July! So many highlights to remember.
Alan turned that Medicare age -- and promptly joined Kaiser.
The paperwork on Magic was completed and we are now boat owners again. Magic is currently on the hard in Guaymas, Mexico in the new singular marina. Guaymas is a busy port town on the Sea of Cortez, on the mainland side of Mexico about 8 hours south of Tucson. With the sale completed, we then began the process of the US Coast Guard documentation and obtaining insurance. Tropical storms occasionally strike Guaymas but we are north of 27 degrees so we do have "named storm" insurance. The yard is paved and Magic sits between 2 buildings -- this is best scenario as no boats will fall over on her & the hard paving means the ground will not become soft yucky mud and swallow up the boat stands.
One of the highlights of our summer -- and certainly a magical moment -- was the wedding of my nephew Tom to his high school sweetheart Ashley. The celebration was in Colorado -- so off we flew for a round of parties & activities with family.
A dear family friend Meg had made a cheesecake with bride and groom strawberries for dinner one night. YUM! There was not a bite of that dessert left over.
Alisa and Joe live on a golf course -- we had endless entertainment on the 17th green. We also played 9 holes of scramble golf. I believe the groom & the young men won but this fearless foursome must have something going on with those 5 golf balls. MAGIC!
Alisa had organized a "tie a knot and make a wish" cord for Tom and Ashley as part of the rehearsal dinner. It will remind them of all the prayers and good wishes made for them and their life together.
Happy Sisters -- and that is before the wedding & the final toast at home with the best champagne my Dad & Alan could find in Loveland.
Well, there was some special Arizona Diet Blueberry Iced Tea but champagne is still my favorite!
July also found us on the road north to Seattle. We had a car load of things for David and Monica including a Chinese chest, a china service set, a leather chair and boxes of papers and photos for David to sort through and reminisce! We stopped off in Portland for an evening in Powell's Bookstore. Alan had also down a bit of organizing so we could buy boat bits & parts in Oregon (no sales tax!)
David and Monica had just moved into a new home in the Ballard section of Seattle. Alan got to play "Handyman Alan" and we helped get lots of small jobs done to make the move in go smoothly.
We left Bryan with David and Monica for a few days and headed to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness for several days of backpacking. It was absolutely wonderful....if you could forget the mosquitos that found us really attractive and easy self serve dinner. We had planned a 4 night loop from Pete's lake but quickly figured out that 3 nights were plenty & it was no fun exploring when the bugs were so fierce.
This was our first campsite at Pete's Lake. We did not realize that our second campsite would be up there with those snow fields at the Escondido Cairns.
The hike was rugged and at times was just a simple ledge on the rocky cliff. We found the Cairns a thrill to explore -- lots of snow melt and small creeks to follow.
One of my summer projects was to make a small, lightweight Tarptent using a pattern I had found on the internet. It was a great success -- and kept the bugs on the outside!
We returned to Seattle and then had to begin the long drive home.
