34th Annual ' Oyster Run" Anacortes, Washington

On Sunday, September 27^th, I attended the 34^th annual “ Oyster Run” hosted by the city of Anacortes, Washington.  It’s one of the region’s biggest annual events and the Pacific Northwest’s largest motorcycle run.  It is estimated that approximately 30,000 motorcycles of all makes and models, rumble into Anacortes for an all-day motorcycle lover’s dream of local rides, various food booths (yes grilled oysters were available), live bands and all sorts of motorcycle merchandise. 

Bikers will spend Friday through Sunday visiting local attractions. Deception Pass on Whidbey Island by far is the main one.  Chuckanut Drive from Burlington to Fair Haven is considered the most scenic ride with the ride down Whidbey Island being second.

Rides along Hwy 9 through Sedro Woolley to Mt Baker are considered all time favorites because of the road conditions and the beautiful northwest scenery on the way to Mt Baker. Bikers have a variety of café’s to satisify their hunger and a good place to sit and visit with your companions to discuss how great the Oyster Run is.  

My ride this year took me through Deception Pass, Whidbey (Had no choice, only route off the island), Hwy 20, Bow-Edison along the coast, and Acme via the back roads. Had lunch at one of my favorite hangouts, the Acme Diner.

It was perfect day for a ride through the back roads of Northern Washington with Mt Maker to look at. I have enjoyed this route many times, my most memorable have been with Andre’, hopefully we will have the opportunity to ride it again soon.  I have been enjoying this event since 1988.

A LITTLE HISTORY:

At the end of summer in 1981, “ Limp Lee” contacted a few guys he knew and suggested they get together and go for a motorcycle ride to Everson, Washington for oyster cocktails. The small group agreed and took off from Marysville by way of Hwy 9, periodically stopping off to sample oysters at different local spots. The following year a few more people joined the group and the next year brought even more. By the 4^th year, Lee’s group grown to almost 200 bukes. As the years progressed the group had grown to big to ride up Hwy 9, so Lee went ans spoke with city officials from Anacortes, Washington in hops of moving the annual run there. After some hesitation and many meetings, the city of Anacotres gave the thumbs up to hold, what is now deemed the“ Oyster run”.

I'm not busy, I think I'll paint the house (says Michelle)

After graduating from University of Washington nursing program in June 2016, passing her Medical Boards and accepting a job at Swedish Medical Center in the Postpartum Unit, Michelle had a few months before she started her new job, she decided to keep herself busy, also save a lot of money, by painting their house.

Her first task was to get motivated (took a while), next was to put forth a plan of action on what needed to be done.  She spent a few weeks scrapping off the old paint and caulking ever little crack she found. 



Chris was on call , so he had a “ Stay at Home” weekend, which gave him time to finish caulking the garage.

I was recruited to do some carpenter jobs, rebuild the front door handrail and trim the garage doors.

With the house ready to paint, Michelle assembled her painting crew, Chris, Andre’ and me.  

Andre’ was assigned to the Wagner Paint Crew sprayer.
Michelle assisted with back brushing until she had trim work available. I was assigned back brushing. Chris was assigned stirring the paint, getting the sprayer ready and prepping the gutters and painting when possible. Kim had granddaughter duty, a task she dearly loves.  

We got off to a bad start; a coupling on the sprayer hose was not tight enough so a little paint spilled on the patio. After a few tense moments, (Michelle being slightly sensitive about the spilled paint while Andre’ was trying to fix the issue) we were all ready to do some painting.

I was proud of Michelle and Andre’ being able to get past the miss-communication issue and working together once we had the sprayer going. Yep, they are fine young adults.


The garage and back of the house were painted by mid-day.  After taping all the windows, Andre’ was ready to put the second coat on the garage.  

Just before the sunset, we encountered issue number 2, the sprayer decided to stop working properly. It was determined that a trip to Home Depot was needed to purchase a new trigger spry nozzle; by the way triggers are not cheap. The new trigger was attached to the unit, no go, still didn’t work, the motor was the issue, trash one Wagner Paint Crew. On the positive side, I now have two spray nozzles. I foresee a new Wagner Paint Crew in the near future.

Not to be outsmarted, I had another sprayer available. I unpacked my Wagner Airless paint sprayer. Yep you guessed it, it didn’t work either.  Trash one Wagner Airless Sprayer.  Since it was dinnertime, we decided to regroup in the morning.

In the morning, our Project Manager (Michelle) decided that Chris, Andre’ and I could use rollers to apply the paint and back brush at the same time (after all we have 2 hands) and she would do all the trim application.  By Sunday evening the garage and the back of the house had two coats on.  Michelle was making great progress on the trim work.  
 

After the weekend’s effort, Michelle figured we could finish the project, only part left was a small amount of trim at the peak of the house. No go, had to stop, weather was not cooperating.  She will have to finish in the spring.

I still consider it “Mission accomplished”, the house looks great, reminds me of a little cottage tucked away in green foliage. Great job Brown and Martin family. 

Andre’ was voted “Project MVP”

Family Gathering @ Martin Homestead, Whidbey Island

The Seattle Crew (Michelle, Chris, Andre’, Morgan and Kodie) decided to spend Labor Day weekend at the Martin Homestead on Whidbey Island.   Was nice having the whole family all together, had been a while because we are all so busy during the summer months.

The following teams were set up for evening meals: Andre’ and I took the Friday evening, Chris and Michelle had Saturday evening. Everybody participated in the breakfast menu.  Lunch menu was derived from any leftovers we could find. 

We applied various types of cooking equipment to achieve our assigned meals.  I cooked the beef ribs in the oven; Chris used his new Concave Plow disk (Roswell 22” UFO Discada) to cook bacon, hash browns and eggs.  Andre’ made homemade bread in the Dutch oven, in addition to roasting garlic on the grill. Chris, André and I smoked salmon, pork chops and hamburgers in my new Kraeger Smoker/BBQ wood fired grill. The kids insisted that I needed to replace the 10-year-old Weber BBQ propane grill that they gave me for Fathers day in 2006.

Kim had to relax, she was recovering from carpal tunnel surgery, we just let her bark out orders so she would feel like part of the group in addition to entertaining Morgan.  In the evening we roasted “s’mores” on the open fire, then after Morgan’s bedtime we played board games. The game of choice was Ticket to Ride (the cross country train adventure game). If my memory serves me correctly , I let others win !

It goes without saying that we consumed some adult beverages, OK a lot. 

      Friday night beef ribs                  " Can I help Papa?  "


It goes without saying, Chris was excited, he got to cook using his Concave Plow Disk for the first time. 


                                                                     Push Uncle " Dre Dre"        


                                                               Bring on the hash browns

      "next"  English muffins                            " Life is good"


Time to assemble the new Traeger Smoker /BBQ wood fired grill.  Chris and Andre' were excited, the manufacturing instructions provided guidance on how many beers you should consume at various steps of the process.  After a few hours and 2 six packs later, believe it or not, we were smoking salmon. 



                            "Don't need no stinking instructions"




      "Out with the old (2006)"                   "In with the new"


                                                "Ready to Cook"

                       Play time with Uncle " Dre Dre"
          

               "Nap Time"


      "Father / Son time"                     "Sister / Brother time"


                           Kodie had a great time also.