A fishy tale in Ballard

Sunday’s neighbourhood tour took us to Ballard – but not before a leisurely breakfast with the papers at home.

The Sunday market at Ballard is still in full swing, so we gathered up fixings for lunch – a great excuse to taste everything on offer!

A brief stop at the locks to see the Chinook lazing around on the fish ladder, then up to Discovery Park (well done Chippy!). Hot, hot, hot, but great views over the Sound and much planning to turn the old Fort Lawton barracks into B&Bs. There was maybe a touch too much arsenic in the salad, though.

Sculpture Park and Smith Tower

At the weekend, we ventured a bit further. The Olympic Sculpture Park is looking a lot more grown in now but was lacking any special exhibits – apart from Karen, who suffered her role as Dad’s model extremely patiently.

He soon moved on to larger subjects.

In the afternoon, we spent an hour or so at Elliot Bay Books – as fantastic as ever – and took lunch (and the poor man’s Underground tour!) at Grand Central.

Then it was up Seattle’s first skyscraper – the charming Smith Tower. Sweeter, smaller and more stylish than the Space Needle – and with none of the queues.

Mum and Dad are here!

Phew, it’s been a busy few days since Mum and Dad arrived on Thursday evening. We’ve spent the time exploring a few neighbourhoods, starting with Wallingford, of course. Incredibly, just a few hours after arriving, we were soaking up the sights (and sun!) in Gas Works Park when they bumped into some friends from Croydon – the Sequeiras.

We all had a bit of trouble with the milkshakes at Blue Moon Burgers. Quite tasty, but any drink you need a fork to consume has something very wrong with it.

 

We then wandered down under Aurora bridge. Really, you can only blame jet lag for so much…

Bill’s 60th birthday

It’s all celebrations of multiples of 10 around here. Saturday saw Karen’s uncle Bill turn 60. We popped down to Hartstene for the day to hang out with the Watts and Willards, including Karen’s cousins Julie and Brad who flew up specially.

“Captain” Bill got serenaded by friends and family, and suffered very gamely through a fantastic slideshow assembled from old family snaps of the ’50s and ’60s by Raleigh.

The next day, we went for a hike up Karen’s trail – this is the last I saw of them as I got fixated on removing holly and  Scotch broom – nasty invasive species in the North West.

Flaming heck! Chippy turns 250,000!

Here’s a portmanteau post. On Friday night, Janine stopped at ours after a week’s camping out in the Olympic National Park. It was great to catch up with her, and to have along for my favourite gig this year – the Flaming Lips at Marymoor Park.

Karen, Sonia, Janine and I rocked out for a couple of hours to hamster balls, lasers, balloons and just a great show of new songs and old favourites. Great, friendly, well organised venue, too.

 

So! Many! Inflatables!

The next day, Chip Shop, our faithful(-ish) biodiesel 1982 Mercedes 240D celebrated its quarter-millionth birthday on the drive down to Hartstene. We gave it a celebratory dose of fresh cooking oil…

Ann’s electric 70th!

On Thursday, Karen organised a surprise party for Ann’s 70th birthday, shepherding in the Willards from California. Ann, Bruce, Lauri and Lucca arrived the night before, and we all headed down to Lake Union for the reveal. Note the chainsaw bear with life jacket.

Lauri and Lucca decided to pose for a few catalogue shots while we waited for Ted to chaffeur Ann from the Eastside.

Despite a few giveaway emails in the days beforehand, Ann was genuinely surprised (and genuinely happy of course) to see her brother and family.

I think she was also surprised that anyone let me behind the wheel of a vessel after the debacle in the San Juans, but I stayed there long enough to grab a picture of everyone – that’s Ann’s friend Jane on the right.

After the electric boat ride, we retired to 2223 N 44th for Ann to open her big present from Ted. Any guesses?

Why, that’s right – a 10,000 BTU transportable air conditioning unit. Just what every woman desires!

Marooned in the San Juans

Well, not exactly, but I could have been after crashing the Ulithi into concealed rocks at Matia Island. But that’s not how our ‘relaxing’ weekend trip with Kurt and Ginger began. At first, it was all light winds, sunny weather and delicious sandwiches.

 

The scenery was stunning, seals popped up around us and porpoises frolicked in the distance.

 

Even I briefly managed to look as though I knew what I was doing. Sadly, it was not the case, and late in the afternoon we ploughed into rocks to the sounds of screams, shouts and a grinding keel.

Luckily, my pride was damaged far worse than the hull and we managed to moor safely for the night in the shelter of Matia – a gorgeous little island at the northern tip of the San Juans.

Shore parties discovered huge slugs, enormous cedars, delicious berries and a rather fine composting toilet. Oh, and these stunning starfish.

Kurt and Ginger tried to escape from my terrible piloting, but were drawn back on board by our superb selection of biscuits, and the prospect of a nice game of bridge.

Getting scientific in San Diego

At the start of the month, I took a brief two-day trip down to San Diego for a couple of stories. The first was checking out UCSD’s 3D ‘holodeck’ and massive multi-gigapixel displays. Mind-blowing stuff (the hat isn’t a fashion statement but helps the system know where I’m standing to deliver the most convincing effects).

The afternoon saw me cycle over to the magnificently named Space and Naval Weapons Research Centre, where I learned about the latest developments in autonomous robot security guards. San Diego isn’t exactly a pretty town but I liked this Naval cemetery out on Point Lomo.

In the morning, I went out to the sleepy beach suburb of La Jolla to expose myself to a magnetic field 60,000 times stronger than the Earths – all in the name of journalism of course.

No Lie MRI thinks it can spot lies 93 percent of the time using high-powered (and expensive!) MRI scanners. Here is my brain lying – or is telling the truth? Can’t tell? Unfortunately, neither could No Lie MRI. An interesting experience, though, and a good interview.

Kayaking to Hope Island

Our first trip to Hartstene in August saw us working on the steps at Raleigh’s place and doing a bit of entomology. Here’s the banded alder borer on the beach. Beautiful but rather large!

In the evening, we hung out with Karen’s cousins Sonia, and Margarent and Regis. Mmmm, sorbet…

Check out the crazy sunset – no Photoshop filters – honest!

The next day, we kayaked around Squaxin to Hope Island state park. We saw an amazing starfish colony off the north point of Squaxin, a kelp bed with crab guardians and the charming old orchards,  homesteads and reclaimed woodlands on Hope Island itself. It was a tiring trip back against the current, though, and I’m still suffering from a spot of tendonitis from it! What a wimp!