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Archive for the ‘road trip’ Category

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?

Posted in friends, road trip | 2 Comments »

11/04/07: gulf coast trip

2008-09-08

I’ve wanted to go visit the Gulf Coast in Texas ever since I started going to Austin periodically for work. But when I looked at the distance, it seemed too much driving for a day trip. Fortunately, my brain realized that no drive was too long to be able to stick ones feet in a new body of water.

I drove to the end of I-37 and drove along the water until I found a likely beach for stopping. It was in the mid-80s so I knew I’d be getting in the water. I waded in and jumped around in the waves, dunked myself in the waves, and then came out of the water to sit on the beach a while. The sand was like cinnamon sugar both in texture and coloration. Before and after dunking pictures:

Some differences between going to the Washington Coast vs going to the Gulf Coast:

Washington Coast

The closer you get to the water, the lower the outside temperature gets.
Before you get to the beach you must pass through a depressing logging industry area.
Wading into the water and jumping in the waves on November 3rd is a good way to be on the path to hypothermia (if you don’t get carried out to sea).
At sunset, you face the water to see it.
When you leave, you see signs along the road indicating it is a Tsunami Evacuation Route.
At the rest area on the way back there are nice volunteers sitting there.
You have to drive through the unpleasant smells of Tacoma and Kent.

Gulf Coast

The closer you get to the water, the higher the outside temperature gets.
Before you get to the beach you must pass through a depressing oil refinery industry area.
Wading into the water and jumping in the waves on November 3rd is extremely pleasant.
At sunset, you face away from the water to see it.
When you leave, you see signs along the road indicating it is a Hurricane Evacuation Route (no cute graphic though).
At the rest area on the way back there are 1-2 inch long cockroaches sitting on the floor.
You have to drive through the unpleasant smells of skunk.

Other Observations and Absurdities

A billboard for vasectomy reversals?
Getting out of dripping wet shorts and putting on a pair of dry pants in the backseat of a Chevy Cobalt is extremely difficult.
While standing about waist deep in the water, I saw a bunch of little silvery fish jumping around and a Pelican swooped down 4 feet in front of me to get some of the jumping fish.
Cabbage road kill!
Tasty, tasty, tasty Gulf Shrimp Scampi.
The last thing you want to see when you stop at a rest area after 45 minutes of urgently needing to pee is this:

Tags: beach, ocean, corpus christi

Posted in historical, musings, road trip | Leave a Comment »

12/24/06: adventures of yesterday

2008-09-08

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.