From the woods, canyons and mountains of north-eastern Washington, family and I have returned. Triumphant. Or at least our son has. He nailed a 17" wild rainbow trout with flesh as orange as an Alaskan salmon from that metallic stream up there.So, fishing worked for Josh from time-to-time, and while we don't have a sea worthy boat, nor a mom that can fight off sharks, we do have a Kia Amanti, a credit card and vacation time on our hands. So we went east. And North. From the perfect weather of our hometown, into a land where they had an Icon I had never seen in it's weather report. It was a sun, but 50% larger, and orange instead of yellow. And the sole word underneath was HOT in all capital letters. As Bill says in John from Cincinnati: Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ!
But, it turned out pretty terrific, if you went directly from the air-conditioned car to the waterpark, or hotel room, or grocery store. This plan goes south when we make it to the rustic cabins of Curlew Lake just outside of Republic. Apparently the guy who owns the place has a hand saw and a screw gun, because that was the only tools apparently used to build the facilities. Not to mention the Yellow Jacket outbreak of 2007, which the locals are still talking about. My wife complains of intestinal disorders. And the kids, well, the kids.
But you know what, all and all it was actually quite fun, and me and the son got in a few games of chess, between the fishing and the bitching. And I think they actually had a pretty good time as well.
We are back, my son is in his second chess camp of the summer that is put on by WGM Elena Donaldson at his elementary school this year. He has completed two days and in his round robin tournament he is tied for second with 4/0 so far. (The other guy is rated much higher than him, but he is looking forward to the match and thinks he has a chance).
So far this summer the chess education has been pretty good. Nowhere near mastery, but productive, and I think overall enjoyable.
Glad to be back in the fray!
5 comments:
Good to see you back.
He is 4/0 and in second place?! Did he skip a round?
I thought I was the only one who combined trout fishing with chess on my vacation! Great post. And yes, the heat. My weatherchannel.com forcast high temps usually trigger a link that says something like "learn how to save on energy costs". Today the link says "better you than me!".
Rich
BDK,
That higher ranked kid is sitting at board one, and the top of the tourney list, and even has the current tie breaks. No one believes they are in first until the top of the pairings. But yeah, he was tied for first. He is in second after a single loss today. Really.
Glad to see you back friend. I am happy to hear that the vacation went well. In my experience these are one of those experiences that the family will look upon years from now with great joy and affection.
Once again welcome back and I look forward to your posts.
JFC... the wife and I have been watching ( and re-watching) that HBO series religiously. Might explain my mediocre chess playing.
Season finale coming up this Sunday.
Weird show...
OH... or shall I say Ooo Ooo Mr. Kotter... I recall the show when it forst came out... I wanted to be a sweat hog.
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