HIKING, er KAYAKING!

During the week our weekend plans slowly take place.  Most of our activities are outdoors, so  we watch the weather and let her vote count as plans develop.  As this weekend approached, the forecast called for a drippy Saturday and a considerably better Sunday.  

Jodi had been eyeing a highway 2 hike for some time – Lake Serene and wanted to do that hike.  Good weather on Sunday, a hike we hadn’t done, perfect combination!  So we planned the hike for Sunday.  We talked about it, got out  the maps, did our research and we were set.

At this point, pause for a moment and be thankful we live in Seattle.  Yes it’s cloudy and this ‘Junuary’ is going done in the books as one of the soggiest starts to the summer ever.  But as I type there’s a news story about a record heat wave on the east coast with massive power outages. I’ll take misty weather in the 60’s over sweltering heat every time.

Another thing that’s nice about Seattle is the diversity of what you can do on a weekend.

Take yesterday.  We went to an entirely pleasant wooden boat festival on Lake Union at the Center for Wooden boats.  Adventuress was there, the old Lotus, Betsy’s ‘Glory Be’, along with scores of other boats.   Wooden boats, big and small we strolled for over and hour and saw them all.  They even had a beer garden.  Wonders never cease.

So back to our hiking plans and the diversity in Seattle.  Last night after dinner we were outside in our courtyard talking about the day, and the plans for tomorrow.  After all the talk about going hiking, Jodi said, ‘why don’t we go kayaking instead.

Perfect!

So we waited until the morning mist gave way to a brighter afternoon, loaded up the kayaks, and headed for Lake Union.  There isn’t one, not two, but 44 different places to put kayaks in the water on Lake Union.  We chose the ‘Newton Street End’ just down from Eastlake. 

We toured houseboats for a bit (oh my, what a lifestyle!!) and then headed south to the Center for Wooden boats.  Along the way we passed ‘Circe’, a lovely wooden Seattle Classic, moored near her 1932 beginnings on Lake Union.

We paddled over to the Center for wooden boats where we watched the last of the Puget sound mosquito fleet,  the Virginia V, blow her whistle and take off on a short cruise.  We hopped out of the kayaks, again found ourselves in the beer garden, and participated in a nautical trivia competition where we tied for first place in one of the rounds.  Being a life long seattlelite,  I knew most of the answers, but Jodi caught me on one of the questions and corrected it. That correction proved to be the margin of winning, so we claimed our prize.   A very modest museum of history and industry shot glass. 

We took a tour of “Adventuress” and looked a few other boats.

We hopped back in the kayaks and paddled back to our entry point where we met a couple who lived on one of the houseboats.  They had a Bernese Mountain dog and had a family history of naming their dogs after pasta.  The Berner’s name?  Noodles.  Noodles was a very friendly Berner, leaning into whomever was petting her.

So that was the weekend.  Fun!