Walking the length of Seattle (and back), part two

The second part of the Ape Canyon News Service expedition to walk the length of Seattle and back took place on Thursday, July 11, 2012 (to read about part one, click here). This leg of the walk began at the temporary world headquarters of Ape Canyon News Service near Seward Park-- we set off north along Seward Park Ave S (which subsequently became Wilson Ave S and then 50th Ave S) until we reached Lake Washington Blvd S, on which we walked until we came to the outskirts of downtown Leschi (at which point Lake Washington Blvd S is mysteriously renamed Lakeside Ave S).

Below: The starting line

Our original goal had been only to walk as far as I-90; however, we made such good time that we decided to go an additional half mile or so to get to Leschi.

Here are some important statistics about this portion of the expedition--

• Start time-- 2:06 PM (by a strange coincidence, 206 is also our telephone area code)
• End time-- 5:26 PM  
• Total time of walk-- 3 hours and 20 minutes (two minutes longer than part one of the walk)
• Weather conditions-- warm/hot and sunny
• Total distance traveled round-trip-- approximately 9.2 miles

Above: Alexandra standing in an abandoned tire near the start of our walk. It is unusual to find tires abandoned along this stretch of Wilson Ave S.

Below: A sign we found lying on the sidewalk, also on Wilson Ave S

Along the course of our walk, we encountered numerous people who we knew, including--

• a grade school/high school classmate of Alexandra's who did not seem to notice us (too busy driving a car);
• my ex-wife/Alexandra's mother (she honked and waved as she drove by);
• a friend of some friends who was jogging (we exchanged hellos);
• two former students who were at Mt. Baker beach (they didn't seem to notice us, which was fine by me);
• the daughter of some friends of some friends (we made eye contact but no greetings were exchanged);
• a different former student at Mt. Baker beach on the way back (I suspect he may have noticed me); and
• a former instructional assistant at my daughter's elementary school who pulled her car over to ask if we were who she thought we were (we were).

In addition, we found a large bush that had one hollowed-out section with a mysterious photo inside. (see photo below-- click on the photo for a closer view)

Below: A view of Lake Washington and Mt. Rainier

One important step we took to improve our performance on this part of our expedition was to bring our own snacks rather than relying on purchasing food from local businesses. Alexandra made us trail mix which did an excellent job of providing us with energy for our walk. On the way back, we did stop at Cafe Vitta to buy Alexandra an iced coffee drink, however.

Below: We cross the finish line

Next up-- part three!!!!

Walking the length of Seattle (and back), part one

On June 28, 2012, my daughter, Alexandra, and I began what is planned to be a five-part walk the length and back of the City of Seattle. The first leg of this expedition began from the temporary world headquarters of Ape Canyon News Service in the Seward Park neighborhood of Seattle, proceeded south on Seward Park Avenue S, and continued along Rainier Avenue S until we reached the sign indicating that we had reached the Renton city limits. Shortly after that, we turned around and walked back.

Below: The starting line

Along the way, we saw several businesses.

Below: A combination magic & juggling shop/tae kwon do studio

Below: The Why? Grocery, where we bought a package of trail mix

Below: The Blue Star Food Mart, where we bought peanuts and peanut butter cookies

Upon arriving at the Renton city limits sign (see below), we spent a little bit of time trying to find the corresponding Seattle city limits sign on the other side of the street. We were not successful in this, however, because of the fact that we had not actually been in Seattle for quite a while. Apparently there is a lengthy stretch of unincorporated King County between Seattle and Renton. Had we known this, we could have cut down the length of our walk by several miles (from over nine miles to approximately six-and-a-half).

Below: Along our route, we saw a boat in someone's driveway that had the word Bigfoot written on the side of it-- always a good omen.

Above and below: On the way back, we found the Entering Seattle signs we had been searching for.

All in all, I would consider part one of our expedition to be a success. We reached our goal of walking to the southern border of Seattle and back (even if we did walk several extra miles as well). We encountered few difficulties other than branches hanging over the sidewalk, bewildered stares from passing motorists, and a tiny bit of rain at the very end. We are both very confident that we will do just as well in the next four stages of our expedition.

Below: We approach the finish line to part one

Abandoned books and/or movies #11

These are the books I have stopped reading over the past three months.

Rat Girl-- Kristin Hersh

Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar: Stories of Food During Wartime by the World's Leading Correspondents-- edited by Matt McAllester

Intern Nation-- Ross Perlin

Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper-- Geoffrey Gray

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts-- Julian Rubinstein

Los Macheteros: The Wells Fargo Robbery and the Violent Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence-- Ronald Fernandez

Foucault's Pendulum-- Umberto Eco

Ocean's of Words-- Ha Jin

Sleeping Where I Fall-- Peter Coyote

A Radical Line-- Thai Jones

The Making of Black Revolutionaries-- James Forman

Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour-- David Bianculli

NFL game report: Jacksonville Jaguars 31 - Pittsburgh Steelers 29 (2007 playoffs)

• Date played: January 5, 2008
• Broadcast Network: NBC
• Announcers: Al Michaels and John Madden
• Who I rooted for when this game originally took place: I thought it was the Jaguars, but apparently not (see below)
• Who I now wish had won: Jacksonville
• What happened: Pittsburgh was trailing 28-10 at the start of the fourth quarter but scored three touchdowns and came back to take a 29-28 lead. Jacksonville kicked a field goal with thirty-seven seconds left to win the game.

• Notable players who appeared in this game for Jacksonville: David Garrard (see photo directly above), Maurice Jones-Drew (see photo at very top) , Fred Taylor, Vince Manuwai
• Notable players who appeared in this game for Pittsburgh: Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Heath Miller, Santonio Holmes, James Farrior, James Harrison, Troy Polamalu
• Controversial aspects of this game: None really-- the officiating could have been a bit better
• Connection between this game and Todd Marinovich: None
• Unusual things about this game: Maurice Jones-Drew returned a kickoff 96 yards without scoring a touchdown.
• Turnovers in this game: Three interceptions by Ben Roethlisberger (two by Rashean Mathis-- one of which was returned for a touchdown-- and one by Derek Landri, a defensive lineman); two interceptions in the second half by David Garrard; one fumble by Ben Roethlisberger on the second-to-last play of the game.
• Important plays in this game: The Steelers scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it 28-23. They successfully completed the two-point conversion, but it was called back on a possibly non-existent holding penalty. They tried again from the twelve yard line but failed. 
• Other important plays in this game: When Pittsburgh scored another touchdown to make it 29-28, they once again failed to make the two-point conversion. This time no penalties were involved.
• The most famous and important play in this game: With under two minutes left and trailing 29-28, Jacksonville faced fourth down and two at the Steelers 43 yard line. The Jaguars called a quarterback draw and David Garrard ran the ball all the way down to the 11 yard line. (See video below)

• Things I remembered incorrectly about this game: I clearly remember watching this game at a pizza place. The Jaguars were wearing their home blue jerseys (not true) and their quarterback was Byron Leftwich (not true-- Leftwich has been cut by Jacksonville before the start of the season). I also clearly remember having secretly rooted for the Jaguars because certain people I was eating with were Steelers fans. A check of my journal entry from the next day, however, reveals the following sentence-- "All four NFL wildcard round playoff games went against me." Other than the eating pizza part, I am not sure what is true anymore.

Below: Byron Leftwich pictured on the Jaguars 2007 schedule

• What happened next: Jacksonville lost in the next round of the playoffs to the New England Patriots. The following season, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl.

A picture for you to enjoy

Mayor McCheese, dressed for work

Elk meat!

My co-worker Don has given me a moderate amount of elk meat - sausages, ground meat, and some steaks. His son-in-law from Idaho shot the elk and now some of it's in my freezer, just waiting to be eaten.