So we took a vacation in September. First we went to the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington State. I had not been there in over 20 years and have always wanted to go back. It rained 2 of the 3 days we were there, but we were still able to enjoy yourselves with our camper van and three dogs. There are photos from our trip at Long Beach trip. Unfortunately there was a wedding party at our campsite during our stay there. Here is a video of us after dark trying to listen to a Mariners game while a wedding reception band was playing Blondie.
We then flew to New Orleans. We got to see the Columbia and Mississippi Rivers on the same day. We had a great time, doing mostly the usual tourist things. Here are the photos from our trip there. Here are a couple of videos from the most fun we had at the Funky Pirate Blues club. There was a man there celebrating his 50th birthday and had friends and family from San Antonio and New Orleans. He included us in his party, and it was so much fun. It felt like a moment of racial harmony and peace.
The first video is El Sid singing Use Me.
And this video is the birthday boy with El Sid singing Purple Rain.
Unfortunately at the exact same moment I was feeling like there was peace and harmony briefly in the world, a shooter killed 5 innocent people back home. It really put a sadness on the rest of our trip and our return home. Once we got home I was able to watch the amazing candlelight vigil on Burlington Blvd on live video and then participate in a mall walk to support the mall employees who were also victimitized by this violence. There I saw employees who were sobbing on their return. I can only imagine what they experienced that hellish evening. Here is a photo of them memorial growing at the sign for the mall.
Here are the other photos from the walk.
