BAB_5207, originally uploaded by bbirmingham.

Our recent trip to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, CA went very well. The plan included taking a train to and from Vancouver in one day. We practiced the route on Wednesday, 24 Feb 2010. The intent behind the practice run was to become familiar with the public transportation around Vancouver and pick up our event tickets. By the schedule, we would only have 50 minutes between arrival in Vancouver and the start of the Speed Skating event. It turns out the practice trip was incredibly beneficial.

On 26 February 2010, the train departed Seattle on time at 7:45am. We arrived early in Vancouver by about 20 minutes. Fortunately, our car was the first to go through Customs after business class. This saved valuable time. We used the Sky Train to get to the Richmond Oval. We were able to simply walk onto the train at each station or transfer along our route. We didn’t have to wait at all and the trains were not crowded.

We finally arrived at the Richmond Oval at about 12:50. We missed the Men’s Team Pursuit Quarterfinals but arrived in time to see the Women’s Team Pursuit Quarterfinals. We really had no idea what we were watching.

Speed Skating Team Pursuit was very exciting to watch. Each team has four skaters, however, only three skate at a time. Two teams compete against each other in a six lap race. They start on opposite sides of the track. Times are reported every half lap.

We watched a total of six races between the men’s and women’s events. They were very exciting. We watched the USA women’s team beat the Canada women’s team by 0.04second.

There are some other items worth noting concerning our practice trip to Canada. On Friday’s trip, Alexis had to tie her shoe at the same point coming out of the Amtrak station in Vancouver as we walked to our first SkyTrain stop. When we returned to Seattle on Friday, we ended up with the same cab driver who drove us home on Wednesday. Given all the variables at work here, that is quite the coincidence.

While at the event took over 900 photos with the big lens (70-200mm). They can be seen on my flickr page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbirmingham/sets/72157623521919270/

Another Christmas gift from Alexis to me was tickets to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert.  We attended that concert took place last night at the Key Arena at Seattle Center.  It was a great time. 

Elton John looked like he had a very precise approach to the piano.  He appeared very serious about what he was doing but appeared to have a good time at the same time.  Billy Joel also sounded great and had a more energetic and laid back approach to his work with the piano.

Eagle, originally uploaded by bbirmingham.

Alexis booked us on a river rafting trip on the Skagit River. At this time, many Eagles are visiting the river in search of food. The trip took place on 2 January 2010. The weather was about 44ºF, overcast, and raining. The overcast actually helped with the eagle sightings. Had it been a sunny day, the eagles would have been flying high overhead.

The trip was good. We spent two hours on the water. I took the 70-200mm lens. Overall, I took 329 pictures. The picture posted here is the best of the bunch.

Snohomish County FD1 Ladder 11, originally uploaded by bbirmingham.

I was killing time while Alexis was in class today. I found Ladder 11 from Snohomish County Fire District 1 sitting out in the cold. This is a 2001 E-One. The replacement for this truck was sitting inside the fire station. The replacement is a 2009 Spartan/Crimson aerial. It is black over red like the other new apparatus for Fire District 1.

Mario Andretti, originally uploaded by bbirmingham.

On 7 December 2009, Mario Andretti visited our office. He met with the employees and signed a few autographs. Some employees even had their picture taken with him.

On 5 December 2009, Alexis and I attended a wine tasting even with some friends.  It was the annual Saint Nicholas Day Open House.  Many Woodinville wineries were open for wine tasting.  We stopped at 16 wineries or tasting rooms.  Here they are in no particular order (ok, they are alphabetical):

Chandler Reach Vineyards

Chateau Ste. Michelle

Domain Ste. Michelle - they had a nice sparkling wine

Edmonds Winery

Guardian Cellars

J. Bookwalter Tasting Studio

JM Cellars

Mark Ryan Winery Tasting Room

Northwest Totem Cellars

Page Cellars

Patterson Cellars

Red Sky Winery

Ross Andrew Winery Tasting Room

Tefft Cellars Tasting Room

William Church Winery

XSV Wines

I will not comment on the wine as I am not a wine drinker.  I will say that the stop at Tefft Cellars was the best.  We had a great time chatting with the winemaker.  The staff there was outstanding.

Snohomish County Fire District 1 Engine13

Originally uploaded by bbirmingham

I spent some time yesterday driving around North King County and South Snohomish County looking for fire apparatus to photograph. It was cold and there wasn’t many apparatus out and about. I did find Engine 13 from Snohomish County Fire District 1. One of the firefighers on duty told me that the City of Edmond’s Fire Department will be merging with Fire District 1 in January 2010.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Today, the Port of Seattle Fire Department hosted a pancake breakfast as a fundraiser for the Northwest Burn Foundation.  I went and had some pancakes, bacon and sausage.  I got a tour of their fire apparatus.

This is the Port's newest ARFF vehicle

This is another of the Port's ARFF vehicles

This is the Port's newest Engine, 711. It is not yet in service.

Thank you to the fire fighters of the Port of Seattle for the breakfast event and the tour of the apparatus.

Yesterday, I had a busy day traveling around the Seattle area.  I took Alexis to her class in Northgate and went looking for fire apparatus to photograph.  As I drove around the north end of Lake Washington, I stopped at Northshore Fire Station 51.  Their “new” Rescue 51 was parked out front going through the daily rig checks.  They actually acquired the truck in October of 2007.  The Batallion Chief there gave me a quick tour of the vehicle.  It was parked in the shade and made for some challenging photography.  Here it is.

Northshore Fire Department Rescue 51

Seattle Fire Department Ladder 4

The other aerial I saw is Ladder 1, a 2007 Spartan/Crimson 103ft tractor drawn aerial.

Seattle Fire Department Ladder 1

In addition to the aerials, I saw Engine 5’s new 2008 E-One Quest.  I will post it here shortly.