Visiting Lake Chelan during the Different Seasons

Possessing over three decades of business and leadership experience, Ronald Newman serves as a managing member of the Milestone Companies, a Washington-based real estate development and management group. Outside of his work at Milestone, Ronald “Ron” Newman enjoys traveling to Lake Chelan every month.

Offering a unique mix of agriculture, shopping, and recreation, Lake Chelan is a popular vacation spot throughout the year. The area is typically busiest between June and August due to the large number of families. While visiting during this time is certainly crowded, the lake is full of kid-friendly activities and the surrounding greenery and fall are at their fullest. By September, the crowds start thinning out. Autumn is a great time for romantic vacations to Lake Chelan and most visitors during the months of September, October, and November take advantage of the slower pace to truly enjoy the area’s nature.

From December through February, Lake Chelan experiences its winter; however, this is the least crowded time to visit. Although these months are the coldest of the year, visitors can explore the area at their own pace, thanks to the nearly nonexistent crowds. There are plenty of winter activities to keep visitors busy, and the hiking and scenery is rarely affected by the winter weather. Spring is another great time to visit because of the blooming of local flora. The weather is a perfect blend between warm and cold so visitors can enjoy the colorful scenes while hiking or biking along the trails without getting too hot.

Keeping Your Team Motivated as a Coach

Ronald “Ron” Newman helps lead the Milestone Companies, a collection of corporations that he helped establish to develop and construct multi-family projects. An active member of his community in Washington, Ronald Newman spends some of his time outside of Milestone coaching little league football and basketball.

For many athletes, especially younger athletes, internal motivation is not enough, so it becomes your responsibility as the coach to keep your team motivated. This often starts with your own understanding of the game. Players, even young ones, can tell when their coach is unfamiliar with the sport, and it often decreases their belief that their team will succeed. If you do not know much about your team’s sport, make the effort to learn about it as you go and only teach the things that you do know. Doing this also makes it easier for you to show your team why their drills or practices are important. By understanding how their training will make them better, your team will be more motivated to continue working on themselves.

Motivation is not just about improving and winning, it is also about continuing past the losses. It is important that you discipline your team without being condescending. Athletes need a good mix of praise and discipline as they train. When you see a player doing something right, point it out and praise him or her. If a team member is doing something wrong, kindly tell the individual how to improve. When doing this, avoid making comparisons between athletes because it can kill motivation and create internal team hostility. Do not equate your team’s individual self-worth with their performance, either, as this can have a similar demotivating effect.                            

Pairing Wine and Food

Milestone Investment Properties manager Ronald Newman brings more than three decades of supervision experience to the Washington-based company. Knowledgeable in such areas as project management and risk analysis, he has overseen Milestone’s completion of several large projects. In his free time, Ronald “Ron” Newman enjoys cooking and finding good food and wine pairings.

Wine and food pairing goes far beyond the common understanding that a red wine goes with red meat and white wine with fish. The flavor and texture of both the wine and the food effect which pairings work and which ones do not. Ideally, similar flavors should be paired so that the taste of the wine complements the taste of the food rather than competes with it. If a meal is sweet, then the wine should have a higher level of sweetness. Similarly, if the meal is savory with a higher salt level, then an acidic wine works best. The weight of the food and wine must also complement one another. Heavy wines work best with heavy meals, while light wines are better for light meals.

These rules can be a bit of a challenge to follow when a meal is high in spice. While acidic and sweet foods can easily be paired with acidic and sweet wine flavors, this rule of matching does not always work with spicy foods. Pairing wine to spicy food depends on an individual’s ability to handle heat. A low tolerance for heat would be better suited for a sweet, non-acidic wine because it helps counteract the meal's overall spiciness.

Further, if a dish features a large amount of sauce, then the wine is best paired to the sauce rather than primary vegetables or meat used in the dish. However, the same rules still apply regardless of whether the wine is being matched to a meat, vegetable, or sauce: weights, textures, and flavors should be complimentary.