fault though. This kitchen (as well as the apartment area that is the main living area) was added on sometime in the 1940's I believe. Don't quote me on that though.

The foundation is not poured concrete, but stacked rocks/boulders instead and filler in between.








My dad is the master of finding building materials that have been removed from other structures in the county and getting them for free or close to nothing and incorporating them into his home.

These double french doors belonged in the County courthouse and had been removed for it's renovation a number of years ago. Most of the glass panes had to be replaced and of course they didn't look this good when he installed it.

This is the finished product. Hard to imagine it with a single pre-fab door.





This is one of three 6' circumference windows in the upper loft area.


Fortunately my dad is a purest when it comes to this place and thinks that these window should stay. I couldn't agree more.

He has worked hard to track down as much of the original siding or something that looks similar to the original.

Currently the south side of the building is receiving a new roof. I hate to imaging just how old the roof is, but I believe my stated the roof was most likely replace in the 1950's.

When in Victoria...................the city, not the Queen......

So way back in 2001 Karen and I did a weekend trip to Victoria B.C. just before the holidays. Even though it was December it was a great time to go.

The ride up on the Victoria Clipper was pretty uneventful for the most part. There was a little chop in the water and one of the best parts was that my not-so-evil twin (one of my best friends who shares my same first name and his birthdate is 1 year and 1 day after mine) just happened to be heading up to Victoria for the weekend as well. This gave us time to catch up with each other and share a bit of breakfast.

Karen and I stayed at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. I hate to say it, but I'm a bit of a hotel snob. This really is the only place to stay in Victoria as far as I'm concerned. Sure it's not got all the up to date tech conveniences that some of the new places has, but it has the charm and the service that surpasses all the other.

One of the things that you should do when there (Karen and I do everytime) is do the traditional English afternoon tea service. They really know how to pamper you there. The only thing they don't do is put the food in your mouth and wipe you afterward.


One of the highlights is Craigdarroch Castle. This grand spectacle of obscene wealth and industrialism was built by Robert Dunsmuir a coal magnate and railroad industrialist in Canada. While being a fellow Scot, he seemed to be obsessed with material things and showing off his wealth. While this house has some amazing features, it's more than I would need.






To the left is a photo of the gentleman's cigar room. This is where Robert and the boys would retire to for after dinner cigars and scotch or whatever 19th century rocket fuel happened to be on hand.

A little cluttered, but a fairly cozy room to have a pow-wow and dream up the next capitalist venture.











This is one of my favourite features in the house. There is a spiral staircase that leads up to a turret style look out room with a 360 degree view of Victoria. This is the spire at the top of said staircase that hangs from the ceiling.

This little guy is here to greet all the visitors to the lookout and watch over everyone.













This is another one of my favourite features in the house. This is the library. None of the shelves are taller than chest height.

The coolest feature though is the fireplace. Ah you noticed!!! There is a window just over the fireplace which means that this can't be a real fireplace, right? Wrong. The chimney flu for the fireplace in this room runs up either side of the window!!! That is really cool in my book.











Another thing we got to do that a majority of tourist don't get to do (simply due to the fact that December isn't a peak tourist time of year) is to see the Butchart Gardens at nite for the Christmas light display.


This photo is looking at the main house.










This photo is in the Italian garden just off the side of the main house.













This carousel is just behind the Rose garden.




I'm sure that there is a lot to see and do when visiting Victoria. There is a lot of shopping along Government Avenue. There is China Town. Interesting note about Victoria's China Town is that it's home of the world's narrowest alley which was used for a motourcycle chase scene in the movie Bird On A Wire starring Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson. Look it up. I wouldn't shit you on that. I'm a movie geek.

Thanks for reading. I'm off to hopefully make it through a Hitchcock film that our very cool new neighbour let us borrow. It's one of my favourite Hitchcock films: Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly and Raymond Burr. If you've seen it, good for you. If you haven't, then I'm ashamed of you and you will get 12 lashings under the light of a full moon with a wet noodle for not seeing it.

Oh, and read our neighbours blog. She is new to blogging and we welcome her to this new venture. Here is her site: CelticSprite

Hip Dead Folks In Seattle

So there are some pretty cool things to do in Seattle when visiting or even if you happen to live here and don't know what's in your own backyard.

One of Seattle's best kept secrets is our dead celebrities. Here are just two examples of the celebrities that you can expect to see (in our cemeteries) when in town for a weekend or that next business trip.


First up we have Bruce Lee, master of Jeet Kun Do and action film star. There was more to him though than martial arts.

He was very passionate about Jeet Kun Do and wanted to have a school where he could teach others. He was a gifted writer, talented stunt co-ordinator and devoted husband and father.

Hollywood hosed Bruce for many years because of his race. He lost parts in films and tv series because of these prejudices which is too bad. Hollywood just didn't know how big he would be once the general public saw his films. Too bad for them.

Now it's too bad for us. Unfortunately the world lost Bruce Lee on July 20th 1973. He died during the filming of his 5th film, Enter The Dragon.

Through his determination to teach and ability to put aside the racial short comings of others, had Bruce lived he would have done great things to promote not only his style of martial arts, but also his compassion for those that discriminated against him and others to promote awareness and harmony.



Right next to Bruce Lee you will find son and actor, Brandon Lee. Like his father, he was an action film star and died tragically while making his 5th film, The Crow.

I hadn't seen many of his films. In fact the only other one I had seen was Rapid Fire. It's kind of a blur to me now really. I remember being at work though when I had heard Brandon had been killed during filming. I was really taken down by that news. I had been waiting for this film and had wondered how this could have happened and of course what this meant for the film.

The public would get these answer soon enough. This was really tough to swallow for everyone. Not only did a promising actor get cut down in what was surely going to be the start of a huge career, but he was 18 days away from being married!!!
I actually had a lot of respect for Brandon. I didn't know him and he clearly had never heard of me, but I admired him for wanting to act his way and not live in his father's shadow.

We all want to do things our own way and not be our parents. I never want to be like my birthing vessel (mom that I'm currently not speaking to) or her husband (step-father figure) since they have issues that they clearly need to work on.

Instead these days I find myself trying to become a calmer and more understanding person, which is very different from the way I was raised...........in yelling, verbal abruptness and mental chaos. Thank (insert religious figure here) I was an only child and that I could spend hours in my room doing anything but being in the same room with them.

Now I spend my time trying to find that inner peace and to occasionally silence the music and white noise that is constantly in a state of perpetual motion in my head. I also strive to be more like my biological father-he oozes serenity and I've NEVER seen him flustered by anyone or anything. In the end I have accepted that I can be just like one parent and I'd like to think that Brandon, while not wanting to live in his fathers shadow had learned that he could be his own person and still be like one of his parents.............that individual that stood out and wanted to achieve and make a difference his way.

When in Seattle, you can find Bruce and Brandon Lee interned at Lakeview Cemetary on Capitol Hill. Google it and you will find it.

Another famous, interned Seattle resident is Jimi Hendrix. That is a blog for another time.

*disclamer* clearly the head shot of Brandon Lee and the rest in peace action photo of Bruce Lee are not mine, but the photos of the headstones for Bruce and Brandon Lee are mine. I actually happen to be at Lakeview on July 20, 2008 to take these.......35 years after Bruce Lee's death. We had apparently just missed the History Channel film crew and Bruce's widow Linda Lee Caldwell speaking to fans and well wishers there to celebrate Bruce's life. Now that would have been something to attend.

The Viking and Dirty Martini's

So I recently changed the title on my blog because I wanted to be able to document our travels. This particular trip was a solo mission. It was for work.

Yes, technically I am a travel agent. No I don't work for an agency. I work for a cruise line. I spent 4 years in shore excursions. While there I started a program to identify excursions that disabled guests would be able to do. I started with the toughest criteria. Searching for the tours for guests that are non-ambulatory.

That's confined to a wheelchair for those of you that don't speak the pc lingo on handling these situations.

Well now I work in the department that handles the ADA accessibility of guests on board our ships. Sounds easy you say. Not so. ADA is such a grey area that it is the one reason I shave my head. That way I can't pull it out. :)

So back to the reason of this one: Juneau, Alaska. Been there done that. In the southeast panhandle of the state. Accessible only by boat or plane. They are land-locked and you can't drive to it. They have 42 miles of drivable road. Douglas Island is reported to have a get-away home of Harrison Ford. No truth in that from what the locals have told me.

First I have to say that I was surprised to find that not only could I get a GOOD dirty martini in Juneau, but that the particular pub I went to had the vodka that I really like. Three Olives. This is not a premium vodka but one of the best in my opinion. That pub was The Viking. Nothing spectacular about it. Quiet place (well that I could tell since I'd had a few dirty martinis) and plenty of people to chat with.

One thing I did that really stuck out was the helicopter ride up to the Mendenhall Glacier. This is the most easily viewed glacier in Juneau.

Here is a shot of me up on the glacier. In the back ground is an area called the "thunder bowl" named for the thundering roar that you hear just before ice calves from the top of the ridge into the bowl below.

This excellent trip was due in part to the great folks at Temsco Helicopter.

On this particular tour you get about 20-30 minutes on the glacier. You have a guide to show you around and at the end you have some free time to explore on your own before the helicopter comes back for you.

The Mt Roberts Tram is another really fun attraction while in Juneau. There are two European style trams that take you to the top where you have hiking trails, a cultural theatre, gift shops and a restaurant. The view is phenomenal as you can see. I totally recommend doing this while your there. It's not a lot of money and there is no set time frame since you come and go at your leisure.






I have to throw this one in. It's not Juneau but this is a must see when you get to Alaska. This is the Hubbard Glacier. It's located in the Yakutat Bay. This is accessible by cruise ship. This is one of our cruise ships in the foreground.

Our ships stay one mile back due to the frequency of calving from the glacier. This is a spectacular sight to see and the roar that is created just before the calving is something to hear.

Just to give you an idea how big this particular ship is, it's 82,000 grt (gross registered tons) is 936 ft in length with a beam of 105.8 ft. It accommodates 800 crew and 1848 guests. It's not one of the mega cruise ships out there, but is a healthy size and that glacier really dwarfs it and any other ship out there.

Now it's off to apply another coat of stain to a stool and think about dinner. I will work on putting together some photos of my trip into Ketchikan for another post at another time.