This was quite an eventful weekend. When I got down to Seattle on Friday night, we met up with some other Auburn Architecture grads who have recently moved to Seattle in search of employment. After a tastey mexican meal, I went to work for the rest of the evening making a dessert to bring to a navy function the following day. I had found out on the previous Wednesday that this was to be the last week for one of the LTs on the base, so one of my jobs is to put together a little farewell reception and get as a going away gift a photo with an autograph mat and a plaque for the individual leaving. So the end of my week was spent frantically trying to get all of those things together. I ended up making little key lime pie tarts, which turned out very cute using my little heart shape muffin molds to make the little tart shells. I've never been a huge fan of key lime pie so I can't really attest to the success of my first attempt, but it seemed to be a pretty big hit at the party, so I am satisfied.
Saturday I had to pick up my race package for the race I was to run in on Sunday, after which we headed up to Oak Harbor to go to the farewell party. There are 2 ways to get to my part of the island. Usually I just drive up the coast and take a bridge across to the north end of the island. On saturday we decided to take the ferry across to the south end of the island and drive up it. When we were on the ferry, we got to see several otters and seals, but more importantly, I saw 2 whales for the first time in the wild. It was pretty neat. We just saw their backs come up out of the water a little bit as they were spurting water out of the blow holes, but it was really cool to know that they were just out there swimming around as we were floating by. Then we got to drive up the very scenic island to get to Oak Harbor for the party. These events are always slightly awkward for me since most of the officers are much older than me, and being on a Naval Air Station, most of them are in the aviation field, so I don't have a whole lot in common with any of them. It's good to see all the officers interact though in a much more casual environment. The party was just a BBQ at the Commanding Officer of the base's house. After that was over, we headed back to Seattle, to get a little sleep before I had to run bright and early the next morning.
Sunday morning I ran a half marathon around Mercer Island.
I thought it was a kind of neat race because it was just one loop around the whole island. It was a little chilly, and was sprinkling a good bit at the beginning of the race, but in the end it turned out to be a pretty fun race. The only downside to it was that for the last few weeks I've gotted sick after every long run that I've done. I guess maybe I'm a little dehydrated or maybe it's from some of the meds I'm on. I'm not really sure, but it's no fun about and hour after the run is done. After taking a nice long bath and nap, the rest of the day was relaxing and ended with going to see the Watchmen. Pretty good.
On a side note, I've been listening to 'Under the Banner of Heaven' on my drives to and from Seattle. It's mostly about Mormon Fundamentalists, but really just about the rediculous 'crimes' that people get away with by justifying it as a religious act. I'm not quite sure what to think about it all yet, but it's an incitefull look into the radical religious world.
yes, i have been sucked into the twilight hysteria. i do enjoy the books, however, i do not think they deserve the ridiculous fan base that they are acquiring. having said that, i went out to forks, wa this weekend, which is where the books are based. our trip destination was actually intended to be the beaches on the la push indian reservation (also a hot spot in the books). we had meant to make it to rialto beach, but after my iPhone lost service, we had to wing it on the directions, and ended up on third beach. after parking, we hiked about a mile through the forest to get to the beach. it was every bit as green as it was written. we spent a couple of hours on the beach. it turned out to be a perfect day for it too. there's a lot of rocks to climb on and little tide pools with star fish and other fun creatures.
we headed back to the cars just before it got dark and stopped in la push and forks for dinner. the town is really super small and redneck. you can tell that they are trying to make it a tourist attraction and are starting to cater to twilight fans. there's apparently even a twilight tour you can take. the town itself, however, is not such a nice sight to see. it is much more fascinating to spend time in the forests or the beaches and leave the town for the 12 year old girls who want to buy twilight paraphernalia.
