Boots on the Ground: US Open at Chambers Bay

GREENERY: Not gonna lie, we're not huge golf fans. Or even big golf fans. We might even be less-than-average golf fans. That said, when the "Super Bowl" of golf comes to your neighborhood, we thought it worth checking out. Boy are we glad we did.

Monday morning, we arose at 5 a.m. to get our show on the road southbound, destination Chambers Bay, a picturesque golf course in University Place, Wa., just west of Tacoma.

Turns out the US Open is a Big Darn Deal, and so access is gained via school bus from lots around the area. We parked in the lot a Tacoma Community College lot a tad before 7 a.m., along with people from all over (we parked next to a Tesla from Pennsylvania), and were en route to Chambers Bay shortly after. 

We honestly had no idea what to expect, other than a potential nightmare given the crush of people at a not-that-urban location up against the shoreline. Fortunately, the site seemed ready for their big close up!

I was very impressed with how organized it was overall - and I'll admit, I'm usually the first to complain about how awful organization is. 

We'd never been to a golf tournament before, so we had to learn as we went. We quickly figured out you want to check the player locator board to see who's where.

The gate we entered was close to the 13th hole, and the readerboard said Tiger Woods was on 10. We could have stayed where we were, but we decided (perhaps foolishly) to go chasing.

We caught up with his teeing off on 14.

 Tiger's int he striped teal shirt.

 Never in my life did I think I'd see Tiger Woods walking the green at a US Open tournament, but there we were. Wild. 

Here's what CJ has to say about the US Open ...

On June 15th, 2015, I went to see part of the first day of the U.S. Open golf tournament, then being held in Chambers Bay, University Place, which is southwest of Tacoma. The U.S. Open is an annual event, held in different golf courses across the United States. The U.S. Open is named so because anyone is able to participate in the tournament.

Chambers Bay, where the U.S. Open championship is, was very hilly, and throughout the course, there were several paths that led from and to different holes. Across Chambers Bay, there were multiple grandstands, which, according to Wikipedia, are large and normally permanent structures for seating spectators of certain events, in this case, golf.

Throughout Chambers Bay, there were several different white tents that were "Corporate Hospitality" tents, or, in other words, places that you could go and hang out if you were a businessperson who paid a lot of money to go there. Other white tents that were present throughout Chambers Bay had services such as a concessions stand, a shop, and even a Starbucks(!). At one point, there was a tent where we were given the opportunity to take a picture with the trophy that would be given to the winner of the U.S. Open championship. The line was long, but it was worth the wait. After taking our picture with the trophy, a cameraman started recording us and we were interviewed by a lady. When she asked Annabelle, my sister, what her first impression of Chambers Bay, she said "There were a lot of hills". After that, my mom said that Annabelle's quote would probably be aired on the news about the U.S. Open.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience at the U.S. Open this year.

Annabelle had a couple of observations, too ...

On June 15, I went to the U.S. Open at the Chambers Bay golf course, in University Place. The U.S. Open is the United States Golf Association’s golf championship. The winner of the championship is given the trophy. 

When I went to the course, the actual competition hadn’t started yet; the golfers were getting used to the course. Every year the competition is in a different location, and this was the first time it’s ever been in the Pacific Northwest. The course, Chambers Bay, is covered in hills and sand traps. The course was also very big, and I got the chance to walk around it and see almost every hole. There was seating almost everywhere because of the tournament. 

When I was there I also got to see many different golfers, including Ryan Moore, who is a golfer from Puyallup, and Tiger Woods, a famous golfer! The trip was fun and I enjoyed seeing the sights and watching the players. If I could, I would like to go back and play on the course myself!

 The big grandstand below is at the end of the 18th hole. 

So. Many. Sand traps!

 Below is a Tiger trail - people pursuing Woods making his way through the course.

We saw golfers from all around the world. 

Oliver Farr (blue shirt, to the left below) is from Wales, while Cameron Smith (red shirt) is from Australia.

 I think we scared Mr. Smith. ;) 

We saw Jered Becher, from Reno.  

 And Rich Berberian Jr, the New England PGA champ.

 Blue shirts - the men and women minding the tees, fairways, and greens, were everywhere. 

 Had to get the obligatory 'we were here' shot. :)

 There were signs everywhere, some better than others. 

 For instance, with the sign below ... so where's Gate 5? Is it to the left, like the arrow beneath it, or to the SW, like the arrow to the right of it? This type of sign is why you needed to keep a map in hand.

We went to visit the US Open trophy. So did all of the media on site. A local TV crew interviewed CJ and Annabelle. 

 But back to golf.  We briefly saw Morgan Hoffmann,a 25-year-old from New Jersey.

And we saw Shiv Kapur, of India.

 We ran into the Japanese contingent around hole 17.

 Have I mentioned the course was hilly. Very, VERY hilly. All uphill, it seemed like. ;)

And have I mentioned it was hot? Very, VERY hot.

We were absolutely wiped out after about five hours. Seriously sweat through. 

All in all, it was a remarkable experience. We are *so* happy we made the trip down south to attend and are looking forward to watching the US Open this weekend.

Fore!

WIDE OPEN SPACES:  We had a long, fun, tiring Monday, attending the first day (practice round) of the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay golf course in University Park, near Tacoma, Wa.

We're wiped out tonight, so I'm going to save the full golf report for tomorrow, but highlights of the day included holding the US Open trophy ...

and watching Tiger Woods prowling the greens.

WAKE UP CALL: Exciting news came rocketing across the Interwebs on Sunday - Philae phoned home!

If you recall, Philae is the little lander which left the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft and flew to a nearby comet (Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) last fall, before falling silent, as the solar-powered lander would up in a bit of a canyon and was cut off from a power source.

On June 14, signals were received at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt at 22:28 CEST. For 85 seconds Philae communicated with its team on ground, via Rosetta. It was Philae's first contact since going into hibernation in November. During the transmission, the center received more than 300 data packets from Philae. 

In an ESA press release, Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec reported, "Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available. The lander is ready for operations."

Some of the data transmitted was historical, indicating Philae was awake before June 13, but not able to transmit until now. The ESA is hoping for another 'call,' as there are still more than 8,000 packets of data in Philae's memory, 

If you need or want a reminder about the mission, check out this adorable video.
 https://youtu.be/3lptDXWyxj0

and this one ...
https://youtu.be/PfIKit9o4LY

GRAVITY: Love this photo of ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti on her first morning back on planet, enjoying some fresh fruit in Houston. "Enjoying sounds, smells, flavours of Earth. Doing great, but gravity is tough!" she posted Love her t-shirt (Gravity Gets Me Down).

MORNING ROCK:  On Saturday, June 13, we headed down to Seattle Center for a free concert featuring local legends Mudhoney. Though they emerged in the age of grunge, I think their sound is more straight up punk myself. Whatever you call it, it was loud and fun.
The show was actually part of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon that was run that morning. However, since it was in a public park, people who didn't run 26.2 or 13.1 miles (that's us!) were able to wander in.

In fact, as you can see, we had no trouble getting front row 'seats'. Annabelle's the short one next to the tall ones ... 

 and CJ and a couple of kids a bit older than he were front and center. The new vanguard to Seattle rock 'n' roll :)

The show was fantastic!

Guitarist Steve Turner shredding

and singing ... 

 and hitting the pedal.

 Lead singer Mark Arm really cut loose once he lost his guitar.

Still screaming, after all of these years. :)

Guy Maddison on bass

Drummer Dan Peters

Nothing like getting your face melted off by ground shaking punk rock at 11 on a Saturday morning. It was so loud, I was coughing ... the sound waves were shaking my lungs.

Mark took occasion to partake of some 'breakfast Riesling' as he called it.

So. Much. Fun! 

It was so loud, it made me cough. I think it's because my chest was vibrating so much!

Seeing Green

HEMPFEST:  Yesterday there was no post as we all were otherwise indisposed (insert a hospital visit, dinosaurs and technical difficulties here). Take your pick, it just wasn't happening here. 

By today, we were eager to go for a walk.

We purposely took an off-the-beaten-path-but-not-far-from-home path today. Within just a couple of  blocks we found a spot of great interest: An urban hemp farm, per the signs on site.

 Clever use of concrete blocks, wouldn't you say?

By invitation, CJ and Annabelle took a moment to take it all in. 

 This sign informs passersby about the differences between hemp and marijuana. 

 And another sign warned passersby (that's us!) about the perils of looting their crop. 

I hope our neighbors are able to keep their garden green for weeks to come.

Midweek

Photo: Terry Virts, NASA

ONE MORE NIGHT: While most of North America sleeps, three humans will be falling back to Earth.

Above is a final "night shot" from NASA astronaut Terry Virts. "I will miss this view!" he declared when sharing it.

Virts, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti will undock from the International Space Station at 3:20 Thursday morning, Seattle time. They're expected to touch down in Kazakhstan at 6:43 a.m. after 199 days in space. NASA TV will cover the undocking and landing activities live.

Since the trio's return date was delayed by four weeks to allow Roscosmos to investigate the cause of the loss of the unpiloted Progress 59 cargo ship in late April, Cristoforetti became the new record holder for women when it comes to longest consecutive stay in space.

Before she left the station, Cristoforetti recorded a thank you to all of the women who have supported her during her time in space. https://youtu.be/uC24qTZz7so

FRAMED:  CJ and Annabelle are big MAD Magazine fans. When an issue included a special offer for a numbered Weird Al and Alfred E. Neuman print, he couldn't get his 'yes, please' in the mail quick enough.

He was thrilled when this envelope showed up for him a few days ago.

And here he is with the print, suitable for framing or recycling as the accompanying letter noted.

SIGNED UP:  One thing we look forward to each summer is the Seattle Public Library's fantastic summer reading (and more!) program.  Last year, one of the events we went to featured singer/songwriter Morgan Taylor. Also a cartoonist, Taylor's created a character named Gustafer Yellowgold, and he has a whole host of songs to tell about Gustafer's adventures. 

When we saw Taylor last year at the Magnolia library, we were enchanted,and signed up on his email list. A few days ago, an email let us know he'd be back in Seattle this summer, and the visit includes a weeklong workshop called “Build A Cartoon and Musical World” 

Per the library's Web site, attendees will "explore multimedia comic techniques as you invent characters, create narratives and write songs about your comic with award-winning illustrator/songwriter Morgan Taylor. For ages 7-12," and advance registration is required.  Needless to say, I signed the kids up post haste. I can't believe they get a week long workshop (at the Southwest branch of SPL) for free! What an amazing opportunity.

You can watch a short interview with cartoonist and singer/songwriter Morgan Taylor here: http://gustaferyellowgold.com/gustafer-live-on-tv/

Oh, the Places We Went

GRADUATION:  Though CJ and Annabelle are still several years away from graduation, they had a hand in a local graduation ceremony today via helping with a cake for the occasion.

I love making artsy cookies, but I pretty much dread making custom cakes because of the potential for disaster factor. 

https://youtu.be/ZVvdLeRHQoQ

That said, we did throw together a Dr. Seuss themed cake for a very small, very alternative school this afternoon. A couple of weeks ago we found out the theme was Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Places You'll Go." The last published book of Dr. Seuss, the story of charting one's own course and overcoming obstacles has become a de rigueur gift for high school graduates.

Making a cake like this is a multi-stepped process. The first step is deciding what you want to do. That takes a lot of thought and, of course, we Googled "Oh, the Places You'll Go cakes." That was both good and bad, as it showed us some excellent examples, but mostly showed us horrible, horrible cakes we would never want to make. And that paralyzes you with fear. ... 

Eventually, you have to get over that and make the da&* cake.  I decided to do 'flat' characters (like they were on the page), use a few of the most apropos quotes, and center on the fun animal characters in the book. However, in it, the animals are mostly scary. Scary animals on a graduation cake are probably a bad idea, so we made happy versions of them. :) Of course, the fun, Seussian trees were also included. Getting the pastel-y colors right was important, and we decided on reproducing the conical shape on the cover of the book for our cake topper.

We made the Seuss characters and quotes out of gumpaste this past weekend, and baked the cake rounds on Sunday. The cakes (mocha chocolate and banana bread) were filled (chocolate malt and brown sugar cinnamon, respectively) and crumb coated last night, and then this morning they got coated in smoothed buttercream (to resemble fondant) and packed up for the scary trek to the school. 

Between steep hillsides and horrible HORRIBLE Seattle roads, it was a hold-your-breath trek, but the cakes made it intact. We decorated them on site (stacking, adding the characters and the trim pieces), and when we walked away just moments before the graduation ceremony, it looked fabulous. Hopefully, people enjoyed it. 

CENTER STOP:  Midday, we headed to Seattle Center to pick up our sneak preview tickets for Jurassic World on Thursday night. While there, the kids enjoyed the awesome new play structure, and then cooled off in the fountain. 

Can you spot CJ and Annabelle?

Tonight, we watched "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" to help get tuned up for Thursday.

The Web site for the latest JP movie is totally worth checking out. It looks like the site for any real world zoo or park. Go here: http://www.jurassicworld.com/

CARPOOL FOR AMERICA:  When we were making our way home this afternoon, CJ started asking questions about carpool lanes. That soon turned to him talking about a World War II propaganda poster telling Americans that driving alone is like riding with Hitler. Yes, really. 

This poster, by American artist Weimer Purcell, was published in 1943 by the Government Printing Office for the Office of Price Administration. 

When we got home, we hopped on the Internet to learn a little bit more about it. 

A page on the National Archives site talks about the Hitler/car-sharing poster, as well as other posters that exhorted Americans to salvage, ration, and/or use resources more wisely. The page includes a quote from Donald Nelson, Chairman of the War Production Board. Describing the military view of the American wartime industry, Nelson said, "Astronomical quantities of everything and to hell with civilian needs."

We thought this one, called "Waste Helps the Enemy," was rather cleverly done.  

The artist is Vanderlann, and the poster was produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company.

Swimmingly

MAKING A SPLASH:  It was north of 85 degrees today - the perfect time for the kids to hit the municipal pool for the first time this season. They swam for an hour and a half, enjoying every minute of it.

It's not the biggest or best slide, but they sure do enjoy it. 

LITTLE ITALY:  On Saturday morning, we took a very short trip to one of the more unique museums you'll ever see: The Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory for Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. (Lamborghini). It's literally in our neighborhood, tucked away in a utilitarian small warehouse next to the Quality Food Center in Seattle's Interbay neighborhood. It's about an 8 minute walk from our house, tops.

Open less than a year, and only open to the public one Saturday a month, by appointment only, the world's first carbon fiber technological museum is still an unknown to most of the world.  We were thrilled to have a chance to look around!

We knew we'd found the place when we saw this beauty tearing around the block. 

It was a super sunny Saturday. Poor Annabelle's eyes were closed in each of the four photos I took of the kids at the guest meeting point. 

I'll let CJ tell you a little bit more about our visit.

On Saturday, June 6th, I went to a museum at the Automobili Lamborghini Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory, which makes different carbon fiber technologies for use by Automobili Lamborghini, a famous Italian sports car manufacturer. According to the museum guide*, some of the first carbon fiber technologies were made in Japan in the late 1950's. The museum guide also told us that Lamborghini got it's start in the 1960's, when Ferruccio Lamborghini made his own car to impress his neighbors, one of which owned a Ferrari. Inside the museum, there were engine covers of different Lamborghini automobiles, such as the Countach and the Diablo. What makes Lamborghini cars' engine placement interesting is that unlike most other cars, which either have the engine in the front or in the back (much like the ill-fated Ford Pinto), Lamborghini cars have their engine in the middle. According to the Advanced Composite Structures Laboratory's website, their mission is to provide research and education solutions in the field of composite materials, with an emphasis on damage tolerance, hail and lightning strike, crashworthiness analysis and simulation, and material characterization for customers in the automotive industries worldwide. At the end of the tour of the museum, the guide informed us that Lamborghini currently works with several other automobile companies using carbon fiber technology. At the end of the tour, we got to ask questions we had. I asked the guide which Lamborghini's current main rival company is. The guide replied by saying Ferrari is the current primary rival of Lamborghini. Overall, I thought the tour of the carbon fiber museum was very interesting.

*Our tour guide was Dr. Paolo Feraboli, the lab's director, and also a professor at the University of Washington. You can see an interview with him here: https://youtu.be/nhPKgyaY0-A

Annabelle also has a few thoughts to share about the ACSL.

On June 6, I went to the Lamborghini Advanced Composite Structure Lab. At the lab, they experiment with materials to make Lamborghini. The first Lamborghini took a long time to make and sometimes even had Lamborghini lose money every time they made one. The process was so slow they only made about 20 cars a year.

Today, one of the most prominent materials used is carbon fiber, which, when combined with resin, can be strong and light. Almost everything on display was made of carbon fiber! The carbon fiber has been used in many of their cars and other products since. The design of the Lamborghini has changed a lot over the years from a bulky car to a streamlined one, and even race cars! There was one car they made completely out of carbon fiber after Ferrari said they could make a car under 1,000 pounds. The carbon fiber car was so light, they had to put a block of lead in the back to make it exactly 999 pounds. They also displayed golf clubs and snowboard bindings made of carbon fiber. The tour was fun and it was really cool seeing what Lamborghini uses in their cars.

Inside, the lab, a couple of photos were permitted. Mine (taken with a cell phone, in a dark space) are terrible, but at least show we were there. 

UFO SPOTTED OVER HAWAII:  Today, NASA conducted another test flight of their Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) over the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. A vehicle to test new technologies that will help NASA land heavier payloads than current technology will allow on the surface of planets including Mars, LDSD is saucer-shaped vehicle.

Today, the saucer was taken to about 120,000 feet aloft by a balloon.  Upon release, an engine fired, rocketing it to 180,000 feet, where tests could be conducted simulating Mars' thin atmosphere. The craft is designed to test entry and descent technology using a donut-shaped airbag and a supersonic parachute that can be deployed while the vehicle is descending to its landing point, traveling several times the speed of sound.

https://youtu.be/7ksgMkDeLoM

Unfortunately, today's test was cut short when then a parachute problem presented itself. The vehicle will be recovered, and engineers will certainly be trying to figure out what went wrong.