Sun Valley

My Labor Day weekend was spent working in Sun Valley, Idaho. I headed up to Idaho to help my old friend Mitch Silver with his 32nd annual Labor Day auction. Situated on the grounds of the Sun Valley Lodge over 125 vehicles crossed the block over the two day sale.

It had been over a decade since I had last worked this auction, it was great to see some of my old friends from the car business, and laugh about the old days when we were much younger. The weather was perfect and the crowds filled the tent on Saturday to look at and bid on a wide range of collector cars. I’m looking forward to going back next year.

This beautiful Rolls Royce sold for $54,000.

The rare supercharged Studebaker sold for $34,000.

The super sized motor home sold for $125,000.

A Hometown Visit

Last week was busy full of travel for me.

It started with an overnight trip to my hometown of Spokane, Washington with my daughter, Jo. We went up to attend to my aunt's memorial and got to say hi to a couple of old friends along the way. The trip from Portland to Spokane takes about six hours. When we crossed into the state of Washington, we decided to take the back roads to enjoy the scenery of eastern Washington; which in my daughter's view, was... Bo-ring! At least I can take a decent selfie. We took a detour to stop at Palouse Falls - lots of water this year.

I enjoyed the company. It was nice to be able just to have some one-on-one time with my favorite daughter. Okay, she's my only daughter. But still... We ate junk food, went for ice cream, and had a great big greasy Denny's breakfast.

It was a fun couple days of travel, connecting with with my relatives, and enjoying the beauty of the state of Washington.

Have a wonderful Easter Weekend.

Family

This morning, my sister sent me a text that one of my aunts had passed away.

I was lucky to grow up with a mother who had eight other siblings. As kids, we always enjoyed family camp-outs together in the summer and big celebrations during the holiday seasons. We would have to rent out a hall big enough to hold everyone. It was a wonderful experience to reconnect with my extended family a couple times a year. Maybe my time filter seems a little distorted; but those days with my cousins, uncles, and aunts made the days seem longer and the sun that much brighter.

Those were fun times to be a kid. 

My mom is the baby being held by one of her siblings. My Aunt Mary is the little blonde with the sun in her eyes, standing front and center of everyone.

Car Show in the Palouse

My old friend, Jay Scholz recently invited me to his annual party and car show in his hometown of Rosalia, Washington. Rosalia is located south of Spokane in the rolling hills of the Palouse. The Palouse region is where most of nation's soft, white wheat; brewing barley; and lentils are grown amongst the soft, rolling hills.

This particuliar car show is sponsored by Jay's hot rod shop, Rose's Garage; where they specialize in all forms of automotive customization. If you want to see some examples of Jay's work, check out his website at www.rosegarage.com.

It really was great to reconnect with my old friends from the days when I worked in the Palouse at the local grain elevator, in order to pay for my college tuition. While I was at the show, I was recruited to be one of the judges. About 60 cars were up on display, with half of them signed up to be judged. There was great assortment of cars and it was a tough job to pick out the best one. But someone had to do it and I was happy to oblige.

Looking down mainstreet.

Fall is Here

I had a great summer this year. Though like most of them, it went by too quickly. I had a chance to do a couple road trips - out to the Oregon Coast, the Gorge and up to Vancouver Canada, my favorite city, second to Portland. I feel really lucky to live here in the Pacific Northwest and I get out as often as I can, to enjoy all that it has to offer.

I had a pretty easy summer in regards to my workload. Without the weekly trips between Portland and Seattle, I was only on a plane every other week. Summer isn't a particularly busy time for fundraisers; though we had a couple of fundraising auctions. So I get to start this fall fundraising season completely refreshed and ready to go.

We're working on a couple of exciting new ventures for the New Year. As soon as we have some 2016 details finalized and dates set, we'll make an announcement. Keep checking back here to be in the know.

Ali, our one-woman Communications team, will also be starting a seasonal e-newsletter to keep srdorsey clients and friends appraised of what's happening. So if you want to stay current on the world of auctions or where we are and what we're doing; drop me a line and we'll make sure we keep in touch with you. Please feel free to include any topic requests or inquiries and we'll do our best to help you out.

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