Spokane, WA

I wanted to go dancing so did an Internet search and found several of the Senior Citizen centers in Spokane, Post Falls and Couer d’ Alene have a dance sometime during the week. One dance was on my birthday Monday night August 11th at the Corbin Senior Center located in Northwest Spokane at 827 W. Cleveland Ave.

This was the perfect weekend, August 23rd and 24th, to attend the 12th Annual Buggy Barn Quilt Show and Folk Art Sale. The weather was warm, but not too hot and there was a nice breeze on the farm. There were quilts everywhere. Now, this is not your typical quilt show. All the quilts are hanging outside along fences, tacked onto barns and on clotheslines. Walking into the rows of quilts I was amazed at the talent of everyone. The time and effort put into these quilts is amazing.

Sunday August 10th, our family attended the Fairchild Air show at Fairchild Air Force Base in Airway Heights. We went to watch the various planes perform wonderful feats and observe the power of the big jets. It was the day before my birthday and our youngest son thought it would be a great family outing. The day started out a bit cloudy and threatening rain and we did get a few sprinkles but nothing serious.

We got up early to go pick peaches so we could beat the heat and headed to Walter’s Fruit Ranch. Walter’s has so much to do that it is a perfect place to take a 2 year old. While we waited for the Fruit Loop Express to take us to the peach trees, my son was able to feed the chickens, look at a rabbit and visit the goats. They also have a new play structure so he was able to burn up so me energy on the slide.

The Peach Festival at Greenbluff continues through next weekend. For more information please visit the website: http://www.greenbluffgrowers.com/.

A few weeks ago, Riverfront Park celebrated their 30th anniversary by offering 1978 pricing on many of their attractions. I always enjoy going to Riverfront Park, so when I found out that I had family coming into town that weekend, we jumped on the opportunity to have some fun while paying less.

Chuck E Cheese’s at 10007 N. Nevada in north Spokane. We went to Chuck E. Cheese with just the intention of playing and not eating. We stuck to that too. The pizza and salad bar looked very tasty, but we spent our money on the games for the kids. Each game at Chuck E Cheese costs 1 token or $0.25. I did not think that was too bad. As you arrive at Chuck E Cheese you and your children receive a hand stamp. I did not understand the purpose of this until we left. They check your stamps and make sure you and your child have the same number. I was comforted by this security measure. They also have baby gates at the front door so your children cannot leave without you.

We have been hearing all summer about the new Spokane County Aquatics Center at 61st and Freya and how you get to take your toddlers on the slides. My son loves slides so earlier this week dad got off a little early from work and we headed up.

Frolf is a clever combination of the words Frisbee and golf. It is not the same as Disc Golf because fancy disc golf discs are not used. In the poor college kid, I have six square feet of dorm room space, version of disc golf players grab their most expendable Frisbee and aim for agreed upon objects. The Whitworth University campus on Hawthorne between Division and Waikiki provides an excellent location for this activity. There are a multitude of unmarked courses, which I will not trace out for you because that would be too difficult, and I don’t positively remember any one. About a week ago I had to give in to a friendly game of Frolf.

There is a restaurant in Spokane Valley called HuHot that is a type of Mongolian Grill restaurant. I recently planned a surprise birthday party for someone with about a group of 15 in attendance. I had never been to HuHot, but I had heard rave reviews from friends and it was the birthday girl’s favorite [...]

On July 19th we loaded up two vehicles and headed to Jump Off Joe Lake. It is above Loon Lake and about 37 miles North of Spokane along highway 395. We should have taken the boat but my son in law wanted to check it out before hauling the boat along.