not-art and not-kites, but fun anyway
Oct. 1st, 2007 12:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishMost of the Seattle trip refuses to cohere into narrative form. It's beyond episodic or picaresque and well into "fragmented." Not that that makes it a bad trip-- far from it. It just causes difficulty in the telling.
However, one episode stands out. I speak, of course, of the Thursday afternoon of frustration.
"We're meeting Andrea at this park to fly kites." "Sounds like a plan."
*drive drive drive*
"This park is confusing. I have no idea where we're going." "It might help if the signs didn't tell us that the kite hill is on the other side of DO NOT ENTER."
*drive drive u-turn drive through parking lots drive*
"Well, here we are." "Just in time for the wind to die down."
So the three of us went for a bit of a walk through the rather large park, past an art installation composed of submarine fins (rather neat), and an awful lot of blackberry bushes. I had expected berry season to be long since over, so the ton of berries still available for the eating came as a pleasant surprise. (I guess there aren't enough deer in Seattle to totally clean out the berry supply.) The berries varied between 'desiccated,' 'overripe,' and 'actually really good.' Fresh-picked blackberries and raspberries are among my weaknesses.
We meandered towards the south end of the NOAA complex, where according to Andrea there was another art installation and according to the map there was a gated entrance. I can't speak to the presence of the art but the "gated entrance" was padlocked and abandoned. (The VISITORS WELCOME sign was either ironic or mocking. I'm not sure which.)
We returned to the kite-flying hill to discover that the wind had completely died off in our absence. After fifteen or twenty minutes spent futilely tossing kites around, we piled into the Beetle and tried to get into NOAA to see the art.
*drive drive*
"I think it's over here." "We can't go that way, there's no gate." "The map shows one!"
*drive drive stop*
"That looks like an entrance." "It's on the other side of a big fence." "And there are a lot of motorcyclists driving in circles."
*drive drive u-turn drive through parking lots drive*
"That's it!" "The turn we just missed, or the turn that it's illegal to make from this direction?"
Eventually we got to the NOAA entrance, where a very nice man informed us that the art was already closed (it being after four.) Upon being presented with evidence that no, really, it stayed open 'til five, he called his supervisor and then told us to go wait "by the bus stop." In an effort to not block traffic we pulled into a parking lot. For which we were chastised because if we were in the parking lot he had to leave his post to take down the license plate, and then someone might try to sneak into NOAA. Can't have that. He then asked for drivers' licenses . . . which Andrea had unfortunately left in her car, back in the park. At that point we wrote NOAA off as a Cursed Endeavour.
We attempted to console ourselves with pastries . . . but after yet more u-turning, discovered that the pastry shop actually did close at four.
Not a total loss by any means. I'm glad I got to meet Andrea, and we managed to get a really good feta-and-mushroom pizza at Delphino's (which does /not/ sell cooked dolphin), and did some always-fun bookstore browsing. And there were blackberries. But, frustrating, in that way that ensures it'll be a good story later on. *sigh* Maybe next time.
However, one episode stands out. I speak, of course, of the Thursday afternoon of frustration.
"We're meeting Andrea at this park to fly kites." "Sounds like a plan."
*drive drive drive*
"This park is confusing. I have no idea where we're going." "It might help if the signs didn't tell us that the kite hill is on the other side of DO NOT ENTER."
*drive drive u-turn drive through parking lots drive*
"Well, here we are." "Just in time for the wind to die down."
So the three of us went for a bit of a walk through the rather large park, past an art installation composed of submarine fins (rather neat), and an awful lot of blackberry bushes. I had expected berry season to be long since over, so the ton of berries still available for the eating came as a pleasant surprise. (I guess there aren't enough deer in Seattle to totally clean out the berry supply.) The berries varied between 'desiccated,' 'overripe,' and 'actually really good.' Fresh-picked blackberries and raspberries are among my weaknesses.
We meandered towards the south end of the NOAA complex, where according to Andrea there was another art installation and according to the map there was a gated entrance. I can't speak to the presence of the art but the "gated entrance" was padlocked and abandoned. (The VISITORS WELCOME sign was either ironic or mocking. I'm not sure which.)
We returned to the kite-flying hill to discover that the wind had completely died off in our absence. After fifteen or twenty minutes spent futilely tossing kites around, we piled into the Beetle and tried to get into NOAA to see the art.
*drive drive*
"I think it's over here." "We can't go that way, there's no gate." "The map shows one!"
*drive drive stop*
"That looks like an entrance." "It's on the other side of a big fence." "And there are a lot of motorcyclists driving in circles."
*drive drive u-turn drive through parking lots drive*
"That's it!" "The turn we just missed, or the turn that it's illegal to make from this direction?"
Eventually we got to the NOAA entrance, where a very nice man informed us that the art was already closed (it being after four.) Upon being presented with evidence that no, really, it stayed open 'til five, he called his supervisor and then told us to go wait "by the bus stop." In an effort to not block traffic we pulled into a parking lot. For which we were chastised because if we were in the parking lot he had to leave his post to take down the license plate, and then someone might try to sneak into NOAA. Can't have that. He then asked for drivers' licenses . . . which Andrea had unfortunately left in her car, back in the park. At that point we wrote NOAA off as a Cursed Endeavour.
We attempted to console ourselves with pastries . . . but after yet more u-turning, discovered that the pastry shop actually did close at four.
Not a total loss by any means. I'm glad I got to meet Andrea, and we managed to get a really good feta-and-mushroom pizza at Delphino's (which does /not/ sell cooked dolphin), and did some always-fun bookstore browsing. And there were blackberries. But, frustrating, in that way that ensures it'll be a good story later on. *sigh* Maybe next time.
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