As the Hike-a-Thon Turns....

I put on my pack and head off on the
Longfellow Legacy Creek Trail from the Home Depot.

It's almost the end of the month, the end of the Hike-a-Thon. I haven't done anything particularly exciting recently, but I do have some more photos to share. =)

Back the 27th, Amanda and I headed off to Home Depot. I'm not sure how many of you know it--it's not something we've been posting about--but it looks like Amanda plans to buy herself a condo in the very near future. We heard about free workshops about interior painting and such and figured we'd poke around. How much does this stuff cost anyhow? 

We spent about an hour and half there looking around but buying nothing (not yet, at least!), then went our own ways. Amanda wanted to do some hiking elsewhere in Seattle, but I wasn't too keen on the idea of hiking a dull trail after a long drive, so I decided to take the dull hike that required no drive. The Longfellow Legacy Creek Trail happens to pass directly in front of the Home Depot. I hopped on the trail and headed south, ultimately winding up at Barnes and Nobel at Westwood Village.

I started reading through a couple of computer books there, and was interrupted when a fellow named Terry Brooks showed up for an author signing. Anyone know of him? I've never read any of his books, but by golly, that place was crowded with fans. I listened to his little talk and he read from part of a book that's supposed to come out next year or something. I'm not familiar with any of the characters, though, and my mind started to wander after awhile.

Blackberry season is fast approaching!

And afterwards, I followed the Longfellow Creek Trail back to the north end of the trail. I did this trail once before early in the month, but it was late when I started and completely dark by the time I finished. I didn't have many photos to share, and those I had generally didn't turn out well. This time, it was bright daylight and the photos are much improved. =)

I've also done a couple more of my Alki Trail walks. Nothing particularly exciting to report, but this evening I went shortly before sunset and got some nice photos of said sunset.

The Longfellow Legacy Creek Trail passes this stadium. I have
no idea who's playing, but I can tell you according to the scoreboard
when I passed by, the home team was losing.

Lest you think the entire Longfellow Legacy Creek Trail is urban,
this photo shows a gaggle of birds hanging out on a log in a pond. =)

This bridge has always puzzled me. It dead-ends, right there on the other side.
It's truly a bridge to nowhere, even if it's not as impressive as the one
Alaska tried to get for itself. =) And this isn't just any bridge, but it's a
curved bridge. Why? For what purpose? Perhaps someday they plan to
extend the trail in that direction? I don't know, but I wonder about it
every time I pass it.

I really like the rhythmic patterns in Fishbone Bridge. It's starting to look
a little dirty, though. Seems like it was only a couple of years ago this
bridge was last painted and it looked great then! 

There's a reason this place is called the Dragonfly Pavilion. =)

I saw this plume of smoke to the south shortly after finishing the
Longfellow Legacy Creek Trail but before I made it home. Clearly, I couldn't
know the details of what was going on, but this is not normal and
just as clearly bad news or somebody out there. Turns out, it was a
house that was a complete loss. Adding insult to injury, when
firefighters arrived, the first two hydrants they tried didn't have sufficient
water pressure and they lost a great deal of time getting water from a hydrant
three blocks away from the fire.

As the sun sets over Alki. 

A ferry boat glides through Puget Sound under the setting sun....

Definitely near high tide right now!

This is an Argosy cruise ship--tourists going for a little boat ride.
I've done them  couple of times and enjoyed it. =)

And that's all I have for photos. In Hike-a-Thon related news, I got an e-mail from the WTA saying that pledges made today, August 31st, will be match dollar for dollar (up to $2,500). So if you've been thinking about it but haven't gotten around to it yet, TODAY is the day! Make it happen and double your contribution for a good cause! =)

You'll see that Amanda's already made her goal for the month (over $1,000!), but I still need a few more sympathy contributions to make my less ambitious goal. Thanks to everyone who's sponsored us so far.