A snowy trip to Washington

By: David and Marian Cortesi

Our trip to the Washington schools set basketball in a frame of snow and mountains. The first mountain up is Shasta. Unfortunately we flew almost above it. Still, you can never have too many pictures of Shasta, even partial ones. Next up was a fabulous view of St. Helens lined up with Mt. Adams. And the usual profile of Rainier on the approach to SeaTac. We spent Thursday afternoon at the Experience Music Project Which is just below the Space Needle in Seattle Center. At game time the temp was in the teens with crunchy snow on the ground. During warm-ups, Cori Enghusen's mom stopped by. Heidi VanDerveer chatted with her mom. Kate Starbird watched the game from the fan section. Harriet Benson joined us in the fan section. Left to right, niece Katie, grand-nephew Quinn, nephew Paul. The UW pep band plays tight, jazzy arrangements and a wide variety of material, from "Tequila" to "Video Killed the Radio Star." At halftime, Su Schaffer and Harriet talked about the amazing collapse of the Huskies. Hec Edmundsen is one of few Pac-10 arenas that have that great snack food, Dippin' Dots. Marian, Quinn and Katie share some. Jane had a great game and afterward, was flattered with an interview by Comcast Sports. Next morning, while waiting in SeaTac for our flight to Spokane, Marian updated the FBC website. This flight gave us another splendid view of Rainier with Adams to its left and St. Helens to its right. Approaching Spokane we could see the soft landforms of the Palouse country. Temp was in the teens as we disembarked at Spokane's small airport. To occupy the rest of Friday we went for a walk along the Spokane river. We wrote GO CARDINAL in the snow, in case any of the team passed that way. The falls of the Spokane river were running high. This squirrel was saying, "Nut... nut... where did I leave that nut..." The goose was muttering, "Mamma told me to fly south; why didn't I listen?" Local ducks were waiting for... ...the official City of Spokane Duck Feeding Person. Among the very common mallards were some Common Goldeneye. Marian checked the view from a Spokane icon. This sculpture of a footrace runs in front of City Hall. Saturday morning started like Friday, only without sun. The drive to Pullman through the rolling Palouse country takes about 2 hours. Beasley Coliseum was ready... ...guarded by its resident cougars. It's a large and comfortable arena inside. Coach Sherri Murrell made the usual courtesy call. We and Brooke's parents were the only fans from California, but there were a couple dozen Stanford shirts in the stands. The Wazoo pep band was in uniform and well-trained. The Wazoo mascot was being touted as being "the best mascot" in some poll or other. He was ok. Even during warm-ups the team seemed listless. It was noticeable during the game that the people playing hard were JJ, Jillian, and Brooke. The game featured special guest referees Captain Picard and First Officer Troi. Next morning we watched our plane being de-iced. The first leg, a flight from Spokane diagonally south-west to Portland on a sparkling morning, gave us fabulous views. Here is Adams with St. Helens beyond. And here is Adams lined up with Rainier. And that was the Washington trip.