I awoke after sleeping like a true champion on the futon in Jill and Scott's dark, cool, dry - and newly remodeled - basement. I was like a bear in a cave.
Friday turned out to be an administrative day with some fun mixed in at night. Jill and Scott were up and at 'em early and ready for challenging days at work. I saw them off at the door, cleaned up, did laundry, reorganized my trunk, and caught up on my blog. Once again, the blog's server wasn't cooperative and left me frustrated after a few hours of attempting to include pictures. By the early afternoon, I had completed all of my "administrative" tasks and felt restless and in need of some exercise. Jill and Scott had recommended a trot through Discovery Park, located to the southwest and within running distance from their house. On my run, I crossed through the beautiful Carl English Jr Botanical Gardens and ran across the Hiram M Chittenden Locks, which is situated on the Lake Washington Ship Canal and links the freshwater lakes of Union and Washington to Puget Sound. 100,000 boats pass through the locks each year and the locks themselves are very visitor-friendly by allowing people to stand on the locks and watch the large doors swing back and forth as the locks fill and unfill with water. Along the side of the locks, there are glass-sided tanks where people can view the fish ladder that was built to accommodate spawning salmon headed up river.
I got plenty of exercise in my run through lush Discovery Park. The loop trail is 2.8 miles, but I somehow managed to get lost in the 534 acres of wilderness. I ended up on the beach alongside the West Point Lighthouse. Eventually, I found my way back to the loop trail, back across the locks and home. In all, the trip was about 6 miles and very hilly. I usually don't run that far, so I was pooped.
By the time I cleaned up, the work day was almost over. Jill was taking a horticulture class and would spend the night studying for her Saturday morning final exam. Therefore, it was Boys Night Out. Scott jokingly suggested we get half-drunk and go watch the new X-Men movie. We opted for a more subdued evening. We loaded their dog, Sydney, in the car and visited Red Mill Burgers where we scarfed down a couple of delicious onion-smothered patties and fries. Then we visited the REI flagship store where we each made a few purchases. I bought a new pair of light-weight trail running shoes, because my regular running shoes were getting chewed up on the trails and my hiking boots were too heavy and too warm.
We had a little daylight left, so we played a few holes of frisbee golf. By the time the sun set, we were driving around West Seattle admiring the cool neighborhoods. We cruised Alki Avenue which afforded us a great view of downtown Seattle across Elliott Bay.
The weekend would be action-packed, so we headed for home to meet Jill and talk a little more about the hike we had planned the next day.
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