to ramble …

itchy wanderlust

2010-09-03

My car is currently out of commission so most of my meanderings have involved the park in front of my house. Which has been okay, my knee has been in pretty bad shape this last month so I’ve needed to take it easy.

I must have turned a point in the healing process because I have periods where my knee feels practically normal.

So I have this confluence of greater mobility and a developing case of cabin fever which has created a wicked strong case of wanderlust. It’s so strong that I want to leave town on Labor Day weekend which I never want to do (everything is too crowded and the traffic coming back is horrendous).

So many things make me think of places I want to go. Friends are going mushrooming tomorrow somewhere along 410 and I immediately want to go to Federation Forest State Park. I hear “Let It Be” on the radio and it’s Larabee State Park I want to go to. Or “Long December” comes on and makes me want to go to the ocean even though it’s not December. [Once, many years ago, the radio alarm clock turned on just at the line "it's been so long since I've seen the ocean, guess I should." so we went to the ocean that day.] And, of course, my calendar makes me want to go to Fort Worden since it is the state park of the month. And the glutton for punishment side of me thinks a day trip to Cape Flattery would be keen (I do not have the road tripping endurance of when I was there last and, even then, thought that was too much for a day trip.)

For now I will have to satisfied witch shorter excursions. But as soon as I have a working car again, I am outta here.

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20100902 – The Zany Zeppelin Quest

2010-09-02

From now on, September 2nd shall be known as Zeppelin Day.

As some of you may be aware, the worlds largest Zeppelin is in town and offering rides out of Paine Field in Everett, WA.

I run with a crowd that thinks this is extremely awesome and also devastating that tickets for rides are so expensive.

Today, in the Aurora Village Costco parking I looked up and there it was. I excitedly told Llyra to look. Then we called Sean to tell him to look. He couldn’t see it so we went to get him. Llyra had a theory that it was traveling south down the lake to downtown and would come back up along the sound so we planned to head to a park along the sound. Sean hopped in the car and off we went.

Heading towards Richmond Beach Park we crossed paths with the Zeppelin as it passed over our heads at 185th and Aurora. So we took a right and followed it up Aurora. All the while I’m sticking my head out the window to try and get pictures. We started to lose it as we had to stop for all those stoplights so we headed to I-5 and Paine Field. We saw it briefly again but then lost it as it made it’s descent.

We drove around Paine Field and just as we were about to give up, we saw it starting to take off. Llyra parked the car and we piled out like we were in a clown car. And just in time, as the Zeppelin was heading our way and flew right over us. SO COOL.

I’ll post links to the pictures when Llyra uploads them.

Then we headed over to the Paine Field Community Park which has a really neat playground with some wacky climbing structures and a really neat merry go round. I sat while Christopher dragged his parents around the playground.

And, yes, we listened to Led Zeppelin when we got back to the house.

Best quote came from Christopher, age 3, as it was starting to pull away from us: “Stay in the sky buddy!”

How awesome is it to have friends you can go on a zany, spontaneous Zeppelin quest with?

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the beginning of a journey…

2010-06-28

Anticipation. The closer the start of a trip comes, the more excited I get. I think this true for most of us. The 11 year old of the house woke up at 6:45am so excited for his plane trip that didn’t leave until 11:00pm. Myself, I couldn’t fall back asleep after 7:00am this morning.

Today is the beginning of two journeys. The first is a metaphorical one – today is the five year anniversary of my cancer removal surgery. This journey is noted by the absence of things in this new future. No frequent pelvic exams and no more counting the months and years I am cancer free. I am DONE.

The other journey is that I’m leaving later today for Ocean Shores. Three days of oceanic bliss, pampering, and a whole lot of slacking.

When I first planned this trip, I had envisioned I would spend my days at Roosevelt Beach with my sweet Tito. He would dig while I read trashy sci-fi novels. His absence will make some of this trip a little bittersweet. But I will stroll the beach and recall treasured memories of our many trips there.

Geekily, I will be dorkumenting my trip with a GPS track and lots of pictures.

I can’t leave yet though. For one thing, I have to wait until the laundry is done; I’m washing all my bedding so I’ll come home to a nice clean bed. For another, I still have to pack.