photography

Total immersion at Teatro ZinZanni show in Seattle

/ Roadtirementvintage / 5 Comments

We had heard about it, we had looked at the web site, but nothing prepared us for the extravaganza that was our evening at the Teatro ZinZanni Seattle presentation of A Night Like This. It’s hard to describe, but here goes:

Imagine walking into a real life vintage circus tent. This tent, made in 1910, has fine wood work, mirrored walls and wood floors. Fancy does not do justice to the opulence of this structure.  Our daughter and son-in-law arranged for us to all go to the show.

Entering the world of Teatro ZinZanni

Striking fabric ceilings in the lobby

The lobby offers coat check, a full bar, and even a “Boutique” for purchasing boas, masks, hats and other trimmings for your outfit. We were seated at our table big enough for 8, but private for the four of us. It was an amazing sight to see how ornate and big the tent was!

The walls are ornate, table is set

Orchestra stage in background, seating where the action takes place

Right after we got our drinks, things started to happen. Cast members started roaming around, interacting with the crowd. The show had started, even tho there was no official “start”! It was time to start eating: course 1 was a delicious beet salad. Keep in mind that this evening includes a full 4 course meal, each served with a flair by waiters/actors. The spacing of the courses is just perfect.

Cocktail time!

My two beautiful girls

The star of the show, Christine Deaver, brought laughter and mirth throughout the evening. Her singing was terrific, and she brought members of the audience into her act several times. Her improve work is sensational and she keeps the audience in stitches.

Christine, photo courtesy of Teatro ZinZanni

Christine, photo courtesy of Teatro ZinZanni

The orchestra is just, well, fabulous. The variety and quality of music those four guys put out is incredible. Throughout the show you will be treated to songs that will bring back memories and get your hands clapping and foot a tappin’.

Both seating and performance area

The salad course: delicious beets

Words cannot describe the excitement you feel when viewing the gymnastic and aerialist acts. An international cast ads to the quality of these performances. The thing about this show is that there is always something going on. When a center stage act in not happening, cast members are wandering around having fun with the crowd. Star Christine liked and felt of Mike’s hair, and another actor repeatedly stated he liked my mustache. You are totally immersed in your experience at A Night Like This.

No photography once the show starts, so we had our group photo taken by the in house photographer

Sher and I have been to many places, events and entertainment venues during our years on the road. We both feel that our night at Teatro ZinZanni Seattle was the best and most unique of any we have experienced. We would strongly suggest that you also attend a performance.

Huge walk through ancient tree stump on I-5 Rest Stop

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Usually interstate rest areas are straight forward: a truck and RV parking lot and a separate car parking lot. In between are the restrooms, vending machines and a scattering of picnic tables and a doggie “poop here but pick up” park.

The story

However, the Northbound I-5 Smokey Point Rest Stop at mile marker 207 north of Seattle has the above mentioned features (including an RV dump station) and a huge tree stump. Yes, it is a piece of local history. The story of this artifact is fairly well documented on the story board. The size of the stump is obvious in the photo.

The stump

When I first saw this I thought that it was some kind of new picnic table shelter. Then I saw the story board. Strange but true are the things you find when traveling!

Elliott Bay Pizza and Pub

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Tonight we had supper with our family at a great pizza joint and pub. The Elliott Bay Pizza & Pub has outstanding pizza. They also offer sandwiches and pasta dishes.

Very very tasty pizza!

This is a very popular place and we had to wait about 20 minutes to get a table big enough for all of us. The facility offers family seating as well as a 21+ bar area. Once our food arrived I could tell why the place was so packed.

Love the pink elephants

We are certainly enjoying this retirement thing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pub also has a great variety of craft beers from local breweries. They state there are 20 craft beers in a changing rotation, and also a selection of local wines. All in all we all had a very enjoyable evening. It is fun trying different restaurants when we travel to different parts of the country.

Roadtirement’s 2019 revisited

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My gosh has this year gone fast, or what?  We started the year traveling from Indiana to Harlingen, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. Park Place RV Resort was our home for two months.  Some pure tourist type stuff was of course a requirement in the new to us area. The border with Mexico, those daunting US Border Patrol SUV’s and the fence/wall were eye openers for us. We enjoyed the sights of Port Isabel and the beaches of South Padre Island. That 55+ RV resort living helped us realize that we liked being “Winter Texans”!

Nice concrete patio at our site in Harlingen.

One day we went to the border wall in Brownsville.

The Port Isabel lighthouse

We spent some time in March with family in Austin, then back to Indiana. It took a bit to get back into being in the Midwest again, but there was lots we did over the summer. We try to go to as many musicals as we can at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis. An excellent buffet and even better show make for a great evening out. In May we also set up at the US Highway 40 Yard sale in Dunreith, a small town  between Greenfield and Richmond, Indiana. For four days folks travel the highway looking for treasures and bargains.

Musical “Hairspray” at Beef and Boards

Our set up for the Highway 40 Yard Sale

 

 

 

 

 

Camping with kids and grand kids became a fun past time this summer. We took our RV and our kids brought their tent(s) for themselves and any of the grand kids that could come along. An Ohio State Park, US Forest Service Recreation Area, and a Jellystone Park RV resort served us well. Never a dull moment when camping, especially in West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest after a toad strangler of a rain which flooded a tent. Yes, we were able to sleep 6 fairly comfortably in our 24′ Class C Four Winds. We had to use an alternate route to leave the area as the main road was washed out.

Spacious campsite in the Monongahela National Forest

West Virginia’s Horseshoe Rec Area

Our campsite, tent is out of site on the left

Entrance to the Ohio State park, lake in the background

Gorgeous end to the day at Ohio’s Kaiser Lake State Park

Another summer highlight was our trip to Niagara Falls. The guided tour was definitely worth the cost. The small Gray Line tour bus picked us up at our RV campground. The tour was all inclusive, including of course the famous Maid of the Mist boat ride taking you into the soaking up close view of the falls. If you have not been to Niagara Falls, go!

Here we are after our Maid of the Mist adventure. That is the American Falls barely visible between us.

Restaurant view of the Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls. The food was good, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sher and I were pretty busy during the summer, including some additional selling at several town festivals. By the time the end of October came around we were ready to head back out on the road and head south once again. We had talked before about visiting the Diamond Mine State Park in Arkansas. The weather had been rather wet, but we decided that it would be a great time to check this place out on our way back to Texas. We went and had a ball. No diamonds found, and the muddy ground was hard to traverse. But, we have a bucket of neat rocks for our rock garden.

Getting ready to head to the muddy field and begin our search for diamonds

Here I am shovel ready to find one of those huge diamonds shown in the picture next to me

 

 

 

 

 

 

On to Texas with a quick stop in Texarkana. There the courthouse is positioned literally on the Arkansas/Texas State line. Interesting to say the least. We stopped at our family’s place in Austin for a couple of days before we went to our spot at the La Hacienda RV Resort in Austin. The La Hacienda is a Sun Resort property, complete with all the expected facilities. We have been here since the first of November. The past two months have given us a chance to explore the Austin area. The Hill Country is filled with wineries, breweries and distilleries. Yep, we have enjoyed more than one of these establishments.

A beautiful Saturday at the Bull Creek Park in Austin

Los Pinos restaurant is only 1/4 mile from our RV Park!

 

 

 

 

 

 

2019 has been quite the adventure for Roadtirement! We can’t list everything, but know that we have had a great year. In figuring up where were have been, we discovered that in 2019 we actually lived 5 out of 12 months as Winter Texans. This could get to be habit forming! We are going to start 2020 by going to Seattle to visit our daughter and her family in January. Stay tuned, we’ll fill you in!

Wishing you and yours and all our friends a safe and prosperous New Years!

Maj and Sher

An interesting sky and old time transportation

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Sometimes Nature puts on an interesting show, to say the least. One day the sky over our RV resort displayed a set of wispy and stringy looking clouds. I had to snap a couple of shots.

Deep blue sky painted with wisps of white

Soon after you enter La Hacienda RV resort you will see a couple of neat old wagons. These coupled with a longhorn outline provide a neat piece of Texas atmosphere and ambiance.

Looks like a chuck wagon

Love the sign: “The Original RV”

You know you’re in Texas!

We’re enjoying our stay here at  La Hacienda RV Resort. Lake Travis is nearby, as are good restaurants. Austin is reasonably close as well.

Enjoying Austin Texas for a while

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We made the trip from Indiana to Austin in a few short days. We had some fun stops along the way including the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.

    Our site is very level gravel with a nice concrete patio including a picnic table. We are very close to the swimming pool laundry and all of the facilities.

We are going to be here at the La Hacienda RV Park and resort for a couple of months. We are looking forward to exploring the area. From what we have read it seems like there is a lot to see and do in and around Austin Texas.

The park has two swimming pools one of which is this delightful adults only pool complete with nice hot tub

 

 

Fun muddy day at Crater of Diamonds State Park

/ Roadtirementvintage / 5 Comments

Today Sher and I gambled on the threatening rain and went to the Crater Of the Diamonds State Park. We had an absolute blast even though the ground was very very muddy and hard to walk in.

Getting ready to head to the muddy field and begin our search for diamonds

 

Here I am shovel in hand and ready to find one of those huge diamonds shown in the picture next to me

The shed in the background is where you screen the soil for diamonds and gems stones