Dead & Company at The Gorge - George, Washington - June 29-30, 2018

Today, we left Seattle for The Gorge.  The Gorge is a beautiful 27,500-seat outdoor concert amphitheatre near the Columbia River in George, Washington.  Many consider this to be the most beautiful outdoor venue in America.  The setting is dramatic, with the Columbia River down below and the foothills of the Cascade Range rising up from each side.  We had premiere camping, which was great and there were a few thousand Deadheads camping out for two nights.

Dylan went into the show early to get up front as he always does.  Cassidy and I followed a little later and as we were walking into the venue, a couple came up to us and asked if Cassidy would take their photo.  I had my phone camera on too, and at that moment, the guy drops to his knee, pulled out a diamond ring and proposed to his girlfriend right there in front of us!  It was such a special moment, and we were so fortunate to have been in the right place and the right time…which seems to be a common thread for us.

Cassidy and I walked all the way down towards the pit, for which we did not have tickets.  We immediately saw Dylan who had already fenagled his way into the pit and encouraged us to jump the waist-high fence. Cassidy, in her youthful exhuberance, immediately hopped over the fence and disappeared up front.  There I was, debating whether I wanted to see my 54-year old self escorted out of the venue for fence jumping, and a guy on the pit side looks at me and says, “If you’re ever gonna do it, NOW is your time dude!” With that, I turned into my teenage self and hopped the fence into the pit and we all watched the show from 3^rdrow!  It was an interesting setlist:  Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Bertha, Tennessee Jed, Mr. Charlie, Loser, Crazy Fingers and Cumberland Blues to wrap up the first set.  They started the second set with Playin’ in the Band, a beautiful Eyes of the World, Comes a Time with Oteil on vocals, a smokin’ Terrapin Station>Drums>Space>New Speedway Boogie and Black Peter to end the show.  They encored with U.S. Blues, and as it always does live, made me feel so American and everyone sung, “Wave that flag….wave it wide and high!”

After the show, we went back to the bus and hosted a party at the bus with Dylan playing electric guitar.  Terri Wixson Danielson, a neighborhood friend I grew up with and hadn’t seen in 30+ years stopped by with her lovely family to say hi and catch up.  That was a nice treat!   Dylan, Cassidy and I stayed up until around 3:00 am, knowing that we had to get on the road tomorrow at 7:00 am.  Morning came early, and I was up by 6:30 and we hit the road on time at 7:00. It was a beautiful drive down to Eugene, Oregon for the next show at Autzen Stadium.

Seattle - June 27-28, 2018

Seattle was a great time. We initially booked a room at the Sheraton downtown, who said they had space for RV parking, only to get there, pay and then find out they could not accommodate us.  This happened to us in Chicago last summer, and the best thing to do is to retreat to the nearest suburb and get a room at a hotel with ample surface parking.  After about 30 minutes of driving around, we found a nice Comfort Inn at 124^thSt in Kirkland.  Kirkland is a nice, toney suburb that has a great feel.  We went out to dinner at Bottler and Bull and had a nice meal.  They had tapas and other delectable small plates. 

The next morning, while getting the bus ready, a couple of hotel employees came out and introduced themselves as Charles, the General Manager and Tori, the front desk person. He was asking about where we were parked, as it is on their lot but designated Chick Fil A during the day. He seemed a little surprised to know we were actually renting a couple rooms and not just squatting.  In any event, they were very cool and welcomed us to stay there where we were.  It turns out that both of them were leaving the next day on a 14-day mini Dead tour, so we had the good ‘ol Grateful Dead in common.  When I went into the lobby to make arrangements to stay another night, Charles and Tori gave me a healthy Deadhead discount on our rooms, which was very cool!  

We summoned an Uber to take us downtown to Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continuously running farmers markets in the country.  It’s teeming with activity, both from the tourists, farmers and the fishmongers all doing their thing.  After seeing all that seafood, we decided to have a seafood lunch and each got clam chowder and Alaskan King Crab claws overlooking the water.   After lunch, we went and had some ice cream as we strolled around the market.  We saw the long line of people paying homage to the original Starbucks at 1st and Pike which opened in 1971.

After lunch, we strolled about a mile away to the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP).  It’s a great place, originally founded by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project to showcase his Jimi Hendrix collection.  He has since expanded it to include Sci-Fi, Horror, an awesome jam room with instruments you can play, and individual sound rooms to play them in.  The Frank Gehry-designed building is ultra-modern and is perfect to house such a place.  Of all the exhibits, our favorite was the Jimi Hendrix exhibition, which had clothes he wore, lyrics he had hand written and the actual guitar he played at Woodstock.  THAT was really cool!  

After MoPOP, we grabbed another Uber to take us to the Vashon Island Ferry to go see Sherri, Matt and meet Matt’s fiancé, Alyce.  Their house on the little island of Vashon is so beautiful!  It overlooks Puget Sound, and they have actually seen whales breach from their deck.  It was wonderful getting to see them and their home and eat an awesome home-cooked dinner.  After dinner and more conversation, we grabbed our stuff and Sherri took us back down to the ferry to take us back to the mainland.  Tomorrow will be a big day, as we leave for two days of The Gorge.   

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho - One of the best kept secrets - June 26-27, 2018

After a few days in Yellowstone, we drove up to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a beautiful town on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene.  It's a small town of about 50,000 people, and the day we arrived they were having an Iron Man competition through the town.  We stayed in a nice RV park close to town, so we either took Sugaree and parked in town during the day or we ubered at night.  We met one of our favorite uber drivers, Jerry.  He was a retired insurance salesman, though not more than really 50's in age.  He loved driving uber and meeting the different people.  As soon as we got in his car, we could tell he was a people person and he was soon telling us his personal story complete with lows and highs.  When we arrived back at Sugaree, he loved the bus and soon he was showing us photos of his 1,000+ shoe collection in a  closet that used to be a living room.

Coeur d'Alene is a gerat place to cool it, and we did a good job of that.  Now, it's on to Seattle...