Ginny and Wally left San Anselmo on Tuesday, a bit later than they had planned. After a stop to visit Page at Hat Creek and a couple of days camping at Lakeview (and a great flight from Sugar), they headed up to Ephrata and then to Chelan on Saturday. Wally could count it as a business trip since he was meeting with his Swing PG company rep from Germany. Meanwhile, C.J. and I could go to Chelan and see what a PWC (Paragliding World Cup) was like. 23 July, Friday - At the soccer field LZ in Chelan Falls we were in time to see the leaders fly into goal - pretty impressive landing speeds on those competition wings; most skied along the grass on their feet but Jack Brown, arriving first, just lay down on the back of his pod and slid in. Dave Norwood asked C.J. to fly tandem with him for one of his required T3 flights and I went up with them for a late sledder to the soccer field. Later we checked into Tom and Lori's house where Ginny and Wally had arranged to stay when they arrived.
24 July, Saturday - We went for a paddle from Lakeside Park across the lake with Tom and Lori, returning via the Lady of the Lake dock. Around noon we got up to launch and helped lay out the wings of the PWC competitors. After everyone had launched we helped dismantle the infrastructure - Red Bull tent, railings, shade structures - and empty out the storage shed. We took a bit of rest and met up with Ginny and Wally at the house, then drove down to the goal at the soccer field LZ and were lucky enough to catch the first pilots to make goal. Doug had said he could use some help before the awards party so we went to Riverwalk Park and did a couple of minor tasks. That put us in the right place for the dinner catered by Country Boys Southern BBQ of Cashmere. The awards ceremony got underway shortly before 2200; the top pilots were Josh Cohn, Yasushi Kobayashi, and Nick Greece, with the USA walking away with the team competition.
25 July, Sunday - C.J. and I launched our kayak at Park Street and paddled to the dam then back up the lake along the north shore to where we cut over yesterday near the derelict cabin, then crossed back to Park St. When G & W got back from breakfast with Torsten, we all went up to the Butte for a flight, Wally's first at Chelan. Conditions were about perfect with cycles coming up Between the Rocks. I was first off and lucked into a thermal that took me to 5K. After some ups and downs we all reached 6K but could not break through the inversion. Then the air began to feel trashy and I headed out to land (:55). Ginny picked us up and we returned to the house for some rest and to get out of the heat (after an ice cream stop downtown and some grocery shopping).
26 July, Monday - When Ginny and Wally got back from breakfast, we took our tandem and the
two plastic kayaks belonging to Tom and Lori and put in at Lakeside Park. We all paddled across the lake then Wally, C.J. and I continued another couple of miles along the north shore while Ginny crossed back to the south. After a stop for lunch under some small trees, we paddled more or less directly back to Lakeside, a total distance of 
about 5.7 mi. We hung out at the house where it was relatively cool in the basement until time for dinner. Ginny and Wally took us out to eat at Tin Lilly which has a pretty eclectic menu and outside dining - perfect for summertime in Chelan.27 July, Tuesday - After packing the car and cleaning up the house, we drove back to North Bend via the usual route. Wally and Ginny headed into town to pick up a new inflatable bed for camping, a pair of pedals for his bike and some groceries. We had a dinner of Ginny's lamb stew and C.J.'s fresh bread and salad on the deck outside where it was comfortably cool after a hot day.
28 July, Wed - I cooked up a batch of fresh blueberry pancakes for breakfast. When Ginny got back from her morning walk, we took the Trooper to Tiger. C.J. and Ginny decided to walk to launch while Wally and I and Wayne's gear took the road having missed the 1230 shuttle (which may not have run because Mike had some kind of medical emergency - we saw the rescue truck pulling into his driveway as we went by). Two tandem flights launched a short time after we arrived and scratched up and over launch then disappeared. We waited a while longer until C.J. and Ginny arrived then I got my wing ready. Cycles had gotten lighter but I took off anyway and found nothing to the left, middle or right and had to grovel on the Yaher Wall. Eventually C.J. and I found a thermal good enough to get us up and I went left to the ridge. It was a lot of up and down and I never got much over 2800 msl. Wally launched in what must have been a down cycle and scratched his way tenaciously to the LZ. In the distance, there was big overdevelopment above the Cascades and some of the clouds were stretching toward us. Shortly after the next batch of pilots launched (including Wayne on his Sky) both C.J. and I headed for the LZ. I first flew to Squak finding nothing then had to maneuver a bit for landing space with another wing approaching at the same level. No problem and we both had good landings. By the time Ginny got to the LZ (She drove the Trooper down, bless her heart!), it was getting late enough that we had to scramble home to get showers and change for dinner with Uncle Harry in Puyallup. We had a great meal at Mama Stortini's and then got a tour of Uncle Harry's retirement residence, Willow Gardens. We got back late and had to save C.J.'s blueberry pie for G&W's send-off breakfast on the 29th.
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