Well, crap. I am getting old. I just went to my ten year college reunion and pretended I was 21 again. However, this proves difficult to do when you have a four year old and a one year old in tow. So I did not end up doing a keg stand at the random house party, or tandem biking it from one house to another. (Our 1983 tandem bike got stolen in Tacoma 10 years ago anyway.) But it was still amazingly great to catch up with old friends, relive college memories, and of course, hang off the docks.
For those of you who are not biology majors, but attended UPS, there is a little known world of insane coolness at the Point Defiance Park docks. If you hang your head over the side, as shown above, and look down at the dock itself, you will see a world you didn't know existed. There are sea urchins, anemones, kelp crabs, barnacles, sea lettuce, kelp ropes, sea stars, and the most amazing tube worms. (The tube worms are my favorite, because if you touch their flowery looking ends, they suck in super fast and it is fun to mess with them.)
I first discovered this wonderland of fun and beauty in my Bio112 class with Peter Wimberger. It pretty much convinced me on the spot to become a bio nerd for life. After that lab, these docks became a place to take friends, contemplate life, and just take a break from the world. I could have looked down into that world for hours, or until a boat came by and almost chopped my head off.
If you have never hung off the docks before, I suggest you try it because your life will never be the same. You will look at the little things differently, and maybe you will consider hunting sun stars at midnight with a head lamp on and a lab partner by your side.
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