Friday night in the city. Lots of stuff going on, so lots of people heading in. We are with them. Slog on in, not the worst, but certainly not the best.
We finally hit downtown. The goal is to drop Ashlan at Safeco Field for a Mariner game. She is meeting Carl and others. Many others. You may have heard of Ken Griffey Junior. He hit 630 home runs – we have a few of the balls he gave us in our house. He just retired. They are having a bobblehead giveaway tonight – Griffey and Ichiro together. So in addition to those that just like baseball, there are the bobblehead fans.
And, it would appear that many more people have found the new exit that leads directly to the baseball stadium.
No worries, we are not in a huge hurry. Ashlan bails out, and then passes me as I wait for the cars to inch past the stadium. I finally pass her – talking with Carl & Jet (4 year old).
Up onto the viaduct that runs along the Puget Sound downtown. You may know that this structure has basically been condemned, and is scheduled to be replaced – I hope with a tunnel. Our current Mayor is not for this idea – he would rather create gridlock downtown by removing a major bypass route …. but I digress. It is a beautiful early evening. The sun is out, although clouds are gathering in the south. There are many smaller boats on the sound and I am guessing this is associated with some festival. And then I notice – a fire boat in full display. Kind of like a peacock with feathers in 360 degrees around the body as well as the 180 degree fan. A white peacock. (peahen?) I can’t even see the boat at the middle of the sprays. It is quite impressive. For once I am glad for the 10 mph rate of travel.
On to north Seattle, passing my normal exit. My goal is to get a red hat for a fifty-year old friend. I truly detest the black theme for parties. But I fully embrace the red hat society’s goals to not worry about what others think about how you look – go enjoy yourself. The giving of a red had has become a bit of a tradition at work. There are several of us now. But traffic is dense – as expected, and I had even thought of a slight back door approach. However, the back door approach was full of brambles. A bus, construction and fire-truck in the first 500 yards. OK. Dodge right, a cut through, and back to a semi-main road. Which is stopped. I sat in this line attempting to turn onto the main road for several minutes. But I was not in a particular hurry. Found a red had that should do the trick, and browsed the store for a bit. On leaving, the earlier back-up had dissipated, and I headed home.
Almost there – the road clogged again. So, this time I dodged left. I had enough of sitting in lines. Finally home. Not planning to leave again today.
Mow the back yard, and apply fertilizer with one of those whirlybird hand-held things. It says to water in. By the look of the clouds gathering to the south, I may give mother nature a chance to do the watering for me.
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