Cameron's World

Summer 2008

School Ends, June

The last day of school was June 18^th. Free at last, free at last! My friends and I stuck around for a couple hours, then, with the teachers’ blessings, we left campus at about 10:00 and went to a friend's house to relax and watch a couple movies. It was a really nice day, and later, Emily and I bought some T-shirts and spray paint, designed some stencils out of newspaper, and painted ourselves some summer Ts in the driveway [right].

And how did I spend my 10 weeks of freedom? Well, since I did not find a job, this is what I did:

Slept as late as I could as often as I could; waking up at noon was fairly common.

Hung out with my friends at Juanita Beach, the Kirkland Marina, and other places.

Babysat Brennan for gas money.

Played video games with Taylor.

Mowed lawns and other yard work.

Drove everywhere I could.

Went on day trips with Mom and family to places like Northwest Trek and Wild Waves.

And more: What, exactly? It's a secret.

July Fourth

On my list of favorite holidays, Christmas and the Fourth of July are tied.

The morning of July Fourth Mom, Jan, Sofia, Brennan, my friend Emily [left], and I set up chairs along Main Street in Bothell to watch the parades. First we watched the kiddie parade, with lots of children riding decorated bikes, dogs in costumes, babies pulled in wagons, and candy flying everywhere. Sofia and Brennan got most of the candy by sitting on the curb, but Emily and I managed to snag a few pieces thrown long.

Then we watched the regular parade, starting with the Redcoats and Rebels, who marched by, then stopped occasionally to “shoot” at each other. There were also music bands, clowns, gymnastic teams, army vehicles, and the SeaFair Pirates ship. Of course, my favorites were the classic cars.

After the parade we went to my dad’s house for a Fourth of July party combined with a celebration of Dad's graduation from City University. He'd rented an inflatable bounce room for the front yard for the little kids, and there were badminton and bongo balls in the back yard, and, of course, lots of good food.

All afternoon I lit off firecrackers in "creative" ways [right] and researched how many different objects I could blow up. Even better was the neighborhood display after dark. I lit about $20 of cheap reservation bottle rockets, Roman candles, and mortars, and the show went past 1:00 in the morning.

July Fourth is definitely my favorite night of the year.

Driver Training Day, July

One of the best days of the whole summer was the Saturday I spent at Bremerton Speedway for a Driver Skills Day facilitated by the Porsche Club of America. Our family friend Rob (a member of the PCA) got me signed up, and Dad took me and spent the day.

The day started with a ground school, in which Rob taught the basic techniques and concepts that we'd be practicing. Then we got to the good part: out on the track.

The cars there ranged from my lowly Corolla to a $250,000 Porsche. But the point wasn't the power of the car; it was about improving your driving skills and learning about the capabilities and limitations of your own vehicle. We had six "stations"; three in the morning and three in the afternoon, with a hamburger lunch in between. Each station taught a different skill, like braking or turn handling, with an autocross at the end to wrap it all up.

All told, Dad and I were there for 11 hours. It was a great day.

Kirkland Car Show, July

Kirkland hosted a street fair and car show on July 20th, and Mom took Sofia and me. There must have been 400 cars there from the 1920s to the 2000s. It was fairly impressive.

All segments of the car industry were represented. There were a few modern tuners, even a brand-new Dodge Challenger, and there was a small section devoted to cutting-edge, fuel-efficient cars. But the show was dominated by classics: muscle cars, cruisers, resto-mods, you name it. They were all gorgeous. When I wasn't wiping drool off my face, I was busy taking pictures [right], which eventually amounted to 250 shots. Good times.

Columbia Gorge, August

Our one real vacation this summer was a week-long trip in the RV to the Columbia Gorge in Oregon. The first night we spent with the Williamsons in Portland. Jeanne Williamson is the Martha Stewart of Oregon, and she gave us a tour all around her amazing garden and let us pick strawberries, marionberries, raspberries, and blueberries to take with us. For the next two nights we ate fresh berries on vanilla ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce. Doesn't that sound good? It is.

The next two nights we stayed at Deschutes River State Park, near The Dalles. It was sunny and warm, and we spent parts of each day at a little beach on the river [right]. We also visited the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center and Museum. Another day we took a short drive across the Columbia River Bridge to Washington to see the Native American pictographs and petroglyphs at Horsethief Lake State Park.

The next two nights we spent farther west at a KOA in Cascade Locks. We visited the Marine Park, and Mom and I took a 2-hour ride on a sternwheeler [left]. We saw the Bonneville Dam and locks from the top, and lots of wind surfers and kite surfers. I was jealous. We also all went to the Bonneville Lock and Dam visitor center.

Our last night we stayed in Washington at the Silver Lake Motel and Resort. Even though the name says "resort," the place is a dump. But it was on a really nice lake. In the morning we rented a pontoon boat, and I steered us around the lake while Sofia jumped around the deck. I also accidentally took the boat's steel pontoons over some submerged dock pilings. I don't recommend that.

Fishing and Camping, August

As in summers past, Dad, Suzy, Brennan, and I did a lot of weekend camping. Mostly we went up to the Zinkes’ property [right], where we could cool off in the river all day long. We also spent a long weekend at Mounthaven Resort near Mt. Rainier. One of the neatest things about that area is that the deer are really tame. One day we saw 15 up close.

I also went on a fishing trip out of Sekui on the boat of Dad’s friend Brett. I caught a 22-pound king salmon; it was wild, though, so we had to let it go. And being guys, of course, we had no camera. Dang.

Grandma, August

Grandama Joanie moved from her house to a retirement home throughout the month of August. Since I didn’t have to report to a job, I was able to help her sort through and box up her things, run errands, and take stuff to the Goodwill. We had some really good talks. Then Mom, Jan, Dad, Brennan, and I moved what was left of her household on August 28^th. I think she’s going to like it there, and I'm glad I was able to spend time with her and help.

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