Northwest: Tulip Town

Tulip Festival

Mt Vernon, WA

Last year I randomly stopped by the tulip fields a week or so late. The flowers were mostly dead, the colors mostly gone. This year, Ellen and I made it on time. It's a much different, and much better, experience when they flowers are in bloom. I probably didn't need to tell you that though. The weather for our day trip to Tulip Town was just about right for this time of year. Partly sunny, warm enough and no rain. We stopped at a few fields, almost got sucked into having to pay to look at flowers, bought a nice little bouquet, and called it a day.  I'm pretty sure everyone who visits the tulip fields has basically this exact same experience. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. 

Bellingham: Tyrell

Tyrell Johnson

Physical Specimen

"People are always saying he's deceptively quick, deceptively athletic, and I don't know if that's just because I'm Asian or what it is, but obviously there's going to be stereotypes that you have to fight." - Jeremy Lin

People undersell professional basketball player Jeremy Lins athleticism because of his race. Coincidentally, people undersell Tyrell's athleticism because he has the voice of an angel, the striking looks of a Gap Young Adults model and the comedic timing of someone who is funny because of their comedic timing. Make no mistake, Tyrell is athletic. He sprints like a graceful gazelle being chased by a ravenous mountain lion, jumps like a kangaroo out for his daily pounce-about, and throws objects of much mass and weight distances only steroid abusing meatheads achieve. And he does all this with the beard of a wise old man. The Olympics called and said "show us why Tyrell should be invited to London". Good luck turning this down, Olympics.

Northwest: Mount Vernon

Tulip Town

May 4 . 2012

It was a gray, drizzly day. Half the daffodils in this particular field were dead. My pants got dirty from the muddy fields. The ideal Tulip Town visit this was not. But I had neglected these flowery fields for almost 20 years, I didn't expect much hospitality.  

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: 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: The Bellwether

Bellwether

Bellingham, WA

Don't call it a comeback... I've been here for years

Let's call the last month and a half blog post hiatus a direct result of the gloomy, soul destroying weather we've been experiencing recently here in the great Northwest. Also, we'll blame it on a lack of time. But recently, as in two days ago, I found myself with a little time and what amounted to be fairly nice weather. It was warmish, it was sunnyish, and dare I say it, It felt like spring. Or at least it felt like spring was on its way. So to celebrate the onset of happier days, and to make sure I didn't waste what little sun we get this time of year, I headed down to the Bellwether and did stuff. 

If only everyday were like this...but warmer...

One of my favorite days of the year. That first Spring day where it's actually somewhat, slightly, not really but a little bit, warm enough outside to go out and play. It's the day where Seattleites run to the city parks in droves hoping to soak up their first real, legitimate rays since way back in October. You can wear shorts for the first time all year. It's not warm enough for shorts mind you, but it's just warm enough where you're not actually cold in shorts, just slightly not as warm as you might like to be.