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Here is the long-promised Seattle holiday story. I finished up the DVD and am pretty happy with it. Final Cut Pro is waaaaay too complex for my brain to understand, although eventually I did figure out the basics. And iMovie is too amateur-level. I need something in-between. Maybe Final Cut Express? I need to check it out; maybe it’s perfect for people in my situation who are more technologically savvy than iMovie, but who don’t need the power of FCP (which is what professional movie makers use, if that gives you any idea of its complexity and features). I did end up using FCP for my project, but only at a baby level.
Saturday, April 24
We left Dallas on Saturday morning, April 24, 2004. Our flight stopped over in Denver, and we had a short layover. The Denver airport’s architecture is like a circus tent, and actually reminded me of Midway Mall in Sherman (get it? “midway” like a carnival midway). Our flight attendant was a nice enough guy, but he had the biggest nostrils I’ve ever seen. Yowza. And the passenger who sat directly in front of Doc had fascinating amounts of ear hair. I mean, his ears were FURRY. All over, poking out from the ear holes, along the ridges, everywhere. We arrived in Seattle early afternoon, met Arushi and Shyamal at baggage claim, and then drove out to Alki Beach, which is a beautiful stretch of sand on the Sound, with ritzy condos galore. We spent some time walking and wading, then drove back to their condo in Redmond and had a nice dinner of grilled steak and vegetables. We were very tired so went to bed early.
Sunday, April 25 — Snowboarding
On Sunday, we got up early and left the house at 6:45 a.m. to go snowboarding at Mt. Baker with my brother MIke and his girlfriend Vanessa and a friend of theirs. It’s a 3-hour journey north to Mt. Baker, but a very beautiful drive indeed. We rented our “gear” and “bindings” (which translates to snowboards and boots, I think), turned down the offer of lessons, bought our lift tickets, and then spent probably 1/2 hour attempting to go the 30 yards from the lodge to the ski lift. Even with one foot off the board, it’s HARD to walk! Part of it probably had to do with the slushiness of the snow (it was closing day — the last Sunday in April). The trip up on the lift was cool — gorgeous views, and it was quite easy to get onto the lift itself, which I wasn’t entirely sure I could do gracefully and without injuring myself.
The lift dumped us off at the top of what we later found out was the bunny slope, the beginner area, the KIDS’ RUN. Mike and Vanessa spent probably 1/2 hour with us, trying to teach us how to stay upright and move on the boards, and then they went off to a higher area of the mountain. I quickly discovered that I could slide about ten feet downhill at most before I fell either on my face or on my ass. I couldn’t get the hang of steering, so in order to prevent myself from sliding towards the edge, I had to purposely fall. I got really good at falling and rolling. I left my assprints all over the mountain, and took a couple of really good face plants (not on purpose). The snow was mostly slush, and so I was completely soaked through by about the fifth time I fell.
The hardest part was getting back upright after having fallen, without my feet heading down the mountain before the rest of me. So a couple of times, I decided that I didn’t care how stupid I looked, and I crabwalked on my hands and board out towards the middle of the run instead of the dangerous edge that I kept somehow sliding towards. It’s a wonder I didn’t get mowed down. One ski patrol and a half-dozen other skiiers/snowboarders asked me if I needed help, if my gear was broken, or if I needed to be driven down to the bottom on a snowmobile. I always replied that I was fine, just really bad at this. I was going to make it down the mountain under my own power, dammit!
Several times I gave up and unhooked my feet from the board and walked a ways downhill. I probably walked 1/3 to 1/2 the way down, and all told, it took me about two hours, maybe more. Keep in mind that this was the beginner slope. Shyamal was functioning at about my same level of experience, although he didn’t walk nearly as much as I did. He took one hell of a fall at one point, and messed up his arm (sprained, we think). Arushi quickly came to an understanding with the mountain and walked almost all the way down.
Doc was pretty good at snowboarding; he used to skateboard as a kid so it felt more natural for him than for the rest of us. His bindings broke very near the top of the hill, so he had only one boot that was completely attached to the board, all the way down the mountain. He eventually went on ahead of me, Arushi, and Shyamal. There was a fork in the path that was not particularly obvious, and he got onto the wrong slope, which turned out to be an expert slope called the Nosedive. It was so steep that once he got going, he simply could not stop even though he had his board dug into the ground straight out in front of him, and felt like he was doing 40 miles per hour down the mountain. He hit a bump and went flying head over heels, literally, about 3 times before coming to a stop at the feet of a ski patrol guy. The guy said “Hey man, you OK?” Doc, after thinking about it for a minute, because he wasn’t sure, said “Yeah, I think so.” The ski patrol guy then said, “Dude, that sucked.” Thanks, man, rub it in!
Doc had the digital camera in its bag, along with our mini-DV cam, his iPod, and his cell phone. Amazingly, it all survived the fall. Doc was very very sore for a few days. He also made it down to the bottom much faster than the rest of us, and was getting pretty worried about me and so he was much relieved when I came marching into view with my board at my side.
Mike and Vanessa and their friend arrived a little while later, and we decided to get some lunch at the lodge. But first, the four of us turned in our boards and boots. Yes, we did pay close to $40 each for those lift tickets, which were good for all day, but I think that we ALL came to an understanding with the mountain: it was going to kick our ass. But that was OK with me — there’s lots of things that I’m good at already; snowboarding does not have to be one of them, especially since I live nowhere near either hills or snow and would find practice conditions hard to come by.
After lunch, the four of us drove home, and Mike, Vanessa, and their friend spent the rest of the afternoon making the most of their lift ticket fee. After showering and resting for a while, we walked several blocks to a pizza place in Redmond. It was very good pizza, and I don’t think all of that is due to the amount of energy we expended during the day or the fact that we rarely eat pizza anymore because of the white-flour crusts.
Monday, April 26
We slept in late, and drove into town to have lunch at a little cafe called the 14 Carrot Cafe. Then we took the car ferry across to Bainbridge Island and wandered around for a little while. Doc was lying on my lap in the backseat, and when we got onto the ferry we realized that they’d only charged us for three passengers. It’s not like he was trying to hide! But he did technically stow away. There’s not much to do on Bainbridge other than walk up and down the main street, and it’s kind of one of those old fashioned quaint main streets, obviously for the tourists. The ferry ride was very nice — sunny with a cool breeze… actually it was more like a gale force wind, especially at the front of the boat.
After we got back, we wandered around the University area and hung out in the UW Bookstore for a while. Arushi is trying to get them to carry our book. I found Beverly Bundy’s The Century in Food: America’s Fads and Favorites on sale, so I bought it. It’s very interesting. She’s the writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram who did that huge Valentine’s Day story on us and our book in 2003.
Later, Arushi and I went to her weekly writers’ group meeting at a local Starbucks while Doc and Shyamal went shopping elsewhere (I think they went to some computer stores and bookstores). All her writer friends are very cool. One lady is going through some difficult family issues with her child and her ex-husband, and writes about that very painful situation. Another woman, a poet, lost her son to suicide and her poetry helps her deal with that. She also is a gardener and gave me some good tips on caring for our Satsuma orange tree. Margo, a marine biologist, is a very neat person. She did not share anything at the meeting, but she and her husband came over for dinner a couple of nights later and we had a great time.
Tuesday, April 27
Doc and I borrowed Shyamal’s car and drove into downtown Seattle. I parked in a parallel parking metered space on a very steep street, and then realized it was only 30 minute parking. I was a little too close for comfort to the Mercedes in the space in front of me, downhill, and I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to put this manual-transmission car into reverse and get going backwards up the hill without lurching into the back of the Mercedes first. I sat in the driver’s seat for probably 10 minutes, trying to psych myself up to do it, and getting more and more freaked out. My plan was to sit there for the next 30 minutes until the Mercedes owner came back and moved the car, but Doc said that he would try it, and I gladly let him. He did some trick where he put his right foot on both the gas and the brake at the same time, and slowly let out the clutch, and by George it worked! He is my hero.
We went to a magic store, had lunch at a little cafe, went inside the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe (a strange and famous gift shop, with bizarre sideshow-like curiosities from around the world), and wandered around the pier and waterfront area for a while. Then we drove into Kent and visited the cemetery where Grandma is buried.
We left Kent and spent the next 90 minutes stuck in traffic, trying to go about 8 miles to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Traffic was absolutely horrible and averaged probably about 5 miles per hour when it was moving at all, and it made me seriously reconsider my desire for my next car to be a standard transmission. Finally we got across the bridge and drove out to Uncle John and Auntie Sue’s place. Mike and Vanessa came over a while later (they and Uncle John were all stuck in that same traffic), and we had a fabulous dinner of grilled salmon, sauteéd root vegetables, blue cheese/apple/pecan salad, and ice cream for dessert. It’s making me hungry just remembering it! We had a great visit, talking about politics (they’re flaming liberals, very active in the Democratic Party, and not afraid to speak their minds!) and looking at photos of their property in Alaska and Reed’s kids. When we left to drive home, it started raining. This was the only time it rained the whole week that we were there.
Wednesday, April 28