So, long-time friend Steve Shafer (That's him on the left) celebrated his 50th birthday this afternoon with a party that involved a large group of his friends taking to Lake Union in small boats on a scavenger hunt.Let me explain.
Steve's lovely bride, Kelly, made arrangements with the Seattle Electric Boat Company for a party, in groups of 10 or so we all took electric boats (about twenty feet in length), given a camera and a list of things to find. The ship named after Tolkien's first novel (Hobbit), the ship named after the Norse goddess of love (Freya, though we never found it), count the smokestacks on the top of a local genetics building or the dishes on top of Channel 13.
We thought we did very well, in part since we had me and my Lovely Bride, a champion navigator, and a lot of people who were long-term natives of Seattle. And despite a rather hairy moment with a landing seaplane (we zigged and it zigged in our direction, we zagged and it zagged back), we thought we did pretty well. Alas, the other boats ALSO had long-term natives, and we didn't even place (mind you, we were CONVINCED we had found everything correctly, which may have just been madness of the sea).
Still, we had a great time, and wish Steve a most merry birthday at the half-century mark, and promised we would spread his adorable mug, complete with pirate hat, far and wide. Such in the gift of the Internets.
More later,
