One of our joys each summer is getting to see a Smooth Jazz artist at Jazz Alley and this summer was no exception. That blond head belongs to Brian Culbertson, an energetic piano and trombone player who is always fun to see. Unfortunately the lighting in Jazz Alley, along with his sequined jackets made pictures very difficult to get - - we are not very good with our iPhones yet when it comes to concert pictures.  Here’s another not so great picture from the concert.

One pictures I was able to get was of my sister, who went with us.   We now splurge for each other’s birthday presents with our night out at Jazz Alley.  Since she is close, she get’s the tickets when they first go one sale and we pick up the cost of dinner.  

Our primary reason for being in the Seattle area early was to spend a week taking care of mom while my sister went to visit friends.   It is nice for her and mom to take a break from each other.   We had a great time with mom, even drove up to visit my aunt Barbara in Mount Vernon.   It is getting extremely difficult for us to find placed to stay in the Seattle area, another one of the parks that we have stayed in has gone to annual rentals ONLY.   The housing is so expensive in the Seattle area that more and more people are living fulltime in RV parks because they can’t afford other housing.   And since no new RV parks are being built, this means that there are fewer and fewer sites close to Seattle to stay.   We had to park the rig in Monroe, WA and during the week that Margi was gone, Dave had to fight traffic to drive and a 45 minute drive each way.   But since we don’t know how many more years we will have mom with us, it is worth it.

One our ongoing debates is Mt. Rainier or Mt. Baker.  This is a shot of Mt. Rainier with cloud hanging on it’s top.  

And here is Mt. Baker from I-5 on our way north towards the Birch Bay area.   

This is a sign post outside of the Hilltop Restaurant, just a little east of Ferndale.    We got a great kick out of the fact that in addition to the usual “destination”  that right below the sign for Cork, Ireland is a sign for Wall Drug in South Dakota!   And we’ve been to Wall Drug!