Personal

Caffeine? No, we don’t drink caffeine! Why do you ask?

Friday there was one topic of conversation among my friends and me — where the heck are Marc and Laura? We knew they were supposed to be coming down for the Warped Tour out at the Gorge, but nobody’d been able to get in contact with them or figure out what the deal was. A little disconcerting, since Rick thought he was supposed to be picking them up at the airport, but we figured that if they really needed to get ahold of us, they would. Then we crossed our fingers.

Sunday, though, all was explained. I got a call around noon from Marc — as it turns out, he and Laura had arrived from Anchorage safely and were staying with Laura’s “other mom” out in Lynwood. They’d gotten ahold of Rick on Saturday, the three of them had made it out to the Warped Tour, and now they were back in town and ready to go play. Rock on! First stop — the Hurricane Cafe.

The Hurricane is famous for its 12-egg omelettes — absolutely huge amounts of food. Laura had promised Marc that if he could finish off his omelette, she’d pay for it.

She didn’t have to pay.

He did, however, give it a valiant effort. We’re estimating that he probably got through around 9 of the eggs or so — far more than any of the rest of us would have been able to do!

Much fun was had sitting around, talking, and catching up on our various lives. Once we were all fed (and we’d given Marc a chance to let the eggs settle in his stomach), Rick and I took Marc and Laura out to the Underground Tour here in Pioneer Sqare. The Underground Tour is one of my favorite “touristy” things to do here in town, and I like to take it about once a year or so (no two tour guides ever come up with quite the same set of stories to tell), so I was about due, anyway.

Unfortunately, we failed to convince the two of them to Ride the Ducks (sigh). Someday…

After the tour, we spent some time just wandering around downtown Seattle and enjoying the sunshine. I even managed to get one picture that can be used as evidence that Marc and Laura actually like each other — though Marc, I’m sure, will strenuously deny that every chance he gets. He’s just sweet like that. ;)

Once they all decided they’d had enough sun, we came up to my apartment to hang out for a couple hours, then Marc, Laura and Rick wandered off to find food and get some rest. They’re in town until next Saturday, though, so hopefully I’ll have another chance to get together with them before they leave. Besides, I’ve got to get their mailing address before they leave — I fully intend to subscribe them to the Stranger so they know exactly what they’re missing by continuing to live up in the frozen wastelands of Alaska instead of moving down here like any sane person would!

Oh, and one last thing — just in case you were curious, this is what happens to Alaskans who spend an entire day in the summer sun of the Gorge without bothering to use sunscreen. I don’t recommend it. ;)

I don’t think I used enough parenthetical remarks (like these [which I tend to use a lot when writing {or even speaking (see?)}]) in that last post, so this one should fill my quota for the week.

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day — clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid-80’s — so after enjoying being able to sleep in on a day off of work, I caught a bus over to Gas Works Park to go play in the sun and watch the fireworks.

I got to the park about 5:30pm or so, and walked in just behind the big hill that is apparently one of the prime kite-flying spots in Seattle. The downwind side of the hill was filled with kids and adults flying kites. Amusingly, the kids homemade paper kites often seemed to be far more successful than the fancy store-bought kites that the adults were trying to fly!

I wandered around for a while peoplewatching (and oh, the people that were there to be watched — have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy summertime in Seattle?) and snapping pictures. Earlier in the day I’d talked to Rick on the phone, and he’d told me that he’d probably find me at the park. At the time I laughed, as there tend to be thousands of people wandering around, but suddenly he popped up beside me, with a simple “Told ya so!” for a hello.

How does he do that?

Anyway, I joined Rick and Heather at the spot they’d picked out, and just kicked back with them for the rest of the evening. We were sitting right by the water, and as things got later and later, we had a blast listening to the police boats try to keep all the private boats from cruising through the restricted area of the lake. Apparently the huge floating orange sign alerting boat owners of the closed off area of the lake wasn’t working too well, as the police boats were constantly having to chase people down and shoo them back to the north end of Lake Union (“No! Not that north! Your other north!”).

The sun eventually went down, and as the sky got darker and darker, more and more people stopped their games and found places to sit and watch the show. Round about 10pm the festivities got started. We were treated to the usual über-schmaltzy rendition of the national anthem, a performance by a brass band of some sort (we weren’t in the right area to actually see what was going on, and I don’t remember exactly what the announcer said they were). Then, after a couple moments of quiet, the explosions started.

I’ve heard from a couple people that this is one of the better fireworks displays in the northwest, and having seen it from the park twice now, I’d certainly believe it! All the fireworks are launched off of a barge in the middle of the lake, and by watching from the park, you’re actually close enough to feel the concussion from the explosions. Absolutely huge bursts of color and light filling the sky, and the echoes of the explosions rebounding throughout the natural amphitheater around the lake — it’s quite an experience!

Once the show was done Rick, Heather and I worked our way out of the park. I was going to catch a ride with them, but then noticed that I was right next to a bus stop as the bus I needed to catch was coming down the street, so I said my goodbyes and let them head on their way. Jumped on the bus just in time, too — the stop I was at only had about fifteen people at it, but the next stop had enough to fill the bus to capacity and necessitate leaving a good-sized group behind! Traffic, of course, made the ride home take forever, but I made it eventually, and fell into bed.

All in all, a good 4^th^ of July day. Many more pictures of the day are posted in my photo gallery — enjoy!

Oh, hey, look at that — it’s after midnight!

Happy 4th of July, everyone.

I’m planning on hitting the fireworks display over Lake Union from Gasworks Park tonight.

This post was going to be a lot longer, and a lot more bitter, but then I erased it all. Just go out, have fun, celebrate the fact that we’re all still around, and spare a moment for those who aren’t.