2007.10.28. Bandera Mountain. Dead beargrasses, withered leaves. Not much color on the once beautiful slope. However, a good workout, and a pleasant drive, now that the trees are quite colorful all along the way. Mt Rainier was wearing a cloudy hat all day long. Good weather, maybe the last before next May.
On the way back, stop by North Bend's Twede Cafe (named after its new owner), heavily featured in the TV series Twin Peaks. Tried their "famous" pie (was ok). Next stop was Snoqualmie Falls. Still a lot of water and people.

2007.10.26. Iphigenia in Tauris, by Gluck, in French. Seattle Opera's first time co-production with Metropolitan Opera. First opera I saw that there're acting and dancing before the music starts. Also one of the shortest (less than 2 hours). Good voices, nice chorus. I like one dual the most: "death is even a bliss if the tomb unites us" by Orestes and Pylades.
Simple plot but very bloody: the father sacrificed the daughter in order to proceed in the war, the mother murders the father, the son avenges the father by killing the mother. Now the daughter (which was saved by the goddess who requested the sacrifice) is about the sacrifice her brother.
Only one set of stage, but cut into three parts. Even though all three parts are nicely done, but each looks much smaller than it should be. Diana looks more like a motorcycle sci-fi gangster than a Greek goddess.
The pre-performance lecture is by this new education associate. He's a bit dull.

2007.10.25. REI. Slide presentation by ski mountaineer Chris Davenport, who skied all the 54 summit over 14000ft in Colorado in one year. He skied down Denali a couple of times this past spring, after completing the project. Most of his venture was completed with a group of friends, some have made to the top of Everest. His next quests will be the Alps (Matterhorn, Eiger's northern face), and Alpamayo in Peru. During the Q&A, he talked about gears and trip planning. Great photographs and maps, scary terrains. However, he needs to read more, in order to make his discourse less redundant.

2007.10.13. Artist Point at Mt Baker. Road was already closed at the ski area. The parking lot at the end of 542 was 90% covered in snow. Weather has been perfect. Color was awesome. Even though it was a late start (arrived at the lake after 4:30), still managed to catch the sunset at the end of the road. All tranquility, with no other people around. An easy walk. A little slippery at times.
On the way up, did encounter about a dozen people walking down carrying skis. Most people and all cameras and tripods stayed at the lake, waiting for the sunset.

2007.10.12. Seattle Symphony.

Mozart: The Magic Flute Overture
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622
Mozart & Süssmayr: Requiem
Carolyn Kuan, conductor

Jon Manasse, clarinet
Harolyn Blackwell, soprano
Sally Burgess, mezzo-soprano
Karl Dent, tenor
Clayton Brainerd, bass-baritone
Seattle Symphony Chorale

The 2nd movement of the Clarinet Concerto was incredibly tender and sweet. I am thinking of using it for my funeral!

2007.10.3. REI presents Pasquale Scaturro, who gave a 1.5hr personal slide show of his river rafting expeditions around the world: the Colorado through the Grand Canyon, the Bio Bio in Chile, the Zambezi, Omo, Tekeze, and Blue Nile in Ethiopia. The stories of the armed militias, untainted tribal peoples, hippos and crocodiles are fascinating.

2007.9.30. Manhattan Transfer at Jazz Alley. 4 singers, 1 on piano (also the artistic director), 1 electrical guitar, 1 base, 1 drums. Fabulous arrangement of the voices.
The venue is too small for this vocal group. Too loud with all the speakers turned up. Seating along the railing of the 2nd floor turns out to be the best. 9:30pm show also turns out to be better: less people eating, so less interference from them and the servers.