Yesterday I awoke to a much need rainstorm here in Olympia Washington, but while the area needs the rain, it killed my plans for working on the van build. Trying to decide what I would do for the day. Suddenly remembered that I still need to drive up to Seattle to pick up my refrigerator for the van. I had been putting it off because I dread the long drive north on I-5 through Tacoma. So far, that section of road has cost me two windshields (rocks flying up) and is laden with heavy traffic virtually all day long. A one and a half hour drive to Seattle would typically take me two to two hours and forty-five minutes, so yeah, I didn’t really want to drive up there just to get the refrigerator.
So with the rain falling and knowing there would surly be nightmare traffic to deal with, I took off to spend a day driving in traffic. Yep, Two hours and forty-five minutes later, I arrived in Seattle at Sure Marine Services. Sure Marie specializes in Marine heating and Air Conditioning units and just about everything they sell is on display and hooked up to demo or at least see how it hooks up. After perusing through their shop for a bit, I loaded up my new refrigerator and then tried to figure out how to kill a few hours to avoid Rush Hour traffic out of Seattle. Rain had given way to Sunny skies and a nice breeze. A quick look at the map and I saw Ballard Locks nearby and figured I’d visit them. I enjoyed going through the locks in NY on my kayak trip a few years ago. As I zoomed out, I saw a waterfront park, Golden Gardens not too far from my location as well. Ah, I could spend the afternoon lounging by the water. As I looked around the map to see where I could park and eat lunch in that area, a little business appeared on the map – Ballard Kayak and Paddleboard Tours. KAYAKING! Well, I knew where I was headed.
I arrived at Ballard Kayak a few minutes later and found free public parking right out front. Walking up to the kayak shack, I saw a young woman dressed in kayaking gear and wasn’t sure if she was a customer or an employee so I approached her and she was one of the guides. Explaining that I was interested in renting a kayak, she told me she was about to take a group out on a tour. Tour? How much is the tour I asked and, is there room for one more? She explained that she was leaving – right now! There was room, but I’d have to go NOW. Well, didn’t take much arm-twisting, I’m in! She had to switch out kayaks now to make room for me and while she did that, I filled out the paperwork. Looks like lunch will have to wait. A few minutes later, a couple from Washington D.C., the guide and I slipped into the water for a two hour paddle tour.
The water was beautiful. A slight breeze, sunny skies and relatively calm seas greeted us as we left the protected harbor and around the break-wall. Paddling along, we spotted seals playing, eagles flying and sailboats sailing. I didn’t know it at the time, but we were paddling toward the Ballard Locks. When we reached the locks, I learned about the Fish Ladder, the locks and got to see a Blue Herron nest as she told us about Hershel the lazy Sea lion that discovered the Fish Ladder, gave up mating and just stayed there eating at his person buffet.
We turned around at the locks, paddled past the world’s most exclusive yacht club, (only one member), past the Purple Martin bird nests made from gourds and then up along the shores of Golden Gardens Park where I was planning to spend the day originally. As we paddled back to our launch, the other couple asked about places to eat and our guide mentioned a number of options. One of them was a Thai restaurant – Thai Siam, just up the hill from the park. After getting back, I decided to head to the Thai restaurant and check it out. I still had time to eat dinner and get back to the park for sunset.
I located the restaurant and scored parking right out front. The wait was short, my meal was delicious and so filling, I took half of it home with me. Now I was off to the park for sunset, but thinking I still had time, I decided to head to Ballard Locks first. Arriving at Ballard Locks – the busiest locks in the USA, I quickly realized, I was going to be very pre occupied here and I’d miss sunset at the park, but this place was far more interesting to me at the moment. I watched them bring some boats in and lower them down. I then headed off to see the Fish Ladder and watch the salmon in the process of swimming up stream through their viewing windows. That was quite interesting to see from our viewpoint. Back out and up on the locks, I watched them bring the last group of boats through. Sadly, this one sailboat I had my eye on that was waiting to come through could not fit inside with the last group so they had to anchor out and spend the night there.
By this time, it was 9pm and traffic on I-5 would be back to manageable levels. Still heavy, but it would only take me One and a half hours to get back home. On the drive back, I was thinking to myself; what a wonderful day I had. I could not have planned a better day in Seattle if I tried and all this just happened to reveal itself organically, all because of my wandering.
