dirtylibrarian

Friday night, I finally made it to an event at Open Books in Wallingford.  I pretty much randomly picked something out from their e-newsletter, and got a confirmation from a friend that it would be good.  Little did I know that Cody Walker is one of Seattle's most beloved poets...the official 2007-2008 Poet Populist of Seattle. The place was PACKED with his friends, fans, students, and well wishers. 

A good event overall, but if it was this crowded every time, I would hesitate to come back.  But at the same time, it made it more exciting, so maybe that is a good thing?  Poetry needs what buzz it can find.

Anyways, I enjoyed the poetry and picked up the book.  You might like it, too.

Ok...I actually did this on the 13th, but it is something to check off my 101 list.

I headed out to Vashon Island with bookchick, her adorable child, and her husband (who as a native of the island was extremely helpful to have along).  As far as festivals go, this was pretty standard small town fair.  We started the day at an all-you-can-eat pancake feed, where I was surprised to eat four pancakes, as I am usually not a big fan.  But they came with strawberries and ham, coffee and juice, and sweet young boy scouts came around regularly to top off your beverages and call you ma'am. It was very nice.

The street fair was pretty standard stuff.  The usual mix of cheap fair items, crafts folks, hippie stuff and food.  I bought this somewhat awesome rhinestone encrusted belt buckle.    There was an vintage auto parade that was somewhat baffling.  It took forever to get underway, and then just went right down the middle of all the vendors!  There were many cool old cards, but there was also a strange mix of cars that didn't seem worth bragging about to me, but perhaps I am out of touch with the world of vintage.  Either that or the parade organizers of Vashon are extremely kind.

I spotted my least favorite ex, but happily he passed by obliviously, and I was not forced to make conversation.

This was not the best small town event I've been too, but it wasn't bad.  And it was a joy to hang out with my friends and their delightful child.

I'm not sure why this one took so long to get around to.  I've had the kite for years, and carry it in the trunk of my car pretty much all the time (which does seem a bit silly, what with today's gas prices).  Gasworks park is super easy to get to.  And for all we complain about it, nice days in Seattle aren't that hard to find.  This is the sort of thing that is best done with company, and it was a good opportunity to show off a great view of Seattle to an out of town guest...plus she was impressed that there were a good 20 people out there just flying kites...probably hundreds just hanging out.  I highly recommend kite flying, though it was not as relaxing as I had been expecting.  Once you get it going, it  is a lot of work!   Plus, my kite has this weird propensity to suddenly just drop (though it did better up very high than most kites there), and I was paranoid about it falling on people's heads (it did interrupt at least one romantic moment, but nobody was injured ;)   I'd totally be up for doing this again, maybe with a picnic, so let me know if you want to try it out sometime.  And I just picked up a second kite...so it could make a good group outing.

Despite a week of terrible, cold downpours and generally gloomy weather...I finally got out and went camping at Dash Point State Park this weekend. I had been planning on checking this place out for ages, intrigued by the fact there was a state park in Federal Way of all places. Plus, according to the State Parks website, this is also the nearest campground to my house...close enough to actually go to after work. Which is what I did.

Happily, I seem to have found a new camping buddy, and general hang out and seek random adventures pal. E. is a member of my bookgroup whom I had not met until this last month, as we always seem to go when the other one isn't there. But we hit it right off, and I decided to see if she liked camping. She does, and not just car camping, but has experience as a river rafting guide and has done some backpacking too. Hooray!

So she picked me up after work Saturday and we drove down to Federal Way not really knowing what to expect. Neither of us had been to Dash Point. And for that matter, we really didn't know each other beyond name and a few mutual friends. A true adventure indeed. But it was GREAT. Dash Point is your typical Washington State Parks campground. Lots of cozy little campsites, each with a parking space, fire pit, picnic table, and room for at least one tent, depending on the spot you got. I paid the extra $7 to make an advanced reservation (just in case it was nice weather and everyone decided to go camping...ha!), and the spot we were assigned was too small for two tents, right next to a large group, and pretty exposed to the road. So we drove around until we found a few better candidates and drove back to the check in booth to see if we could switch. No problem! So we got a nice spacious spot, just a short straight shot to the bathrooms, and very close to the path to the beach (spot #20 if you are thinking about going here).

We quickly set up camp, ate dinner, and took the half mile hike down to the beach. And were very surprised to find how tiny it was. I made a joke that the sand dollars on the park's logo were almost as big as the beach. It was dusk, so we decided to head back to camp and check out the beach again in the morning...maybe it would be bigger when the tide went out?

Back at camp E. got a nice little fire going, and we drank beer and made smores. I remembered my camp chairs this time, so we were pretty comfortable. E. is great company...smart, funny, and lots of stories to tell. As the fire died down, we realized it wasn't really that dark. If you are wanting to go start gazing, this is not the place...the lights of Tacoma are very near!

Got up in the morning and drank tea and read. Went back down to the beach, and surprise! It was suddenly a HUGE mudflat. We eagerly wandered out to check things out. We wondered why more people weren't exploring it. It was terrific! We saw something neither of us had seen before...a live sand dollar! And another. And another. And we wandered on a bit and noticed some buried mostly in the sand. And then looked around and realized there were EVERYWHERE. And suddenly we both freaked out about stepping on them and hurting them, so we made as hasty and careful retreat as we could. It was both agonizing and hilarious. Then we stuck to the shore and picked up some trash, then headed back to the truck.

After we left the campground we decided to look for yard sales. We found one that was completely played out, so next decided to follow the suggestion of a sign that said "Explore Federal Way - check out the Bonsai Collection". But on the way we were lured into Big Lots, and also got some burnt espresso at the place across the parking lot. The Bonsai Collection was pretty cool...although it is hard for me to not think of it as part of the fanciest PR piece ever. Weyerhaeuser has this as part of their Federal Way complex...which has one of my favorite office building ever! And a collection of rhododendrons, fields of lupin, and many running paths for the public to enjoy. Oh that all businesses did so many nice things for the public. But it makes you wonder, why do they feel they have to? I recommend reading the book The Good Rain by Timothy Egan to get more insight on this...it is an awesome book.

Overall, a great weekend. If you are looking for a quick fix of trees, forest, slugs and camping...Dash Point State Park is terrific!

The Klondike National Historic Park intrigued me because I was surprised to hear that there was a National Park in downtown Seattle.  As a rule, I really like National Parks and I like learning more about the place I live, so it seems like a win-win, right?  Plus, my mom was game and we were in the neighborhood.

Essentially, this is a decent little museum and perfectly nice in just about every way, as you would expect from the National Parks folks.  Things it had going for it:

• 2 different films about the Klondike Gold Rush, so you could kick back and relax and learn, and take a rest from museum walking.
• Silly interactive things that kids usually enjoy...the best being a spinning Wheel of Fortune type thing to show what the odds were for anyone actually making it rich.
• Great photographs.
• A cool computerize thing where you could follow the lives of 6 people who went to Alaska out of Seattle, and see what happened to them...which made it touchingly personal.
• Goofy little gift shop with some neat vintage looking postcards and other silly stuff.
• Located in building that was a hotel prospectors passed through.
• It was free!

I would have enjoyed it more if I knew less about the Klondike Gold Rush, but apparently Will Hobbs did fine research when he wrote Jason's Gold, because that teen book and its sequel told me pretty much everything this museum did.  That said, if you don't know much about this very interesting part of Seattle's history...and how it pretty much saved the city from the depression of the 1890s, you should totally check it out sometime!

My pal Sarah also volunteered for high tea at the Queen Mary Tea Room.  This was a fun time out over all, though not perfect.  Company, food and tea were marvelous.  Atmosphere decidedly mixed...way too estrogen soaked for me.  Flowers, teapots, stuffed animals and brick-a-brac EVERYWHERE.  Good place to take mom for girl-time.  If you something a little less red-hat, try The Sorrento.

This weekend I finally checked out MOHAI with my friend Sarah.  It was a really fine little museum with much of interest.  I learned a lot about local history I did not know.  Such as the fact Mr. Yesler had a native bride he discarded when his white wife finally joined him...which apparently was not uncommon.  And that Seattlites have always been wacky outdoors types and have been pushing for more bike lanes for well over 100 years!  Some of my favorite things were the lovely diorama near the entrance, the Toe Truck, the neat figurehead collection, and the spool of gold-rush era newspapers you can spin through (and knock your head loudly on if you are me).  Over all I highly recommend checking it out!

Today I finally made it to Octopus Week at the Seattle Aquarium.  I've been wanting to go to this for years, and while it wasn't mind-blowing, it was fun.  Like the hundreds of children there celebrating their day off from school, I went with my mom.  We went to the aquarium a few years ago together, so it wasn't all that new for either of us, but we still had a good time. 

They do have a gigantic new tank near the entrance we hadn't seen, and some divers brought in an octopus to show off to everyone.  Apparently they generally aren't left with other fish much, as they tend to eat them...including: sharks! 

Overall, not too much above and beyond for adults, but being around a bazillion other octopus fans made for a lovely afternoon.  Until I got claustrophobic and had to get the hell out of there.  Happily, my mom then took me out to a nice lunch, and then I made her buy me huckleberry ice cream, because I am seven when I am around my mom apparently.
                                          

Ack!  I did this one ages ago and forgot to check it off!  Crazy month, low energy.

I joined skotkik and about 40 of his friends on a trip to Tacoma to go see a monster truck rally last month.  It was something else.  Sadly, not quite as exciting as I had hoped, but entertaining none the less. 

What was every bit up to my expectations was The Spar.  A really lovely old school bar overlooking the water.  Who knew Tacoma had such nice views?  Well worth checking out when you are down there. 

I didn't have the fish and chips, but rather the clam strips and chips, but I think that is ok for the purposes of this list. They were tasty...and the best part being, they make their own potato chips...very nice, crispy, salty, and good.

Today I spent much of the day running around looking for costume supplies (green duct tape is harder to find than you would think) and going to the doctors office (so I could have needles jabbed into my foot...to which I say: ow!  ow!  ow!  ow!  ow!  ow!  ow!  ow!  ow!  ow!).

But there was a very nice break in the middle when my friend Heather and I made it out to the Sound Garden near Sandpoint.  It was a bit weird getting there, as you had to check in at a security post and get some sort of clearance that required our IDs being taken away for 10 minutes, and then we were issued badges.  A bit of driving, and a hike down a slidey, leafy path...and we found it. 

It was lovely.  The sounds were odd, random, and wonderful.  The trees were all turning great fall colors.  The water was near by and ripply.  There were many tiny flowers and mushrooms.  And we came across a skeletal bird foot.  Though it was a bit of a pain getting in, and having to do so on a weekday during work hours, it was totally worth it.   Highly recommended.