Thursday, February 5, 2009

Magnuson Park Is Odd


Magnuson Park is one of the strangest I've ever visited. The entire place has the feel of an abandoned war zone, and with pretty good reason, as the whole area was a naval airfield for a bit. I'm really fond of it, especially in the winter when the stark, swampy area looks like the Ohio flood plains. It reminds me of chasing imaginary foes through brambles back in West By God, and that's always a good time. Especially when I watch Viri attacking enemies with his laser cannon in the same way. (He attacks bad robots, he says. And he doesn't shoot them, he "burls" them, which is the sound of said laser cannon.)(Incidentally, Penelope Burl is a great band name.)

Arkaedi Sue even enjoyed today, since she got to sit down on the rocks. She handed them to Viri as he threw them into the water. It was an impressive loading procedure, and I think the spirits of long buried submarines wold be proud. There are no bad robots in Lake Washington, certainly, thanks to these two. They make a good pair, and assuming some kind of Terminator-like apocalypse doesn't happen, and they don't actually need to attack bad robots with laser cannons, maybe they can put their skills to good work. I'm thinking brother sister baseball combo. (Which is another good band name.)

Probably the single greatest thing about Seattle (non-food and coffee division) is the availability of places like this. According to my quick internet research, parks like Magnuson and Discovery are exceptions, in places where large land development is more common than huge public spaces. We have partly the late growth of Seattle to thank for that; but a bit of it is the love of people in the Northwest for the environment around them. People wanted these places preserved, and so they are.

As I continue the winter trips to various parks, I'm keeping a bigger journey in the back of my mind. Ideally, I'd love to take a big motorcycle trip with Herc and Sarah, through the Cascades and into the eastern half of the state. I have never been east of the Cascades, which is silly. If I can't manage that, or if Jaime uses her hard veto power, then maybe another kind of trip could happen. I definitely want to see more of Washington while I have the time and energy. If I had money, I'd have the road trip trifecta. I'll have to settle with time and energy.

More fun pics as usual here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh I'm up for the trip!

Tomorrow I'm posting my stuff about Magnuson. Found out some fun facts. Like it used to be called Carkeek Park! Heck yeah!

Also, there are five other sculptures on the NOAA part of the park, but you have to have a photo ID and pass through security because of terrorists.

Also, the hill that overlooks the Fin Project is made from old air strips (the whole place used to be a giant air field).

And I was right about the munitions bunkers. :)

Oddly, the Fin Project exists in Miami as well. I'm going to try to get Michael to go see it. I doubt he will, but it's worth a shot.