A Birthday to Remember

When you've had more than six decades of birthdays, singling one out as "the best" is, well, pretty impossible. There have definitely been some great ones, thanks to family, friends, food and cake with copious amounts of lemon frosting. Number 60 certainly ranks high. In fact, it was most certainly a birthday to remember.

We took the 6-hour, 375-mile drive west to Leavenworth, Washington. Nestled in the Cascade Mountains, I'd heard about the Bavarian village when we lived in Spokane but had never visited, until this trip. We arrived during a winter snow warning, making it a true winter wonderland. 

I shoveled out front of the Airbnb (twice) for incoming family members

Kristall's Restaurant

Hot clam chowder is a grand slam on a wintery Washington night

Salty (and I mean really salty) pretzel with mustard dipping sauce

Post-dinner digestion included some relaxation, a golden birthday party for our youngest daughter and even some jacuzzi jumping to snow angel-making, something that really surprised me that my warm weather, cold-hating Texas girl did not hesitate to do. 

Wandering through town the next day was a festive treat thanks to German-inspired pastries, shops, eateries and other sights and sounds.

Photo does not properly capture the massive size of this cinnamon roll

When in "Germany," apple strudel is a must-have 

A dinner run took us to a real throwback of a restaurant - the 59er Diner. I love places like this. For one thing, it offers breakfast all day and night long. For another, it prides itself on its milkshakes. And yet another is that is has its own survival story. I ordered French toast and a milkshake. Go here, to my foodie blog, "Playing With Our Food," to read more about it.

The next day we paid a visit to the Leavenworth Reindeer Farm. A barn, gift shop, field full of caribou, a warming fire and even Santa Claus, this place had it all. It was really cool to wander among a bunch of big-antlered "reindeer." 

Hanging with the grandkids along with Santa in his sleigh

We put Leavenworth in the rearview mirror for a 200-mile drive to my son's house in Spokane. That's where birthday festivities kicked into a high gear. The party included fun presents and, of course, a yellow cake with a decent amount of batter to eat so it would be about the same thickness as the couple of cans of lemon frosting on top. 

A box of Doritos? Yes please!

Dinner featured a family trip to Boomers Classic Rock Bar & Grill. I mean hey, can the combination of classic rock, burgers and fries be beat?

Actually, as good as that combination is, it can be beat? I've been a hockey fan for years. My favorite minor league team is the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League, a Canadian Hockey League feeder for players to make it to the National Hockey League. I covered the Chiefs during a four-year stint as sports director at CBS affiliate KREM-TV. During that time I got to know a bunch of players and several coaches who went on to coach in the NHL, including Mike Babcock who won a Stanley Cup with Detroit and coached Canada to a couple of Olympic gold medals. I really got to know him during a memorable bus trip with the team into western Canada. Go here to watch a three-part series about it.

Anyway, Lori set things up beautifully. Not only did she get each member of the family their own Chiefs t-shirt but she got each of us our own teddy bear and tickets to the Chiefs' "Teddy Bear Toss Night," one of the most popular games of the year. Here's how it works: when the home teams scores its first goal of the game, fans toss their teddy bears onto the ice. The team then gathers the bears and delivers them to needy kids for Christmas. I had attended a bunch of games in my past as a fan, but never on teddy bear night.

The Holyoak clan is locked and loaded with arms full of teddy bears

Leading up to the first goal of the night, it was cool to see my name mentioned among those recognized for their attendance.

Things didn't go exactly as planned for the Chiefs PR staff. Spokane fell behind but then it looked like the Chiefs scored their first goal. They didn't but a couple of bears got tossed onto the ice anyway and that triggered a cascading waterfall of flying bears as everyone else joined the party. Bears of all colors and sizes rained down on the ice from the expensive seats just behind the glass to the cheaper seats in the upper deck. Since we were about a dozen rows from the ice some of those fell on us which we flung toward the ice below.

 

In all, fans chucked 6,825 bears onto the ice. It was really, really cool! My granddaughter, Lyla, is a big-time stuffed animal lover. The look on her face and the words that came out of her mouth said it all.

Since there were thousands of bears to be scooped up, it took a good 15 minutes for staffers to clear the ice. It was fun to watch the Chiefs players, many of which dove into massive piles of bears. In the end, the team posed for a picture with some of the bears. Though I can't be certain it was my exact bear that ended up in the Chiefs team picture (see masked goalie in the back row, fourth player from the left), it sure looked like it.

Though the Chiefs could not pull out the victory, my 60th birthday was exactly that - one big WIN and a b-day to always remember!

We came, we saw, we chucked our bears and happily left empty-handed

Thanks Lori (and family) for a wonderful 60th