Baseball Weekend

This weekend the Giants were in town to play the Mariners and I was fortunate enough to have acquired tickets beforehand (as in before Griffey announced his return to Seattle) and that probably explains why the locations I got were pretty close (first base side, foul ball territory). I just took a chance that my brother would be able to make the trip from the bay area and luckily he made it and so we were in the park Saturday and Sunday (Cain won Saturday, Zito lost on Sunday). I did also have a ticket on Friday and that was quite a special day because another returning Mariner, Randy Johnson, was playing. The folks here still appreciate him and cheered and stood up to acknowledge him. When he finally walked off the mound, he stopped and tipped his cap to everyone in each direction. That was quite a warm moment. The other two games was business proper....Cain threw a dominating number of strikes and got rewarded in the late innings when Sandoval, Uribe, and Lewis (finally catching up and getting his stroke back) produced. Sunday was the opposite with Felix Rodriguez dominating with strikes and Griffey giving everyone (including us) a nice show of that beautiful swing. Sunday's game also had a surprise player in Eli Whiteside who was called up from the minors to cover for Sandoval (sore elbow). He's got a quite a potent bat. I'd really like to see him get a shot at making the team as a regular someday.

KS at Port Defiance

I kinda sacrificed the backlight for this shot....but the mountain view was tempting. The kayak symposium at Port Defiance State Park was also my first visit to Tacoma. This place is a great spot....fine beach for launching and the water is calm. This event is bigger and has a very busy stream of people. The classes fill-in fast and i was lucky to get a spot in the edging clinic. It was a great opportunity to try demo kayaks and I took a couple of Necky models for a spin....er...paddle. I like the Manitou 14 composite. During the edging clinic I used a Hurricane kayak....not too happy with the absence of thigh braces.

Time to hit the water again

The weather is slowly coming into season. It hasn't been consistent, but I've done what I can to come out whenever there's a chance. This photo I think is from my fifth trip out on Lake Union. Ever since I moved my kayak to a new storage location on the marina, coming in for a couple of sunlight hours to paddle has been possible. Granted the traffic takes away a good hour, but there is now enough sunlight to make up for it. I still feel like a rookie, but I'm happy at the progress I'm making. By experience, I'm learning more about blade travel and angle. I've also been able to travel farther and longer and I think better mechanics with my stroke are working out. Still, I feel like a rookie. Edging and navigating through wind are points for improvement. I'm going to have to do better if I'm to do this in the bay area someday (where the wind is a constant).