Weekend of Maximum Adventure
Ok, it wasn't really maximum adventure, but it was still fun anyways. This past weekend I flew back to Seattle to see everyone back at home. I am really glad that Kagan, Eric and Sandra got enough work done during the week to be able to hang out over the weekend without getting behind on work.
On Friday night I flew in and Sandra picked me up at the airport. After a trip to Starbucks for some coffee it was time to head to Kagan's house. I didn't know, but the party started before I arrived. This was good because I don't think I had much energy to party. By the time I got there two bottles of wine had almost been finished. Hue came over after about half an hour and we all just sat around and chatted. Kagan and Eric also showed me the bike I would be riding on Saturday. It was Kagan's dad's bike. It was a titanium frame Merlin. It was very light even though it had all the accessories attached to it.
On Saturday Allen had a barbecue at Coulon Park in Renton, near the Boeing plant. Since Kagan, Eric and I are getting into riding bikes again we decided that we would take the 50 mile trip rather than drive. The weather cleared up in the north for us to ride down without much rain. It took us about an hour and a half to make the trip down, but we were not going too fast. We started in Ballard and rode past the UW and then made our ways over toward Bush School, just north of Leschi. Once we got to Leschi we rode our bikes all the way down Lake Washington Boulevard to Seward Park. We rode up the hill behind Seward Park and then got back onto Lake Washington Boulevard south of the park. From there it was a straight shot to the Rention Municipal Airport where we were able to head East over to the park.
Once we got to the park it was time to eat some meat. Allen's barbecues are never complete without lots of pork chops and chicken wings. They were all marinated very well the night before, so they were extra tasty after being on the grill for a few minutes. Hue also made some really good shrimp kabobs. After gorging myself on meats and then feeling a little guilty about it I ate some of Sandra's tasty salsa. Then after gorging on the salsa I ate some more meat. I guess you can get an idea of how the day progressed. Besides eating we played a good game of taboo. After some more playing around, eating and chit-chatting we decided to head back home before the sun went down.
Rather than riding up the West side of the lake, we decided to head up the East side of the lake. The ride was pretty nice because the path on the East side of the trail is more sheltered and secluded from the road. Once we hit I-90 we crossed Mercer Island and then rode across the floating bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a great little bike tunnely that ends up on the hill just above Rainer Avenue, so you don't have to ride over the hill. From there we rode through downtown and down to the waterfront. From there we rode up to our house via Myrtle Edwards park. In the evening we went back to Kagans' house to make dinner and watch "I Love Huckabees". The dinner was great and the movie was confusing, so I think I will have to watch it one more time.
On Sunday we did the usual rock climbing trip at Stone Gardens in Ballard. I am noticing that everyone is getting better, which is cool to see. I am still progressing slowly, but I try to push myself when I can. Last weekend I decided not to do anything but V-2s. I think I will do that same next time. I hope that I can improve my technique along the way. It is great to get stronger, but to have the technique with the strength helps you last much longer on the wall. Hopefully after a couple more weeks I can start tackling more V-3s.
On Friday night I flew in and Sandra picked me up at the airport. After a trip to Starbucks for some coffee it was time to head to Kagan's house. I didn't know, but the party started before I arrived. This was good because I don't think I had much energy to party. By the time I got there two bottles of wine had almost been finished. Hue came over after about half an hour and we all just sat around and chatted. Kagan and Eric also showed me the bike I would be riding on Saturday. It was Kagan's dad's bike. It was a titanium frame Merlin. It was very light even though it had all the accessories attached to it.
On Saturday Allen had a barbecue at Coulon Park in Renton, near the Boeing plant. Since Kagan, Eric and I are getting into riding bikes again we decided that we would take the 50 mile trip rather than drive. The weather cleared up in the north for us to ride down without much rain. It took us about an hour and a half to make the trip down, but we were not going too fast. We started in Ballard and rode past the UW and then made our ways over toward Bush School, just north of Leschi. Once we got to Leschi we rode our bikes all the way down Lake Washington Boulevard to Seward Park. We rode up the hill behind Seward Park and then got back onto Lake Washington Boulevard south of the park. From there it was a straight shot to the Rention Municipal Airport where we were able to head East over to the park.
Once we got to the park it was time to eat some meat. Allen's barbecues are never complete without lots of pork chops and chicken wings. They were all marinated very well the night before, so they were extra tasty after being on the grill for a few minutes. Hue also made some really good shrimp kabobs. After gorging myself on meats and then feeling a little guilty about it I ate some of Sandra's tasty salsa. Then after gorging on the salsa I ate some more meat. I guess you can get an idea of how the day progressed. Besides eating we played a good game of taboo. After some more playing around, eating and chit-chatting we decided to head back home before the sun went down.
Rather than riding up the West side of the lake, we decided to head up the East side of the lake. The ride was pretty nice because the path on the East side of the trail is more sheltered and secluded from the road. Once we hit I-90 we crossed Mercer Island and then rode across the floating bridge. On the other side of the bridge is a great little bike tunnely that ends up on the hill just above Rainer Avenue, so you don't have to ride over the hill. From there we rode through downtown and down to the waterfront. From there we rode up to our house via Myrtle Edwards park. In the evening we went back to Kagans' house to make dinner and watch "I Love Huckabees". The dinner was great and the movie was confusing, so I think I will have to watch it one more time.
On Sunday we did the usual rock climbing trip at Stone Gardens in Ballard. I am noticing that everyone is getting better, which is cool to see. I am still progressing slowly, but I try to push myself when I can. Last weekend I decided not to do anything but V-2s. I think I will do that same next time. I hope that I can improve my technique along the way. It is great to get stronger, but to have the technique with the strength helps you last much longer on the wall. Hopefully after a couple more weeks I can start tackling more V-3s.
posted by Jon Keto at
10:30 PM
1 Comments:
its sucks that i missed out on the fun festivities with you guys but oh well, next time! ^_^
Scrawled on the wall By
Anh, at 12:58 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home