Explore 30: 12 Miles and An Evening With Ira Glass

Dahlias in full bloom at the Ballard Farmer's Market

It's been a busy weekend! On Saturday, P and I drove to Snohomish County and ran a 12 mile out-and-back, beginning and ending at the Macchias Trail Head. It was a gorgeous day, hot and sunny with blue sky and wispy clouds. After our run, we grabbed a quick lunch (sandwiches on fresh bread, cole slaw, pickles and coffee) at the Snohomish Bakery.

Downtown Snohomish

I was hoping to visit Flower World, but they closed at 5 p.m. and we did not make it in time. For those of you who have never been: Flower World is every gardener's paradise. Do not be deceived by the name "Flower World." Although the Flower World website is exceptionally lousy (in my opinion), their 15 acre facility has an incredible variety of indoor and outdoor plants, shrubs, trees, succulents, (and more) at very reasonable prices. It's a little off the beaten path (about an hour from Seattle), but well worth a weekend trip every now and then.

After just missing our chance to experience the euphoria that is Flower World, we jetted home, showered up, then headed off again. This time, to Benaroya Hall in downtown Seattle to see "This American Life" host, Ira Glass. [side note: while driving to Seattle, we witnesed some breathtakingly beautiful clouds].

Ira Glass was more charming and heart-felt in person than I had expected. His I-am-a-normal-person approach when speaking to the audience was engaging, as was his witty, quirky, self-deprecating sense of humor.

P's finger frame

The show covered a wide range of discussion topics: from a tutorial on how to put together a story (introduce and move a plot forward with questions, then reveal the answers at the end), to an explanation of the important role that semiotics plays in his life on a daily basis. (Don't feel bad. Prior to the show, I had no idea what semiotics was either - but now I do, courtesy of Mr. Glass!)
He called himself nerdy. I loved that.

After the show, P and I decided to take a late supper at The Palace Kitchen. We shared an amazing appetizer of mussels, curried eggplant fritters, and a mushroom sampler plate. The mushrooms were a little disappointing (rather rubbery and flavorless), but the pita and fava bean mint hummus was lovely.

Sunday was stand up paddle (SUP) boarding day in Ballard!

I've now visited the Washington Surf Academy three times and always have a great time. They are a laid back group that offers SUP rentals, classes and even SUP yoga classes! The beach is immediately across the street from their rental building, so you just pick up your board and paddle and scoot across the street for a good time. The wind was a little strong on Sunday, so we hugged the Magnolia coast and headed out to the Discovery Park light house. I saw two seals! P was new to SUP, so he took two spills. I'm sure everyone on the beach could hear us hysterically laughing and swearing as we fought the wind and waves!

Afterwards, we threw on our sneakers and took a jog down to Golden Gardens Park. You probably cannot tell from my pictures above, but the sailing regattas were out in full force. Gorgeous colored spinnakers and multi-colored sails and hulls decorated the water.

We finished our run, then headed to the Ballard Farmers Market for some shopping.