Spokane and back again

In the next stage of this summer's "vacation of 1000 cuts", Miz Becky and I did our now annual run to Spokane and back. Miz Becky's organization holds a board meeting there once a year, and I usually come along. There's usually some kind of event or reception the night before, when I get to hang out with Miz Becky's cool co-workers and their board members. And then I spend the next day watching 3-on-3 basketball.

What? You see, for the last few years, they've scheduled the board meeting on the same weekend as Spokane's annual 3-on-3 half court street basketball tournament, Hoopfest, which they describe thusly:

Actually, Hoopfest is the biggest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament on the planet. That means over 6,000 teams, 3,000 volunteers, 130,000 players and fans, 380 courts spanning 40 downtown city blocks, and that’s just on day one!

I shot a pile of photos of the event, but (you guessed it) they're all on film, which means they'll have to get back from the lab, and I'll have to make the time to scan them, before I can share with all y'all.

The second part of our tradition is breaking up the trip home by spending Saturday night taking the waters in Soap Lake, usually at the very charming and highly recommended Inn at Soap Lake.

Soap Lake, you see, is apparently a medicinal lake, with all kinds of wild claims about the curative properties of the lake water. I don't pretend to have been cured of any great problems, but the rough skin on my elbows does stay smooth for several months after we visit.

Anyway, I'll work on getting some of my highlights from hoopfest online, including the amazing wheelchair basketball game I saw -- the best game I watched all day. Who knew you could do jump shots in a wheelchair?

In the meantime, here are some random digital shots from the trip.