Scatterday

Once in a while you get to enjoy a hodgepodge of activities in one day. That's what our Saturday was like, a happy Scatterday for us.

Out the door by 5:30 for an early morning airport drop-off, then to Ballard for breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe. (They have a better selection of gluten-free breakfasts than I've seen anywhere else. Warning: Go there hungry.)

To Golden Gardens to see if we could get some good photos. I'm afraid the weather was not too concerned about our interest in photography; it was not at its best on Saturday morning. Still, we tried.

This stump-turned-dritwood has more personality than some people I know! It was quite intriguing.

We drove through the park about 7:00 and found a couple of people hunkered down by the campfire. They looked cold and a bit lonely, the only ones on the beach except the parks department crew. When we came back to the park about 9:00 the canopy was standing and their hearty friends had joined them for breakfast on the beach.

We saw three young men hoisting logs up over their heads, heavy looking logs about three feet long. It turns out they were in training for the Tough Mudders event to be held in September. It's an 11-mile run/swim/obstacle course, and, according to the official website, designed by the British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. (I know the picture is out of focus. I was so dizzy thinking about this event that I couldn't see straight to take the photo!)

We sat at the QFC in Ballard, drinking coffee and eating chocolate-covered almonds, until the library opened. I knew Tom would be interested in the library's sod roof, and I'd recently heard that patrons of the Sno-Isle Regional Library system (that's us) can get cards for the Seattle Public Library. I suppose that it's not too practical for me to have a Seattle Public Library card, but it just seemed too good an offer to pass up. Of course, I'll have to drive to Seattle to pick up any books I put on hold (except e-books) and drive back to Seattle to return them; there's only a 2-week check-out time for DVDs as opposed to our 3-week time limit; Seattle's libraries charge overdue fees while our libraries don't. Perhaps some folks would consider these to be good reasons not to bother with a card, but not me. (I just hope it doesn't turn out to be like getting a $200 Nordstrom dress for $5 at ValueVillage, only to get it home and discover that it's dry clean only.)

On our way back to the south end for the family birthday party we got stopped by the Ballard Bridge. It's a draw bridge and as a sailboat with a tall mast passed through I jumped out and got some pictures. The people standing on the boards made me a little nervous; they seem so small and vulnerable next to the large boat in the background.

We arrived at Chris (Tom's nephew) and Rebecca's house for Marilee's birthday party at noon. It was our first time to see the house they bought and have spent the past year refurbishing. With beautiful tigerwood floors, a stone fireplace and nice gardens, it's a lovely home. Two particular features caught my eye:

This lovely light fixture in their living room hangs from
the high ceiling and casts these exquisite shadows.

A vegetarian's hunting trophey

Our barbecue included grilled corn on the cob. Chris par-boiled the corn, then put it on the grill. Part way through cooking he basted it with a mix of cilantro and melted butter. It really was delicious.

We came north over the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Tom has traveled the road hundred of times in his life, but now they are taking it down. We aren't sure if we'll be down that way again before it's gone, so as Tom drove I pulled out the camera to document the experience. It's a little hard to get decent photos when you're in a car with closed windows, going 40 miles an hour, but I gave it a shot. Here is some of what we saw:

The viaduct is coming down. You can see the demolition above and the posts below that have stood for 60 years.

Out the driver's window I saw this ferris wheel. Can you see the ferry through the spokes of the ferris wheel? 

The 38-storey Smith Tower, built in 1914, was the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle was built in 1962. Now it stands dwarfed by Seattle's many skyscrapers, but it is still beautiful to me.