Week 24: 06/07-06/13

Week 24

     06/07 - Sunday the 7th represents the first of what I hope will be many "me time" days. Ryan decided to study for the GRE all day so I had the day to myself to just chillax. I took full advantage of this time by picking a park off of the Seattle map and going to it. Today I chose to go to Lake Union Park, on the south side of Lake Union. This park was a nice place to hang out and it is home to a Museum of History and Industry as well as a boat launch and some historic ships. The park also has a mini fountain for sailing small boats:

"In their Sunday Best"

"Steamboat Willy"

     I used the day to relax and hammock. I ended up finding a perfect tree to hammock under and napped and read there for several hours. I eventually got pretty hungry so ventured over to a place called Cask and Trotter (for details see Seattle page). The food was great and I will definitely stop by there the next time I go to this park. I'm looking forward to making Sunday my parks day from here on out. To the right are a couple cool pics I took while at Lake Union Park:
     06/08 - Work is going very well so far. I've finally reached a point of being very busy all the time, which is great because I'm learning a lot of things and have a lot of interesting tasks on my plate. I'm looking forward to taking a look back at the summer and documenting all my new skills.

     06/13 - Today was full of adventure. So when I woke up I noticed there was a lot of commotion across the street. I didn't mention this before, but on the corner across from us is a building that is going to be torn down. It isn't a large building or anything just the land will be re-purposed. Anyways, there have been many people spray-painting it recently, nothing bad, not gang-related but just cool art and such. Well before today, we didn't know what that was all for, but now I know. So across the street I could see people setting up tents and there was a food truck pulling it. Apparently there was a mini flea market setting up for the day. Ryan and I decided to stop over there...which turned into so much more....

The Fremont Troll

House Boats!

    So we walked through this little flea market then decided "hey, let's visit Ballard (a neighborhood that's a good 40 min. busride away). We had never been before but I'd really been wanting to get up there. Long story short, we caught a bus headed that way but jumped out early in the neighborhood of Fremont to see some things there. Fremont was really cool. There were massive bridges and house boats and a troll! (As always, for more pictures see my photo blog). Next we ventured over to the Fremont Brewing Company, a spot that I had been wanting to go to for a while that we just happened upon. The is brewery is very new and has only been open since 2009 but they have made a huge presence in the area. It is very well-run and they have many fresh brews on tap, all made in-house. Ryan and I each picked up a growler of beer (something we would regret doing so early later...)

Growlers from Fremont Brew. Co.

     With growlers in hand, we next decided to try and walk to Ballard (try). We wandered through some very nice neighborhoods in Fremont, but the hills were killer and the growlers weren't helping. At this point we realized that we got them too soon haha.

 We ended up stopping at Fremont Peak Park, which may be one of the highest neighborhoods in the city. It commanded an excellent view of the north-western city shipyards.

View from Fremont Peak Park

     Eventually we made it to Ballard (after giving in and catching a bus). Once here, we decided that we wanted to see the new Jurassic World movie at the Ballard movie theater...but there was a problem, the growlers. As much as it would've been nice to crack them open with some popcorn, that wasn't going to happen. We decided to eat dinner then head BACK to the apartment to drop them off, then RETURN to Ballard to watch the movie at night. The plan worked and we were well rested for Jurassic World.
    ASIDE: So....my childhood revolved around two things, dinosaurs and LEGOs. My original career path was to be a paleontologist, spurred only mainly by the wonderful film Jurassic Park. Somehow by the good graces of the gods, my parents allowed me to indulge in this delicacy of a film at too young of an age...like four. The movie is incredible, let's be honest, and Michael Crichton is a genius (as is Spielberg, of course)...That reminds me, I should watch E.T. again...hmmm....
     Anyways, my life dream was to have pet velociraptors, and Jurassic World showed my what that possibility might look like. I was not disappointed. I am Chris Pratt.
     Thus concludes an amazing day and week.

Profound Thought: "Find a way to turn your childhood dreams into an adult hobby."