Sea Fair and Skiing in August

Here in Seattle summer means many things, bonfire nights on the beach, kayaking, mountain biking, among a host of other activities. Really the options are endless and most I have embraced with open arms. However there is one tried and true Seattle activity which I have made a concerted effort to avoid for the last eight summers I have been here. So much so that last year found me off backpacking in the mountains with a broken rib, concussion, and hyped up on vicodin (good times - just ask my partner). What could drive a person to these lengths? I have one word for you: SeaFair. Now it isn't so much SeaFair itself which provides a month of neighborhood fairs, celebrations, and events. It's the closing weekend which caps the whole
thing off. In one weekend we get a massive air show complete with the Blue Angels, Hydroplane races (imagine Nascar on water), and a huge fair in one of the largest city parks. We endure closures of the major I-90 bridge over lake Washington, the noise of the Blue Angels taking off several times a day for several days in a row (they actually take off right above the Beyond facility), among other slight if irritating inconveniences. At least that was my feeling as a transplant who had never taken the time to go. So you can imagine my reaction when Scott e-mailed all excited because he had gotten free passes to not only the event but into the
pits where the hydros are. Now I have to admit I was curious and this was going
to be a close-up view but with a ton of snow still sitting on Mt. Baker skiing seemed like a much better use of my time. However it is good to be social so we came up with what we thought was the perfect Seattle summer weekend: riding our bikes to SeaFair with a couple of friends and their son; checking out the fair and the pits; heading to their friends house for a party; then riding our toushes off back to Scott's car, driving to pick up the dog and my car which was fully
packed with camping and skiing gear, driving up to Mt. Baker, camping at 'our spot', and skiing Sunday.

SeaFair wasn't exactly what we hoped but it was interesting to see the boats up close. However all I kept thinking was "I wonder how much the fuel bill is?" I'm guessing this guy was thinking the same thing:

May be time for a new sport

After experiencing all SeaFair had to offer for us we headed up to the party.
Our host loves the Blue Angels. Conveniently his house is located up on a hill
right above the fair and right in the path of the airshow.

He has a great view which is made even better by the fact he installed a full
set of bleachers on his roof specifically so people could come watch the show.
I can't think of a better way to see the Blue Angels. Kegs of beer, tons of
great BBQ, an endless assortment of sweet treats, comfy seating, and the best
part; a real bathroom! Some people may have been inclined to linger but we were
on a mission to stick to the plan. We managed to pull it off and found ourselves
installed at our campsite by 9:30pm. It wasn't one of our finest car camping
excursions what with no happy hour or camp chairs but we did manage to get through
a chapter of the Monkey Wrench Gang which we read on every tenting excursion
and I made the best camp pillow ever out of my Beyond (black jacket help) wrapped
around a Beyond Primaloft vest. The jacket has to go inside out so as to help
reduce slippage on the Therma-rest pad.

The next morning we headed up to our breakfast spot which is
when we noticed the dog was actually injured. She had managed to completely
expose the quick of her nail and had a couple of torn pads. Now Siena loves
the snow more than any dog I've ever known so there was no chance of her taking
it easy. But we were up there and figured we had to get some August turns in
and I needed to give my L2 Grid its first active test. So we headed out to Blueberry
Chutes which is just a short jaunt from the Artist Point parking lot. It was
perfect spring skiing conditions.

Unfortunately Siena is one vocal dog and whenever one of us
went out of sight she would start barking and pulling wanting to run after.
We had gotten a night in the tent and time in the mountains, and a tenth straight
month of turns.

10 months of skiing and trip 1 in my L2. A great day. Apparently being able to nap the whole ride back to Seattle isn’t good enough.