Didn’t make it to Victoria this year

Last year, Safety Ed and I were going to go to Victoria but he crashed in Portland and his arm was full of surgically-implanted metal. This year, Safety Ed and I were going to go to Victoria, but a family matter required his presence back in his hometown in Pennsylvania. Last year, I could go on my own. This year, I couldn’t.

Orin O’Neill photos

Luckily, there was all kinds of stuff to do, close to home.

Kat(t) hosted the first Picnic in the Park on Thursday. Though not strictly a scooter event, many participants arrived at Volunteer Park on scooters. The Butterfly of Panama brought Fireball #107, while Fuzz made the scene on his new mint-green Stella. Read all about it here.

On Friday, Kat(t) proposed a ride to Golden Gardens. And Cupcake Royale in Ballard. The task of leading it fell to me. “I don’t lead rides,” Kat(t) said. That’s okay. I know a very roundabout way to get there.

It was sunny and record-breakingly hot on Friday afternoon when we convened at Scoot About. Kat(t) and I were joined by Queenie and Katy on the Scarabeo 250, Chewy and her ET4, and a pair of newcomers: Angie, newly arrived from Boston, where among other things she organized a women’s scooter club, and a guy with a brand-new red GTS whose name was Guy. I’m not making this up!

Check back later for a map. I took the group from South Lake Union along Westlake, across the Fremont Bridge to the UDub, through Laurelhurst and Sand Point, down Lake City Way and Roosevelt, past Green Lake and through Ballard to Golden Gardens Park. We originally planned to take in the sunset, but folks got hungry so we stopped at a burger stand in Ballard called Scooter’s. Really, I’m not making this up!

 

It seemed half the city was at Golden Gardens, not unusual in Seattle, where people get a bit crazy to do something outdoors! if it’s warm and sunny. Lots of grills were fired up, and lots of wonderful aromas filled the air. The sunset’s orange remnants were great. We have really nice sunsets here.

No riding on Saturday, except to Lowe’s. The garbage disposal was leaking.

Sunday. it wasn’t quite as warm. But it was a bit of a bummer because Victoria got the same weather we did in Seattle; it usually rains during the Victora rally.

Oh, well. Maryvu, Chewy and Stubbie joined me on a journey to the Kitsap Peninsula. Maryvu was having electrical issues with Stella_3, so we waited until she had applied enough of a fix to get the lights working. Luckily, it was a short jaunt to Coleman Dock.

More luckily, we got there just in time to board the ferry first. The trip to Bremerton takes about an hour. Bremerton is a Navy town, home of the Bremerton Naval Shipyard. Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to “revitalize” Bremerton’s downtown, all of which have flopped. The latest attempt ended with the auction of new waterfront condos. Still, downtown looks much better than it did when I was making regular trips with the family to visit aunts and uncles in Kitsap County.

I’d made pace notes when the Kitsap ride was proposed earlier this year (and scrubbed due to snow). But I didn’t bring a Kitsap County map, and this was totally unfamiliar territory.

Bremerton thankfully has large street signs that are easy to read. In no time, we’re in Keyport. This is the town that sits at the entrance of a U.S. Navy base that is rumored to be doing things like training dolphins to attach bombs to enemy ships.

The gate’s closed… verifying the rumors will have to wait for another day. Next stop, Poulsbo.

Poulsbo is excruciatingly Scandinavian in the same way Leavenworth, Wash. is excruciatingly Bavarian. As with Leavenworth, the real economy based on fishing, forest products and agriculture shriveled up and died, replaced by tourism. We happened to catch the annual Scandinavian Festival, but were disappointed to discover a Scandinavian Buffet advertised on the Sons of Norway Hall’s marquee had taken place on Saturday. We ate Scandinavian bratwurst, Scandinavian cheeseburgers and Scandinavian veggie pizza instead.

It was getting late, so we needed to head for the ferry dock on Bainbridge Island. There is a bridge between the Kitsap Peninsula and Bainbridge Island, and a nice highway from Poulsbo. Traffic was a bit heavier than I would’ve liked, but there were places to pull off and let people pass.

The ferry ride back to Seattle was one of those wonderful late-afternoon voyages where the world was in soft focus, the sun low enough in the sky that the light is just on the edge of golden. An hour later, high overcast had moved in. Our timing was perfect…

See a complete collection of pictures here.

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