The Battle of Port Gamble

This weekend I thought I'd take another trip to the Olympic Peninsula, this time to visit Cape Flattery. Cape Flattery is the most northwesterly point of the Lower 48. The coastline is as you would imagine in to be....rocky, rugged, picturesque.

On the way to Cape Flattery, I was driving through Port Gamble and saw a detachment of individuals in Civil War era uniforms marching alongside the road. This naturally piqued my curiosity so I turned around and saw dozens of white, uniform canvas tents in two separate locations. Come to find out, Port Gamble hosts an annual Civil War reenactment. I asked if they were reenacting the famed Battle of Port Gamble, turning point of the Civil War, but sadly they were just creating scenarios that might have taken place during the Civil War.

I visited both camps and spirits were high. It was around 8:30 a.m., though, and the South was slowly getting moving. I didn't like their chances later in the day. However, they certainly had the cavalry advantage over the Yankees, whose entire mounted forces are shown below. Since the battle wasn't going to get going for another two hours, I had to take off.

The road to Cape Flattery is a lot like the road to Hana on Maui - coastal and twisty. The actual Cape is located in the Makah nation, a Native American reservation comprised of a single town, Neah Bay. Apparently fireworks are legal in this particular Indian Nation because every block (all five or so) had at least two fireworks stands, usually in someone's yard. Whatever supplemental income this provides looks like it is much needed as poverty is pervasive. Neah Bay supported a small (very small) fishing fleet but other than that, there didn't appear to be any industry other than the small amount of tourism the Cape generates.

After hiking out to the Cape, I made the drive to Ozette, an even more isolated town than Neah Bay. Its claim to fame is that it has a pretty nice little lake and it is the westernmost populated are in the Lower 48. During the 21-mile drive from the main road southwest to Ozette, I passed one other car coming the other direction.

All told, I clocked about 370 miles in my Honda Civic FlexCar. This care is my trusted companion. What a deal, too. The firm pays for the membership and for all rental expenses. You basically rent the car for 1/2 hour blocks. The gas is covered in the rental fee, as is the insurance. You just drive it. If you need gas, you use their fleet card. If you lived in a highly-urban area, this would be the only way to go.

If you want to see all of my Seattle/Washington pictures, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/margo.beau/SeattleWashington

Some may be redundant or not rotated properly, and hardly any are labeled yet.

All for now.

The Suite Life

Last Wednesday I went to my second Mariners game (this one was against Pittsburgh) since I've been in town. This time, though, I sat in the firm's suite instead of the centerfield bleachers. Notice the view. For this game, though, the roof didn't need to be moved into position. For those of you not familiar with Safeco Field, it's not a dome, nor does it have a collapsible roof. Rather, the entire roof sits behind center and right field (in one enormous section - that's it in the upper right) and slides over the field in the event of rain.

Anyway, Saturday morning was spent at a firm volunteer activity at a clothing distribution warehouse for foster kids. Saturday afternoon was spent at REI's Seattle's flagship store. I normally wouldn't take pictures of a store, but this store is pretty special. First of all, you can't really tell it's a store from the street if you approach from the right side. It's surrounded by trees and brush (in downtown Seattle). It is encircled by a mountain bike test track and has the most impressive landscaping of any store....ever. On the inside is every outdoor product currently in production. They have an interior climbing wall ("The Pinnacle"). "So what?", you say--lots of places have one. Well, this one is 65-feet high and terminates in a glass tower. The Denver store is nice, but this one is nicer.

That's all for now.

Starbuck's Edition - This one's for you, Mary Ann.

Apparently Seattle has some connection to coffee. Who knew? In the firm's cafeteria they have two enormous coffee makers, each with two different varieties of Starbucks coffee - all for free. Unlimited coffee. Too bad I don't drink coffee. However, they do have a soda fountain with free soda. It's Diet Pepsi, not Diet Coke, but beggars can't be choosers. And no, I don't drink it right from the tap. Apparently they frown on that. Geesh.

In preparation for MY TRIP HOME I did a little shopping around Pike Place Market. For those of you that have never been to Seattle or Pike Place Market, it is something you don't want to miss. It is a permanent farmer's market downtown where they have everything from freshly-caught seafood to flowers, to original artwork, to you name it. There is also a collection of stores attached to the market in a multi-story patched-together complex. What's even more interesting about it is there are no national chains anywhere near the market, even on the adjacent block (with one exception which I will discuss momentarily). This could be some pricey real estate if they wanted to gouge.

Immediately across the street from the Market is the one chain store that I alluded to previously. The jokes about a Starbucks on every corner have some basis in fact in most major cities, but this is especially true in Seattle. It is unusual to walk a block and not see two or three outlets. Well, it had humble beginnings and at Pike Place Market you can find Starbucks No. 1. It is actually the second location of the first store - it moved from its original location in 1976. It is something of a tourist attraction and, although it is a chain, it doesn't count if its your first store. I did stop inside and they told me to thank you for your patronage, Mary Ann.

I returned home to D.C. this past weekend for 60 hours of family time. It felt like forever since I had seen Quinn and Margo. Quinn is now crawling full speed ahead and getting into everything. He is amazingly persistent and focused, as he demonstrated early on with his love for books. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the trip. My mom, Aunt Linda, and my cousin Elizabeth were there for the week leading up to my return and left the day after I arrived.

My first Father's Day was well-spent, with Margo, Quinn, and I going over to our friends T.J. and Leslie's place for some brunch and a quick dip in the pool. After drying off, it was off to BWI for a much-dreaded return to Seattle.

Next up: Week 5

Week 2

This weekend I hiked Mt. Si (pronounced like "sigh"), a mountain just east of Seattle. It is not big as far as mountains go, only around 4200 ft, and the trail is only four miles each way, but it has an elevation gain of 3500 feet in those four miles. I was huffing and puffing, but the view was worth it.

The firm creates some volunteer opportunities during the summer for the summer associates. This Sunday I helped clean a men's homeless shelter. During the day, one of the women coordinating the project told me, "when you guys come back tonight you won't recognize the place." I looked at her quizzically and she said "You stay here, right?" Well, I know I'm not the best dressed but I didn't think I look that down on my luck. Not wanting to embarrass her (even though I don't think she could be embarrassed) I mumbled something about a summer job then went back to what I was doing.

Work-wise, everything is going well. I think I am getting the hang of things. At least how to set my voicemail. My fellow summer associates are very sharp.....and young. Surprisingly, however, I am not the oldest of the
group. One woman is six (6) years older than I am. I wasn't sure how old she was so I told her not to take this the wrong way, but I believed that she and I were the senior members of the group. I asked her if she went to high school in the 80s and she told me she graduated in '82. That made me feel a little better.

Week One

I meant to do this a few days ago but I have been busy. As most of you know I am in Seattle for the next several weeks working as a summer associate at a law firm. I am living in a neighborhood called Ballard, once an independent town that was swallowed by Seattle in the early 1900s. I spent the first few days getting acclimated at work (haven't been fired yet) and getting the lay of the land around my temporary housing. I have posted some pictures from Ballard and some of my building and the view from my office. I look down on Pier 52, the pier from which the ferries to Bainbridge and Bremerton depart. For those of you that were concerned for me, it really is business casual in the office; very rarely do you see someone wearing a tie. Still, no Birkenstocks or Keens, though.

Last weekend was Memorial Day and the Northwest Folklife Festival was happening at Seattle Center (that's the area where the Space Needle is - kind of reminds you of Tomorrowland at Disneyland). It featured hundreds of musical and dance acts, as well as numerous craftsman and artisans. As you can imagine, this being Seattle, the people watching is interesting. It is kind of like Lollapalooza meets a Renaissance festival. Anyway, I spent all of Saturday there but was unable to take any pictures as I had forgotten my camera.

These are popular in Seattle, apparently:

www.utilikilt.com

Sunday I took a trip to the Olympic Peninsula to do some hiking. I ended up on the Hoh River Trail in Olympic National Park. This trail goes through a high rain forest which was pretty incredible. Some of the Sitka spruce in this area get up to 300 feet tall. There was a lot of deadfall that give you an idea of just how big these trees really are. On the way back, I stopped at the Logging Memorial in Forks, WA, which pays tribute to individuals in the local timber industry that lost their lives on the job.

The day began an ended on one of the ubiquitous Washington State ferries, necessary to get across Puget Sound.