Anybody in or around Seattle who reads this should know: The Center for Wooden Boats hosts free sailing on Lake Union every Sunday, and it's totally worth taking advantage of. Anybody who is not in this area and reads this, and plans to visit here, should try to be here for a Sunday.
Several months ago, Anna and I took advantage, and got to enjoy a trip around the lake on John Wayne's yacht. I went a couple of weeks ago on another yacht, the Discovery, which left the lake and went all the way to the Ballard Locks.
I've been trying to get Jenny to go out there with me for a few weeks, and finally this week she did, and hilarity did ensue.
The last time I went out, I arrived at 11:30 to put myself on the list for the 2:00 sail, and there was room to spare. This week, though, I dragged my feet getting out of bed and we didn't get there until noon. And of course it was a beautiful day--not a cloud in the sky (which would be only the third time I've ever seen such a thing)--and so both lists were full (in the summer they do more than two, but in winter there's less demand). We put our names down for standby for the Discovery, though, and then went to Belltown for breakfast.
The 5-Point is a dive bar near the Seattle Center, which is open 24 hours (I think they are dry from 2:00 to 6:00AM). We got there about halfway through whatever football game was going on (I ceased to care when the Titans lost, yo), and so there were plenty people there, and yes, they were drunk. Our table was by the jukebox, and we enjoyed our breakfast and coffee while a guy danced at the end of our table while telling everybody in the room how great Marvin Gaye was. it was all very loud and dirty and great. That's what breakfast should be. I missed Burning Man.
After breakfast we had some time, so we walked down to the sculpture garden and admired the clear sky from the waterfront. Enjoyed, except for the part where Jenny fell down on a sharp rock, anyway. We walked back to the car.
When we got to CWB, we were lucky enough that three people hadn't shown up, so we made the list. But there were some things I noticed. For one thing, they insisted we wear life jackets. I'd never had to before. And our captain was not Ben, the captain of the Discovery. And then we walked out towards a different pier.
To the longboat Discovery.
Not the yacht Discovery.
The longboat.
Here's the practical difference: on the yacht Discovery, we sailed around Lake Union, getting to see Gasworks Park. The Fremont Bridge was raised for us, and we sailed comfortably under the Ballard Bridge. We got to see Very Pretty Things.
On the longboat Discovery, we got to see our Large Oars, and had to watch those oars constantly, to make sure they were not colliding with everyone else's oar, as we rowed around the lake for an hour. Our captain and his assistant got to see Very Pretty Things--I could tell, because I would hear them say, "Oh, look at that!" and, "What do you think that is?" while we watched our oars.
As we came in, the sun began to set, so we fled to Golden Gardens (i.e., the beach) to admire it. Of course, we were dressed for a brisk-but-sunny day on a yacht, not for the beach. It was beautiful there, but we got very sandy. I was about to throw clothes in the washer when we heard from Jenny's best friend Lisha, and made arrangements to meet her in the U District for supper.
I think that's it for the adventure, except to say that A Pizza Mart in the UD serves really good pizza, and you can get a large plus a pitcher of beer for $13.
But yeah. When I left Hawaii, I consciously chose to follow a Path of Adversity, which has proved true throughout my courtship and pursuit of Jenny. As she said, while we were laughing-to-tears while they loaded us on the longboat, "if anything ever goes right for us, we should worry."
