Homecoming

Maple Valley, WA
Hello Friends,

Suddenly I find myself back in the lands of my youth. Yes I am writting to you from South King County. For those of you not familiar with Loehrke family history, my family settled down in Kent, WA back in the early 90's. Once Dad left the Coast Guard we stayed in the Pacific Northwest and this young Buckeye became a Bigfoot. However after College and my Internship my folks moved back East and I haven't had any reason (other then weddings and good friends) to spend much time back here. Well that changes this week as we have a residency week in Maple Valley.

Coming back to the South Seattle area wasn't the only homecoming of the week. Yesterday we made a quick stop in Portland. It worked out that we could swing by there when we drove from Hermiston and I was able to take in Northwest Children's Theatre Season opener Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. It was wonderful to see the theatre doing well and see so many happy faces. The show was great and I would be lying if I wasn't at all homesick when we left.

However all it took was great auditions today to remind me that I am doing great work and enjoy what I do. I am staying with a wonderful family, the father is an ELCA Pastor just like my Dad and I feel at home.

Hermiston ended well. We had two packed shows with almost 250 at each. Once the shows were done we were treated to a fantastic dinner at The Farmers Kitchen. The food was amazing. I would do a daring dining, but the evening is a little hazy as I was very tired from the shows and the wine was really really good. I had the shrimp campalini and Shawna enjoyed steak. It was very kind of the already very generous Desert Arts Council to treat us to such a wonderful meal.

We bid a sad farewell to our lovely home stay at the Turner's and hope they all enjoyed the dear that was to arrive from the most recent hunting outing.

The Adventure Continues - ML