Last month, my grandson celebrated his 13^th birthday with four of his friends, by skydiving indoors at the new I Fly facility located near Southcenter.

This experience rated better than any of those video games he usually asks for and gets tired of within a few weeks. Elias and his friends still talk about the I Fly experience and what a great time they had. And when they will return and get more skills checked off on their certificates.

I Fly uses a vertical wind tunnel that moves air up, creating an actual flying experience, not a simulation. Multiple fans located at the top of a large plastic tube produce and air flow that makes flying smooth and fun.

Professional instructors help you get your bearings because once you enter the tube you’re flying and to many that’s quite a surprise. What’s really fun for spectators is that after an instructor finishes helping his assigned group of “flyers” he or she then does tricks that only a skilled flyer is capable of.

For birthday parties, all the guests get a certificate of accomplishments and the guest of honor receives a video of their experience flying.

Children as young as 3 years of age may participate and there’s no upper age limit. Everyone looks like they are having the time of their life.

I would love to try this. The fun seemed contagious.

Reservations are recommended.

According to her Facebook page, Hillier who is originally from Canada currently resides in Seattle and the book’s setting portrays areas in and around Seattle very accurately.

Named for Radiohead’s song “Creep” and appropriately mentioned throughout the book, the title is also the ultimate play on words.

When professor of psychology, Dr. Sheila Tao, ends her affair with her young teaching assistant, she’s not prepared for the lengths he’ll take to make her suffer. Tao’s fiancé appears to want to end their relationship when Sheila admits to having an embarrassing addiction. Besides her fiancé, not many people would care if Sheila took off for an indefinite period of time or so it seems when she disappears.

I hope that’s enough to make you want to read the book because I don’t want to spoil any of it for you. From the first page, I was hooked and spent many hours when I was supposed to be working, reading instead. Then I didn’t want it to end. I was rewarded for that. You will be, too.

Although a debut novel, the writing is skilled and professional. Characters are well-drawn, easy to love or hate, and follow the paths you’d expect them to. The plot, however, will keep you turning the pages. None of the clues planted go astray and all are wrapped up neatly. Honestly, I found no fault at all with this book. Hillier’s writing keeps me reading and wanting more – that’s something I can’t define and not very many authors have it. Part of it is flow and smoothness, but some of it is a secret quality that can’t be found in how-to-write books.

In August, 2012, Hillier’s new book, “Freak” comes out. I’ll be one of the first to buy it. It’s already on my calendar.

Last year Fantasy Lights spawned three successful marriage proposals and lots of pay-it-forward situations where the driver in front paid for the car behind him. Because I’m recovering from foot surgery, a drive-through display from the warmth of our car made perfect sense.

When this holiday tour was first born 17 years ago, it held just 38 displays. Now with over 300, you will see everything from animated bears flying kites, snow boys kicking field goals, a sea serpent that breathes fire, frogs jumping on a lily pad and Santa and Rudolf sail a tall ship to every holiday theme imaginable. Watch out for the reindeer jumping over your car.

My personal favorites were the illuminated aliens built by Rogers High School’s Welding Class. The aliens range in height from 5-7 feet and are 3-7 feet wide. Students from Rogers High have built many of the displays in the past including the flowers, gingerbread people and candy canes.

You’ll hear lots of “awes” and “ohs” from the kids sticking their heads out of car windows and sunroof tops. And maybe a few from inside your vehicle. Take as many passengers as your car holds because you pay by the car load.

When you arrive at the park gate, tune your radio to the suggested station and you’ll hear Christmas music throughout your drive.

This holiday season Tacoma residents won’t have to trek to Bellevue or Seattle to experience an open-air outdoor ice skating rink with all the trimmings. Tacoma will have their own. The Franciscan Polar Plaza, which will be located directly across from the Tacoma Art Museum at Tollefson Plaza on Pacific Avenue, will be open from November 25 through January 2, 2012.

The skating rink will measure 40 feet by 100 feet and can accommodate 150 people. Admission will be $8 and skate rental will be $2. After paying these fees you can stay all day if you like and enjoy the music, special events, and purchase coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

I am really looking forward to this although I don’t ice skate, but I do love to watch skaters. To get there and avoid the parking crunch, I think I’ll park at the Tacoma Dome Station and take the Tacoma Link light rail to the Polar Plaza. That’s all free so I can spend more when I get to my destination.

Popcorn with brown butter and sea salt

Although, the new dining option is called a “tavern,” it’s definitely family-friendly. Located at 504 Ramsay Way in Kent, the restaurant seats 110 in the dining area and up to 65 at the bar.

A few of the bar tables come with their own spigots for beer, so you charge what you think you’re going to drink and then keep pouring until the tap runs dry. Sounds like fun to me.

A couple of their appetizers called my name before I even ordered a drink – popcorn with brown butter and sea salt and fried peanuts. The popcorn definitely rated as a lively, fun and tasty appetizer. I’ll have to return to try the fried peanuts.

A very tasty hamburger according to my grandson.

Chef Shannon Galusha, who has worked at both the French Laundry and the Bastille Café & Bar, puts his own spin on classic comfort dishes like Chop Chop Salad with green beans, potatoes, olives, Feta cheese and tuna; Open Face Meatball Hoagie comes with fennel in addition to the whole milk mozzarella and tomato sauce and Wood-Fired “Old Forge” Pizzas including one with Shepard’s Pie toppings. Of course there’s tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, pot roast and chicken pot pie, but probably not the tried and tired recipes you’re expecting. You can stay home and open a can of Campbell’s. To really savor comfort food, you need to visit Cal’s.

As many ingredients as possible come from the area including farms in the Kent Valley and Skagit County. Taylor Shellfish and Carpinito’s Farm are also represented. All the purveyors used at Cal’s are listed on a gigantic whiteboard posted in the dining area.

The covered, heated outdoor patio and fireplace, can accommodate 40 people for most of the year – just not in the intense winter months.

Cal's decadent brownies are served with a glass of milk and a very rich chocolate sauce.

Open 11 a.m. – midnight, Sunday – Thursday and 11 a.m. – 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Last week everyday the temperature in Tucson rose to the mid-90’s. It was heavenly.

Owl Butterfly

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Williams Centre and the hotel offered a shuttle to any place within a five-mile radius. We took them up on their offer and traveled to the Tucson Botanical Gardens one day. What an interesting attraction.

To make it even more fun, “Butterfly Magic at the Gardens,” a temporary exhibit, is on tap until April 30, 2012. A vast variety of butterflies can be seen and may even land on you tickling your fancy. The “Owl” was one of my favorites as it has an “eye” on its wing that makes it look just like an owl. You can also watch the butterflies emerge from their chrysalis and hang until they are dry before being taken into the main butterfly house.

Butterfly exhibits seem to be fairly rare as they have to have specific controls on temperatures and enough personnel to answer questions and monitor the influx and outflow of visitors. If you get a chance to visit this one, you really should do so.

At the Botanical Gardens, five acres of regional plant life with 16 specialty gardens introduces you to the flora common to the Tucson area in a delightful and interesting way. I especially liked the Zen Garden and the Cactus and Succulent Garden.

Glass blower artist at work and it's hot in the Hot Shop

What you’ll see when you visit now is 2,700 square feet of exhibit space, the Schack Shop, which serves as a retail art store; studios and a hot shop where you can watch glass artists create their own distinctive pieces.

Named after John and Idamae Schack for their support of Everett’s cultural institutions, this art center even displays art in the restrooms. It’s everywhere. And the center offers all kinds of classes – Fine Art for Kids, Creative Expression (also for kids), beadmaking, bookmaking, painting, jewelry and much more.

This week you can join in with the Schack-Toberfest, which happens on October 21, 22 and 23, 2011. Pluck a glass pumpkin from the Pumpkin Patch and you can buy it to take home, watch glass blowers demonstrate how they create this Halloween vegetable or take a gander at some expert pumpkin carvers. On Saturday night treat yourself to the Beer, Brat and Glass Pumpkin Event which includes beer, bratwurst, live music and a competition pitting glass blowers against one another to see who can make the largest pumpkin.

A fun way to experience art!

Laska learned how to cook from his grandmothers and previously used his talents at four star hotels in Los Angeles. Thankfully, he and his wife decided that was not where they wanted to raise children so they moved to Whidbey Island.

Now he blesses islanders and visitors with authentic Neapolitan pizza cooked in a wood-fired oven. Staff at the restaurant makes their own mozzarella everyday. Many of the meats used in the dishes come from the nearby Three Sisters Farm.

I’m having trouble describing how tasty this pizza is. It’s not the thick, doughy crust slathered with tomato sauce and covered with tons of cheese to mask the flavor that you might be accustomed to. Instead, the crust is very flakey, with plenty of fresh ingredients and dotted with slivers of the homemade mozzarella. It was two weeks ago when I had that pizza and I still remember how much I enjoyed it and savored it.

For dessert, the gelato is phenomenal. Although it comes from Seattle, that’s still very close to local. Try the coconut or the hazel nut. A dollop of hazel nut in a cup of espresso is phenomenal.

Did you know pizza taste better if it is served unsliced? But if you prefer the convenience of sliced pizza, the staff will gladly accommodate you.

Spectacular food, unparalleled service and a lovely view — you can’t go wrong at Ciao.

Because the hamburgers are made from vegetarian-fed and antibiotic-free beef, they seem to taste much better than most. Add a slice of Tillamook Cheddar and you have a delicious sandwich.

Burgerville relies on local, seasonal ingredients whenever possible. Blackberries for their milkshakes, sweet onions from Walla Walla for onion rings and hazelnuts from Oregon for their Wild Smoked Salmon and Hazelnut Salad.

Not only does this chain serve high-quality, tasty food, but they also use many sustainable business practices. They purchase 100 percent renewable wind power credits equal to the energy use in all 39 locations plus their corporate headquarters. By using wind power of this magnitude, Burgerville eliminates a huge amount of greenhouse gases. This is the equivalent of taking 1,700 cars off the road.

Constantly improving and expanding their composting and recycling programs also makes Burgerville a “green” company.

And this company loves their employees. They provide healthcare insurance, which is very rare at quick-serve restaurants. Burgerville contributes more than 90 percent of the insurance costs for employees and their dependents.

If you’re in the neighborhood, I urge you to sample some of their menu items. They have hamburgers and lots more to choose from.

For something very special, try their Romano beans. The flavor is nothing short of amazing.

Joe’s Gardens has been around since 1933, which says a lot about their success.

Fall brings beautiful braids of garlic grown from seed brought to the U.S. from Genoa, Italy. Shallots, apples, pumpkin and Fall squash varieties line the shelves along with fresh fruits and vegetables. All the crops grown on site are grown without pesticides. Quality and flavor prevail instead of prolonged shelf-life in a grocery store.

And everything is affordable, but hurry – Joe’s Gardens closes mid-October.

Come back next year in early March for bedding plants, vegetable starts, potting soil and compost so you can grow your own bounty.