Published August 10th, 2005
in Uncategorized.
I love living in the city. Here is one example why. Last night Kristin and I had just got home. We were sitting on the couch going through our mail. The Mariner’s game had just started on the tube. And a new teenage pitching phenomenon was starting for Seattle - Felix Hernandez. We both were excited to see how he did on his first major league home game. I was getting ready to settle in for the game then Kristin says, “Let’s go to game”. I calming replied, “OK. Let’s go”. We both popped up and headed out the door. We were giddy with our feeling of freedom. After a quick drive down to Safeco Field we found a scalper with two home plate tickets for $20/each. We snagged them and were in our seats to see the first pitch in the top of the third inning. Not bad. Couch to home plate in an inning and a half! 
King Felix, as they call him, went on to pitch eight shut-out innings of baseball to win the game 1-0. M’s fans don’t have much to cheer about this year but we were sure going nuts for Felix last night. Cool to see history in the making. And fun to have the ability to catch a live MLB game at a moments notice.
Published August 9th, 2005
in Uncategorized.
Dog and I spent last weekend sea kayaking around the San Juan Islands. We googled a cheap place to rent kayaks on San Juan Island. So we just loaded up our backpacks and walked onto the ferry at Anacortes. Sue from Leisure Kayaks picked us up in Friday Harbor. We loaded up the kayaks and paddled out into the San Juan’s for the weekend.
Friday afternoon we paddle about nine nautical miles in about three hours. We timed it right to use the North flowing flood currents to carry us up to Jones Island. We found a cool campsite on the West point of the South Cove. Perfect for catching the sunrise early Saturday morning. Good thing too because we needed to be on the water paddling before 9AM to catch the South flowing ebb current back down to Turn Island. Saturday morning we woke to thick fog South of us. It was clear at Jones Island but thick fog was covering the channel just North of Friday Harbor. We needed to make it one mile South of Friday Harbor before the tide changed around noon. The currents can flow over 3 knots up there. And since you can only realistically paddle 2 or 3 knots per hour it is very important that you’re paddle with the current, not against it. We decided to cross San Juan channel at the widest point right off the Southwest corner of Jones. This way we could avoid crossing in the fog. After crossing if we stuck close to the San Juan Island shore we could “safely” slip around the point and into Friday Harbor even in the fog. The 2+ mile crossing was a bit scarier that we had hoped. The big Anacortes/Sidney B.C. ferry came charging out of the fog and sent out rolling waves - the wind was blowing opposite the current to create wind chop waves and a fleet of fishing boats and big motor yachts - all combined to nearly toppled us a few times. But we made it - and in blazing time too! The currents must have really been ripping because we covered in one hour what took us two hours the day before. Although, it might just have been the adrenaline charged paddling.
Saturday we set up camp on Turn Island. There is a nice state park on the Northwest shores of the island. It’s a small island. We walked the path around it in about 15 minutes or so. Like Jones Island, it’s uninhabited. It’s co-managed between the State Parks and San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge. We arrived and setup camp mid day so we had all day to lounge around on the beach and swam in the cold water. The sun went down and the temperature drop to a point were it was comfortable to enjoy the warmth of a campfire. I had forgotten how much I enjoy just sitting next to a campfire. Staring at the flames, feeling the radiant heat, and enjoying the nature flow of conversation that campfires tend to induce.
Sunday we woke up early to catch the favorable ebb current again back down to our take out at Leisure Kayaks. Then off to enjoy a late breakfast at the Downrigger in Friday Harbor. What a great weekend! I can’t wait to go sea kayaking again.
Published August 1st, 2005
in Uncategorized.
My Dad, Bro and I spent last week fishing off the Northeast corner of Vancouver Island just outside of Port Hardy , B.C. at a cool little do-it-yourself fishing resort called Duval Point Lodge. It’s a long way up there but well worth the drive. We caught our limit of Salmon, a few Rockfish, Ling Cod and a Halibut. Bald Eagles flying overhead was a daily occurrence. One afternoon we even had a couple Gray Whales surfacing all around our boat. It’s a beautiful land up there and the fishing was great! Even if you don’t like fishing just getting away from it all for a week does everyone a bit of good.
