Travel: Moses Lake

A Lakefront Park

April 21 . 2012

As I am sure every good red blooded American city would, the fine people of Moses Lake named their disease ridden, greenish colored body of water after a fine Biblical man. The legend goes, as Moses the man delivered an entire nation from the shackles of slavery so too did Moses the lake deliver the people of Eastern Washington from the sorrows of drought and thirst. I cannot guarantee that this legend is true, but it makes too much sense not to be. The town of Moses Lake isn't much, but to its credit, it does exist. So to celebrate the existence of this township we took a squadron of little 7th grade baseball players and competed against the finest All Star teams the state of Washington has to offer. In the end, we came up one run short of winning the championship. But as we packed up our gear and headed out of town for a 4 hour drive home, I couldn't help but think we were the winners that day. For you see, the real victory was realizing we didn't live in Moses Lake. 

Bellingham: Room with a View

Forest Ridge

April 14 . 2012

I happened upon this view by accident. Or if you believe everything happens for a reason, I happened upon this view for a reason. I was there for about 20 minutes. For about half of that twenty minutes I was calculating in my head how much I thought the houses that shared this view were valued at. The point of this exercise was to determine whether or not I could ever afford to purchase a house with a view such as this. A realist would point out that I have no idea what my future earnings will be and thus have no idea whether or not future Kile could ever afford a house on this hill. The realist makes a valid point. Realists are no fun.

Bellingham: Maritime x2

Maritime Heritage Park

April 14 . 2012

Last time I was at this park I noted how healthy the creeks water flow was. To recap: it was healthy. This time I learned about the reproductive habits of the salmon that run amuck through the fish ladders. I did that because I could. There are signs, diagrams and other educational material littered throughout the park detailing how salmon, little delicious salmon, create more little delicious salmon. I remember coming to this park as a younger version of myself on school field trips. It was always a good time. This time wasn't as good. Fish education isn't much fun anymore. 

Bellingham: Parkade x2

Parkade

April 14 . 2012

Bellingham doesn't have a lot of towers. In fact, it has no towers. There is one building that bills itself as the Bellingham Towers. But when you look at it, it only seems like a tower because you are comparing it to the other baby buildings around it. If you stuck the Bellingham Towers in Seattle, realtors would list it as a two story condo with a daylight basement. It's not a tower. It's just not. There once were plans for a building that more resembled a tower. It was going to be very glassy, have some nice condos and be situated downtown with a view to beat all views. But the people who usually whine about things here in Bellingham whined about that and succeeded in having it shut down. That or the economy did. Either way, we have no towers. Thus, no great downtown viewpoints. Save for one... maybe. It's no Space Needle, it's not even the Smith Tower (Seattle reference), but it's all we got.