Great article in The Virginian-Pilot

The Virginian-Pilot

(Norfolk, Va.)
July 29, 2012

Youngsters get on board with railway safety

By Lisa Suhay

Janelle Brown is a member of Brownie Troop 161 in Virginia Beach. Norfolk Southern Railway brought its vintage Pullman executive passenger train to town, giving rides to local Girl Scouts.
In a joint celebration of both the 30th anniversary of Norfolk Southern Railway and the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts organization, 200 Girl Scouts learned about railroading and public safety aboard a Norfolk Southern-operated Norfolk-Petersburg round trip passenger excursion train this week.

The girls won their seats aboard the vintage Pullman cars by participating in a contest in which they created safety and anti-trespassing messages.
The train followed the same route future passenger trains will take the public starting next year.

These Scouts were also encouraged to earn the Explore Norfolk Southern Girl Scout Patch, introduced locally in 2010. So far, nearly 300 Girl Scouts have earned the patch.

The train ride coincided with the open invitation to both Girl and Boy Scouts to earn their Explore Norfolk Southern patches while attending the Lionel Collectors Club of America Annual Convention, which took place at the Norfolk Waterside Marriott this past week.

The program was developed by NS employees, Stacey Hugo, manager community outreach, and Kimberly Thompson, senior account manager, Seattle, both former Girl Scouts.
Lionel conventioneers were also treated to separate excursions to Petersburg aboard the train following in the girls‘ tracks.

Deborah Butler, Executive VP of Planning at Norfolk Southern Railway, also a former Girl Scout said, "The girls asked some great questions about whether there were any jobs for women in railroading and we told them that every job in railroading is available to them when they grow up."

Spokane Road Trip

Some more photos of Spokane trip. A funny horse that had his head out of the trailer on I-5, the mountains peeking through the clouds on Snoqualmie Pass, and the windmill fa near the Columbia River.

Spokane

Had a few customer appointments in Spokane, WA on Friday and Ross and the pugs joined me on my trip. Spokane is about 4.5-5 hours west of Tacoma and you drive through a really pretty area called the Columbia Basin Federal Reclamation Project near the Columbia River.

Love how dog-friendly WA is. We spent the night on the beautiful River Spokane right in downtown and enjoyed exploring the city. As you can see, the pugs had no problem snuggling into the plush bed and enjoyed getting lots of pets from the hotel guests!

Restaurant Zara

I can't believe it - Ross is eating Mediterranean food! We are enjoying an amazing meal outside on the restaurant patio overlooking the water!

The Mountain

Great shot of the mountain! 70 degrees and sunny today!

Ross Bike Ride

Ross took a 20 mile bike ride today across the Tacoma-Narrows bridge over to the regional Narrows airport (where he will continue his flight lessons). It was super foggy this morning. Enjoy his photos!

Domestic work

So, we bought a new iron before we came out west and ended up just packing it up unopened. I had to break it out of the box today...and took one look at the instructions and ran the other way. Holy cow - check out the photo! So ridiculous!! Luckily Ross quickly stepped in to save my khakis from inevitable disaster.

Office Assistants

Sadly my assistants are falling down on the job....I always catch them napping while on the clock!! Max is supposed to be filing important paperwork and Binky should be manning the phones.....

First tandem trip!

Took Bluebell out for a bumpy, hilly grocery store run! Also saw Virginia Peanuts at the store and it made me smile to think of the Old Dominion.

PS - Ross shaved today - hooray!

The Beard

Ross hasn't shaved since we left VA Beach. Yeesh....the beard has to go. He looks like one of the homeless people frequenting downtown Tacoma!

PS - it has a surprising amount of gray :-)

Patio Phase 2

The grass came in today! It looks great and the pugs like it (but they ran back in after a while - it is pretty chilly here today - low 60s!).

Phase 3 coming soon - the potty area!

Official WA plates

Ross took the Jeep to get inspected (aka a $200 "emissions check") and now we have our new license plates. They call the stickers/tags on the plates "tabs" (and don't have any on the front plates - strange).

VW Bus

I don't know if you can read the bumper stickers on the VW that was in front of me, but one says "0-55 in 11 minutes" and the other says "Never get behind a VW bus".....both VERY true (as I'm sitting behind it on a ridiculously steep hill here in the city)!

Dinner in Gig Harbor

Had a great dinner in Gig Harbor overlooking the water and marina. Such a beautiful quaint town...reminded me of an old-time New England harbor. The Tacoma-Narrows bridge is awesome! Only drawback is the $5 toll to get back to Tacoma.

Wright Park

Beautiful day for a picnic in the park with the boys! Ross fed the squirrel that came up to him and shortly afterwards a GIANT bully seagull flew up....the pugs went nuts!! Talk about a commotion in the park!

French toast and antiquing

Had a great diner breakfast at PSP (Puget Sound Pizza) and then strolled down Antique Row on Broadway Street. Saw lots of "curiosities" in the many shops. Since we are still downsizing, no purchases were made! Saw signs for a few theater performances that we plan to attend in the fall (The Addams Family Musical, A Chorus Line, Video Game Symphony, Mariachi Band Performance, etc.)!

Now we are swinging back home to pick up the pugs for a picnic at Wright Park!

Phone line

We couldn't get the phone line to work for the home office fax....turned out that the loft was wired incorrectly when the place was built. Electrician was here for over 3 hours this morning. Total number of holes in the wall = 9.

For our trouble, we treated ourselves to happy hour at our favorite pub Doyle's).

Great Thursday!

Well, it has been a week since we've arrived in T-Town and everyone is adjusting beautifully!

Had a great lunch with Ross and the boys at the Tacoma Farmers Market (held every Thursday in the city center a couple of blocks from the loft). We got fresh fruits and veggies, some awesome pie, and local pickles (popular here for some reason). They also had amazing flower bouquets - I opted for a small simple daisy bunch this week! It looks nice in the kitchen under the boat painting. There are also tons of beautiful wildflowers growing all around, so those grace the apartment in small vases in various rooms!

We also got a small bistro set for the patio and eat outside for at least one meal a day. Today was sunny and around 75 degrees....perfect.

Pug Patio - Phase 1

Starting the pug patio...phase 1 = buy grasses at Home Depot and plant them in their planters IN the store parking lot.

Then haul them up to the apartment already done! Tomorrow is Phase 2 - the grass mats arrive and then we will see if we need any other ground cover!

Hopefully it will all come together and pugs will enjoy the greenery!

WHAT?!

Seriously? A "Cannabis Farmers Market"? Holy cow. Toto, we aren't in cannabis, I mean Kansas, anymore!! Frightening.

WA Department of Licensing

90 minutes and $104 later....we officially have temporary Washington State Driver Licenses.

The photo doesn't do the experience justice, but does give you a taste!

Pug seat

Why have two seats when one will do? The pugs are really helpings get work done on my first day at work in the home office!

Astronomy

Ross surprised me and put small glow in the dark stars all over the bedroom ceiling! It looks AWESOME, like the night sky out in the woods!

Varsity Grill

Sunday lunch with the pugs! Love how dog friendly Tacoma is!