George W. is coming to Bellevue today and the voices (both pro and con) are out on the streets already.  I walked through a charming group on my way back from Ooba Tooba.  Something tells me they weren’t on their lunch breaks…

Not the nicest day today in Seattle with rain and temps in the mid-60s.  However, not too much to complain about as the rest of the country is steaming especially friends and family in the Southeast.  My Dad says that Nashville continues to experience scorching temps and Atlanta is not faring much better.  So after putting our fleece on and heading out to Safeco Field, we had a great time with several friends watching the ball game.  Ichiro is a helluva ball player…no doubt about it.  That whole movable roof thing comes in handy when the weather is rainy.  This was a pretty significant game as it was our daughter’s first major league game.  Although I have a love/hate relationship with baseball at this point dating from the strike year of 1994, there are few things that compare to stepping into the stadium when a game is going on and a great crowd today delivered.  Mariner’s won, they had Full Sail on draft, and a good time was had by all.

Had a good time yesterday at the Covey Run 10k/5k.  The 5k allowed strollers and was a good excuse to head to Woodinville yesterday morning for a short run with friends.  It was the first year for this event and they did a great job.  It was sponsored by Covey Run wines and for the benefit of Children’s Medical Center.  I’m still nursing a bit of a sore foot so this was a way to combine a short run with a few beers on the patio at Red Hook Brewery afterwards.  Red Hook is on the Burke-Gilman Trail and a worthwhile pit stop (or destination).  Just a short distance from Seattle, Woodinville is home to many of Washington’s wineries including great ones like Matthews Cellars.  Here’s more details.

I have always loved air shows and one of the cool things that happens in Seattle every year is a performance by the US Navy’s Blue Angels during Seafair.   Here’s a quick video from last year as they fly south to north over Lake Washington and the I-90 bridge.

There are a lot of great things about living in the Northwest and salmon is one of them.  Almost a cliche to point that out, but had to share.  Tonight Marel and I cooked cedar plank salmon and it was great.  If you are looking to get great fresh seafood and great service outside of downtown Seattle, try Tim’s Seafood here in Kirkland.  I can’t say enough about this place and Tim is quite possibly the happiest guy I know.  They set us up with fresh wild copper river sockeye tonight.  Thanks Mom & Dad for the cedar planks.  As you can see, we are putting them to good use.

Update:  This posts gets quite a few hits (who knew?) so thought I would share what is on this piece of fish.  It is a rub of brown sugar, fresh thyme, and a bit of cayenne pepper mixed with some olive oil.  Also did one with a maple sugar/bourbon glaze that was pretty tasty.  Keep water handy to put the flames out as the saying where there is smoke there is fire holds true with this cooking method.

Marel and I ran the Shore Run/Walk today with the little one in the stroller.  We opted for the 6.7 mile event thinking we needed a bit of a workout this morning.

It is a great route along Lake Washington starting at Seward Park and finishing into Madison Park.  This was the 30th year of this event which is put on to raise money for cancer research in cooperation with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

It was pretty chilly and a bit wet this morning…funny to think that it is approaching the end of June.  Gotta love the Northwest…

Weather today has been pretty good contrary to the forecast so I headed out mid-morning for a run.  I have a choice to make each time I head out – whether to take Riley (our Labrador retriever) or not.  He is always interested in going although he is not really a distance runner.  It is hard to leave this face behind:

My solution – two runs.  The first Riley & Robert run is 1.5-2 miles down through Heritage Park and then second is me solo generally headed to Carrillon Point and back (4-5 miles).  For a dog that was rescued in the heat of rural Morgan County Georgia (we adopted him several years ago via the Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta – they help labs too), a little mild Seattle heat just about finishes him now.  He starts out pulling me on the leash and I end up pulling him home – it works out well for us.

Just finished a run with Riley down through Heritage (Waverly) Park in Kirkland and saw a bald eagle soaring over the houses along Lake Washington.  Moments like that reinforce how great this place can be.  Very cool.

One thing I have learned after living in Seattle for a while is that when the sun is out (like it was all weekend), people come out in force to be in it.  I think it is indicative of the passion for both causes and activities that exists in this city.  I joke that there are two populations here – sun people and cloud people.  You won’t see them at the same time and get out of the way when the sun is out. 

Couple of great runs this weekend along Lake Washington topped off with a cookout over in Seward Park after Marel’s soccer practice.  Her coach (Cory) whipped up some amazing fresh salmon on the grill.  Good times.

Marel and I are running this race tomorrow over by the University of Washington with some friends.  Should be a good time and an 8k is a nice way to start the day.  We plan to get across the University Bridge before it goes up at the 2 mile mark and 20 minutes or so after the start.  If you are running it, see you there.  If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so tomorrow morning.

Update:  Had a good time this morning.  Although this seems like it should be cake to do the first 2 miles in under 20 min – adding in lots of folks running, the always slow first mile b/c of lots of runners, etc. this was closer than I thought it would be.  We did make it and enjoyed finishing into Husky stadium (the rain even held off – more or less).  This was the 25th year of this race for a great cause –  The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.