Teriyaki Donut's report

Our route. 23 miles, 645 points. Should have been 740, but I screwed up twice: First, I got the wrong answer for 31 [Montessori Daycare]. I can still see 3 planters, but apparently there were 4. Second, I didn't mark an answer for 54 [Center for Urban Horticulture].

Our route: 22-12-13-26-25-32-11-24-53-23-45-46-55-34-31-57-56-42-41-54-37-51-36.

For once, I actually visited our neighborhood, something I usually avoid since it's up a steep hill. But this time I decided if I went east from Green Lake, then down the steep hill to Magnuson, it wouldn't be so bad, and it wasn't. Climbing up from 25th NE past the Wedgwood Rock to 35th NE is something I've done many times towing kids, so it wasn't bad.

All in all, I planned on 920 points, skipping 33 [Ravenna Fire Station] and 52 [GAR cemetery], but allowing for getting both if we had enough time. We did not, and after much futzing around in the Arboretum, I high-tailed it back across the Montlake Bridge, having only time to stop at the UW waterfront for #36, and finishing with 35 seconds to spare.

Emmett asked for a lot of breaks and I gave them to him, usually at the top of hills. We stopped after climbing up from 25th, and at the Laurelhurst Community Center, as well as a number of shorter stops in Wallingford as he figured out which layers he wanted to wear. The peek-a-boo sun was not our friend in this regard. But at the end he was happy to walk through the Arboretum and look for clues.

I now expect a marriage proposal on every course.

#11 looked like 6 little people to me, and 1 little dog.

A friend of a friend lives at #57 (with a totem pole near their door). I don't know them well enough to have remembered the answer.

In Magnuson Park, I could hear the cheers from the rugby spectators cheering on rugby players on the new rugby field. Leaving the park, I saw a Cascade Bicycle Club ride. Luckily for us they stayed on Sand Point, otherwise they would have really slowed us down on the trail.

As we were leaving 54 [Center for Urban Horticulture], I saw a confused runner heading down the wildlife refuge path, and told him to go back where we came from. I hope at least he got the 50 points.

37 [Daniel Evans redwood] took far too long, as we were looking at the 2 much larger redwoods. Finally I figured out what the trail junction must mean. Once we crossed the bridge into the Arboretum, I wasted time by trying to take gravel paths. Our next to last checkpoint (51, the new shelter) would have been much easier to find by just going up to the Arboretum road.

Bicycling back on Lake Washington Blvd from the Arboretum was very fast. Heading up 15th and the Ave was much less so. We seemed to get stopped by every light. Still, as I said, we had just enough time.

Had we done our whole route, we would have visited 4 community centers: Green Lake, Magnuson, Laurelhurst and Montlake. We missed Montlake.

To reward Emmett, I went over to Mr. Lu's to get the french fries he was begging for on Saturday. He ended up eating most of my onion rings instead.

Cardinals, we have your ribbons. I'll try to remember to bring them to Gig Harbor.