Saturday, June 21, 2008

4:00pm - Ballard Skatepark

The Ballard Bridge was opened (see photo). In a hurry? Well, don't be! So, there we sat until all the boats had passed. I was thinking that traveling in the Seattle traffic is just as bad as traveling the large distances on the Peninsula. Traffic generally sucks in Seattle. But, you already knew that didn't you? 30 minutes later we arrived at Ballard, the Civic crew looked like they had been there a while. And after skating and taking some photos, they said they were done. They were too tired to continue. So, we said our good-byes and headed to Lower Woodland. We still were under the gun, we had to get to Mukilteo before it closed at 6pm.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

4:42pm - Lower Woodland, Seattle Skatepark

This park is brand new and one of the better ones in the area. A highlight for us is the real ceramic tile in the clover bowl, along with real pool coping. We could have stayed here a couple hours, but we knew we'd be back real soon.

We met up with Jeff and the LESSSGNAR (Lazy, Embarrassingly Slow, Second String Great Northwest Asshats Rodeo) contingent here, along with a few others, this was Jim's 4th park. Even TJ was there ripping it up as usual. I was surprised to get a couple of good photos in the 20 minutes we were here. We tore ourselves out of the Lower Woodland park, which was extremely difficult again. And wound our way north, avoiding traffic as best as we could, up to Mukilteo. We had to get there before it closed at 6pm.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

5:33pm - Mukilteo Skatepark

We made it with time to spare. John (Skatepark dude) was expecting us at 9:30am (I had talked to him earlier in the week) so he was wondering if we were even going to make it at all.

Mukilteo is a part of the YMCA, so it has a nice fence, rules and hours limiting our access. On Saturday, they close at 6pm. But, this doesn't detract from the quality park they have there.

We skated hard, and noticed the new tile that accented the middle bowl. We took some photos, and moved on to our next destination. What I didn't know is that Charlene and John worked their artistic magic and made these signs to help us designate the park number in our group photos. Thanks!

At this point in our trip we were planning on heading south to catch the Eastside parks, but decided that since Crossroads has lights, we could end there, even if it was dark. So we decided to change our route once again and head north, picking up Arlington, and Bellingham next. Charlene and I stopped for Tacos again and then I got on the wrong road so we rolled into Arlington a couple minutes late.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

6:45pm - Arlington Skatepark

Saturday, June 21, 2008

8:00pm - Bellingham Skatepark

So, we made it to Bellingham, and both Steve and Nick decided to tag along. Also, the Bellingham locals were out in force, Jason, John and John came out to play with us.

This made it just that much harder to leave. So much so that Steve decided he was going to just stay and ride, he wasn't into the whole marathon thing anyway. Bellingham was again such a fun park, and super smooth to ride, that it was just a pleasure to ride once again.

This trip has been amazing in one major aspect. We've had no real injuries up to this point. That is until Nick did a slide and whacked his nose, and gave himself a nosebleed. After he got cleaned up, we had to motor down the road again to Duvall. As we were traveling down to Duvall, I got to thinking about Bellingham. Normally, when I start doing airs there, I'm bailing them because it's designed so well, that getting speed for the vert walls is not even a problem. I usually feel like I have too much speed and start to freak out and bail. This was the first time that I didn't even bail one air the whole time we were there. I just charged it and started to relax as I hit the air and went with it. I was stoked...

Saturday, June 21, 2008

9:55pm - Duvall Skatepark

We arrived just after the park was closed down by the local police, who was still sitting near the entrance in his car. It was dark now, and we were locked out. Andy pulled up and explained to the Officer that we wanted to simply take some photos as today was GSD. So, we got lucky, the Officer had pity on us and let us in the park for a few minutes. We rode around the dark bowl for a few minutes then took a group photo and called it good. Next stop was our 15th park, Carnation.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

10:23pm - Carnation Skatepark

Arriving in Carnation, it's completely dark now, and the park was officially closed at dusk, so we potentially could have been kicked out. But we weren't and we were lucky enough to find Carnation with a light on, which was just enough for us to ride a bit.

Well, Andy's flashlight helped too, as there were more than a few dark spots. We skated and took photos, and decided it was time to head to our last destination. But, we weren't in any rush because Crossroads has lights. So, we stopped in Fall City on the way out, and had something to eat.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

11:30pm - Crossroads (Bellevue) Skatepark

Our last park. The end. We've made it. Alan was there waiting for us. We skated, but I have to admit, that I was a bit tired. I did a couple of airs, but they didn't feel right. Fatigue was setting in. I think had I fell and laid down, I wouldn't have gotten up until the next day. It was a long day, 21 hours and 612.4 miles later, we arrived back home in Renton.

Mike's doing a Zombie air

Though I was tired, I had a great day of skateboarding. Thinking about it. In one day, I skated PA, PT, Bellingham, Arlington, Milton, Mukilteo, Lower Woodland, Kent #3, two full pipes, and Crossroads! It was interesting, I was struck by how each park was still fresh in my mind, and how easy it was to compare all of them.
How smooth PA was, how much fun buzzing the tile at Lower Woodland was, how well designed Bellingham was, how much fun Arlington was. As I pondered how each park compares with the other, I thought the only other quality park in the area that we missed was Orcas. Which the only way we could include that park in such a trip is to start out there! Now that would be truly crazy! Well, some would say that this particular trip was exactly that, huh?

I just want to thank everyone who came out and skated with us. I appreciated each session, even though I had to leave early each time. Keep on rolling!

- Dan Hughes



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