Busy at the farm

Life at the farm is busy these days!

Bus rides

Your friendly bus driver Levi will take you just about anywhere you want to go - as long as it's someplace he wants to go too.

There was spraying to do, but that's mostly done now

Sometimes, you just never know what you'll find

Soybeans are being harvested and wheat is being sowed. The wheat comes in a huge bag

and goes into one of those enormous tanks to be placed in the ground. There's a second tank on there too (you just can't see it in the photo) that holds fertilizer. It's pretty cool and try as I may, I cannot figure out the equipment my dad farms with.

Washington Part 3 - Huskers & Family

Ok, so finally we got to the whole reason we made this trip. Yes, I used Nebraska football to get myself to Seattle. It was Ben's entire reason for going and thankfully the Huskers did us proud. It was a logistical mess to get ourselves to the game, so nearly all of Saturday morning was consumed with getting ourselves to the place where a bus would transport us to the game. The bus system was running late but thankfully we made it to our seats with 5 minutes left until kickoff, phew!

There was a lot of "T-Magic"

and this is the stadium. It had an amazing view of the lake and although I didn't take any of these photos, it was actually a bright, warm and sunny day.

We sat on the side in the shade (in the photo above) about the 40 yard line and not too high up. They were great seats and besides for some odd folks sitting near us, we had a wonderful time.

The crowd was at least 1/3 red and by the end of the game (56-21 final score) there were more people wearing red then purple left in the stadium. It was pretty cool. We even had the wave going around the stadium.

Then, in the after glow of the win, we drove across the state, through the Cascades to Eastern Washington. The rolling, arid farm land that is home to my great aunt Dorothy, my cousin Kay, her husband Dennis and their son and his family.

I kid you not, I've spent many years dreaming and scheming how I could get myself to this place. Growing up, Dorothy and sometimes Kay would come to visit in Kansas. Dorothy and Kay were always "fancy" to me when I was growing up. They would FLY here and wear SILVER jewelry and they had a SWIMMING POOL and a house with an ELEVATOR. I thought they were amazing and beyond "cool". But, now that I'm an adult, I understand them so much better and while the "fancy" adjective has worn off, I would describe them as beautiful, charming and gracious.

It was wonderful to see their farm. Farming where it rains 5 inches a year and the soil is mostly volcanic ash is a far cry from farming in Central Kansas. With irrigation though, they have been able to diversify their crops which still include a lot of wheat and barley, but also potatoes, peas, cannola and rape seed.

Thanks for hosting us Kay and Dennis!

On our way off the farm toward Spokane to fly home, there was a crew picking spuds (or potatoes to the rest of us). It was fascinating to watch.

What a trip! And sadly, now that we are two weeks past when this trip began, it seems like something that happened a long time ago. Life keeps marching us forward and making time and space to enjoy these memories is not as easy as I would hope.

Washington Part 3 - Seattle Day Two

Our second day in Seattle was beautiful.

We walked a few blocks down from our hotel to Pioneer Square and stumbled upon a local bakery and coffee shop.

I think it took me a good 5 minutes to decide what to order. The pastry options all looked amazing.

In the end I couldn't make up my mind so I ordered two things. The cinnamon roll - I'm almost always a sucker for a cinnamon roll - and a peach almond tart, with a mocha to drink.

Ben had a sausage egg biscuit sandwich and a coffee. That food, plus a newspaper and an interesting atmosphere with local folks coming and going, it was the perfect start to the day.

Then, we walked just a little bit further down the street and came to a vintage pottery shop called Laguna Pottery and it was my heaven on earth. I think it was the highlight of my time in Seattle - call my crazy, but it's true. They shipped these items to me!

Megan, check out the LuRay!

It was wonderful and the owner was friendly and down-to-earth.

Then we were off to Pike Place!

There's a blur in the middle of the photo below...it's a flying fish. :-)

After we took in all of Pike Place - surrounded by Husker fans, seriously there were people wearing red everywhere. Then, we hopped on the monorail to head to City Center

which is where the Space Needle is. Did you know is costs $18 to go to the top? Yep, so we skipped that.

City Center is also where the Experience Music Project is. We didn't pay to go inside but the outside was pretty cool.

There's also an amazing (and huge) fountain there.

See, I told you Husker fans were everywhere. They even left their mark on a parking sign.

Back to Pike Place - this guy was nuts. Harmonica in mouth, spinning the entire time to balance the guitar on top of the harmonica, playing the other guitar and he kept the hoola hoops going the whole time.

Can you see the Nebraska flag hanging off the balcony in the background?

For dinner we met up with Christine Thimm, a friend from Bethel. She's new to Seattle so we came up with some options and finally decided on 88 Keys, a dueling piano bar. It was interesting, but in the end the performers were amazing. They could play and sing any song thrown at them, it was ca-RAY-zy.