Ottawa Bluesfest

Bill, Cathy, and I arrived in Ottawa on Friday for the BluesFest. The Marriott was in a great location, walking distance to the venue and downtown. Tasty Lunch was at D'arcy McGee's, and then we walked about downtown, Parliament, and the Rideau Canal.

We met up with Vance and 7 others from Massena at the Heart and Crown. Great place! Bill and I left early to see the last half of Shelby Lynne’s show. We made a quick dash to what we thought would be the Great Big Sea stage that currently had Theory Of A Deadman playing. I am not normally into metal rock but TOAD put on a great show. Really funny moment when a fan jumped on stage and began playing air guitar until roadies dragged him offstage.

Stupid me, GBS was to play on a different stage. Estimates were that 30,000 people were there to see GBS, and every one of them managed to push past me or spill beer on me. We pulled back from the stage to get breathing room and watched the show on the big screen. The show was great but we underestimated the crowd size by a factor of 10.

Everyone met up at the Marriott lounge afterward. In hopes of seeing GBS (staying at the hotel), two girls had hula-hoops and were hooping whenever a tour bus drove up. A pizza delivery truck pulled up and one of the girls jumped on the elevator with him. All efforts were to no avail as the band did not show up.

Saturday was another beautiful day in the Canadian capital. What an absolutely stunning city.

Long Island Visit

I visited Conkling’s on July 9. Karen and the kids picked me up at Massapequa Park station since John couldn’t get away from the office. The afternoon was spent catching up with the kids. Bass (Mackenzie), cello (Christina), and clarinet (Matthew) were pulled out. Courtney did not have a flute yet, so she played the piano. We went to the Fire Island lighthouse. Courtney decided to stay back so Karen and she turned back. Great view from the top. Evening plans were to go to the Symphony Pops concert. Met John at home, talked for a while then loaded up a picnic. Found out the concert was postponed when we arrived. Why couldn’t this have been put on their website?!?! So John suggested an Applebee’s dinner.

Letchworth State Park

Bill, Chris, and I traveled to Letchworth State Park Sunday. It would be great to see during the fall (colors) or spring (water runoff). We had a drink at the Glen Iris Inn then traveled to Canandaigua for dinner and ice cream.

Mike & Jen Stark were stateside so we met in Seal Beach for dinner. They live in Shanghai, China, and are in the USA for a mixture of work/play. Dinner was great (thanks again, Mike!) and the conversation was even better. Topics: reminiscing about the France 1998 barge trip (best vacation ever!), stock investing, emerging China, surfing vs. sailing, and good times in Syracuse.

I got an invite to Shanghai! Score! Road trip, I mean boat trip? And we agreed we need to get together more often when on the same continent.

New Ride!

Picked up my new surfboard this evening. 9’6” long, 23” wide, with lots’ of nose rocker. I am stylin’

US Open @ Torrey Pines

I scored two US Open tickets from work, so Corrie and I joined the 42,498 others at Torrey Pines on Thursday. We searched for the best available bleacher seating and settled on the fairway/green 17th hole. Great place to see the approach shot and putting. With practice, the bleacher crowd got into a rhythm of standing to watch the approach shots and sitting for the putting.

I estimate that 15 to 20,000 people were following the Tiger, Phil, and Scott Adams trio. As the Big 3 were playing thru the course, we could see the masses moving hole to hole. We waited 3+ hours for the Big 3 at 17. What a zoo. Pity for the trio following the Big 3; because everyone was leaving while they continued to play.

After the Big 3 finished 17, Corrie and I walked the course and saw the other golfers. Actually saw a 3-put – Hey, I can do that!

Corrie won a golf bag with the longest driver (340 yards!) at a driving range simulation game.

A friend suggested I start a blog if for no reason other than to have an online diary. Thanks, Karen, wish I took your advice years ago. Here I am at Witches Rock in November 2007.