| We took a quick trip into Seattle. It was an overnight, so we spent the morning wandering the waterfront, then went to dinner at Rockcreek in Fremont and walked back most of the way to the hotel. It's been a while since we wandered Seattle. It was nice to get back. |
 Mt. Rainier on the ferry over |
 Seattle waterfront |
 More Seattle waterfront |
 An early rose |
 The Seattle PI Building still has its icon though the paper is long gone. |
 Fremont |
 From Fremont Bridge |
 South Lake Union |
 More South Lake Union |
For more on Seattle and Seattle Restaurants, see our Seattle web page.
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03/22/24 - University of Washington Cherry Blossoms It was a rainy day in Seattle when we made our to the University of Washington to see this year's cherry blossoms. We had been following on the webcam, and the flowers seemed to be approaching their peek. The rain may have thinned the crowd a bit. If nothing else, it discouraged picnickers. Still, there was a good crowd, and the flowers were in full bloom and stunning. We wandered the quad admiring this harbinger of warmer weather. |
 Our first view |
 A magnolia joining the fun |
 Another view |
 Across the way |
 Cauliflory |
 Flowers growing from the trunk |
 We don't really need all these captions. |
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 Another flowering plant with a wonderful scent |
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Keywords: flowers, seattle, weather
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12/17/23 - Christmas Trip to Seattle We took a quick trip into Seattle for a bit of urban life. The ferries were their usual mess. We found out that one of the Bainbridge ferries was out only at the toll booth. We made it into town a bit late but with plenty of time to explore. We scooted up to Volunteer Park to see the Christmas display and back to our hotel in time for check in. There had been a convention going on last time, but this time the lobby was much quieter.We did some shopping down at Pikes Place Market loading up on holiday cheeses at Delaurenti and admiring the fish and vegetables at Sosio's and Pure Food Fish respectively. There was a beautiful sunset over the sound. We had dinner at Nishino for the first time in a few years and were pleased to see that the food was as good as ever. We even had our usual corner table and really enjoyed our omakase dinner. |
 Mount Rainier as seen from the ferry |
 At the Volunteer Park Conservatory |
 Winter flowers |
 Is someone hungry? |
 A bit of Christmas color |
 Orchids |
 The Christmas village |
 The Christmas tree |
 More Christmas color |
 And some more |
 And yet more, with nutcrackers |
 The view from our room |
 A Christmas tree downtown |
 Seattle sunset |
 Sosio's |
 The Market |
 The market again |
 Downtown Seattle, under the monorail |
 A bit of city life |
 Across from Nishino |
 Nishino |
 A night view |
 And more night |
| We've crossed the Hood Canal Bridge on our way to Seattle many times now, but this time the fog was thick. Cars and trucks seemed to appear out of nowhere. |
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| The next morning, we were up early. We had a great view of the morning sunrise and Mount Rainier. |
 Mount Rainier |
 Seattle view |
 Not quite full daylight |
 Three antennae |
 Bluer sky |
 Cranes: it must be Seattle. |
 Still early light |
 View from a window |
 Another view |
 Framed view |
 Mount Rainier aain |
 Almost day light |
 Day light |
Keywords: mount rainier, seattle
| We made a quick overnight trip into Seattle. Our hotel room had a great view, and there is definitely something about city lights at night. |
 View from our room |
 Another view |
 Evening in the city |
 Guess where we ate. |
 More city night |
 Quiet streets at this hour |
 Buses still running |
 More night in the city |
 More lights |
 Another street |
 So much to see |
 From our room after dark |
 City view at night - It has to be Seattle. Note the construction crane. |
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Seattle is much quieter than we remember it. Granted, we were wandering about early in the day, but downtown is no longer as bustling. Perhaps it was the cold, dank weather and a spring that has been all too slow in coming. Perhaps it was COVID and people working from home. Perhaps it isn't cruise season yet.
We checked out Pike Place Market which was still quiet. We bought some ramps and frisee. Ramps are a type of wild onion and special spring treat. There are signs of spring, out in the country and in town. |
 A Seattle street |
 Light traffic and careless framing |
 Another quiet street |
 Pike Place Market, still setting up |
 Sosio's is on the left. |
 The market, still calm |
 Sosio's always has a great display. |
 Another view |
 Pure Food Fish |
 Early morning |
 Another quiet corridor, but this was is almost always quiet. |
 The Public Market sign |
 Westlake Center |
Keywords: seattle, spring, weather
| On our last trip into Seattle, we stayed at the Hyatt Regency for the first time. It's a relatively new hotel near the convention center. It met our basic requirements of cold, dark and quiet. The HVAC worked properly. The room was quiet. It was dark at night. Our room was well layed out and very comfortable. It also had an amazing view of Seattle, Lake Union and the Cascade Mountains. |
 Bustling Seattle, still building |
 Towards dusk |
 Even darker |
 Much darker; Note the three cranes in this view. |
 Full night |
 The next morning |
 The Cascades |
 Early light |
 Eerie light |
 Seattle has lots of antenna triplets. |
 Later in the morning |
 Daylight |
 Another look |
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04/04/23 - Signs of Spring - Cherry Blossoms at UW This has been a long, cold, rough winter, so we've been seeking out signs of spring. We checked the UW web site and saw that the cherry blossoms were at peak bloom. There was no way we could resist. We drove into Seattle and explored the Quad. It was full of cherry blossoms and people marveling at them. We had thought that selfie sticks had gone out of style, but the Quad was full of them. Even better, it was full of dark gnarly trees with clouds of pale pink flowers.It seems like spring is finally coming even as a cold wind still blows now and then. It was worth driving into town for a taste of the still incoming season. We're in less of a hurry now, but we're still seeking out signs of spring. |
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Keywords: flowers, seattle, spring
| We had an errand to run in Seattle. We left lots of extra time, but we lucked out with no Hood Canal Bridge closing, ferries running on time with lots of free spaces and minimal traffic, so we stopped and explored the Seattle Arboretum. They have a great winter garden, but we were a bit early for that. The witch hazels were still in waiting, but there was a lot of great fall color. |
 Fall color |
 More color |
 Even more color |
 The have a great collection of trees. |
 An unusual color |
 More trees as one would expect in an arboretum |
 The path |
 Autumn color - thank you, thesaurus |
 And more |
 And yet more |
 And even more |
 There was quite a show. |
 A mix of colors |
 Another great tree |
 Some of the first wItch hazel to bloom |
| It was a hot hazy day. It seems like it is a hot hazy day every time we head into Seattle. This time we flew, and we took some pictures of the Olympic Mountains on our way back. Yes, they are hazy. |
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03/29/22 - Cherry Blossoms at the University of Washington We try to see the cherry blossoms at the University of Washington every year. We missed a year because of COVID, and we almost missed this year because of the ferry staffing shortage. Usually, the ferries run frequently with waits less than an hour, but, this year, they are often and unpredictably running on half scheduling meaning that the time between ferries is nearly two hours.We watched the schedule and the webcams carefully, and then we made our plans. We arrived early for the Kingston to Edmonds ferry and made our way to UW. The cherry blossoms were beautiful. There was the usual crowd of tourists, couples, friends and families taking in the scene. We made our circuit pausing to admire this view and that tree in the brilliant sunlight. We had timed our ferries well, but we hadn't timed the weather. By the time we had finished our circuit the skies had darkened and a light rain had started. The crowds vanished leaving us and few other die hards. Raincoats are wonderful things. We wandered around some more. The trees and their flowers were as wonderful as ever. Then, we headed off. We made a quick stop at Din Tai Fung at U Village to grab a load of dumplings and scooted down to the Bainbridge ferry which was running on full schedule. We made the first boat and ate our dumplings on the crossing. Our lightning trip had worked out perfectly. In this part of the world, one can't afford to let rain be a spoiler. |
 Our wake on the way over |
 The cherry blossoms |
 More cherry flowers |
 Another view of the cherry trees |
 A cloud of cherry - thesaurus, please - blooms |
 A view down the aisle |
 No caption needed here |
 It is sort of magical under the trees |
 More magic |
 Even more magic |
 Dark twisted old branches |
 Graying skies |
 See, the blossoms are still beautiful. |
 The quad starts to empty. |
 Looking upward |
 Looking across |
 Even emptier |
 A raindrop, captured on camera |
 The wet quad |
Keywords: flowers, seattle, weather
| We had to take a quick flight into Seattle, so we took some pictures of our flight. We flew with Rite Brothers. They offer scenic flights with great views of the Puget Sound, the Olympic Mountains and distant volcanoes. We just flew a charter into Boeing Field, but we got the scenery anyway. |
 Mountains and clouds |
 Mount Baker |
 The Olympic Mountains |
 Mount Rainier |
 One of the great mountains |
 More mountains and clouds |
 Our local mountains again |
 Hood Canal |
 Seattle |
 Flowers in bloom in Seattle |
 Seattle again |
Keywords: flying, seattle, mount rainier
| We took a short trip into Seattle for the SIFF Noir City Film Festival. We took our usual trip up to Ballard Locks where the water was running at full force. The fish ladder was closed for repairs as was one of the locks, but the winter and early spring flowers were already in bloom. As a bonus, there was a tree full of nesting herons. We've never seen them there before, but this time there were at least six and possibly more. |
 Seattle in the evening |
 Daphnes in bloom |
 Early crocuses |
 Water at full flow |
 A more distant view |
 Herons in the tree |
 More herons and their nests |
 Herons and nests from a distance |
 Frothing water |
 An empty lock |
 The view downstream |
 Edgeworthia chrysantha with a wonderful scent |
 Berries |
 Evening in Seattle |
 Another evening view |
 Post Alley at night |
 Pike Place Market at night |
 Another market view |
 Seattle streets |
Keywords: flowers, seattle, spring, winter
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12/25/19 - Back Home Summary - Thanksgiving and Christmas We went to New York City for a wedding in October, then to Ethiopia in November, but we still had Thanksgiving and Christmas and a trip to Seattle. This is in case you are wondering what we've been up to.We returned from Ethiopia on Sunday, so we had four full days to Thanksgiving. We were doing Thanksgiving for about a dozen people, so we had to work quickly. Luckily, the turkey we had ordered arrived on time on Tuesday, so the rest of the time was spent shopping, cooking and recovering from jet lag. We had roast turkey, stuffing, kale salad, fennel salad, turnips with vanilla, delicata squash with oysters, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts hash, parmesan potatoes and cranberry chutney. Dessert was pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pecan brittle (just pecan pie filling) and our own dried apples with butter, sugar, and spices. It was a big success. We chose a tree over the weekend and went into Seattle do some shopping for our Christmas party and to see the lights and sights. As usual, we checked out the gingerbread cookie sculptures on display at the Sheraton and Pike Place Market. Our trees arrived the day after, and our party was that weekend. We set to with the lights, electric and candle, and started cooking. We soon had both trees under control and a cassoulet in the oven. We lit the candles on the cookie tree, and everyone tried to remember the words to O Christmas Tree. To our credit, no one tried to look them up online while the candles were lit. We were home. We were out on the street when Santa came by on his illuminated firetruck, and we were all set for the big day. |
 Thanksgiving |
 Seattle sunset - Look, no viaduct! |
 Gingerbread village |
 Gingerbread city |
 Pike Place market |
 Another view of the market |
 Near the market |
 Back home in the grove |
 Our tree as yet unadorned, no Hanukah candles either |
 Illuminated |
 Ready to illuminate |
 Party night |
 Godzilla, his nuclear fires lit, admires the party spread |
 The pièce de résistance |
 Something to wash it down |
 Candles lit |
 All lit up |
 Santa is coming |
 The Christmas firetruck |
Keywords: port angeles, seattle, christmas, thanksgiving
| In Seattle, they use any excuse to close the sidewalks, sometimes even for years. It seems impossible to even sweep a sidewalk without closing it down and putting up fencing and jersey barriers to block pedestrians. In New York City, this is a rarity. Builders are expected to maintain sidewalk access by erecting what is legally known as a sidewalk shed but is just a wood and steel construct that keeps the sidewalk open and keeps things falling from the construction site from landing on passersby. Since these usually have a broad open face which can be leased to advertisers, builders will set up their "shed" as soon as they can often keep it up for years after construction is complete. The sidewalk, however, is rarely closed, but, here, in front of the Farley Post Office Building across from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden - which is nowhere near Madison Square - the sidewalk was closed. It was a little touch of Seattle thousands of miles from home. |
 A touch of Seattle |
Keywords: new york city, seattle
| We checked out the fish channel at the Ballard Locks, but there were no salmon to be seen. We explored the locks and gardens a bit, then we made our way to Stoneburner for dinner. The fennel sausage pizza was wonderful, and we really enjoyed the pasta dishes. The hit was, as usual, the charcuterie and cheese plate. The we walked back via the Fremont Bridge and along the South Lake Union waterfront. |
 The Ballard Locks |
 The big lock - There is also a smaller lock that is used more often. |
 Another view with a dramatic sky |
 Ballard in the evening |
 More Ballard |
 Waterfront |
 Toward Fremont |
 From the Fremont Bridge |
 Across South Lake Union |
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09/09/19 - Foster Island and the Arboretum We were in Seattle for a short trip and took a walk from the UW light rail station to the Japanese Garden. We headed south across The Cut and took a hard left then headed down the steps towards the water. We followed the trail through scrub forest and along causeways to Foster Island and then south, under the highway, to the Arboretum. Usually, we give up around here, but this time we continued south and made our way to the Japanese Garden. The trees were still green, so we'll be back later in the fall for some proper leaf viewing. |
 Down the steps |
 Into the woods |
 There were still some water lilies in bloom. |
 More of the trail |
 Following the trail |
 They could do a great Halloween Haunted Trail here. |
 More trail |
 The Arboretum |
 Some flowers still in bloom |
| Some friends of ours were celebrating their anniversary on the top floor of one of the Insignia Towers. These two 40+ floor towers had been holes in the ground quite recently, but now they were full of homes, offices and amenities. One of the amenities was a roof top dog walk. Another was the party room where we celebrated our friends' anniversary. Yet another was a roof top lounge where we took these pictures of the setting sun. |
 An iconic Seattle scene |
 South Lake Union |
 The Olympic Mountains |
 The harbor |
 South a bit to downtown - You can tell it is Seattle because of the crane visible near the left edge. |
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