Monthly Archives: August 2024

Our Leavenworth Summer Vacation

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Our family recently returned from vacation. I am guessing that your initial thought after that first sentence wasn’t Where did you go? but rather How did you go on vacation just a few days after starting a new job? Fair enough. My employer knew when I received the job offer that my family had a vacation planned for the first full week of August. Thanks to Eastern Washington University’s understanding and the fact that all my leave time from WSU transferred to EWU, I was able to make it work.

Okay, so where did we go? Thanks to recommendations, this summer we visited Leavenworth, Washington.

Sloan and Sidney hanging out in downtown Leavenworth.

Even though I grew up in Washington, I had never visited Leavenworth. The fact that it was only three and a half hours away (we didn’t want to travel far) and a totally new place for all four of us made it our preferred option. For those unfamiliar with Leavenworth, it is a town built to resemble a Bavarian village. Everything from the hotels to the shops to the McDonald’s embrace the German-themed identity.

Leavenworth is a Bavarian-themed town in central Washington.

To put it simply, based on our four-day stay, Leavenworth has a quaintness and charm that is utterly endearing. We had an incredible time and are so glad we chose this town nestled in the Cascades for our vacation. Here are 10 themes from our memorable time in central Washington.

We had an amazing time in Leavenworth. I wanted to share with you 10 themes from our vacation.

Wenatchee – Let me start pre-Leavenworth. On Tuesday, we stopped in Wenatchee to stretch our legs, grab some lunch, and kill some time before our 4 p.m. hotel check-in. We ended up at a cool spot called Walla Walla Point Park. We played on the playground and then looked for a geocache that took us to an island within the park. As you can probably tell from the photos, it was hot.

Before arriving in Leavenworth we stopped at Wenatchee and went to Walla Walla Point Park.

The Enzian Inn – Most of what we did started and ended with our hotel. This particular property had everything a family needed to be busy for four days. The “charm” of Leavenworth that I spoke about is very much embodied by the Enzian Inn. If I could describe this hotel in one word it would be wholesome. This place is simply perfect for families and we would stay there again in a heartbeat.

We had it made at the Enzian Inn. Perfect for families!

Swimming – It isn’t vacation without a pool, right? We got our money’s worth with the outdoor and indoor pools on the Enzian property. Large, long, and comfortable, we spent hours at the pools throughout our stay. We met new friends, read our books, and splashed the time away. The numerous hot tubs on site also added to the enjoyment. Perhaps the most memories were made during our night swims—it just doesn’t get more magical than swimming in a well-lit pool when it is pitch dark on vacation.

We spent a lot of time at the Enzian Inn pools.

Golf – Our hotel offered a miniature golf course that guests could play for free. Well, calling it a “miniature golf course” probably isn’t the right phrase. I think the Enzian calls it a “putting course.” The 18-hole oasis is immaculate with perfect greens, flowing water, and roaming wildlife. We played the course three times with Sloan and me starting the day off on the course bright and early for two of them.

A unique feature at the Enzian Inn is a putting golf course that is gorgeous and fun.

Movie Night – Each night our hotel would offer movies at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the family room. Popcorn was popped from an old school machine and you were welcome to take as much as you pleased. The irresistible popcorn aroma would reach our noses and practically pull us into the family room. Sloan watched “Charlotte’s Web” in its entirety while Beau and I watched “Rudy” together. After long days spent in the sun, it was relaxing to sit in the very well air conditioned room and watch a movie while munching on popcorn.

Each night the Enzian Inn offered movies and popcorn in the family room.

Alpine Coaster – Leavenworth has a roller coaster built into one of its signature mountains that is impossible to miss for anyone visiting the town. On Thursday we visited Leavenwoth Adventure Park that is home to the Tumwater Twisted Alpine Coaster. Because it is an alpine coaster, that means the rider controls how fast (or how slow) their respective car/sled goes. Sidney and Sloan rode together and had an absolute blast although there are discrepancies on who wanted to go faster and who was more prone to pump the break.

Sidney and Sloan had a blast on the Tumwater Twisted Alpine Coaster.

The Shops – Downtown Leavenworth is beautiful and eclectic. The variety of shops appealed to both my kids and Sidney. We had fun strolling through toy stores, souvenir shops, the Christmas/nutcracker boutiques, candy stores, and much more. Sloan and Beau each had a set amount of money they could spend as it was entertaining to watch them budget and make decisions on what they wanted to buy.

Downtown Leavenworth has something for everyone.

Food – We went with the Bavarian vibe and dined at a couple different German restaurants. We ate multiple pretzels, tried some sausages, and sampled German potatoes. To be honest, some of the restaurants were hit and miss but we were never dissatisfied with the copious amounts of ice cream we scarfed down throughout our trip.

We ate our share of pretzels and ice cream while in Leavenworth.

Games – The family room of our hotel offered ping pong, shuffleboard, pool, and skee-ball. We played all four. Sidney and I had some competitive and spirited ping pong matches while Beau impressed me with his serve. We also had fun with the jumbo Jenga set and wide selection of board games.

We took advantage of the many games available in the family room of the Enzian Inn.

Family Time In Room – For all the fun and excitement that the Enzian and Leavenworth offered, my favorite part of vacation was probably just hanging with my family at the end of the day in our hotel room. After dinner, swimming, movies, and games finished up, we would head back to our room and watch the Olympics, eat a dessert, and enjoy endless laughs. It simply didn’t get any better and was the highlight of my trip. As we hung out talking and joking with each other as it grew late, I kept thinking to myself, this is what vacation is all about.

I really treasured the fun nights we spent together in our Enzian Inn hotel room after long, fun days.

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Mark my words, one of these days we will return to Leavenworth. It is a special place with plenty to do for families. Speaking of families, I feel so fortunate that I got several days with just Sidney, Sloan, and Beau. I will latch onto the memories made and look forward to next time. Thanks be to God. Don’t Blink.

How to Spend a Summer Evening

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When I look back on our memorable, fun-packed month of July there is one evening that especially stands out. What is funny about this particular Thursday night is that it was such a basic, low key affair but for whatever reason it epitomized summer.

On this evening that I speak of, we simply went to a park to listen to live music.

The scene at Audubon Park in Spokane on July 25, 2024.

I took the kids to Audubon Park on July 25 for the latest show in its summer concert series. Taking the stage was The Moops, a classic rock cover band. We bought some Carl’s Jr. hamburgers and snagged some sodas from the gas station and headed to the 27 acres of rolling Ponderosa Pines in northwest Spokane. We found some grassy space, set up our lawn chairs, and prepared to enjoy the evening.

Beau eats hjs hamburger during the concert at Audubon Park.

It is funny, amateur live music isn’t usually a big draw for me, especially if it is indoors in a confined spot such as a restaurant or bar. However, if a band is playing in an outdoor open space, I am all for it. It is similar in the respect that I feel a soda, beer, and hamburger always taste better in the open air than at the dining room. So, as you can imagine, when you have both going for you on a gorgeous evening it is pretty easy to enjoy yourself.

And enjoy ourselves we did. Even though Sloan didn’t know a single song the band performed, she danced the night away. Self-conscious that hundreds of people surrounded her as she busted her moves toward the front of the stage? Not my daughter! Beau also had his dancing shoes on—well, technically he was barefoot—but he took breaks to climb on the playground.

Sloan dancing the night away at Audubon Park.

Although Sloan may have been clueless when it came to the artists and lyrics of the songs, her daddy wasn’t. At one time as a young teenager, I loathed the rock music from the 1970s and early 1980s that my dad listened to on the radio but that is no longer the case. I had a relaxing time as The Moops played songs such as “American Girl,” “Dancing With Myself,” “Two Tickets to Paradise,” “867-5309,” and so many more.

As it approached 9 p.m., I had to round up my young ones and head home. As you can imagine, they didn’t want to leave. Sadly, it was the last concert of the series but next summer we will return earlier in the season. It was an innocent, inexpensive night of fun under the sky during one of Spokane’s nicest months…what isn’t there to like? Don’t Blink.

More Thoughts on 2024 Summer Games

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Olympic fever continues to register at an intense level in our house. A week after I wrote my first blog post of thoughts and notes on the 2024 Summer Olympics, we are still cheering hard on a daily basis for the USA while admiring the competitive spirit of all the Olympic athletes. Fresh off a weekend of exhilarating competition, here are 10 more of my tidbits…

The three of us huddled on the couch watching the Olympics over the weekend.

– World Class Production. It doesn’t matter if you are watching table tennis, the high jump, gymnastics, or one of the many other sports, the NBC family of networks is stringing together superb broadcasts of each event. From the angles to the replays to the technology used, the coverage is gold medal-worthy. It has been a lot of fun to watch.

– Ages. NBC has made it a point to document the age of pretty much every athlete that makes it on a broadcast. I have found it fascinating (and encouraging) that many of these athletic specimens are in their thirties. Perhaps there is still hope for me to become an Olympic athlete? Not so fast, when the next Summer Olympics arrive in 2028 I will have aged out of that specific decade demographic.

– Men’s 100M. What fun this was to watch live with Sloan and Beau. To be honest, I didn’t know if Noah Lyles was going to have any energy left to compete after his very animated entrance to the track. Then once the race started it looked like my assumption was going to be correct as the Jamaican athlete seemed to have the advantage the whole way and (to me) it looked like he held Lyles off at the finish line. But what a pleasant surprise it was when they flashed the times and an American had one a gold medal in the men’s 100M for the first time in 20 years. Our household went nuts!

– Women’s 100M. I have enjoyed all the lead-up coverage of Sha’Carri Richardson prior-to-and-during the Games. My hope was that she would take home the gold but it took just a nanosecond to know that wasn’t going to happen once the gun went off. Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia seemed to leave Richardson in the dust out of the blocks and cruised to the top of the podium. Although I wish Richardson won, I know she will be back in 2028 and I am happy that the country of Saint Lucia won an Olympic medal.

– Stephen Nedoroscik. It took one look at “Steve” for me to know he would be a darling of the Olympics. When I saw him at the very beginning of the games sporting his trademark glasses, I immediately wanted to know more about the pommel horse specialist. Thanks to the approximately 50 TikToks my sister sent me about Nedoroscik over the past week, my desire for info was fulfilled. What a cool moment it was to see him capture the bronze.

– Medal Count. An objective, easy-to-follow aspect of the Games is the medal count. This has been such a great learning tool for Sloan as she keeps track of what is going on in Paris. She constantly asks me to pull it up as she obsesses over the neck and neck race between the United States and China for most golds. At least she doesn’t have to worry too much about the overall medal count—the U.S. is making us proud with a massive lead over all the other countries.

– Triathlon. On Saturday, I gave Sloan the option to choose any event she desired for us to watch. She chose the women’s triathlon and I am glad she did. Although I know the Seine River has been the source of much controversy, it was interesting and quirky how the athletes had to swim three laps in the river while getting out at the conclusion of each one only to dive back in. Also, watching the competitors swim at a freakishly fast speed because of the current was very entertaining. Thanks, Sloan, for getting me out of my Olympic “comfort zone.”

– Take a Shot. As someone who threw the shot put all four years in high school, I always watch the event during the Olympics. I am consistently blown away at the power and footwork these massive, strong athletes bring to the ring. Of course, the intrigue this year was whether Ryan Crouser could win his third straight gold medal, and, spoiler alert, he did. However, I will always remember the Paris competition because of the rain that caused the ring to be dangerously slick. Multiple competitors took falls while executing their spins as I held my breath. Thankfully, no one was hurt, which is a testament to how gracefully these dudes landed.

– Fatigue. I totally get it that beach volleyball is a signature Summer Olympics event and that it brings in big ratings, but I think I have seen my fill this year. And this is coming from a guy who actually really likes the sport. However, pool play lasts so long and it seems like the sport is featured every single night during primetime. I am glad we still have U.S. athletes competing and I will watch the gold medal match but it has lost some luster for me.

– Entrances. Okay, I want to end with something fun. All events now offer elaborate entrances which I can appreciate because if you deserve it if you are an Olympic athlete. However, sometimes they take a long time. I will admit that on more than one occasion when I was watching late night events that I fell asleep in the middle of the introductions.

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Although the home stretch of the 2024 Summer Olympics is almost here, there are still lots of medals to be won. You better believe we will continue to watch. Don’t Blink.

Part of the EWU Team

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I am now officially an Eastern Washington University Eagle. I have put in my first three days, met my team, walked the campus, and even participated in my first few meetings.

Check the ID, I am an official EWU employee.

And oh yeah, I have also sported the red and white…

I love my college gear and I have an initial wardrobe of EWU polos. This is what I wore on my first day.

I was given a very warm welcome on my first day. My boss brought in donuts and everyone came out to the gathering area and welcomed me. The rest of the day continued with the same warm sentiment as my new colleagues weren’t shy about stopping by my office to introduce themselves. Speaking of my office, it was completely ready for me when I walked in with a swag bag on my desk, a welcome message on the white board, and a case of my favorite soda waiting for me.

I had a warm welcome awaiting me when I strolled into my office on Aug. 1.

For those of us who have switched jobs and been fortunate, there is a feeling of excitement and relief that is evident after the first few days. With initial nerves out of the way and a better understanding of the environment you will be working in, you start to feel confident in your decision and hopeful that you can contribute. I think I am at that spot right now.

I work in the Hargreaves Building on the Eastern Washington University campus.

Of course a lot more is expected out of me than just feeling “hopeful” but that will come. As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, the best attribute I can bring to the table at this specific time is the ability to listen. I have learned much from my EWU colleagues just over the past few days but there is much more learning to do—and that requires listening.

I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity at EWU.

I have been welcomed and accepted by Eastern Washington University. This initial embrace has made me even more determined to make a positive impact. The ball is now in my court to reciprocate this good will and do my best. Don’t Blink.