Amtrak Trip to Leavenworth, Washington

I left the house about 6:15AM on Wednesday, November 29 via Uber for Marshall Center.  I read "The Columbian" newspaper in Marshall Center lobby.  I checked in with the trip leaders at Leupke Center about 7:00.  We boarded two vans about 7:30 for the short trip to the Amtrak Station.  The 8:35 train did not arrive until 9:35! 

I had a window seat on the water side.  It was a very enjoyable trip to Seattle.  I walked a few blocks to Starbucks at 400 Occidental Ave S where I had the crackers, cheese, and fruit protein box, shortbread cookies and Earl Grey tea.  Nancy came in while I was eating and joined me for an interesting conversation.  We walked back to the King Street Amtrak Station.  The renovation is complete.  Stunning!

The train left for Leavenworth about 4:40PM.  It was soon dark.  Great view of the Christmas lights along the way.  Some snow at the 2,000+ ft. level crossing the Cascades at Stevens Pass.

We arrived at Icicle Station in Leavenworth about 8:00PM.  A bus shuttle took us to the Bavarian Lodge.  We each got a small sack with two chocolate chip cookies.  There was hot cider also.  I got my room key to 320.  It was on the back side of the Lodge.  I would not be able to enjoy the Christmas lights in the park from my room window.  Instead I overlooked the parking lot and houses.  Much quieter though.

I rose early for 7:00 AM breakfast Thursday morning.  We went on a wagon ride at Red Tail Canyon Ranch.  We had cookies and hot drink.  Back at Leavenworth I took an IPhone photo of the webcam photo of me at the park, wandered through many of the stores as snow fell and then looked for a warm place to eat lunch.  I had a roasted tomato, mozzarella cheese and basil pesto toasted focaccia, shortbread cookies and Earl Grey tea at Starbucks.  Most enjoyable.  I had chocolate ice cream mixed with toasted, chopped almonds in a cup at a nearby ice cream parlor.  I enjoyed the colorful Christmas lights in the park from the ice cream parlor window.

Back at the Bavarian Lodge I sat in front of the fire in the fireplace in the lobby.  I had planned to hear Bluegrass music at the Icicle Pub this evening but they had to run a Sounder game on television so the Bluegrass music was canceled.  Sad.  Later I had a glass of Riesling wine at the Lodge Pub.  We sat on comfy chairs in front of the fireplace.  I shared a bit of Nancy's bruschetta.  I watched some television in my room, packed, showered and fell instantly asleep.

I woke at 4:00AM on Friday morning, dressed and headed downstairs with my backpack and tote bag.  We boarded the van for the short ride to Icicle Station.  A few of us wandered over to one of the heated shelters.  The train was about 17 minutes late.  We got into Seattle about 11:00. 

I headed east to Starbucks at 505 5th Ave S. where I had the crackers, cheese and fruit protein box, shortbread cookies and two cups of Earl Grey tea.  I sat at a table with two very well dressed business people.  The woman, Laine, and the man, David, are writers/producers.  Big Story Productions.  Fascinating conversation.  They are currently working on presenting the story of the Panama Hotel.  I read the novel "The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" and have actually eaten lunch at the Panama Hotel where I saw through a glass floor panel the luggage that was left by the Japanese when they were interred during WWII.   I told David about Dave Ulmer; Jeremy, Brian and Elias at Groundspeak; and Geocaching. 

We caught the train about 2:15 for Vancouver, WA.  I once again had a view of the water as we headed south.  This will be the last time that I will have this view as the train will henceforth travel inland.  So sad.  We arrived in Vancouver at 5:30 about 17 minutes late. We took the vans to Marshall Center.  Carol gave me a ride home. 

Lessons from the Watergate Scandal

It has been 45 years since the bungled 1972 break-in at the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee headquarters by burglars tied to the president's re-election committee set off the Watergate scandal.  The burglars were there to repair electronic eavesdropping bugs they had installed the previous month.

The resulting attempted cover-up, abuse of power, perjury, news of the existence of a clandestine group called the Plumbers operating from within the White House, discovery of other crimes (break-ins, kidnapping, etc.) and the eventual resignation of the sitting president in 1974.

The free press especially The Washington Post played its fundamental role in bringing the scandal to light.  The Senate Select Committee Watergate hearings exposed the depth of the scandal.

Nearly half a century later, as another American president finds himself engulfed in scandal over claims of election misconduct, he and his staff may well want to read up on the Watergate scandal in the bestselling book All the President’s Men.  There are lessons to be learned!

Watergate was basically decent men who went astray.  It was a failure of decent men to follow their conscience.  They made tragically destructive errors and many even criminal conduct.

In the end, the lessons of Watergate contain both an assurance and a warning.

The assurance is that the American system works. The warning is that, no matter how high or important the post, if one betrays a public trust, the system will be brought into play.  Watergate shows that the odds of beating the system are strongly against a guilty person.

After what happened to Richard Nixon, only a fool would take the chance.  

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

In 1973, thousands of people watched the seemingly endless testimony of Watergate figures - McCloud, Halderman, Strachan, Chapin, Magruder, and others - on television.  But the actual hearings were attended by only a few hundred people.  On Monday, September 24, I attended both the morning and afternoon sessions when the hearings resumed after a brief late summer recess.

After long hours of waiting, I and several other spectators solemnly filed past the blue uniformed guards who carefully checked each one for weapons, up the long, winding gray marble stairs, and into the spacious Senate Caucus Room, still 15 minutes before the Senate Select Watergate Committee resumed its hearings, taking seats in the last row or leaning against the back wall and large pillars.

Convicted Watergate conspirator, E. Howard Hunt Jr., 54, an ex-CIA agent, looking pale, thin and physically weak, was present to testify as to how he had become involved in the bugging and break-in of Democratic National Committee's Watergate Headquarters.  Hunt spoke for the first time publically about "the events which have befallen me."  

Hunt and his lawyer faced the solemn Senate Select Watergate Committee: Senator Lowell Wicker (R-CT), Senator Edward J. Gurney (R-FL), Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr. (R-TN), Senator Sam J. Erwin, Jr., chairman, Sam Dash, Chief Council, Senator Herman Talmadge (D-GA), Senator Daniel Inoyue (D-HI), and Senator Joseph M. Montoya (D-NM).

I heard recently that as a young lawyer Hillary Rodham (later Clinton) helped investigate Watergate.  She likely attended the hearing that day but I would not have known who she was.

To Hunt's left, a row of television cameras, lights powerful, glaring; photographers bobbing in and out, flashbulbs flashing until Hunt strongly protested; to his right sitting at long tables or leaning against the walls and pillars were reporters, news analysts - Sam Donaldson, Sally Quinn, Carl Stern, Daniel Shore, and others members of the press. 

Hunt read aloud a brief opening statement, his voice dry and lifeless, making it clear that he felt betrayed by his government.  He testified about his part in Watergate.  After the hearing was over for the day, Hunt rose slowly, warmly embraced his grown children, and was led away to spend the night at a Federal Bureau of Prisons "safe house".  Hunt would serve 33 months in prison for the crime and emerge a broken man.

Leaving the Senate Caucus Room, I paused briefly in the crowded rotunda for a last look back, turned and walked slowly down the winding gray marble stairs.  Behind me was almost a year of Watergate - "a third-rate burglary" as the White House once described it; the Senate Watergate Hearings - a "three ring circus" as its detractors referred to it; and E. Howard Hunt, Jr., - the spy who came in from the cold and did not like it.