Tandem Vincitur

Friends,

Here is a recap of my trip to the coast this weekend (26-29 Jun 2008):

Every mile, along Everett-Lynnwood Highway 99, there is a 7-11 store. Some people need that. I had forgotten about it, just as I had forgotten the ever-present mildew and the congested traffic. HOV lanes are no longer an exclusive element of the freeway, several cities have class lanes through shopping and business areas. And, there are billboards everywhere expounding the virtues of the new regional transit system. They could have purchased a dozen busses with the ad expense.

Saturday morning, I sat on the park bench at the Edmonds beach and watched the ferries come and go. There was a lot of activity along the waterfront with all the seagulls, crows and kingfishers. I walked up the hill to my wife’s truck but took a walking detour through town before heading out. It was enjoyable to stroll through the downtown area of Edmonds and look at all the changes. That brought back a boat-load of memories.

Lynette, my sister, put me up Friday night at her house. We had a good time catching up on each others’ lives. She lives near the Mukilteo Ferry dock and every time the boat came in, I could feel the rhythm of the diesel engine through my feet on the floorboards. The rhythm is the same as I remembered from childhood. I love those old boats.

Earlier in the day, I visited with my friends, Tom and Izzie. They were my youth leaders at church when I was in high school. Now we are all older but they look younger than I!

Keeler’s Corner is still there, even though everything has grown up around the old building and it is hard to tell if they are in business selling antiques - or maybe not. The little firewood business next door has become a huge enterprise, with rows and rows of seasoned and seasoning chopped firewood.

The main reason for the trip was to help an old friend work on his mother’s patio and talk about some business. The temperatures were almost as high as the humidity and the sweat stuck to me most the day. I forgot about that, living in Idaho. After work, we toured Bellevue. It is becoming more and more, a city of skyscrapers. In fact, they appear to be in a race about it. There were no fewer than a dozen cranes in the air.

Lincoln Center is a novel kind of business center. Microsoft inhabits most the floors but the first three are open to the public. There are a couple large furniture stores, a fourteen screen movie theatre, a pool hall and a bowling alley. I use the terms ‘pool hall’ and ‘bowling alley’ loosely. They are, in fact, a bar with at least thirty pool tables and a huge lounge with a dozen bowling alleys.

We walked into the ‘bowling alley’ and a receptionist of unparalleled beauty greeted us with a big smile, a cherry voice and her legs spread across the counter. The counter was set up perfectly for this display and I told my friend, Tom, I was sure they paid her to do that. We looked at the lounge; it was quite large and looked very comfortable. The bowling lanes were decked out in all colors of lights and six big screens were playing in front of the lanes. Every other screen was playing the same sports event and every other screen was playing the same movie. It was something else!

Upstairs, we toured the bar with the pool hall. The pool hall had at least two or three dozen tables set against a backdrop of picture windows looking out over the north part of the city. As we entered, the receptionist (this one kept her feet on the floor) asked me to remove my hat because they have a no hat policy. I thanked her, removed my hat and told her I thought that was a very good policy and that more establishments should have one. She seemed relieved I was not upset and I explained that I was raised to take my hat off when entering a building but sometimes I forget, especially since no one does this anymore.

If you plan to visit the Lincoln Center, park at the Mall. The Mall parking is free and the buildings are connected by skybridges. The Lincoln Center has a parking garage that charges a fee. When you are parking at the Mall, watch out for the northwest corner on the third floor - even in my wife’s small truck, I had to take a couple stabs at it to clear the concrete pole and the cars parked across from it.

By the looks of the pole, some people have taken out the entire sides of their vehicles. These yuppie women drivers probably got all the way home before they realized there was any damage to their SUV - then they couldn’t remember how it happened. I know you’ve seen the type: their rides are their mobile phone booth and they have no idea what is going on around them. I run across them all the time, especially when I extend myself into another lane to give room to the mail truck, a stalled vehicle or a pedestrian or bicycle in the road. Almost every time the vehicle coming toward me hogs the line, refusing to give me an inch. Who’s driving? Not some macho dude playing chicken with me but some dame gabbing on the phone oblivious to the world around her, or crisis at hand. Oh well!

My father’s parents lived for all my growing-up-years in a house on eighteenth in Ballard; the Crown Hill area, to be more specific. I stopped by to take pictures of it. The little house to the north sported the same color it had when I was growing up! The man who lived in it was working in the front yard, so I went up to him and introduced myself and remarked that the color of his house is the same as it was when I was a kid. He said he moved into the house in nineteen seventy-eight or nine and he liked that color. Every time he painted, he used the same color, mentioning it by name, which I forgot. Amazing! He said this little bungalow was purchased for forty-six thousand and his recent appraisal was three hundred fifty thousand - and we are talking less than a thousand square feet. More amazing!

Along the main drag, which is fifteenth, most the businesses have changed hands and changed names but the little Crown Hill Hardware is still there and still in operation. It looks just like it did when I was visiting my grandparents in my growing up years.

Tully’s Coffee now occupies the old Rainier Brewery along the freeway. As I drove by, I was impressed that there was not much difference in the aroma of hops and grains brewing and coffee grinding. Both are similar and very pleasant. Once again, and historic landmark is preserved in aesthetic.

Speaking of brewing: One thing never changes, no matter where you go - panhandlers and freeway exits. I recognized a couple that make the circuit through Coeur d’Alene. Almost stopped to say ‘hey’ but the light changed and I had to go. Actually, bums don’t like to hang around me because I look them in the eye - I don’t glare or scowl - I just look them in the eye, forever.

At one light, there was a cadger who was not quite over his drunk. He held a sign that you could not read, his pants were half down to his knees exposing over half his blue BVDs. He wore no shirt and his sweaty belly hung down over his blue civvies. His hair was dripping with oil and he swaggered as he walked up to every car as if they would all have something to place into his little green jar - he offered a smile in return. He would start at the light and walk along down the line of cars, trucks and SUVs. I just watched him. Every time he looked at me, I was looking him in the eye. When the next round of lights came, my wife’s truck, with me in it, was the first at the light. He started with the second vehicle and worked his way down the line again. Oh well!

Other than this, the trip was uneventful and the mildew had not yet attached itself to my wife’s truck, so I thought it was a good time to head back to Idaho and dry off.

God bless,

Dean

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 5:48 pm