(47) Medford, OR and Seattle Day Off

Wednesday, March 4th: Eric and I drove the truck 464 miles(12,538 total miles) to Medford, Oregon. It was a very easy drive since we are getting so used to these long drive days. Gotta love the west coast! I settled in at the hotel and called Steve Elbe, who is Michelle’s Uncle. He came and picked me up at the hotel and brought me back to his house where I had dinner with him and his wife Mary. It was really nice to have a home cooked meal and a relaxed dinner. They also have a very nice house in a quiet neighborhood in Medford.

Thursday, March 5th: The crew left for the theater at 9:00am for load in. We were staying very close to the theater so we got there very early. The weather was very nice and not too chilly. Load in went very well, it was the first time we used the whole truss and panel pieces since the accident, so there was some extra work that went into setting up the show. At 1:30pm we were all finished and Eric, Rudy and I walked over to Bonsai Teriyaki for some sushi. It was suggested by Steve and boy was it good! Everything was really fresh and very tasty. We went back to the theater and had a 4:00pm(74) show. Something was I the air because the show had numerous problems. During one of the more important scenes, the project got unplugged and left the performers stranded on the stage. They forged through the scene, but it didn’t look pretty. All of the scenes seemed to be just a little bit off. Caroline was calling the show from stage left, which is not where she normally is. After the show, she quickly decided that that would not work for the second show. Backstage during the show, a miner helmet fell off the costume gondola and hit one of the wardrobe assistants in the head. It was just a clumsy show. Between shows, I walked over the an organic restaurant called Grilla Bites and got some soup. The second show went much better and load out happened without any problems. Once we were back at the hotel, I sat down on the chair in my room and wasn’t sure if I could get up to get ready for bed! It was an exhausting 13 hour day in one place. I drank a bunch of water, took a shower and layed down in bed.

Friday, March 6th: We drove 494 miles(13,032 total miles) back up to Everett, Washington, which is about 30 miles Northeast of Seattle. We hit a bunch of traffic on the way back which made the drive much longer than expected. Regardless, I was in the van so I had plenty of time to sleep and relax. We did stop for lunch at a mall with a Merry-Go-Round in it, but other than that it was a pretty ghetto mall in Portland.

Saturday, March 7th: DAY OFF! Carolyn, Eric and I took the commuter bus from Everett into downtown Seattle. We walked down to Pike’s Place Market and looked around a bit, then got some coffee and tea at a local coffee shop near there. After that, we split up a bit, Eric and I went up to Seattle Center and Carolyn went down to Pioneer’s Square. As we were leaving the coffee shop, we saw Margo and her mother, who had stayed at a hotel in Seattle that night. At Seattle Center, Eric went to do the touristy stuff and I went to meet up with my Cousins Josh and Hannah. They picked me up and we drove over to the large troll under the Ballard bridge. We met up with Kurt(Hannah’s fiancé) and two of Kurt’s friends. After playing on the troll for a bit, we drove over to Josh’s apartment which is a pretty nice place. He lives near a store called Archie McPhee’s which is the largest Novelty Store in the country. We walked around the store before going over to Snooze Pizza for some lunch. On the way back to Josh’s apartment, we walked by the Leif Erikson house, which also has a bust of Leif Erikson out front. Josh and Hannah then drove me over to the University District where I met up with one of my college roommates, Michael Minahan. He is getting his Masters degree at the University of Washington and was in the paint shop working on a project. It was just as I always remembered Michael, running around furiously working on something at the last minute. We went across the street to the campus bar to hang out for a bit which was very nice. The day was wearing on, so I picked up the commuter bus back out to Everett.