Watching Paint Dry

 

After Zoltan left for work, I did my laundry and returned to Gas Works Park, where this machinery performed alchemy, converting coal to gas in the first half of the 20th century. Don't ask me how.  

Zoltan not only earns his living at Brooks, the running shoe company, he dramatically reduces his food bill by bringing a second employer-provided lunch home for dinner every night.  That--along with five weeks of paid vacation, being able to walk to work and the relaxed Fremont lifestyle--would make me think twice about changing jobs.

I drove to the Crittenden Locks in Ballard.  They've been around for more than a century. There's a vintage drawbridge, too.

50,000 boats, including many fishing vessels, pass through every year, to and from the freshwater Lakes Union and Washington--which are 22 feet above sea level--and the saltwater Puget Sound.   

But recreational boaters make the locks the busiest in the nation.  A critical fish ladder helps three different kinds of salmon migrate.  I saw some sockeye, the early birds.  Harbor seals gather in the locks, too, as soon as the salmon start running.  Several hungry fellas surfaced briefly during my visit.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates the locks.  The superintendent gets to live in the Cavanaugh house, named for the man who managed their construction from 1911 to 1917.

The pedestrian walkway pictured here functions as both bridge and gate. It opens to let boats go on their way once water-level equilibrium has been achieved, a very slow process. Like watching paint dry.

It's easier to see in this video.

There's a separate lock for kayaks and other small water craft.