Stick Shifts & Tall Ships

There are some things that you evidently don't forget, like riding a bicycle. When it comes to driving, you don't forget how to drive stick, but you can tell when someone has not driven one for a few years. I had to drive a small truck with a stick shift a few weeks ago to help someone move. No problems with the stick, just a little jerky for the first few blocks, then smooth sailing after that. I had not driven a stick since coming back from my mission in '04, not bad.

Memorial weekend was fun. We got out to a few parks. And had a picnic with half the Columbia ward.

We went back to the Ice Harbor dam. This time we found the visitor center. They have a viewing area to watch the salmon (and other fish) swim up the fish ladder. It is actually pretty neat. I'd post a picture, but evidently we were the only ones to follow the signs saying no cameras (you even have to check in with the guard to get into the dam, so ... oh well, no pictures).

Then we drove by Sacagawea state park to see if they had BBQ pits or grills there for a picnic on memorial day. There was a pretty big crowd out. It took us a minute to figure out why, then we saw what it was. There were two tall ships sailing down the Columbia river.

When we came back to the park on memorial day it was pretty empty. Which was great (for us). We had about 30-40 people there, so it was lots of fun. I guess we should look for more parks with 'no alcohol' signs posted, it is pretty easy to find a spot at one of those.

Here are a few shots of the ships.

Boom!!! A little bit of show here.