Blogs from Washington, United States, North America - page 246

Sunday afternoon I called fishing guide Jack, the guide who was leading our salmon fishing expedition scheduled for Tuesday, down one of the wild rivers on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula. Jack said that we would fish the Queets on Tuesday, and that we would meet at Jake’s Restaurant at 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. I know Jake’s. My next door neighbor Jim Dreher and I have reconnoitered there on previous fishing trips led by Jack and his team of river guides. Jake’s has a sign that reads, “Spotted Owl tastes better than fried chicken.” I called my brother Mike in Portland, who I had invited to go on this wilderness adventure, to let him know the time of departure from my house; 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. Mike works until midnight, and planned to leave ... read more

“Hello, this is Paddy Mackin of North West Exposures. We are out of the office until Sept. 26. Please leave a detailed message and we will get back to you. Thank you for calling." I recorded that message early Friday afternoon, September 16, 1994, and within five minutes we were on our way to our San Juan 21 at West Bay Marina located at the south end of Budd Inlet of Puget Sound. Nancy's T'Bird was loaded with gear for a nine day sailing excursion on Puget Sound. Our next door neighbor Jim and I purchased the yellow bellied sailboat earlier this year on Easter Sunday. We originally named the boat "Joint Venture", but learned that there was another boat in our marina with that name. So as not to confuse anyone with a double name, ... read more

We drove north to Anacortes. We took the Mukilteo ferry to Whidbey Island. Deception Pass, between Whidey and Fidalgo Islands, is one of our favorite view points in this area. Years ago, before we moved to Washington State in the “Big Mosey of ’92,” we camped in a rented RV in Deception Pass State Park. It was here that our imaginations were first captured by two paddlers in a sea kayak entering the protected cove where we had camped. The late afternoon setting sun backlight the silhouettes of the couple in the two person sea kayak and the syncronized stokes of their paddles dipping into the silver cast of the sea. It was liquid magic. This was our quest, to personalize this memory. Not just to return to the place of inspiration, but to set upon ... read more

The Los Angeles Geographical Society's 1962 trip to Alaska began with a Western Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Seattle. Before heading to Alaska, Valene had scheduled a day's stopover in Seattle to visit the 1962 World's Fair, the Century 21 Exposition. I was very excited to ride the World's Fair Monorail from downtown to the fairgrounds (now the Seattle Center). The Seattle monorail was built by the same company that built the Disneyland Monorail and was very similar to it. The Space Needle had been built as the fair's theme structure and became Seattle's icon. Among the things I remember most was visiting the World of Century 21 Pavilion, where librarians from around the country demonstrated advances in the nascent field of library automation under the auspices of the American Library Association. They produced on-demand ... read more