Whirlwind - Day Three, Experience & Roller Derby

The girls have some really nice views where they live. Greg went running in the mornings to continue his marathon training. Since my camera is easier to carry when you're running, I have the shots he took. Unfortunately, my camera is not as good as his, so most are pretty blurry. There are a couple that turned out good. This is one:

Sheri had a morning work meeting, so Jeannea (great sport that she is) and Greg took her so Sara & I could get a little more sleep. We met for a late breakfast before heading into Seattle. Off to see another floating bridge, a troll, and The Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. Long name, cool place! Check out the site here. The troll under the bridge was a geocache (of course), but it was much cooler than I expected. Actually, I'm not sure what I expected, but not a 20' tall stone sculpture hidden under a bridge close to downtown Seattle. If you look closely, it has a car under it's left hand (the one Sheri is standing on), and a hubcap for an eye. On the way back to the car, we saw several of those pretty pink trees that are in bloom everywhere (in contrast to back home, where everything is still covered in snow and not even *thinking* about blooming yet).

From there, it was just a matter of maybe 10 minutes to downtown Seattle, where we were meeting Holly & the boys at The Experience Music Project & Science Fiction Museum. I need to go again, with more time. At least a day. If I get done sooner, I can wander downtown for fun places to eat or sights to see, but I need that time. I took in the visual aspects, but there was lots of reading or listening that I skipped, in the interest of time. Places to be this evening. We did the whole SciFi section (quickly), but didn't make it through the entire music section. Plenty of cool things to see, but there was lots I missed too. Next time. It was great to get to spend some time with Holly and the boys - I really appreciate that they made the effort and braved the traffic to meet us there.

The guitar scuplture is actually programmed to play music. They have listening stations set up so you can hear what's playing. There's also a basement or lower floor that we didn't even get to - Greg and his tag-along buddy found that we'd missed the entire first floor. And Holly, Sheri, and I (and our tag-along buddy) didn't even finish the second floor (that I thought was the first floor) before we headed up to the next level. All in all, a great time - but I need to go back and see/hear/experience more. There's even an el (train, monorail, elevated bus on a track, whatever) that goes through the upper part of the building - I want to try that!

Holly & me =)

Greg & the boyos

We had to cut the afternoon short, since we had to journey to Lynnwood (Edmonds Community College) for... ROLLER DERBY!!!! Wahoo!! Our Anchorage team (Rage City Roller Girls) had an "away game", and so Greg & I introduced Jeannea, Sara, & Sheri to their first game of roller derby. It was an absolute blast!! Although I do have to say that I think we do things better in Alaska. The crowd in general, that is. We're more energetic, enthusiastic, and excited. And we have a beer garden. Wahoo!! ;) Our girls didn't win, but they played hard and did exceptionally well - seeing as this was their 4th bout ever and they were playing the regional champions. I'm excited for the next bout (April 11th), but a little bummed that Sara will be gone already and Jeannea won't be here yet - so neither will get to experience roller derby Alaska Style. Oh well. There'll be more chances... Greg was photographing the event, so my pictures are courtesy of him.

After the bout, we went to the "after party" for the teams. Didn't do much socializing (the girls and I didn't - Greg wandered here & there to visit with lots of people, as is his style) because it was hard to find a seat, and then really loud so conversation wasn't really feasible. We did get to chat with Mr. & Mrs. Furious (the first time I've actually met Mrs. Furious, although I've heard about her several times from Greg) for a bit, and spent the rest of the evening doing our own renditions of the karaoke songs being played... Overall, it was an enjoyable end to the evening. I've been having a blast spending time with the girls!!

The Girls
(picture courtesy of Greg)

On tap for tomorrow: domestic chores (moving a couch, packing), visit Holly & Corey in Puyallup, time to go home...