Sehome Hill
We have nothing to fear and a great deal to learn from trees, that vigorous and pacific tribe which without stint produces strengthening essences for us, soothing balms, and in whose gracious company we spend so many cool, silent and intimate hours.
-- Marcel Proust
Saturday, August 12, 2000
One year ago: Mystery Men
Three years ago: Road Duel
I took the bus up to Bellingham last night. Jack came to the station to pick me up. I was late, because of a crisis at the Seattle Greyhound station -- the bus driver's bag had been stolen right off the pavement as we were waiting to board. He was furious! "My grandmother's wedding ring was in that bag!" he shouted. So we had to wait for forty five minutes or so, while he berated the crew of baggage handlers who were supposed to be monitoring things. Oh, two passengers who'd been on the bus inbound also had their bags taken. This doesn't make me eager to start stowing my bag underneath the bus.
Jack, Don and Eric were all engrossed in sorting out the programming for Vikingcon 17, so I reposed myself upstairs.
* * * * * * * *
There was cereal for breakfast. I wasn't feeling good (my period) -- Jack was suitably sympathetic.
It was a nice morning, and Jack was restless. "Let's go for a walk!" It amused me that we drove to our destination. Western Washington University has a nice piece of property on its eastern edge, right in the center of town: Sehome Hill Arboretum. We drove through the woods, up the hill to a parking area near the top. There's a radio tower there, and several trails. We chose a short one, and walked to and climbed a wooden tower that has a great view of the city. (here's that view in 1929!)
Jack has mentioned that he wants to do more walking, and I think this hill is a great place to do it!
* * * * * * * *
We drove home again. Don and Eric showed up for more program scheduling. Eric has a cool meeting-planning program that sorts the schedule and alerts them of conflicts right away, which really helped them. When they were finally done after several more hours, Jack whooped and hollered. He was ecstatic!
We got ready for an excursion to see the meteors. So much stuff to load up: folding chairs, ice chest, a borrowed jacket. It's chilly at night around here! We picked up Moses, and stopped at the store. He didn't want to buy anything -- lack of money, or just lackidaisicalness?
It's a short drive to Nugent's Corner, where we'd taken the raft out of the water twice before. We drove out onto the broad shore of rounded rocks. There was a pickup parked at one end, but we gave them their space. Jack built a fire pit. Moses wandered around. Already it was a cool evening.
Don and Eric, and Jacqueline and Rob arrived soon. We watched the skies, and drank some beverages. The moon was so bright! But it did wash out the meteors. I saw one every once in a while, because I had the patience to keep looking. Jack built a fire with purchased wood, and wood that Don and Eric brought. The warmth was welcome! But I kept it at my back, so as not to lose my night vision.
More than meteors, the light show we saw was cops pulling people over on the bridge. There's a reduced-speed zone at Nugent's Corners, and the cops were ticketing folks at will. They could certainly see our fire, so Jack was happy that they left us alone. Now, if we want a place out in the country where we can have a fire and see the sky, we know where to go.
Around one, the others departed -- Jack and I were left. Earlier, Moses had tossed a few Fritos on the fire, so now I tried it, too. But the coals just didn't burn them the way the flames had. Instead we got a nasty hot-grease smell. Finally the fire burned down, and we could go home. We weren't asleep until three AM.
