Seattle

I signed up for my first group bike ride a month or two ago, motivated by the idea of riding on some normally forbidden stretches of highway (though very familiar ones). The 12-mile Emerald City Ride began near the stadiums, climbed to the viaduct and took 99 north through the Battery Street Tunnel and all the way across the Aurora Bridge. Then it cut across the north end of Lake Union past Gasworks, before heading back up the hill to join the I-5 Express Lanes for the trip back downtown.

Did I mention that it was was cool, wet, and very gray. But that despite the weather and the early Sunday morning hour, 6000 people turned out in in a wide variety of fluorescent colors.

They probably can't repeat this ride next year - since the viaduct should be gone by then. It sure better be.

Seattle Paramount

M found a friend willing to call while we were working and they were able to find us tickets for the last day of the show. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Not that I hadn't heard the hype, but I was still trying to wrap my head around the popularity of a historical piece using hip hop and a largely African American cast to represent some pretty archetypal old white guys. It was great!

We were in the back row of the main level, but could see pretty well and could actually understand most of the dialog. The musical genre actually made this easier and I we both preferred it to more traditional musicals.

Seattle

Some nice weekends in March (yes, it's now mid-April) got me out on the bike (as opposed to inside on the bike, of which there's been quite a bit this winter). These photos include two rides a week apart - one to Carkeek and Ballard, the other to Discovery Park.

So far, the bike thing has stuck. My accident last fall cut out a month of good fall riding and left me a little squeamish about riding in the real world, where bad pavement and automobiles have consequences, but I think I've gotten beyond that. The scariest thing now is the clipless pedals I've been using since January, but so far I've usually remembered to unclip before stopping.

A bulk of my miles since the New Year have been on an pretty neat high-tech indoor setup. Maybe at some point, I'll post some pictures of my rides in Watopia!

Santa Cruz

I'm not quite sure why it's taken more than five weeks to get to this. Priority. Distraction. Sloth. Forgetfulness.

The workshop ended on Friday with a field trip to a couple of spots on the Richmond shoreline. I picked up a rental car at the airport and took on the Friday afternoon traffic over the hill from Silicon Valley to Santa Cruz. I checked out the beach, of course, somehow lost my sunglasses, and then went looking for dinner. Downtown was packed - plenty of food options, but no parking. And probably long waits to get in, too. So I found a sandwich at a neighborhood deli (The Buttery) and a bag of chips and a beer at the local grocery store and took it all back to the hotel.

Parking downtown was easier the next morning and I had a good cup of coffee at Verve before heading back to the beach. It was beautiful, clear, and just barely above freezing.

I know a little about soccer parents, and I know a lot about chess and ultimate parents, but I hadn't really thought much about surfer parents, but there they were, in their SUVs on the cliff edge, bundling up their kids as they climbed out of the ocean. There was some sort of junior surfing tournament going on.

From there, it was just one beach after another all day long, until I finally got back into San Francisco just before dinner. A walk down to Shark Fin Cove, a visit to the Pigeon Point lighthouse, mingling with the upper crust at the Ritz-Carlton south of Half Moon Bay, lunch above the riprap at Miramar Beach, and a tour from a colleague of the beaches in Pacifica.