My Faith Took A Little Hit

So, walked out to the Honda Fit (Melissa's ride) to look at a paper in the window and this is what I saw when I came around the driver's side. Someone stole the rim and tire from the left front! And took the lug nuts, too. Unknown perps, but they have apparently been hitting people around our area and we are the third or fourth victim to have tires stolen from a Fit. At first I was just frustrated by the meanness of it, but now that I have the bill from the dealer (around $750), I am mad, mad, mad.

Not sure if I am more surprised at the lack of respect someone had for my property, or that I had any faith in that concept to begin with. Melissa suggested electrifying the car so they would get a surprise the next time. There is a little bit of me in that kid.

Either way, does no good to obsess, so on with life.

Naches Loop Trail

The family went hiking together last weekend on the Naches Loop Trail near Mt Rainier. It was pretty gloomy to begin but the sun managed to sneak out and the day was pretty nice overall.

Been busy and keeping busy this month and next. I just got back off a short ride on a sub and will be leaving next weekend for Japan for another ride - hopefully my last in my current job. After I get back I will be heading out for a week of motorcycle riding with a couple of friend out to Glacier National Park. The week after that I head out to Groton, CT for my school prior to going to my XO assignment. Busy, busy.

Glacier or Bust!

Only about a month until I leave on my motorcycle trip with friends to Glacier National Park in Montana. I am getting really excited!

My friend Ken and I are leaving western Washington on the 11th of September to meet up with Jason in Moscow, ID. The rest of the itinerary is purposefully vague as we plan to make it up as we go to a certain extent, and it is difficult to predict how far we will ride each day with so much awesome scenery to see. Destinations include Glacier, Helena, MT (Ken has family there), and two stops to see dams in Montana. Last year we pretty much stayed in motel rooms the entire trip. This year we will be camping a bit and that is another part I am really looking forward to.

I'll try to blog about the trip. I will also try to get some pictures posted on line as we go. Internet connectivity may be an issue, though. For those who haven't checked, or didn't know, our family web page is being updated again. The address is:

The Allen Family

Check it out. I have added a few short videos, too (need broadband for those). I plan to keep it updated in the future.

Other than that, I discussed a change in orders with my detailer and it looks like I am going to serve as XO in San Diego now instead of Hawaii. This is a much better deal for us as the family still plans to stay in Silverdale until Melissa graduates high school in 2011. I now await my orders.

Kids are getting ready to start school again. Melissa has band camp next week.

Take care!

Home Again

After the better part of 8 days and 3000+ miles, we finally made it back home Friday afternoon. It was a great trip! It was interesting that the weather back home was setting records while we were enjoying temps that were below normal and very comfortable for the most part. Highlights of the trip included Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, the Crazy Horse memorial, Custer State Park, the Needles highway and lots of wildlife. We managed to experience a buffalo crossing on three separate occasions!

I have to say that Mt Rushmore was awesome. The visitor's center is very nice and clean, and getting in and out was pretty simple. We were here a week before the Sturgis bike rally and there were motorcycles EVERYWHERE! Made me a little bit in need of a fix, but that would have to wait. We were abel to hike a short trail around the base of the front of the mountain that gave interesting perspectives of each of the figures. The amount of detail is amazing. You could even see the glasses on Teddy's face. Mt Rushmore is only the centerpiece of the Black Hills, though. There is a full day's worth of adventure (maybe more) surrounding the area, and those mountains are some of the more picturesque I have seen.

Another interesting place to visit in the Black Hills is the Crazy Horse memorial. I have to admit that they are very interested in your money there, but it was worth it. The carving of crazy horse on the granite mountain is a privately funded venture. It has been in progress for a long time (like 40+ years) and all there is to see is the head and part of the arm. You can see the mountain in the background in the picture above. The white model in the foreground is a 1:34 scale model that I managed to capture with the mountain (not hard - it is set up for success). The memorial includes a rather large native american museum and restaurant and was a good stop.

The Needles highway in the Black Hills was also a very cool visit. It meanders up through solid granite and is rather narrow and very scenic. The drive included three tunnels carved out of solid granite. The most narrow was around 8 1/2 feet wide and I pulled the mirrors in for that one. That tunnel is in the picture above. Spectacular drive!

Our trip home ventured back through Montana, Idaho and eventually back into Washington. Jeannette and I went to a concert at Qwest Field in Seattle Saturday evening that included Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry, Sugarland and Kenny Chesney. It was awesome! Looking forward to a quiet day at home making sure the house is still standing before heading back to work for my last month and a half before transferring off to Perl Harbor.

On Our Way Back Home

Well, we are moving back towards the west. Strangely, we are driving through gray skies and 60F temps while our hometown of Silverdale is posting ALL TIME high temps in the low 100s. Good time to be gone!

We left Rapid City on our way to Livingston, MT this morning. I decided to make a side trip to the Devils Tower national monument - something I had not even heard about before this trip, but it is billed as the nation's first national monument. It was pretty awesome and I really want to return sometime when the weather cooperates a bit more and do the hikes around the base of the mountain. It dominates the surrounding countryside and can be seen from I-90 about 25 miles to the south. The tower rises about 1,500 feet above the valley floor.

We are staying in Livingston and will drive through Montana to Spokane on Thursday. Home on Friday! I am suffering from a slow network connection tonight and cannot post any pics ot my site, so stay tuned for those tomorrow, hopefully.

Our Family Vacation

We are halfway through our trip to Mt Rushmore. So far we have visited Yellowstone and the Grand Coulee Dam on our way to South Dakota. Grand Coulee was pretty cool and the size of the dam is incredible. You can't gain an appreciation of how large it is until you understand it is a mile across! It doesn't look that way. The dam puts on a laser light show every night during the summer. It was pretty cool and Melissa video taped it.

We left the next morning for West Yellowstone. Beautiful drive through a lot of mountains. The weather cooperated and it was a longish drive, but we made it before sunset. The town of West Yellowstone was a busy tourist place and the restaurants were pretty full even at 9:30 pm.

Yellowstone was spectacular. Our day started with sunshine and cloud free. As the afternoon progressed the clouds moved in and we had rain for a while. Our trip highlight was the buffalo herd crossing the highway near Hayden Valley. The picture in this blog is a shot of one of them. It was very cool and a little nerve wracking. I will put up more pictures when I get time.

We arrived in Rapid City, SD Monday evening. This was definitely the most exciting portion of the drive. We drove through a strong thunderstorm east of Sheridan, WY that made driving a pretty dicey proposition. Strong winds, heavy rain and lots of hail. I was doing between 15-20 mph and no one was passing us (we were not passing anyone, either). The best option was to follow the car ahead of you close enough to see his head lights. Reminded me of driving in Idaho during a blizzard. Whew! Also crossed the highest summit so far at 9400+ feet.

Today is Mt Rushmore. We are staying in Rapid City again tonight before heading home Wednesday.

New Driver In The House!

Well, Melissa passed her driver's test today. For reasons that are specific to WA state she must wait until August 5th to be fully licensed (must have permit 6 months before licensed). She was understandably happy, and we couldn't be prouder. I also talked to my insurance agent and she is going to cost me big time!

Not sure if I told everyone, but I currently have orders to be XO on the USS Bremerton in Pearl Harbor. There is a small chance that I could be assigned as an XO in San Diego instead. For now, Hawaii is my next home.