Canoes and Canoeing

Well, I should play catch-up.  A lot has transpired recently.

Last week I went to Costco and had my eye exam done so I could order myself some new glasses.  I have been putting up with these horrible glasses I got from Vista Optical for far too long.  When I got the price after all was said and done, I wondered why I waited so long...

After kicking it around off and on for a while, we (myself, Suzie, and Sarah) finally went and rented a canoe on Saturday.  The University of Washington has a Waterfront Activities Center that rents canoes and rowboats.  They're cheap, and the area you can use them in is a pretty cool area.  Anyone that's familiar with the area knows how close SR-520 runs to the UW, but for those that don't, here's an idea of the layout.

We went there a little before we could actually rent the canoes because a rowing event or something was taking place.  To kill an hour we went over to the Japanese Garden in the Arboretum.  We wandered around there taking pictures for an hour or so.  It was a little early in the season because not many plants or trees were in bloom yet, but it was still a real pretty day and we all got lots of pictures.  When that was finished we went back to the canoe place.  By then parking was free, so that was a cool bonus.

I don't know how long the canoes were, but they were all the same:  Aluminum 2-seaters.  They all had plenty of room for 3 though, and they came with a third person seat cushion for the floor.  Everyone also got life vests and oars too. 

We spent a couple hours or so wandering around the Arboretum area in the canoe.  Back and forth underneath the highway we went, exploring the marshes.  We saw tons of ducks, many of which would swim right up to our canoe--Apparently hoping for handouts.  There were also turtles sunning on logs and Herons standing still looking like folded umbrellas.  We saw evidence of beavers too, but no beavers themselves.  The three of us took hundreds of pictures.  It was a beautiful day for doing something like that.  When all was said and done, we got out of there for a measly 18 bucks!

So we decided that it was so much fun that maybe we should keep an eye out for a canoe of our own.  I found several good ones on good ol' Craigslist.  I was just about to act on one today that was for sale up on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, when a new ad popped up.  An older Coleman canoe right here near home.  The $250 obo turned into $200 bucks.  Nice.  Sure, it needs some cleaning and tweaking here and there, but it even came with a couple of nice oars too.  Here's a shot of it in its current state of glory after bringing it home.

Our 365 picture projects are going well.  Sarah is having a great time doing hers and is impressing me with what she is putting out there.  Like I explained before, they all have ups and downs.  A 365 project is quite a roller coaster ride.