Chirag's Space

Alki (pronounced Ayl-Kaai) Beach is the only popular beach in vicinty of Seattle. Its a long beach strip along the west side of Eliott Bay and a great place to enjoy the sun on a summer day. Many vibrant eateries and joints dot Alki Avenue which runs along the beach. Mind you, this beach is not meant for water sports and people generally even avoid to wade the waters as they are very mirky. So long as you remain on the sand and enjoy the warmth of the sun, its a nice spot for a barbecue picnic. One noticable artefact on the north end of the beach is the miniature Statue of Liberty! If you like, you can also rent out bicycles, skating boards and even small boats for very reasonable amounts. As the beach is located on the other side of Eliott Bay, it offers spectacular views of Seattle Skyline and Olympic mountains.

On the weekend before 2006 Labor Day weekend, we made an exciting trip southwards to Crater Lake in Oregon via the Sand Dunes where we stopped over in the afternoon.  The Oregon Dunes extend for 40 miles along the Oregon Coast. Formed by the ancient forces of wind, water and time, these dunes are incomparable to any other in the world.

 

After several hours of driving the rented Subaru Outback on I5 south, we found many establishments that were renting out mud bikes or running scenic or adventure tours on buggies. Fortunately, we made the right decision of taking an advenure tour instead of a scenic one. The wait for our turn was long and we utilized the time to gulp down some food. It was a sunny day but it was windy too with cold winds making us feel, well, cold.

 

Once our yellow buggy arrived, we had no idea what was in store for us. All 4 of us (me, Rikti, Ashish and Sonia) belted ourselves tightly into the buggy seats and wore gigantic red glasses meant to prevent our eyes from the dust. This buggy could have easily passed for a lunar vehicle based on its look and feel. The buggy driver started off towards the dunes via a narrow pathway.

 

The first sight of the dunes was a sight to see with vast expanses of steep sandy slopes in all directions. Until then, we did not know what we had signed up for by paying the ~30 dollars per person for the ride. The vehicle suddenly sped up and raced towards a steep mountain of dust which I never thought a vehicle could climb. Ah, and as soon as we got to the top safely, waiting for us was a steep drop to the other side again at real great speeds. The great maneuvering skills of the driver coupled with the knowledge of low center of gravity that the vehicle was designed to have, we soon started to feel comfortable. Another factor for the comfort was that we had been subjected to the most cruel stunts at the very beginning itself. It was the most exhilerating and thrilling 5 minutes of my life in so many years.

 

The ride went on for 30 minutes, we stopped a few times to take some pictures. Some parts of the dunes had very clear blue water oasis. There were many other bikers enjoying the sporting adventure with high flags on everyone’s bikes. For a moment, I felt I was inside a video game. As a kiddo I used to have some games on Samurai or Media which were sand dunes simulations and for the first time I experienced what a sand dune adventure is really like.

 

Though the main destination of our weekend trip was Crater Lake, the 30 minutes adventure ride at the Oregon Dunes was worth 5 hours of drive and every galon of gas and penny spent. Rating: * * * * *

Around 30 miles east of Seattle is a very scenic waterfall by the name of Snoqualmie Falls. Rikti and I went there for the first time in April 2006 on what was a drizzly weekend. We had more fun than we thought we would and spent around 3 hours at the site. Seattle area as it is is very scenic and pretty with tall trees and greenery all around, but the site of Snoqualmie falls topped it all especially that day.

 

The official Snoqualmie Falls site says that 1.5 million people visit this natural scenic wonder every year. In my calculation that equates to around 1 person every 20 seconds! To get to Snoqualmie you just need to go I 90 east from Seattle and then follow the signs to Snoqualmie city and then the falls. You park on one side of the road, walk over an overbridge to reach the viewing deck they have constructed, and enjoy the musical sound of a lot of water falling from a height of 270 feet (a little less than half the size of the space needle). There is a hotel located at the edge of the falls and a railway track on the cliff across the river, both of which are picture perfect sites.

 

We did not forget our loyal digital camera behind (Nikon Coolpix 2.1 Megapixels that Raman helped me buy in Hong Kong in 2002!) so we did a lot of clicking away. One thing no one should miss at the falls is the hiking trail that takes you to the bottom of the falls. The trail itself is nothing extraordinary but when you reach the bottom, its a magnificient site altogether. We acted a little adventurous and climbed off of the wooden trail to get closer to the Snoqualmie river. We even saw a lot of cloud formation taking place in that area.

 

 

On the way back we stopped over at the Northbend factory outlet to spend some dollars on things we did not need. One of the pictures I have posted here has Mount Si in the background and Rikti in the fore. This mountain is supposed to have some history associated with it. 

 

 

 

• The factory covers a whopping 98.3 acres under one roof – big enough to fit 911 basketball courts.
• The ceiling is nearly 9 storeys (90 feet) above the factory floor.
• Each of the hangar doors (the blue doors seen in the pic below) is nearly the size of a US football field!

When we got off the bus, we climbed down the stairs to one of the underground service tunnels that was .33 miles in length covering the breadth of the building. On the tour we learnt other interesting facts:

• Boeing does not deliver the planes to its customers, but they are supposed to pick them up
• When the planes are ready for pick up, they fly directly to an airport and get into service – no downtime!
• Boeing accepts only cash payments for all the sales – no visa or mastercards – means no credit extended
• 1/3rd of the payment is taken at the time of order, another 1/3rd after the plane is ready and the remainder after the acceptance test
• During the delivery process for each plan, a meeting is held and 2400 pages of documentation is gone through to check off on each item
• Boeing can produce as many as 7 planes per assembly line in a month but usually production does not occur at that capacity
• 787 is the new Boeing plane that has been designed which is 20% lower in cost and 20% more fuel efficient

 

Overall the tour was okay and nothing out of this world apart from the sheer size of the buildings and doors we got to see. Truly speaking, I think I enjoyed the Maruti factory tour in Gurgaon (as part of my management studies at IILM, New Delhi) more than I enjoyed the Boeing factory tour.

I was trying to book some tickets on the Indian Railways website. If you are into web designing, it is a great site to learn from. Just be sure to avoid all and any kind of UI design used on this site as it seems to be a collection of all the avoidable UI practices. Someone definitely needs to redo that site.