March Madness with Maggie & Josh

March 28, 2008

Maggie and Josh came out for a long weekend during the Sweet Sixteen as the Jayhawks trounced Villanova. Their KU classmate, Val, came up from grad school in Eugene, OR to party too. Davidson gave us a scare two days later. Good thing we had beer to comfort us through adversity.

We headed north to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island where we rented a log cabin. It was beautiful, which offset the weather of snow, hail, rain and a little bit of sun. Goose didn't care as long as she was in nature.
The deception pass bridge spans water between Whidbey Island and a peninsula off the mainland. The water here flows at speeds up to 11 knots during tidal change in the Puget Sound. That is fast.

The ferry terminal on San Juan Island at Friday Harbor. Life runs at a slow pace here. We heard of a PT that does home health visits and takes a ferry everyday. She sees one to two patients a day covering just one of the five islands.

UGA Spring Break

Spring Break March 2008

Megan's cousin Anna and her friend Ally came out from the University of Georgia for several days to tour the Pacific Northwest. We got kicked out of Fishtail Brewery for being minors. That was cool and brought back nostalgia of my own spring breaks (particularly Vermont with a fake ID). This spring break had everything but arrests and jail time. Snowshoeing at Mt. Rainier, beach time, a cool dog, beer, touring Seattle & Tacoma, and road tripping. Here's Anna butt sliding down a slope. Goose was doing her beach scramble at Canon Beach, OR. That is Haystack Rock in the background. Remember the movie Goonies? This is the beach where the 4x4 race was in the opening scene. That night we watched Goonies and realized that we were a generation older than the crazy college girls. The Astoria bridge at sunset. It connects Oregon and Washington at the mouth of the Columbia River. Iwish I had something funny to write. Crap!

Ski Bum

March 1, 2008

Our friend Shelli "La profesora" came out to visit. We skied Crystal Mountain (that's Mount Rainier in the background). All that rain in Olympia means tons of snow is dropped here. The sun came out for a rare appearance to make it an awesome day. We also found Santa Claus' brother in the parking lot as we walked down to tailgate with Goose. He asked us for help to park his Porsche. A old Porsche is not a good ski bum vehicle, but when you are a Playboy, it helps pick up chics.

Long Time, No Blog

February 18, 2008
By popular demand and a magical renewal of our free WiFi, the Mule Tracks is back. I have to say we have had some fun times with our friends and visitors. Here are the highlights....

Ben "Thrills" Mills, Rainier Beer tall boys, sunny 60* weather in February, and playing hookie at Mt. Hood Meadows getting "sick" on the slopes. I forgot to make that a Mastercard "priceless" commercial style, thing. Who cares. I love Thrills. If you do not, you must be punished, watch three episodes of Oprah.

Here is the after effects of Thrills' freestyle rippin'. Sure he is enjoying a beer, but he split his new brother-in-law's old ski pants that he borrowed. It....was...awesome!






We also picked up these chics. No one tell our wives. Our gloves fooled them and they thought we were still on the market.

Potter Parents Escape the Midwest Snow

February 1 Weekend

My parents flew out of Grand Rapids, MI early to avoid the upcoming snowstorm. When they arrived at Seatac, they saw that the rest of the flights were canceled. I guess the rain here is better than the snow in the Midwest right now. We stopped at Batdorf & Bronson coffee roasters in Olympia on Saturday morning for free tastings and education. Apparently coffee was discovered in Ethiopia when a farmer saw that his goats were dancing after eating the fruit of the coffee plant. Meg and my parents joined them after so many samples too. Then we had to stop for a restroom break on the road.

It was cold on the deck, but Michigan winter prepared them for pictures with Seattle in the background.

We boarded the car ferry to Seattle in Bremerton and chef Megan whipped up some gourmet turkey sandwiches with chips and of course, beer and wine.

We took a historical underground tour in Seattle and found that they had a bad sewer problem there in conjuction with the tide and poor city planning. This is one of the world's first flush toilets. The tank says, "Crapper's Valveless Waste Preventer." Insert poo-poo joke here.

We picked out some fresh sea bounty for our Superbowl party at Pike Place.

While Meg paid for fish, I found the deals. It was a real good hug too. I would have paid about $3.

The chefs got down to business... Cooking with wine..... Not using it in the food.... That's rare white King Slamon & pink salmon with ginger, asparagus, and sweet potatoes with rosemary, all market fresh.

Puget Sound Ferry & Seattle

January 26th, 2008

The Mule took its first damage this week as you can see. I know that you all are worried about the Mule and we don't write enough about it. Well, this week the Mule had a bar room fight with a Mack Truck, no less. You should see the Mack. Actually, the Mule was hit in a parking lot. That is such a lame story. We are sorry about that. A front bumper is only stuff, and in the end, stuff will only be inherited, and they probably don't deserve it anyway. If our parents are reading this.... Just kidding.


Meg, Goose and I went to the Island of Bainbridge and took the ferry across the Puget Sound to Seattle on an overcast day. It was so sweet no matter the weather. "White Lightening" is our new ride for home PT. We are renting it, so don't tell the rental Co. that our dog was in it.

Here is our first view of Seattle from the ferry. Goose didn't mind the ride. We had cheese in the car. The Space Needle. It was too cloudy, so we headed straight to Pike Place Market where they throw the fish. It was fun.

Goose was begging for fish scraps. Smoked salmon was her favorite and she won this guy's heart over with her brown eyes.

Goose and dad playing around. I have no idea of what this is a picture of.

Goose investigates a Monkfish below, with the support of the crowd.

Mt. Ranier National Park

January 13, 2008

The first time the rain and clouds cleared here we were able to see Mt. Ranier. Our jaws dropped. This volcano rises 14,411 feet (just under the tallest peak in the lower 48 states) and creates it's own weather. This is the view just outside of Olympia on our way to the park. Sunday was our first totally clear day and it was awesome to spend it here.

From no snow cover to 15 feet of recorded snowfall this season in about 25 minutes!

Classic Mt. Ranier, the south face on a blue sky day.

Snow shoeing in the deep. How deep? Ask Mark Kutilek. Without snow shoes I would be stuck past my waist.
The setting sun lights up the snow and the cloud formed by the peak (out of view to the left). This cloud is acutally crystalized ice formed from wind moving up and over the peak much like water flows around rocks in a stream. Note the Jackson visitor center second floor observation deck to the right. The first floor of the building is almost fully covered by snow.