One for the Books

WALKING ON WATER:  On Saturday, we took a field trip to Lake Washington, for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to walk across the brand new 520 bridge - the longest floating bridge in the world. There was even a representative from the Guinness Book of World Records on hand for the event!

Early on, the kids posed for a recreation of the ribbon-cutting ceremony. We all picked up passports to get stamps at stations as we made our way across.

Initially, it was gray and even a bit chilly. But the water was smooth, and it was fun checking out Lake Washington up close. 

As you can see, there is still a lot of work-in-progress.

Along the way there were multiple signs detailing various aspects of the $4.6 billion bridge's construction.

 Much of the information involved environmental impact considerations.

 There were booths with staff on hand to explain various construction elements. 

And there were signs along the way to encourage you to keep going. 

We met a couple of mascots in our travels. 

And we spied a spiffy new street sweeper.

The kids checked out a wall of water (a display to explain how bubble walls help protect fish).

We even checked out a birdie bridge (yes, really). Apparently cormorants would dive for fish, then get trapped, because they lacked enough space to take off after eating. Interesting.

About midspan we ran into a bit of a bottleneck. It was caused by Washington state Governor Jay Inslee giving a "hooray for us" speech.

With little trouble, we made our way about 1.5 miles to the bridge's east side, in Bellevue.

Below is the view looking back toward Seattle.

So the above was the good part. Now, the not so good ... 

The bridge hasn't opened to vehicle traffic yet, and on Saturday, there was only one way to get there: By shuttle. We caught our ridge at the University of Washington. 

To say it was a disorganized chaos would be putting it mildly. Fortunately, we were there early in the day (about 20 minutes before the all-day event even started), and got on an early shuttle over to the bridge. Hundreds and hundreds and then thousands of others began arriving, and after we walked across, rather than turning around and walking back to catch the shuttle (or original plan), we hopped a bus back to the UW. As we rode, our eyes popped at the number of people now on the bridge, and those waiting in line to walk over kinda tricky metal catwalk bridges over concrete barriers (why didn't they just move a Jersey barrier or two). Once back at UW, we were also floored by the throngs of people waiting a shuttle to get to the bridge. We'd learn later many of them were likely turned away because they shut the event down to new arrivals due to the bridge being so full. 

This quite from a KOMO News story was a bit disconcerting: "The huge crowd included 13,500 runners and about 30,000 people who were shuttled in to attend the grand opening events. At one point the crowds were so large, WSDOT had to cut off incoming visitors to help move people off the bridge.

"That many people condensed on a floating bridge, we really wanted to calculate it out and make sure it was completely safe, and it was," said Peer. "That many people weigh more than vehicles going across the bridge."

Yikes.

After we left, people (including elderly and babies) waited 2-3 hours in line for a shuttle back. Everyone was standing on the concrete in the sun, in a mass of humanity, no water, limited porta potties. No good (see the local news photo below).

Following are Annabelle's impressions of the event:

The longest floating bridge in the world spans from Seattle to Bellevue. I had the rare chance to walk on where the cars are going to drive! The experience was really unique, and there were definitely high points and low points. I thought the walk was fun, as there was a lot to look at. They had fun stations along the way where you can learn about the bridge, its surroundings, and other things. The stations also offer stamps, which can be used to get a chance at winning free plane tickets! We didn’t look closely at the stations, but we got some cool stuff! They also had little outlooks on the pedestrian side of the bridge, which were pretty. The only part I really didn’t like was the line before the got on the bridge. When we first got there, there was already a line. So we got in our place and waited. But the line we were in didn’t move and it seemed like people were just walking up and getting on a bus! So we went to the back of the line that was walking on and then we were stuck FURTHER BACK IN LINE! Meanwhile, the people that were supposed to be MANAGING this thing were standing around talking to each other! By 10:00 (the time the event actually started), they had everything in order. But it was still disappointing they weren’t ready for early people. Otherwise, everything was fun!

And here is CJ's take:

On April 2nd, the City of Seattle opened a new floating bridge on Highway 520, appropriately named the 520 Bridge, which set a world record for the world's longest floating bridge. The 520 Bridge is in the process of replacing the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, which was already the world's longest floating bridge (according to the WSDOT's website, the new bridge is 132 feet longer than the old one). The old bridge is nearly 53 years old, near the end of its service life, and the new bridge is expected to support traffic for more than 75 years. Both the old bridge and the new one are built using pontoons, which displace the amount of water below the bridge equivalent to the bridge's weight, plus the estimated weight of traffic aboard the bridge. The new bridge's opening event involved walking on the bridge, with several educational stations (run by companies that sponsored the opening) along the way. There were also multiple local food trucks, such as Snout and Co. and Nosh. I noticed that the bridge was very crowded at the event, and it apparently got worse while we were gone. According to The Seattle Times, between 25,000 and 30,000 people showed up at the opening. On the way back, we went on a bus and returned to the UW campus, where we started the trip. Other people did not have the same fortune though, because people waited for as long as an hour to return on one of the 51 buses present. I am glad that I got to go to the grand opening of the 520 Bridge, and especially before it was packed full.

The westbound lanes of the new bridge are scheduled to open next Monday, April 11.Two weeks later, another weekend closure of both bridges is planned. All lanes of the new bridge are scheduled to open by Monday, April 25.

Here's a virtual tour of the bridge, if you're interested. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naPoDAIOzB0

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BACK ON THE MAINLAND: After our hasty escape from the bridge, we hopped off the shuttle and walked through the heart of the University of Washington campus in hopes of catching a bus elsewhere. 

It was a nice opportunity to take in some of the beautiful sights at UW, including Drumheller Fountain.  

 The campus' many cherry trees were just past their prime, but still lovely.

As we walked north on campus from the fountain toward Red Square, we heard what sounded like grand church bells ringing and ringing and ringing.  The sound was coming from Gerberding Hall. I've never heard bells ringing during my multiple campus visits before.

Once home, we did a little research and learned they bells were manufactured in Holland and donated by Gordon Stuart Peek. They have been on campus since 2008, and are part of UW's music program. There are eight bells in all, and they are attached to ropes and rung by hand.  Lucky for us, we just happened to be there during one of their scheduled ringing times. 

They're called Change Ringing Tower Bells and their inaugural ceremony and ring took place on May 31, 2008. We've learned they're the only set of Changing Ringing Tower Bells on the West Coast of the United States. These new bells were installed at on the campus of the University of Washington through a donation by the Gordon Stuart Peek Foundation.

Below is a clip from part of a show about the bells that aired on  SCAN TV in Seattle in 2008. (https://youtu.be/ciZjHNKOozg)

Once past the bells, we made our way to Red Square. Can you spot the kids under the purple banner? And how about the woman with a selfie stick who took approximately 300 photos of herself in the five minutes we were around her?

BALLIN': Sunday afternoon we watched the Final Four competition of the NCAA women's Div. 1 basketball championships. Christian's OSU Beavers were playing UConn, and the UW Huskies were playing Syracuse. 

We whipped up some basketball and purple-and-gold (Huskies' colors) treats for the occasion. 

Unfortunately, the Beavers and the Huskies each lost. Oh well, there's always next year ... 

We're all about baseball season now! Today was opening day!