Seward Park design

Spent six hours this morning designing the street half of the Seward Park Street Scramble. Weather was great, much warmer than yesterday, which I spent vetting the Everett course.

I didn't know much about the area around Seward Park, so I picked locations that looked interesting on the USGS map. As usual, I didn't have any trouble finding interesting spots. A surprise: MLK Way is one big construction zone, apparently for light rail. There is still one lane open in each direction for driving, but it's possible to cross MLK only at certain intersections. We'll have to scope out the open intersections closer to the event. Or perhaps there's a website with up-to-date info.

I am very excited about offering a hybrid street and park event. Not many Street Scramble fans have come to Cascade's park orienteering events, but I am sure that they will like park orienteering.

At one of the CPs I scouted this morning, I conversed with a young boy (maybe 6) who was waiting for his dad to tie their canoe to the top of their car. I showed him my map and told him that I was designing a treasure hunt. I then gave him an impromptu map reading lesson by asking him leading questions about the map, such as, "Do you know where we are right now? Could we be here?" -- pointing to the middle of Lake Washington. "No? Well, then could we be here?" -- pointing to an inland location. I really enjoy teaching kids how to read maps; most of them like learning this stuff. I wrote down the info about the Seward Park Street Scramble for him to show his dad.

I began scouting at 6:30 a.m. and finished up just after noon. It's so wonderful to do urban field work early on weekend mornings. I enjoyed watching the neighborhood wake up. At first I saw very few pedestrians and cars. Early on I did see a number of people waiting for busses on Rainier Ave. and MLK -- returning from late nights? Then I smelled breakfast cooking somewhere. Cyclists started appearing on Lake Washington Blvd. Around 10:00, families started appearing in front yards, making it more difficult for me to serruptitiously scout controls in residential areas. Finally around 11:00 traffic on main streets like Orcas reached a level of congestion that is annoying. I worked for about an hour after that, then called it a day.

I hope I get a chance to put my work into OCAD tonight or tomorrow at the latest, while it is still fresh in my mind. I also still have to input my work from Everett yesterday.