On a Mission Trip to Colombia!

November 15-24, I went to Colombia with a group of ten other individuals.  Although I live in the Seattle area, they were all from around Milwaukee.  I ended up being the youngest guy on this mission trip, and I turned 35 the day I arrived in Colombia!

I've wanted to go on a mission trip to Colombia for about a year and a half.  I finally found one in August 2014 that I could afford, and I immediately got involved.  Even though I had to front all of the money out of pocket, I created a fundraiser website to help me along, since I was on a tight budget.

The fundraising was completely wonderful.  In two months' time I raised enough to equal what I had paid already.  It was such a blessing that others were willing to help me.  Soma of Christ Church in Tuscaloosa was a major contributor, and I am so grateful to them.  I haven't ever been to their church, but they chose to partner with me on this adventure.  I look forward to visiting their church in the future and talking about my experience in Colombia.

We went to the city of Medellín, a city that has approximately 3.5 million people in the metro area, like Seattle.  Where I live is more spread out though, so there are fewer people per mile than in Medellín.

The city is renown for their Christmas displays, the largest escalator system in the world, and their business innovation.  They use the Colombian Peso for currency.

I left Seattle International Airport on November 15 and went to Los Angeles International Airport.  I stayed the night there. On November 16, I flew from LAX to Panama City, Panama, where I met the rest of my group.  From there we went on the same flight the rest of the way to Medellín.  We were met at the airport by Jen, who with her husband Tom, manage Fresh Wind Children's Center.  We took a passenger van from the airport in Medellín to our hotel—The GHL Comfort Hotel San Diego.  Locals just know it as Hotel San Diego.  It's within walking distance of two shopping malls.

When I checked into the hotel, they looked at my passport.  Later that night, the bellboy came to my room and gave me some banana bread and ice cream because it was my 35th birthday!  It was a nice end to the day.

We were going to have a lot of adventures. 

Continue reading about my adventures in Colombia.

Fair & Festival

The Washington State Fair was from September 5-21 this year, and I got two free tickets from work.  Jean wasn't able to go with me, so I went by myself on September 19.  I really wish I could have been there for at least a couple days because there were so many things to see and do, that I certainly didn't have enough time to do them all in one day.

Once I got there, I saw the photography.  I noticed that people are getting away from more natural-looking photography and going toward obviously Photoshopped photos.  Don't get me wrong—many of them were very artistic and quite beautiful—but photography is becoming heavy on post-processing.

I went through the booths at the fair where you can buy many odd things you just don't see in the store.  I had to taste the huckleberry popcorn (it tasted great, by the way), and check out the various wares and businesses represented.  For myself, I got a wick-less candle.  I don't have very much space where I live, but it now has a Made-in-Montana wick-less candle.

I didn't really figure out their food vendors very well and chose poorly.  I had an awful burger and an unappetizing glob of fries cut in a rectangular cube.  I think I'll be careful of that in the future. Why do onion rings go on burgers now?

After looking around the animal barns, I was quite impressed with the Belgian horses.  I hadn't seen one that I can remember, and I was intrigued by their great size.  I think I liked the goats the most however.  I was particularly captivated by the Lamancha goats.  These are goats that have very small ears.  I hadn't seen this goat before, so I asked one of the owners if the ears are clipped or if they were bred that way, and that's how I learned a little about this distinctive breed.

Lamancha goats have very tiny ears!

I didn't realize when I left that evening that there was fireworks, and I ended up missing that.  I hope the animals do alright with all that loud noise from the fireworks for two weeks during the fair.

Next year, I'll have a better idea of what I want to see and do there, and maybe by then I'll know more people that will have a schedule that will work with mine.

October 5 Jean and I went to Salmon Days for the afternoon.  This is kind of a fun festival held in Issaquah, only about five miles from where Jean and I live.  While we were there, we walked through most of the vendors and bought some Christmas gifts and some honey for ourselves.  Jean had to help out at her workplace's tent, so I got myself something to eat.  Fortunately, I discerned a much better meal than last time and was quite satisfied with dinner.  Jean and I had shaved ice for dessert.

The Issaquah Salmon Days Festival

Salmon swim in Issaquah Creek.

About 6:00 p.m., there was a dog jumping competition.  The dogs were competing for the farthest jump into water.  It was neat seeing the different methods people used to train their dogs.  I think I took a couple good photos of the event:

I'm getting ready for another major adventure in the next few days.  Keep your eyes out for my next blog!

August Activities with Jean

This past August I went out and enjoyed the Seattle area with my aunt Jean.  She and I are as close as siblings.  We get along well, and have similar interests.

Since we're often busy with work and don't have much free time, one of our favorite pastimes is to have a "Who Fest."  No, we don't have parties with tiny Seussian people; we watch marathons of Doctor Who on our nights off together.  We recently finished the new series other than season eight, which just started this August.  Now, we're watching the old serials from 1963.  You should check out the original serial's opening credits sequence:

August 4, Jean and I drove to Monroe, Washington, where our friends Jay and Jane live.  When Jean and I went to Hawaii a few years ago, we often hung out with them since Jean had worked with Jane at a veterinary clinic in the past.  Jay and Jane live in a beautiful country home and have many animals and a blueberry farm.  They have chickens, goats, a macaw, and I remember seeing a little kitten hanging around too.  Their two varieties of blueberry bushes are around 80 years old and were there before Jay and Jane bought the property.  Their property is open to blueberry picking at a reasonable price.

While Jean and I were there, I went to the creek with Jay and we enjoyed the cool water and the blackberries on the edge of the creek.  The dogs really liked the water too, though they were cautious to jump out farther than they could stand.  That evening, Jean and I picked blueberries.  Then Jay and Jane had this wonderful dinner prepared for us.  They had a beautiful spread on their table, and it was absolutely delicious.  Jean and I drove home happy and full that evening.

Jean picks blueberries at Jay and Jane's farm in Monroe, Washington.

August 11, Jean and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.  Since both of us worked evenings and nights, we went to the zoo in the afternoon.  This is a pretty big zoo; we could have gone for the entire day.  As soon as we got there, we fed the giraffes, which was a fun experience.  Although giraffes look so enormous, they're kind of like tall cows.  Shortly after feeding the giraffes, we went to see the elephants.  We were privileged to see Watoto the African elephant before she died August 22.

I took several photos of the animals.  Here are a few of my favorites from that day:

This patas monkey looks like he has a mustache.

This European cross spider made its web near the elephants' enclosure.

I sit in front of a statue of a Komodo dragon.

A southern masked weaver sits in a thorny bush at the zoo.

I fell in love with this deodar cedar tree.

This jaguar takes a cat nap behind the glass.

A cheetah rests in the grass.

Jean stands in front of Humboldt penguins.

After we left the zoo, we went to Chinook's at Salmon Bay, where we ate a fantastic seafood dinner.  The restaurant overlooks Fisherman's Port, and we had dinner at sunset.  I mean, who could ask for anything better!?

I can't wait to see the zoo again.  We have more animals we want to see.

Enjoying the Irony

Sunday morning after work, I was about to go to bed and decided to watch a little TV first.  I decided to watch The Twilight Zone and the next episode in my queue was "The Fever:"



I had to admit that it was quite the coincidence that after I woke up that afternoon I would go to Muckleshoot Casino with my aunt and a few of her friends from her workplace.  Jean and I drove to Issaquah, where we met Betsy and Charlene.  We drove together to Auburn where Muckleshoot is located.

When I lived in Gardiner, we had "casinos," but they weren't anything like that.  Gardiner's casino's consist of video poker and keno.  This was a bit more like the casino at Atlantis Resort in Nassau, Bahamas (remember I went to the Bahamas in 2010).  Betsy and Charlene's pleasure was the video slot machines.  Jean and I walked around a lot and watched several games, including the live games.  When everyone was hungry, we went to the buffet where they had crab legs and prime rib.  Admittedly, my eyes were bigger than my stomach, but I enjoyed it all.

Jean and I hang out at Muckleshoot Casino before we get some crab legs at the buffet.

I didn't spend any money at Muckleshoot, but I watched everyone else play.  I think I enjoyed the food the most.  That being said, I think my most bitter complaint was that it was cold in the casino.  I wish I would have brought a coat.  On our way out the door, everyone but me got some ice cream, and the ice cream store in the casino was even colder than the casino; it must have been the same temperature as their freezer.

Even though I was too cold to eat ice cream, I've been finding lately that I have less tolerance for milk products.  I can still eat cheese, but ice cream and milk in general don't digest very well for me anymore.  If I have ice cream, I should have either a small portion, or take a lactase enzyme pill.

In any case, work called me and asked if I could come in that night since my co-worker had car problems.  My car keys were in Jean's car in Issaquah, so we couldn't just drop me off at home in Renton to save some time.  I had a pretty full day and added another adventure to my list.

Watching "We Will Rock You"

Last week I was given a free ticket (it's kind of a work-perk) to see "We Will Rock You," a musical production that uses Queen's music.  I had a good time and I got to see a little of the Seattle area.

Since I sleep during the day most of the time now, I woke up a little early so that I could get something to eat first.

I took public transportation to get there.  I decided that it was cheaper, even if it took longer, to make it to the show last Sunday, July 13.  From Renton I drove to the Tukwila Light Rail Station.  There was a sports event going on the same night in Seattle, so it was a little busy.  Inside the station, there were three automated ticket machines.  Honestly I was a little unsure how they regulated passengers since I never did see a place where people were required to scan their ticket.  Regardless, it took about 40 minutes to get from there to downtown Seattle.  I walked a couple blocks from the Westlake Station to the theater.

It was the last day of the show, so I didn't watch the two lead actors perform, but was enchanted with the acting and singing of their understudies.  If I remember correctly, they were Corey Mosello and Stephanie Sy.

I really enjoyed being in the Fifth Avenue Theater, decorated in a fine Chinese motif.  Of course the audience was electric with excitement for Queen's music.

I had previously met many of the production members in passing, so I was glad to see what they had put so much energy in.  In particular, I remember speaking briefly with Tristan Avakian and enjoying his guitar solos during the play.

I had a great time that night, and was very grateful for the free opportunity to see a great show.