Raincharm’s Weblog

As is frequently the case I had a bit of work to do this weekend. My initial idea was to do the bit from home Saturday morning, and then move on to other things.
As usual, my plan did not come off exactly as I planned. The computer connection to work would not work, so I could not work.
But it was a nice day, so we decided to venture out on foot. When Mark and Pooh left, they let Carl keep a Boeing step counter. The goal is 16,000 steps a day. So we set out to take 16,000 steps or so. I have not measured the distance, but am guessing about 6-7 miles.
Since the home computer connection was a bust I left for work. Traveling light because I did not plan to spend the whole day. A little too light as it tuned out. No badge.
“We don’t need no stinkin badges!” Not if we don’t mind setting off the building alarm. Which I did. And then silenced the bigger and called in the false alarm.
After that rousing start, I finished two of the three things on my list.
But it was sunny and I was stiff from the Saturday walk. So after returning home, we set out for another 16,000 steps.

Different species in the two pictures, both from the Sunday jaunt.

Oh – and for those that are counting, I am officially out of the NCAA basketball tournament. Before we got to the sweet 16.

Father of Texas, professional wrestler or the Six Million Dollar Man?

I am debating which of these has a better chance of beating UCLA tomorrow.

Our family has a long tradition of participating in March Madness with a random draw bracket. We all go in wanting to get certain teams, and can be torn when we don’t get one of our favorites. And – we all want to get a coveted number 1 seed. After all, there was chocolate at stake. [Treats for each win, double if it is an upset.] But it is a random draw. And random is random.

We had a wonderful time doing the draw. We had a 3-way Skype going, with Pooh and Mark standing in for Ashlan & Rey doing the actual drawing out of the bowl. When all was said and done it was my job to enter the results into the bracket, and add the teams after they were drawn.

It was only then that I realized the highest seeded team I had drawn was a No. 5!!! Really. No 1, 2, 3, or 4 seed graced my share of the bracket. [I did manage 3 of the 4 number 5 teams.]

Still, a number 5 seed plays their first game against a number 12 seed, so you would think that I could get a few games out of my 5s. But NOOO. Two of my 5s went down to Harvard and Stephen F. Austin. As luck would have it, I also had the No. 12 seed – Stephen F. Austin, so I was still alive for the next game.

For the round of 32 I had only four teams. Stephen F. Austin (12 seed), Pittsburgh (9 seed), Oregon (7 seed) and St. Louis (5 seed). It is now Saturday evening, and I am down to one team. Stephen F. Austin. A 12 seed, slated to play UCLA – a 4 seed.

We used to joke about directional schools not having much of a chance. For instance, Michigan and Michigan State just have the name of the state. Western Michigan has to add a direction. Stephen F. Austin does not even get a state name, although you might consider it a City name. Sort of.

Anyway, I think I am going to be out of this tournament faster than anyone in our family has ever made an exit.

In addition to tracking the basketball scores we took a walk today. A few sightings.

Wheee – phone booths

We have plenty of collections at our house, but none like this.

We introduced my brother-in-law to a new waterfowl on his recent visit. Wigeons, or mallard with a mohawk as we like to refer to them. We usually have American Wigeons around Seattle. But occasionally there are some visitors from the east that arrive with their American counterparts. We had told Mark about the Eurasian variety, but never saw one. Today we spotted one in the flock at Green Lake.

Eurasian Wigeon on the left, with the rusty head

Oh – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I will call tomorrow (I am not the best daughter today).

I have been doing a bit of work, and a lot more play over these past few days.
Pooh and Mark finally made it to vacation time, and gathered all of their vacation karma to cause the rain to cease. At least for a few days.

Foggy Sound into Kingston

It was a glorious day. Foggy crossing the sound, but the sun melted the fog as we landed in Kingston. (See – we didn’t need to get up any earlier, because we would not have been able to see as much.)

Wednesday morning we launched for the Olympic Peninsula.
Target – The Elwha Dam.
Or rather the Elwha Dam Site.
That is no longer the site of the Elwha Dam, but rather the site of the past Elwha Dam.
The dam Dam is gone.

Old Elwha Dam Site

If you go to visit the Elwha dam sites, today, you will only be able to get to the Elwha Dam. The upper dam (Glines) is on her/his way out. Because there is occasionally dynamite used to bam departing dams, we were limited to the lower Dam on the Elwha, the Elwha Dam (or past dam site).

To get to the site we followed the path to a lookout. Then we took the path off of the path – to a much better lookout. Then we took the path that was not a path off of the path, but rather a road – or a past road – that was used to get to the dam, when it was a dam. This took us right into the dam pool. (Lake Mills I think.) Except it was no longer a pool, but an area being reclaimed by vegetation.

Intrepid Wanderers

Tree Gnome (looking for a tree)

The most obvious signs of the roughly 100 years between the dam construction and destruction are the tree stumps.

Loggers Spring Board notches

Not Quite Up to the Notch

This Elwha silt is a recurring theme of the area at this time. I thought another hiker had dropped a handful of mud/silt on the ground – until I realized we were in an area where the dam pool had allowed the normal silt and mud flow to settle.

Glob of Elwha Silt

And as the water level was lowered, some of this silt stayed on top of the stumps.

Mud Cap

From a hydraulic engineer’s point of view, one exciting sight was the river meanders that could be easily seen in the mud and silt that is still the river bed.

Elwha Meanders

I really want to return to this site over the next few years – just to see the changes.
We even saw a bit of wildlife.

Wildlife Siting in a Spring Box

Then we took off to see other sites along the river.

Along the banks of the Elwha

First stop – Madison Falls.
Or rather a stop for Pooh and Mark. Jay realized that she no longer had a handle on her phone, and had just said as we left the lower dam parking lot, “Does everybody have their camera? I thought I heard something fall off the car.”

Carl & Jay headed back towards the lower dam.
Carl decided to call the phone just in case the other couple at the dam site was near the parking lot and had picked up the phone.
Except, we could hear the phone ringing.
Certain that it was in the car, we returned to Madison Falls, and spent about 5 minutes hunting the phone down. You would not have thought it to be that difficult a task – it is only a Prius. It was finally located beneath the driver’s seat – safe and sound – with 6 missed calls.

Madison Falls

Madison falls was well worth the short walk off of the road. The rain from the past week had it  roaring over the drop.

Pooh wanted to find the point where the Madison entered the Elwha – to see how the clear Madison mixed with the muddy Elwha. Unfortunately this happened just beyond the No Trespassing sign.

Mud and Silt signal freeing of the river

So back to Port Angeles.
We spent a bit of time sunning on the Ediz Spit, looking back at the Olympics and trying to identify the water fowl hanging about. And we even spotted a seal, but I am not posting my picture because it looks very much like a floating log.

The next morning we launched in search of breakfast, and found the New Day Café. It was a lovely place to spend some time, but a ferry schedule beckoned and we headed to Port Townsend for the short hop to Whidbey Island. From there we went north to Deception Pass. Hiked a bit, crossed the bridge on foot (which was a bit hairier than we liked), clambered over rocks and logs, and finally headed back south to La Conner for lunch, a quilt museum (and historical house tour) and the daffodil fields. At least a few fields were in bloom. (I figured if my daffodils were blooming, theirs should be too.)

And finally home again.

And today, I finally got to use a Christmas present from the girl. (THANK  YOU)

Pooh & I enjoyed a retreat at Banya5 in the South Lake Union neighborhood.
I would most likely never go to a spa by myself, but was pleasantly surprised by the easy ambience of the place. A sauna, steam room, cold plunge pool, tepid salt-water pool and hot tub filled the spa area, along with a few showers for rinsing between pools. They were all very enjoyable (except perhaps the cold plunge, which felt much like the temperature of Lake Superior). After bouncing back and forth between these amenities, we set off for home. And while I initially felt ready for anything, I now feel ready to settle down with a movie, or a nap.

I would have been happy just to make it to the Elwha Dam site.
But to have the dam, spit, pass, 2 ferry rides, quilts, flowers and at least three good meals – with a side of two sunny days in a row – followed by a spa day; this has been an excellent vacation – and all close to home. And to see much better pictures – go to RegenAxe.

[It is times like this that make me ask why we don’t take off for weekend adventures more often.]

Sometimes it takes an outsider to remind you how to be a local.

We always say that if you want to do something, don’t worry about the weather (that is “rain”), or you will never do it.

This was really true when the kids were growing up.
Sports? Yes, we rarely cancelled a soccer game. Snow, sleet, pouring rain … play on.

Maybe we are getting soft, because I do check the weather before heading out.
Not that we don’t go, but we can temper the location and length with the predicted arrival of precipitation.

But when you have guests, there is no time to dawdle – must get out.

So we set out to go parking. The foot tour encompassed Queen Anne Hill (Kerry Park), Kinnear Park (even though much of the route was closed, sort of), Centennial Park to Myrtle Edwards Park, the Sculpture Park, and finally the Seattle Center (really, a big park).

Sewer system as art

Just another tube

Almost spring in the Vivarium

We visited the EMP in the center, and spent some time in the Fantasy: Worlds of Myth and Magic room. They have a model from one of my long-time favorite movies, The Dark Crystal.

Dark Crystal Mystic

They have a Mystic. One of our favorite scenes plays better as part of the entire movie, but it is linked here, the Skeksis dinner scene (the part at 1:60 had us in the aisles).

I also managed to unpack a few more boxes (files) and am now getting ready to do a little work.
Oh, and watch the Oscars – to decide which films we might try to see.
I don’t think we have seen any of the major nominated films this year.