For simple fun there's nothing quite like digging a hole. Said no one ever. Digging for clams, however -- now there's a ticket to the fun parade! And for clam digging, nothing quite beats razor clams out on the Pacific coastline. Razor clams enjoy sandy beaches and inhabit tidal zones only revealed by the lowest tides, so razor clam digs are scheduled around the tide table. Last weekend had a trio of low tides out on the Washington coast, corresponding with an open seaso

In which an undersea adventure yields tasty treats at moderate risk to life and limb. Lessons are learned. I visited Paul and Hillary out on Vashon Island early in September. Vashon Island is a beautiful, agrarian-feeling place a very short ferry ride from West Seattle - an easy way to get an island outing as a day trip from the city. Paul and Hillary have a little walk-up place right on the south west shoreline of the island. The weather was great and Paul suggested we t

I abandoned my Redmond-based-tech-company job back in September of last year, but I still keep in touch with a few folks who are keeping their noses to that grindstone, and I sprung a couple of them on a Thursday afternoon a week ago to make a canoe commute from Lake Sammammish to Lake Washington. These two lakes are connected by the Sammammish River, which is well known for it's paved bicycling path but doesn't get a lot of attention as a waterway in its own right. But it'

This mother's day the family went for an outing to Anderson Island. One of the San Juans, you say? No. Uh...isn't it that one next to Whidbey, or Vashon or something? Nope. Anderson Island is the southern most Puget Sound island, which puts it in Pierce County. It is accessed via car/passenger ferries operated by Pierce County, which is why you won't find the schedule or terminal information listed among the otherwise ubiquitous Washington State Ferries routes. The isl

Gabe got a $25 Craigslist canoe with somewhat dubious claims of hull integrity. Before trusting his gear and personal safety to the craft on an upcoming overnight trip, Gabe figured to test the boat in waters closer to home. I couldn't pass up the possibility of watching a slowly sinking boat, and so agreed to join in on a quick outing. There are lots of urban paddling options in Seattle, but none so close to the heart of the city as Lake Union. We unloaded the boats at Wat

These February days have been unnaturally bright and mild, inciting the early bloom of cherry blossoms, the early buzzing of bumblebees, and awakening the paddling bug. Moving water has an incredible draw for many people, myself included. There's something powerful and soothing about being near a waterway, a kind of medicine of sorts, good to ward off the ill effects of cubicles, work stress, and overly full inboxes (check out this article for an exploration into the health

I was feeling old in December. Not "wise" old, not "old soul" old, but "everything hurts" old. I think part of this stems from a return to more regular physical labor. I've been doing some building projects at home, which have included activities like overhead sheetrocking, stooped installation of wood floors, and the lifting and carrying of heavy objects. All of this would, no doubt, be of little impact to a younger man's body, or even to an older man's body accustomed