The De-Evolution of the Earth's Oceans

A couple of posts back, I rather flippantly discussed the effects of domoic acid poisoning on a local pelican. There's a grimly fascinating and informative series over at the LAT that gets into the details of observed phenomena, attributed to human activity, that indicate the oceans of Earth are returning to a prehistoric state, a state where algae and bacteria rule, and higher forms of sea life such as fish and sea mammals are faced with bleak chances of survival. My usual sarcasm fails me. Please read the series here. (One time registration may be required).

Vacation - Final Report

K and I were extremely lucky to plop into the sphere of some very nice people on our trip. Some observations:

Waking up on Saturday morning, the first day of our bike ride, padding downstairs to the kitchen: Flor had set up bowls and spoons, with cereal at the ready, and coffee set to brew. What a great lady. I’m still tickled with her big smile when I said, yes, I have indeed heard of the Insane Clown Posse. Check out her story here.

Having dinner at Nicole’s. Her and Taz and Barb running riffs off of each other – what great friends- these guys love each other and it was nice experiencing that vibe. The LemonTazarellow (or whatever the fuck it’s called; Everclear and juice and sugar, it’s fantastic) that Taz had made was addictive. N’s pasta was superb.

My good friend Jeff, treating us to dinner at Purple. We’ll be in a discussion, and I’ll make some cogent point, and he’ll say, “That’s a bad example.” He has strong opinions. I love that. It takes me twice as long to set him straight and correct his thinking, as opposed to the usual mundanes. Though he still won’t agree.

Riding 204 miles with Barb was a walk in the park. What a great riding partner. I’m trying to think of a time when we got pissed off at each other, but I can’t. We watched each other’s backs, and had a wonderful time. Etched in memory…

Kim was the rock. She took care of us on our ride, and still made time for her own explorations. My favorite moment was climbing to the Fremont Lookout at Mt. Rainier, and Kim was right there the whole way.

Seattle to Portland - The End

Unedited Vacation notes:

Thurs. 7/13 – flight outta OC to Seatac. Had dinner with Flor Davila; we stayed at her house the next couple of days. Very nice woman; writing feature on local Insane Clown Posse fans (jugallos and jugalletes). Husband Glenn, outta town, met him for a second a couple of days later.

Fri – getting our bike stuff together. Picked up bikes, I put them together, but needed an extra wrench for Barb’s pedals; went down to Bike Works down the street; this is a bike shop that takes stray crappy bikes, fixes them up, and gives them to neighborhood kids. Dinner with Nicole Brodeur at Barb’s favorite restaurant, Ristorante Machievelli.

Sat – K dropped me and Barb off at UW and we did our ride. Nice highlight around mile 80, nice bike path – tunnel of trees, lake on the right side, very pretty, mostly downhill. K went to Olympic National Forest. Met us at Centralia, we had food and drink at Mcmilian’s brew pub. Great. B said, “this is my first meal, another one later!”. Didn’t happen. Did some grocery shopping, stayed at hotel near Olympia. Sllloooooow reception guy. Bill Cosby in town, whoohoo.

Sun – started ride, sluggishly, thinking, oh shit, this aint’ gonna work, but after a few miles we got into it. Turned out to be great. Nicer scenery than Sat. Hotter. More hills. The sight of hundreds of bicyclists spread out along the road in the early morning sun. Riding over the Lewis and Clark bridge to Oregon (“Entering Oregon”!). Tired, sore butts. Across the finish line to cheering and happy crowds. A cold Fat Tire ale. Stayed at the Benson. Dinner at El Gaucho (Jeff Jolgen called it: El Gouge-O (high priced indeed)). I wore shorts and a tshirt, but hey, it’s Portland. Good steak though.

Mon – putzed around Portland; Powell’s bookstore; I hung out at Pioneer square reading Lee Child novel while B and K went to Nordstrom. Back to Seattle. Dinner with Jeff at Purple, a pretty nice wine bistro downtown. Good to see Jeff, in good spirits though a hint of sadness. Bought a new condo in Kirkland, not complete yet. Flor’s story in the Seattle Times today – really good.

Tues – K and I on our own, goofed off at Pike Market. I went to SF museum, had ticket to EMP, but spent too much time at Sf. Dinner was flavored cheese curds, bread, smoked salmon, beer. Yum.

Wed – Mt Rainier hike. Sunrise. Excellent. Fremont lookout. Kim did great. Mosquito bites, mostly K, poor thing. Dinner at Nicole’s with Barb and Taz (travel editor for ST). Barb, Taz, and Nicole – quite a group, very good friends, they appear to hang out quite a bit when together. Good people.

Thurs. – lazy morning. Breakfast at Pike Market. Putzed around, a couple of beers at a brew pub by UW while K and B shopped. Hung out at Lake washington for a spell, got a slice, then dropped B off at REI (she would get N’s car later), then K and I off to Seatac, then home. Kim and I both reading Lee Child (Jack Reacher is the protagonist) novels. Home to the kitties!
As for the STP, it was about what I expected, meaning it was a great time, we didn’t have trouble finishing the race due to our training, but our butts got sore. Oh well. Kudos to Kim my sweet for doing all she did…

Happy 5th of July!

What a great 4th! Our friends Kent and Benjamin (above) took part in the annual Kid's Bike Parade. (Nancy was stuck at home making potato salad). Horny Corners was jam packed with bikini clad chicks (I think there were a couple of guys there too). John and Marge were spinning daiquiris on the Peninsula. ML let us usurp her patio yet again for a great hang out spot while we grilled various dead animal parts and drank beer. Kim and I cruised around the neighborhood (she on her shiny new bike!) and stirred up trouble.

The shuttle launch was awe-inspiring. I swear to god I can't watch one of those launches without getting misty eyed.

All in all, a fantastic day, and the simple pleasures we enjoyed with our friends hammered home the fact that it's great to be an American, despite whatever shenanigans our crafty government leaders are up to.