Creek at Titlow Park to be uncovered

The Tacoma Weekly has an article that's near and dear to my heart concerning the "daylighting" of a creek currently confined to pipes. Recently approved funding will help make the project a reality this fall. This project means a lot to me because, upon studying local springs for my senior college capstone, I found many were stuffed into pipes and covered by parking lots. There's one where the current Lakewood Mall stands and the one that feeds the creek at Titlow Park.

Frequently in this area you'll find springs of different sizes trickling out from the steep hillsides along the shores of the Puget Sound. The short-lived stream flowing from Puget Gardens Park near our house gushes from the base of the hillside and has enough water to merit small log bridges to cross it in the park. Within a half mile it flows into Commencement Bay. It's a stunning site to see clear, cool water flow straight from the earth so it's a shame to cover such a thing up.

I doubt Crystal Spring creek near Titlow will actually reveal the water's source but just allowing us to enjoy the stream will be enough to make me smile.

Update (2006-07-22 @ 10:01am)
I went back through my capstone files and think I found the approximate location of the spring that feeds the creek in question. You can see pretty well in this map that just below 12th St. there's a tree-lined path leading towards Titlow Park. Somewhere between there and Sunset Drive should be the source of this little waterway. It may not be but I would bet there's a pretty good chance it is. Cool, huh? I know -- I'm a geo-nerd.

Sat. July 22, 2006, 08:30pm PDT

Photos ~ Flying with Gavin and Steve

I suppose I didn't do much of the actual "flying" part but the three of us got together tonight so they could do so. We met up at Gavin's place then headed out to the local flying field. The wind was pretty calm and the guys got plenty of flights in. Steve's new plane was graceful and still in one piece after two flights as were Gavin's two planes after three flights. There was plenty of shop talking going on so, as interested as I am, I couldn't always follow along and wandered off a couple times to take pictures of whatever I came across. It was a brilliant time for them the share their love for RC and always a good time for me to watch them soar.

Sat. July 22, 2006, 11:00pm PDT

Photos ~ Seattle skyline at dusk

Gavin had the idea to scope out an area he'd found for taking pictures of Seattle's skyline. After some RC flying tonight, we headed onto an overpass near Beacon Hill and collectively snapped hundreds of photos of a beautiful summer night in Seattle. We had fun grabbing shots of the Olympic Mountains in shades of orange after sunset. The nearby freeways made for some fun longer exposure shots of streaking head and tail lights. A rainbow of colors crossed the sky as the sun sunk further and further behind the Olympics. As the lights of the city came up postcards should have begun flying from our cameras with (throwing modesty aside for a second) the photos we were getting.

Thanks for the idea Gavin and thanks to both him and Steve (of the Fergusons) for hanging out doing what we all love to do on a gorgeous summer evening.