Category: Seattle and Beyond

Hiking Boulder Creek

Carl Setzer
Washington's Boulder Creek

We had a great hike yesterday up on Boulder River, just east of Oso. I have a terrible time calling it a river, but it’s nothing to minimize. Anyway, a good hike for families. We had two families with kids going from early elementary through middle school. Nobody had any problems, the kids had energy the entire hike. A few things to keep in mind. It is a popular hike. We got there in the late morning and were able to park pretty close to the trailhead. By the time we headed home in the early afternoon, people had  a bit of a hike before they started their hike. The trail got a bit crowded on our way out. We had a brief stop on the way out where we walked down to the riverside. I was a bit surprised at how many people were there. But, hey, it’s a lovely hike an easy drive from the greater Seattle area! There will be people.

We ended our day together stopping in Arlington at Whiskey Ridge Brewing. Hung out there chatting with Jack and Francine (the owners). Then we grabbed pizza from Pizza Factory for one kid, and the rest of us at from The Local Scoop. All in all, a pretty good day.

Lynnwood Folks: Take a trip in the transit time machine Saturday 9-5

Carl Setzer

Found this press release in my inbox just now, so I’m sharing it pretty much as-is. If you’re looking for something a little more unique in Lynnwood, here you go. It’s tomorrow, at Heritage Park from 11-3.

Transit Tour

Take a trip in the transit time machine

Visit the Heritage Park Open House for a trip through the past, present and future of transportation.

Lynnwood’s Heritage Park open house event continues this Saturday, September 5 from 11am – 3pm. Take a break from the parades and cookouts and join us for a ride on the Transit Time Machine for a view of transportation’s past, present, and future.

The Past: Explore Heritage Park’s restored Interurban Car 55 which provided commuter service from Everett to Seattle. History buffs will enjoy the historic buildings and museum exhibits showcasing Alderwood Manor and early Lynnwood.

The Present: Check out a Community Transit Double Tall Bus and lean about the variety of transportation options available today. Get info and ask questions about current routes, developments, and options for getting around Snohomish County.

The Future: Planners from Community Transit will be available to discuss the future of service — from the future Swift lines to expanded service and much more. There will also be information and displays on the upcoming Sound Transit Link Light Rail project that will connect Lynnwood to Seattle and beyond.

The park, located east of I-5 at the SE corner of Poplar Way and Alderwood Mall Parkway, is a cultural, heritage and visitor resource. The open house events offer a unique opportunity for park visitors to tour the various historical structures including Interurban Car 55 that have been preserved at the park.

Open House activities include:

  • Climb aboard a Community Transit Double Tall Bus and learn about the future of transportation in Snohomish County.
  • Tour guides, Jeanne and Gary Rogers, will entertain visitors with tales of Car 55, one of six Interurban trolleys that ran between Seattle and Everett from 1910 to 1939.  Jeanne grew up in a railroading family; her father, Walter Shannon, was an Interurban motorman.
  • Docents from the Alderwood Manor Heritage Association will be available to provide guided tours of the exhibits currently on display in the Superintendent’s Cottage and at the Wickers Building Museum.
  • Stop by the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau’s Visitor Information Center where you can walk through the historic Wickers Building Museum and view the City of Lynnwood Historic Timeline exhibit.
  • Visitors are invited to take a peek into their personal genealogical history at Humble House with the assistance of the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society.

School Supply Donation Drive:

The Snohomish County Tourism Bureau will be hosting a school supply donation drive at the Visitor Information Center in the Wickers Building. The donation drive will kick-off at the open house and continue through the month of August. Donated supplies will benefit the Sleep Country Foster Kids Program that provides much needed school supplies to foster kids in the local area. To donate, bring your new item to the Visitor Center sometime in the month of August. Donation items can include:

  • Paper: lined, copy, construction, spiral notebook, composition notebook, index cards
  • Pencils & Pens: blue, black, #2 pencils, colored pencils, erasers, pencil sharpener, pencil case, crayons, highlighters, dry-erase markers
  • Things you can never have too much of: tissues, sanitizing wipes, hand sanitizer

Star Wars & Bumbershoot This Weekend

Carl Setzer
Bumbeershoot 2015

Well, several of my friends and I committed to venturing forth into Seattle to catch the EMP’s Star Wars And The Power Of Costume exhibit this weekend, as that ends at the end of the month and I’ve been itching to see it. Rocket scientist that I’m not, it hits me a few minutes ago that this is Labor Day Weekend, and we’ll be jumping into the full on Bumbershoot festival mayhem.  Part of me thinks it’s a bit of a mistake to jump into this madness, and pay the high-end parking fees. However, it’s really just the price we pay to live in a really popular area.

Star Wars and Bruce Lee

Carl Setzer1 Comment

There’ve been two local exhibits that have been compelling me: EMP’s Star Wars and the Power of Costume and Wing Luke’s Bruce Lee exhibit.  As a long time Star Wars fan, the EMP exhibit is deeply compelling. One of the things I enjoy about the series are the ways George Lucas connected with the mythological constructs of culture.

As a martial artist, Bruce Lee is something of an icon for me. The Wing Luke exhibit connects us to Lee’s history and evolution as a martial artist. That is particularly compelling to me.

Of course, I need to hit these fast. Next week, the Bruce Lee exhibit changes focus, and Star Wars ends it’s run at the EMP. Crunch time!

Destruction of kindness

Carl Setzer

Yesterday evening, harsh words drifted through the summer air. Brutal in their battery, stunned at the cruelty. I wonder, are they mother and daughter? Perhaps they’re romantic rivals. There are a multitude of possible roots, and it’s likely we’ll never know the reality.

Yet the rage tinged brutality engaged thereby intrigued me, intellectually. Are the speakers aware of social corrosion taking over? Can they see the destruction brought about by the words? Do they care?

Ultimately, they’re about being right, not about being effective. Damage was done, whether healed from or no. And we all lose when relationships corrode .

Process and Efficiency

Carl Setzer
Bart process is not a dirty word

“Process”, generally construed as a negative, synonymous with bureaucratic, cumbersome and unwieldy, gets an undeserved bad rap. There’s  power in process. When the steps bring in various minds and encourage collaboration. Then its the key element of creating a truly synergistic environment. In an environment based on fear, process’ function is minimizing risk (versus managing risk). When process is about fear and power, it becomes the soul-sucking beast of its reputation.

Process isn’t a dirty word. The surrounding motivations and culture create the challenge. So, manage fear, and keep it from controlling your life.

Who the heck is this Ebey guy?

Carl Setzer

When my son was little, we started going to The Farm At Swan’s Trail every October for pumpkins. That’s the first time I noticed the name Ebey, namely Ebey Island. Then on Whidbey Island earlier this summer, I noticed Ebey Landing and Fort Ebey parks.  Ok, now I’m intrigued. Who or what was all this named after? Well, folks, the chap is an early western settler by the name of Isaac Ebey.

Clearly a luminary as he has his own Wikipedia page. Plenty of detail there, so I won’t recount too much, but here are the basics. He’s one of the early settlers of Whidbey Island, and managed to get himself well connected enough to have some solid influence on the early history of Washington State.  He was also related (by marriage) to Phoebe Judson, who founded Lynden and WWU, amongst other things. The other major event of his life for this post: being executed by a raiding/vengeance party of aboriginals.

Our region has many interesting characters and a rich history that’s a delight to explore. Check out HistoryLink.org for all kinds of great research resources. It’s my first stop for all these sorts of things.

Ah, Moleskines!

Carl Setzer

I adore these notebooks and find this film delightful. Their YouTube channel is laden with creative delights. I highly recommend subscribing.

Seafair weekend

Carl Setzer

Ah, the big weekend! Seafair! This is a pretty big deal in the Seattle region, for the unfamiliar. Brings back loads of memories for me. Cutting out hydro shaped boats to be towed behind bicycles. Many musical memories of marching in Seafair parades. The Seattle Center vibrant and alive, more so than the average summer’s day. And the roar of hydros, both from Lake Washington and from the tv. With the Blue Angels flying overhead.  Oh, and the beloved antics of the Seafair Pirates!

66 years of this stuff. What great fun the organizers bring to the region. I’m thankful both for the memories, both serious and silly, and for the building of community. The parade in particular brings together and showcases the region’s rich diversity. Performers of all stripes come forth. It’s amazing, really, to sit still and have our multicultural vibrancy brought to you. Paraeded before you, so to speak.

So this morning I offer up my morning tea to the ever diligent and hard-working organizers of Seattle’s Seafair. Thanks for this perfect celebration of who we are as a region.