Went to Golden Gardens and had a fire. Took a 10 second video of it because I could.
Got some neato pictures of the fire like the one below here. Other pictures of the evening are here
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Pictures from my trip to Austin. Pretty much just pictures of flowers, like this one:
So, I started 2006 on a Washington State Ferry and was inspired to make sure I rode every route at least once this year.
I realized recently that I still hadn’t done the San Juan route, I decided that it would still count even if I didn’t go to every island since it’s the same run. Conveniently, I am knowing people who have a cabin on Lopez Island. So since Llyra and Sean were up there this weekend, I drove up yesterday and hopped on the ferry to visit them.
I didn’t get my license to drive until I was 26. Basically just due to lack of car in my life until then. So I was 26 or 27 the first time I drove onto a ferry. I was totally giddy with excitement that first time. (It was the Mukilteo – Clinton run I believe.) Well, I’m here to tell you folks that over *cough* ten years later, I still get that excited every time I drive on to a ferry. [Nobody should be surprised that I'm this much of a dork, I've given you all plenty of clues.]
This excursion also included one of my other dorky favorite activities. Driving around and surveying the big storm damage. Having less infrastructure in place, clean up from our “big nameless storm 2006” has not progressed as much on Lopez Island. The major roads were clear but there was a lot of debris and a lot of fallen trees. The last bit of road up to Sean’s cabin is a dirt road through the forest and it was covered in tiny branches. It was really pretty – like a lush green carpet. Several trees that had obviously blocked the road but someone had attacked with a chainsaw to get them out of the way (Sean’s neighbor). They had a big tree fall but, fortunately, not on any buildings. So when I arrived there was my ex was wielding an axe chopping away at stuff. (Okay, I’m probably the only one who thinks the first part of the sentence is funny.)
We hung out for a while, I did a token amount of effort to help clear debris, then we drove to a couple of lovely beaches. Then dinner at the Love Dog Cafe which Llyra loves and always raves about. I can see why. The food tasty, the atmosphere lovely , and the people really neat. But, really, the best part is afterward we got to go out back and play with the two Burmese Mountain Dogs who were total sweethearts and I totally fell in love with their big fluffy dog selves.
Then I took the ferry back and drove home. It was a very lovely and relaxing way to spend the day.
Tags: storms, ferry, lopez island
For those of you who did not get my multiple excited e-mails and text messages, I took a vacation day and did not go to work. I went to Ellensburg for a certain wonderful little boy’s 4th birthday party. [hollie will laugh that I considered today a vacation day but, really, it was a vacation from my normal Monday's and that's what counts.]
Ellensburg felt very familiar to me. Sure, I’ve been there before and I was visiting people who are familiar to me, but it was more of a geographical / climatological / geological familiarity. In the early evening I wandered off for a little walk* by myself and was inundated with sensory memories from my pre-Seattle childhood.
Later that evening, as I sat on the front stoop chatting and looking at the moon and the stars, something clicked and I realized why the familiarity. I spent most of my years before 12 in areas in south eastern Idaho, Montana, and Colorado that had a very similar climate and geographic feel to Ellensburg. Differences certainly but not nearly the contrast when compared to Seattle. The big sky, the windy dry warm air, the sunset reflected off the surrounding hills and mountains.
Yesterday I took a drive up through Blewett Pass. Partially to go to my favorite produce stand, which while sadly closed at that moment was still there which pleased me since I hadn’t been there for two years. And partially for beautiful drive and there is a Forest Discovery trail at the top of the pass which has some breathtakingly gorgeous view points. I didn’t do the whole trail (stamina not there yet) but drove up a bit and hopped on the trail to go to the Swauk Viewpoint.
* The sidewalk around the house of hollie and greg is very new so it is smooth and clean which felt nice on my feet so what originally was a 50 foot walk to feel this sensation became a 1/2 mile walk on warm pavement in my bare feet. Which, despite it sounding full of potential disaster, felt really nice.Tags: geography
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