Duck Boat Goose

 

 

A year before a tragedy involving a Duck Boat Tour vehicle occurred on Seattle's Aurora Bridge, I took these pictures of what was then such a hilarious scene. We were driving to Ivar's Salmon House on the edge of Lake Union, and just as we were approaching it on the left, traffic was halted in either direction--with us in the front in our lane--because of a row of geese crossing the street. That in itself was cute, because who doesn't like to see traffic stopped for a group of animals crossing at their own what seems like a ridiculously slow pace? The hilarity factor increased exponentially when we looked at the stopped oncoming traffic and realized a Duck Boat was stopped for a row of geese! I thought of the preschool game, Duck Duck Goose, and the photo I took gained the name Duck Boat Goose.

I never did post these photos because, quite honestly, I kind of lost them online, in fact I was pretty sure I had deleted them inadvertently. And then, just a few days after the Duck Boat tragedy (referred to in the post entitled Shared Experiences, the Ties That Bind) happened, these photos strangely reappeared on my computer. At first I did not have the heart to post them, and even now, with memorials happening for the International college students killed on the bus the compromised Duck Boat rammed, I wondered if I have even waited enough time. Hearts are still very heavy.

This oddly reminds me of a widely popular comedian, impersonator and musician from the early '60's, Vaughn Meader, who found fame in 1962 after the release of a comedy record, The First Family. The album spoofed President John F. Kennedy (with him doing his voice) and the First Lady, Jackie Kennedy. It went on to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1963. At the peak of his career he performed his Kennedy impersonation on variety shows. My family had a copy of his album, and it was hilarious. We loved it.

But then came November 22, 1963, a very dark day in American history, when President Kennedy was assassinated. We knew we could never listed to Meader's album again and ever find it even mildly amusing, so my mother purposefully broke the LB in half and tossed it in the garbage.

Vaughn Meader's career ended that day. Although he would later try to revive it doing non-Kennedy-related material, it was doomed because of what happened in Dallas on that fateful day. Copies of The First Family were immediately pulled from shelves across the country, and a JFK-related Christmas single that had been released shortly before the assassination was quickly withdrawn. Previously scheduled appearances, including one for the Grammy Awards show, were cancelled. Meader eventually moved back to his native Maine and went back to being a musician and managed a pub. He was still married to his fourth wife when he passed away in 2004 at the age of 68.

Forty years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Meader quipped, "It was a character assassination. My character was assassinated, and I got a bum wrap." Forty years after the world tragedy, people were ready to laugh again---probably not his family, but other people perhaps.

Duck Boat Tours are primarily offered as tourist attractions all over the United States in harbor, river and lake cities. They are both educational and entertaining. My husband and I took a Duck Boat Tour in Ketchikan, Alaska and enjoyed the adventure immensely. I didn't give a thought to its safety. It was a fun experience. The accident in Seattle a few weeks ago cut short five lives, but they were on the bus the Duck Boat hit. The first lawsuit has been filed--I knew that was coming, and for good reason if indeed that particular Duck Boat had not followed maintenance requirements. The owner of the Seattle fleet was a successful business owner just a few minutes before the crash, and then everything came, well, crashing down. I suspect his career, like Vaughn Meader's, is over.

So is it too early to look at a photo of a Duck Boat stopped for a row of geese crossing a busy Seattle street? We saw the boat load of people up on their feet snapping photos of the geese too, but their perspective wasn't as humorous as ours. I'm sure they can still look back and say, as so many have, "Wow, that sure was a fun tour!"

I have cried tears over that tragic accident, but I can still look at this photo and say, "The Duck stopped for the Geese---ha ha ha!" And I am so glad I found these photos.