Seattle, Washington, USA
August 2006

On a clear summer day in Seattle, of which there are many, you could make worse decisions than spending your time at the Seattle Center. Although the Center is more known for the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center and Experience Music Project museum, it’s this spot that I find the most fun.

This fountain sits in a bowl, its water spraying with varying degrees of force and at different intervals. Kids flock to it like a bug to a windshield. Until looking at this photo, it never occurred to me how many different ways there are to get soaked.

Kids have the power of instinctive creativity. They see a stream of water and they react. They don’t have to think about how they’re going to approach it and if that approach has been done before. They just do it.

That could be one of the reasons why you rarely see adults in the fountain. If they do anything but stand still as the water rains down on them, they think they look childish.

But who cares how you look as long as you’re having fun?