Tulip Tour and Blanchard Pig Roast

16-17 April 2011


16 April, Sat - Tulips and Trucks Tour - Our Ameriprise financial advisor, George Selvy, invited us on another free (!) tour to the Mt. Vernon tulip fields. The only problem was this was the weekend of the Blanchard Bash, a fly-in sponsored by the new North Cascades Soaring Club. To make it work we drove to the Everett pick-up location for the tour bus so we would not be very far from the Bash pig roast and potluck dinner when we returned at 1800.

After driving through some of the Skagit River delta, and passing a huge flock of snow geese, our first stop was at Tuliptown, one of two commercial tulip growers open to the public. Since it was still cloudy and cold, we were appreciative of the indoor displays (surrounded by lots of booths for buying tulips, bulbs, souvenirs, artwork, t-shirts, coffee and snacks).


After exhausting the indoor attractions, we went outside to the formal gardens and the tulip fields.





When we met back at the bus, we were surprised to find that the large parking lot was pretty much full even though the weather had not improved and the paths to the fields were muddy.

The next stop was the Paccar Technical Facility open house. Outside, on the test track, there was a display of restored antique trucks, including fire trucks, and cars. Inside the huge building were more trucks and we thought that it was going to be a pretty long two hours, but the next areas displayed the testing facilities and labs. Most sensational was a large room which seemed to be a torture chamber for trucks and truck parts, the shake test lab. One end contained a full-size semi which was being subjected to 17 days of unsynchronized jolting caused by hydraulic rams under each wheel. There was no pit, but there was a 6000 lb pendulum used for simulating crashes and rollovers on truck cabs. There were also labs dealing with wiring, lighting, infrared radiation, and another lab with scanning electron microscopes. We took a break up in the conference center where videos were being shown of, among other things, the construction of the Space Needle (timely on this the 50th anniversary of the first excavation for its deep foundation). BTW, no photos were allowed in the Paccar Tech Center.

Roozengarde, the other major tulip company was our next stop. Their demo garden was much more extensive and their sales areas were mostly in tents. Many of the tulip fields here were not yet in bloom but there was a huge daffodil field. The wind had picked up by then (early-midafternoon) and, while there were a few patches of sunshine, we were wondering whether there was any flying to be had at Blanchard, which we could see in the far distance. [Note for next time - if there has been a rainy spring, bring rubber boots for the mud. And, take the tour: parking looked to be a hassle, then there was a long line to get to the ticket booth. On the tour we bypassed both.]

Pulling out of Roozengarde we encountered the infamous Tulip Festival jam and had to creep in bumper-to-bumper traffic across the Skagit River to Mt. Vernon. On the ridge above the city, Hillcrest Park has a rustic lodge at which the local Kiwanis members serve a salmon barbecue dinner all day and almost every day of April. From the number of folks eating around 1600, I'd guess that the Kiwanis earn enough to be able to forget about fund-raising for the rest of the year. We were more than ready to eat and the hefty portion of King salmon, along with slaw, baked potato and garlic bread went down quickly.

Back on the bus we were running a little ahead of schedule which was good for us since we had to retrace our route back to and beyond Mt Vernon to reach the fly-in evening festivities. I was glad to see that no one had towed away the Trooper which we had left parked next to a Baskin Robbins in a small shopping area. It didn't take as long as I thought it would to reach Jeff Beck's new property just a short distance up the Blanchard Hill Trail which leads to launch.

Surprisingly there were a ton of cars almost filling all available parking spots; Jeff later said that over 75 pilots had attended the fly-in. A huge bonfire (with a sacrificial wooden effigy of a paraglider photo at end of page)) was already blazing, welcome in the damp chill of the evening. While the pig wasn't done roasting yet, people were laying out and grazing on other potluck items while talking about the day's flying which had been good despite the low cloudbase. There weren't a lot of desserts so C.J.'s chocolate cake was very welcome.

When the pig was finally ready it was somewhat of a ghastly surprise to see the critter had been cooked with its head still on
and it was a pretty hairy head at that! Once the pig was carved and everyone had eaten his/her fill most folks moved out of the picnic shelter area to join the ring around the bonfire where it was measurably warmer as Jeff continued to add big cedar rounds to the blaze. Even though we hadn't done much since breakfast, we were tired enough to be glad to follow Chris Culler around 2130 when he invited us to his new house to spend the night.

17 April, Sunday - Chris and Christine provided a hearty breakfast of pan-sized blueberry pancakes with Quebec-made maple syrup. Since the weather, which had begun clear and sunny, had turned over-developed and was spitting rain, then pouring hail, we spent the morning visiting and learning to play Euchre. Later there were some blue holes but the cloudbase was below the top of Cultus and the temperature was low enough to discourage Christine from thinking about flying. Chris decided to stay home and work on their trailer while we packed up and headed home. Once out of the hills in Mt. Vernon, the sky looked much better but we had pretty much made up our minds to get home so C.J. could work on an article that Editor Nick had assigned on Friday and had to have on Monday before he left for Ghana. We heard later that many paraglider pilots had also gone home (some to fly Tiger) but that the flying had been good (at least as reported by hang gliders).
(photo, left, above, not Burning Man but "Burning Bag" by the Rainier Paragliding Club)

ISRAEL - Caesarea, packing up and heading home

(Mosaic from a floor in Caesarea)

30 Mar, Wed - Fortunately, Bob had been loaned Michael's IPad and was able to find a Wi-Fi source in the condo. Once Bob had his and Heckler's seats, shortly after 0700, he let me use it. We were already assigned seats for the first leg and I couldn't see an easy way to change them so we went with 13A and 13B even though they were just barely forward of the wing. For the long flight we chose seats way in the back but just two seats together, not a row of three. I also signed up for four checked bags (our three plus one of Mike's, still free for us) but it wasn't until later that Bob told me they needed us to take a fifth bag. I couldn't change that online so we would have to wing it when we got to the airport. Bob tried getting something resolved about upgrading Mike's seating so he could lie down in First Class, but nothing could be done until he had his x-ray at Rambam Hospital later in the day.

We finally got out with Caesarea as the destination since Bob and Mike needed to spend time with the Apco guys. Mark suggested that we could be dropped off at the National Park to do a tour of the ruins. That worked well - we had a couple of hours at least to walk around the combination 1st century Herodian hippodrome and theater, and later Roman, Hellenic, Crusader, and Muslim ruins. We attended two multimedia presentations and scrambled around on the beach below one of the bars.





When B & M picked us up Bob checked with Moishe about weather and determined that it was too north even for Mevo-Hama - anyway probably not worth the 1.5 hr drive. Instead we went back to Arsuf (where it was indeed too north and blown out) so C.J. could get some more flower photos.



Then we hit the usual falafel stand for our last local lunch and returned to the condo to begin packing up our wings and gear on the front lawn out of the wind. We heard from Mike that he had been grounded; that British Airways would not let him on the plane for 14 days. Looks like he gets to stay with Rahelli for another couple of weeks. Later we went out to the park to watch the sunset and C.J. and I took a walk along the promenade to the north in a cold wind while B & M had a pizza at a cafe. Back at the condo we stacked our packed luggage up for a 0330 start and went to bed shortly after 2000.

31 Mar, Thur - My cell phone alarm went off at 0230 and I showered before lugging the packs down to the van. Bob slept through his alarm and I had to call him at 0315 which meant that we weren't going to get out at 0330. But 0345 was early enough since we didn't get too lost finding the Eldan rental car return - thank goodness for the GPS Yariv had loaned us. At Eldan we unloaded everything and loaded it onto the shuttle by 0500. Security at Ben Gurion was not as onerous as we had feared - perhaps the letter from Apco helped smooth the way. At the check-in counter all but one of our bags had to be piled on a cart and taken to an elevator as they were too big for the conveyor belt, I guess. Then we cleared Passport Control and went to our gate. We did not have long to wait and started to board at 0625 in no order. We were pleased to find that our seats were in the World Traveler Plus section (2-2-2) with seats that reclined and had footrests plus more legroom. There was only a bulkhead to our rear so we could recline all the way without crowding the people behind us. We didn't really need the bread and cheese in my pack because we got a good breakfast/brunch while those in Coach got only a blintz. No clue why we lucked into those seats.

When we reached Heathrow we just hung out in the main departures hall in Terminal 5 until our gate was posted at 1400. Then we had to scurry to the shuttle to get to Terminal 5B and we arrived as the boarding was well underway. The four of us were way in the back - only one row behind us -but it was a "twin" seat and there was still room for our roll-aboards in the overhead storage. When we took off there must have been some big turbulence because we were whipped back and forth pretty wildly - I don't think it was just because we were all the way in the rear. We got a hot lunch, drink and wine, and later a sandwich just before we landed. There were some views through the clouds over Scotland and remarkably over Iceland, then brief views over the Can. Rockies and the San Juan Islands. All the luggage arrived safely and Michel met us in his van for a quick trip to Bob's then home for an early-to-bed. We needed the rest after 24 hours of moving gear and flying! Whoo-hoo! What a trip!

ISRAEL - Jerusalem tour, Mt. Tabor, and more good eating

Dome of the Rock, Temple Mount, Old City, Jerusalem

28 Mar, Mon - We were picked up by the Bein Harim mini tour bus at the Seasons Resort hotel next door to our condo at 0630 and drove to several other hotels both in Netanya and Herzilya to pick up more people. Finally, at a meeting point in Tel Aviv, we switched to another mini bus for folks who were on our all-day Jerusalem tour and were not also going to Bethlehem or Masada. Along the way Raphael (Raphi) pointed out the ruined trucks left on the roadside as a memorial to those who kept the Jewish defenders of Jerusalem supplied during the 1948 war. Once in Jerusalem we stopped for a potty break at the Park Hotel near the new King David Bridge (designed to remind viewers of David's harp).

From there we drove to Mt. Scopus where we had a great view of the Mount of Olives and the Old City. Coming down the hill on our way to the Jaffa Gate we passed the Tomb of Mary, the Basilica of the Agony (Gethsemane) with its mosaic facade,

the Dominus Flevit Church shaped like a teardrop, and the 19th cent. Russian Church of Mary Magdalene with its cluster of golden onion domes.

We also saw the huge Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives

and the sealed Golden Gate (through which the Messiah is supposed to enter Jerusalem). I was wondering how we were going to deal with parking in this obviously crowded area of ancient buildings when we turned into an underground garage (!) and took an elevator to the street level of the Jaffa Gate. There we walked through a modern shopping arcade and stopped for a briefing in a square just outside the gate. Security moved us out of the square because an unattended bag had been found. Once through the gate we turned right into the Armenian Quarter. The Tower of David (really a minaret constructed by the Ottomans in 1610) and the Citadel (Medieval but based on Herod's fortress) drew our camera lenses both from outside the city and from within.

A short distance into the AQ, we turned left and went downhill to Ararat Street and a plaza (Hurva?) in the Jewish Quarter. Here we encountered a bar mitzvah procession with a canopy, hired drummers and people dancing and clapping. It was quite a scene. (apparently Mondays and Thursdays are bar mitzvah days.) Dropping down to an overlook of the Western Wall plaza, we stopped at a huge gold menorah (7-branched) based on plans from the Second Temple (destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD) for use in the Third yet-to-be-built Temple and enclosed in a bulletproof glass dome. Dropping down the last set of stairs we joined a slow-moving line to go through Security and entered the Western Wall plaza. Women were herded off to the right and men, with appropriate headcovering (available to borrow) were free to approach a larger section of the wall to pray and leave wishes crammed into the cracks between the huge foundation stones. There were many groups of bar mitzvah celebrations. A 13-yr-old would "lay" (or don) the tefillin, the two strapped boxes containing scripture, one for the left arm and one for the forehead (also known as phylacteries) and read from the Torah for his first time. They would also carry an Ark with the Torah to one of several tabernacles placed at the Wall. Some men prayed at the wall in the black suits and hats of the Orthodox; others wore fringed prayer shawls. When our group reassembled, we exited the plaza at the NW corner and walked along a street (more like a lane) crowded with stalls selling souvenirs, food and clothing.






Eventually we reached the Via Dolorosa at around Station V (Tradition holds that there is a handprint at the next Station made by Jesus when he fell the first time.) and turned W to follow the route uphill.

Our guide led us to a more upscale souvenir shop, of course, where we were assured that it was safe to use our credit cards and, "as a special deal, everything was 50% off for us". We bought a couple of olive wood crosses and a refrigerator magnet of the Hand of Fatima (or the Hamsa Hand) to avert the the evil eye. Then we went to lunch across the square and had (surprise, surprise) falafel and schwarma. After that we were allotted about thirty minutes (!) to explore the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The building is not impressive to look at but fairly hums with the faith energy of the Christian pilgrims who kneel at the Stone of Unction or line up to enter the Holy Sepulchre itself. The church, founded by St. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine, contains according to tradition the last four stations of the Via Dolorosa. You go up a flight a stairs to a rock said to be the summit of Calvary then back down to the tomb. There are lower level chapels and a central rotunda as well.

(photos, left : rotunda; right: Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre)

When most of us had gathered outside again, we made for the Jaffa Gate and met the rest of the group, some of whom had not wanted to spend the whole time in the Church.

Back on the bus it was only a short ride to Yad VaShem ("A memorial and a name"), the Holocaust Museum.

We tried to see everything but it was impossible in the hour and twenty minutes we had. (We could have stayed longer because we had to wait at the bus for a taxi to bring people to our bus and pick up others who were staying in Jerusalem...)

The rest of the trip was pretty slow what with rush hour traffic and, from Tel Aviv to Netanya, a taxi driver who did not know where the Seasons Resort was. We got back after 1900 and found Bob and Mark already home. C.J. prepared some pasta and sauce with the leftover kebab meat in it for dinner.

Mt. Tabor from the air

29 Mar, Tues - After breakfast and time spent while Bob tried to straighten out the insurance debacle for Mike, we drove to Mt. Tabor (HarTavor) and, since we were early for flying, we drove up to the summit and walked around the monastery grounds. C.J. and I observed part of a mass in the Basilica of the Transfiguration in an unrecognizable language, but with beautiful singing from (amazing acoustics) the dozen or so participants gathered about the sunken altar. Back at the launch, conditions were very light but C.J. and I began to get ready. Then a local tandem pilot showed up and rigged for a solo flight along with another Israeli. The tandem guy got up but the other Israeli and Mark both went down. I waited until 1223 before launching and even then sank and had to scratch the hillside, then out over Daburiyya where I eventually found enough lift to get above launch and then above the monastery on the summit. I was really happy to achieve enough height to see the winding road leading to the top, and the monastery buildings. At first there seemed to be a ceiling at about 2300 ft where the air got rough but later I climbed to 4500 ft in relatively smooth air. I was looking for someone to go XC with but Mark and the tandem pilot had flown north toward Nazereth. I was thinking more about going downwind toward the Sea of Galilee and even set a GoTo for Mevo-Hama. When Mark and the other two locals finally did go south, I was too far to the north and probably too low. Meanwhile C.J. was up when I was down and down when I was up so we were out of sync. So, after an hour and fifteen minutes I landed in the LZ near Daburiyya (photo, right) with somewhat of a struggle to get down. Bob picked us up and we chased Mark all the way across the Kinneret to Ma'agan, about 25 km. Bob let Moishe know what we were doing and he came down to meet us with his three children and we ate a late lunch at an Arab cafe in Ma'agan. We drove back to the condo dropping off the Israeli pilot at his car at the Tabor launch on the way. Then we met Yariv near his office in Herzilya and drove to Old Jaffa for a walk around the cleaned up old port. (photo, left, twice-rebuilt 1654 St. Peter's Church and Wishing bridge) The restaurant Yariv had planned to eat at was all reserved so we walked on to another place with Yariv and Orley and had a good dinner. We got back to the condo after midnight and realized that we would have to get up early enough to do our seat selection at 0700 for the return flights.