it was decided that an adventure day was needed. i planned this one, but for some reason i feel like it has been my turn the last few adventure days in a row. definitely not a complaint; there is a lot to discover out there.
jamie met me at my apartment where we made sandwiches and prepared for the day. this is where jamie usually tries to guess what we are going to do (and where i plant extra preparations that have nothing to do with adventure day, like bringing along the seattle hike book. it helps add to the confusion of things).
we g0t a little lost in the first portion of the drive since i wasn't entirely familiar with the area. it was ok though because i made an adventure day soundtrack mix tape so at there was at least some good music. thank you KEXP. first stop was the fauntleroy ferry to vashon island.
one of the odd things about my job is that i go on work trips with japanese business men. the common thing for them is to give some kind of gift that usually comes in the form of a box (kind of see's candy shaped) and is usually filled with very mysterious desserts and/or crackers which have the physical consistency of something between a rice crispy and air. the fun trick of all this is getting that gift back in through american customs. "Do you have any food to declare?" ".....yes..." "And what is it?" "....japanese sponge cake....?" I have actually yet to guess right. Maybe it is because i always guess japanese sponge cake and have yet to actually receive it as a gift. But the customs officers don't seem to mind or care (or wonder why i am bringing back japanese pastries from a Guatemala flight).
i had just returned from guatemala/mexico with a fairly large box of something japanese. so while waiting for the ferry, we each had a mixed bag of some kind of crackers. my most interesting piece was kind of like a cheese puff. but instead of cheese, it was A1 steak sauce.the ferry ride to vashon island was pretty short but long enough to freeze standing at the front of the boat. it is the best part of a boat ride.
vashon island is home to about 10,000 people with a lot more people and boats coming in at the summer months. with february not being a summer month, things were pretty low-key.
about halfway into the island there is a park and ride parking lot for the bus. across the street is a closed cafe and some trees, the forrest/park type. not far into the trees a small path that takes you to this:
a small bicycle in a tree. they say that years ago the bike was next to the tree and over the years it grew around it. Berkley Breathed used to live on Vashon Island and has a bike eating tree in his book, Red Ranger Came Calling. Now the bike is about 7 feet off of the ground. In 1994 it won a contest put on by Washington Mutual for the most unusual place in Washington/Oregon.We went and had our sandwiches at a small harbor and watched state employees doing some kind of diving survey and picking strange sea creatures out of this weird kind of seaweed. apparently Vashon Island closes pretty early on a Saturday afternoon during the winter, so after lunch there was not anything else left open. and we headed back.
a pretty laid-back, 1994 award winning adventure day.
your friend,
chad.
