Michael and Kaylyn's Adventures

31 May 2004

Vim And Verve

Every Memorial Day weekend the Seattle Center is overrun by hordes of odd-sounding musicians and odd-looking vendors purveying all sorts of odd-sounding and odd-looking merchandise. For your bemusement we present a) a weird violin-vase-plant-steel instrument-type thing, a humanoid made out of didgeridoos, a fancy wood guitar laden with dolphins, and some hand-made koi batik cloth. Aren't you just aching to have these in your living room?

30 May 2004

The Many Moods Of Andy

The first picture is Andy in a contemplative mood. He doesn’t have these very often, but when he does they are as intense as everything else he does is energetic. The second picture is Andy arriving at the lighthouse after hiking five-and-a-half miles – well, not really...he got shoulder rides from Michael and Rob part of the way. The last picture is Andy after hiking the full five-and-a-half miles back all by himself. We always thought Andy was indefatigable, but now we know that a nine mile hike conks him right out.

Jelly Au Naturale

We saw lots of dead sealife during our hike. Several crab skeletons, a dogfish that partially got away, a sea cucumber, and these. These are both jellyfish, although we had to ask a park ranger about the top one. It’s just a flat disc of transparent goo that has the consistency and feel of unflavored gelatin. No tentacles, and no other body parts, as far as we could tell. The bottom object is more obviously a jellyfish, albeit not the type most often seen floating about in aquariums. It, too, had the consistency and feel of gelatin – although this one appears to have some rhubarb mixed in as well!

You And He And Me Makes We

What a motley cast of characters! Scott (a developer), Rob (a tester, and no, that's not Bruce Willis despite the trademark grimace), me (a tester -- no picture, though, so stop looking), and Andy (definitely a tester). Scott grew up around here, so he's well equipped with rain gear. Rob spent many years in Wisconsin, so he thinks it's so warm he doesn’t need any hair. Andy's a typical almost-seven-year-old with a big floppy hat. The hat comes with a story. Michael always wears a hat. His sun hat has a wide floppy brim and an aerated crown -- perfect for Guy Day hikes around the tops of mountains while getting blasted by the sun. Andy always liked to wear Michael's hat, so Michael found an Andy-sized version.

Don't Spit On Me

Our ultimate destination this Guy Day was Dungeness Spit (www.dungeness.com). Dungeness Spit is the longest natural spit ("a small point of land especially of sand or gravel running into a body of water", according to Merriam Webster) in the world. If you hike clear out to the lighthouse near its tip, you’ll have wound five-and-a-half miles through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The south (right, in these pictures) side of the Spit is a nature refuges chock-a-block full of birds and other wildlife, so it's off limits, as is the tip beyond the lighthouse. The rest of it, however, is fair game. Dungeness Spit is a wonderful hike, just miles and miles of sand, rocks, surf, driftwood, birds, and oodles of seals cavorting offshore. What a great way to spend an afternoon! The lighthouse is no longer in active duty (the Coast Guard went to automated lights and foghorns years ago), but it is kept up by volunteers. Every week a different set of volunteers trek out to take their turn at playing lighthouse-keeper. The view from the lighthouse is pretty spectacular (see the last picture for an example), with seals to entertain you, a plethora of shippage (notably including nuclear submarines!) to tax your nautical identification skills, and of course neverending scenery to awe you.

Trolls And Dragons And Housing, Oh My

Memorial Day weekend Rob and Andy (whom you’ve met already) and our mutual friend Scott (whom you haven’t) and Michael went on another Guy Day. Our final destination was Dungeness Spit, but first we paused a moment to see the trolls, dragons, and mailbox follies at Trollhaven. Oh, and castles and lodges and other nifty houses, too. All for rent, if you fancy a vacation in a medieval locale and don’t mind paying $1K per day rent!