L’été à les fortifications

June means another trip to Quebec! A significant amount of work has been done on the fortifications in the past year, and I spent a warm, sunny afternoon checking them out. 

Montréal, rapidement

Normally in June I post about Quebec City, since we have annual update training sometime in the early summer. I almost always stop in Montreal en route to Quebec City, since there are no direct flights from Vancouver, but I rarely leave the airport. This time, I came up with a way to squeeze a visit in without extending my trip past 6 days. A friend from college had recently moved to the city with her husband, and offered to share their couch. I flew out a day early for the meetings, caught the bus to their neighborhood, and spent the day that the rest of my co-workers traveled exploring a new city! 

the Basilica

Deming Logging Show "for Busted Up Loggers"

This last Saturday we had an afternoon with no plans and sunshine in the forcast. M suggested that we go check out the Deming Logging Show, an annual event put on "for the benefit of busted up loggers." It was somewhere between a county fair and redneck truck show. Campers and trailers lined the soggy field around the fairgrounds. Driving up, we could see lines of spit-polished, impossibly chromed Kenworth, International, and Mack dump trucks. Boom spars lifted sky high pointed us to the parking area as we pulled in. We followed the echoing speaker and found seats in the grandstands...

The first day of summer (in Tacoma)

The local high school team was at the state meet in Tacoma this weekend. Sister #3 is a star runner, so we headed down to watch her run! After she PR'd by 2 seconds in the 800m, we had a few hours until the next event, so we took Sisters #4 and #5 and headed downtown for an adventure in the sunshine. 

leaning slightly left at the Glass Museum

a Hike in Southern WA

My last class was scheduled the week before Memorial Day weekend 200 miles south of home just off I-5. Looking at the option of driving vs flying, I realized I could get there lickety-split on a turboprop from Bellingham directly to Portland. So I did!

Mt St Helens peeking above Iron Bridge

In the meantime

After two months of running around like a crazy person, I've had a wonderfull, continuous 3 weeks at home. Next week it's off to the south end of the state, but here's what we've been up to in the meantime... 

Sunset view from Rock Ridge

A few thoughts from the Oregon coast

Before my friends left the Pacific NorthWest, we had two things to do: shopping, and a visit to the Coast. The Coast took priority.