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10/03/09 - View From The West Seattle Water Taxi

We took the Water Taxi from Pier 55 out to West Seattle on our last trip into town, and here is a panorama of the wonderful view of the harbor. We took advantage of the convenient shuttles and made our way up to The Swinery. The Swinery actually sells a lot more than pork, including some great looking beef and lamb. We'll have to get back, and we'll have to explore West Seattle some more.

Click the image for a closer look

Keywords: seattle

09/03/09 - Some Seattle Sights

We were in Seattle recently and took some pictures.

The Space Needle in the morning fog

Seattle alley

The Space Needle from Volunteer Park

One of the water lilies

The greenhouse at Volunteer Park

Keywords: seattle

09/02/09 - Sad News About Quinn's

We have sad news about one of our favorite restaurants in Seattle, the place we once considered "meat heaven", Quinn's. They always seemed a bit out of place serving serious food in a beer and burger neighborhood, but now they fit right in. Unfortunately, we no longer do. Good bye to all that, and by "that" we mean marrow bones, tongue hash, crepinette and all of our favorites there.

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

09/01/09 - Front Seat To Seattle

One of the nice things about flying in little airplanes is that you don't need a lot of special skills to sit in the front seat. That means even a Kaleberg can get the advantages of a wonderful cockpit view as you can see in a these photos. It was a cloudy day, but that gave everything a quintessential Northwestern look.

Rule One - Mitts off!

Blue tones and mountains

Ediz Spit and lens flare

The propeller is too fast for our camera.

More mountains and cloud

Keywords: seattle, flying, kale

07/02/09 - The Space Needle Reflected

There are a lot of tall buildings in Seattle, many of them taller than the Space Needle. Many of these buildings, and not just the taller ones, make fairly good mirrors, if you don't mind a bit of warping. Look up every so often when you are in Seattle, and see if you can get a reflected view of the Needle like this one.

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06/30/09 - Ballard Locks

We happened to catch the Ballard Locks in action. There was a tugboat pulling a pair of barges and a host of smaller craft in the lock waiting for their trip down to the level of the Puget Sound. After a bit, they closed the far gate of the lock. Then, the bells rang, and the lock drained. When the water level in the lock matched the lower level, they opened the gate and let everyone out. It doesn't sound like much, but it is kind of amazing to watch. It works just the way it does in those science book illustrations.

A tugboat waiting for the lock: Note the high water level.

The water starts going down.

These sprayers keep gulls from attacking the salmon.

The water is farther down.

The gate opens and the tug goes through.

Keywords: science, seattle, salmon


Looking south

04/12/09 - Another Great View From Kenmore Air

We were in Seattle. We flew Kenmore Air. We had a great view of Puget Sound.

Keywords: seattle, flying, kenmore

04/02/09 - Seattle Report

We were in Seattle the other day buying some coffee ice cream for The Defense of Moscow. Russian Easter is coming soon, so we have to be prepared. In any event, we checked out Caffe Presse, which is owned by the same folks who run Le Pichet, and we had a very nice meal. Caffe Presse serves a rather hearty menu all through the day, but the food is not quite as good as the food at Le Pichet. We loved the braised ham with red cabbage, and we had a great raclette which was the perfect antidote to the cold, wet weather we have been having lately.

We also wandered around Capital Hill and came across a strange survivor, an actual used bookstore. Amazingly, it was not far from yet another used bookstore. Seattle used to be littered with these places, but the internet makes it so easy to find used books online, and rents have gone up, so most of them have vanished. We're not sure if it was that dinosaur sign in front of Twice Sold Sales or what, but we couldn't help thinking of The Lost World, Perhaps of Second Hand Bookstores.

The strange looking fountain is in Cal Anderson Park, another little gem. It is, or at least was, part of the Seattle water system. They have fountains and an aerating pond, and some gorgeous views.

It's amazing what one finds when one goes shopping for ice cream.

Cafe Presse - not quite as good as Le Pichet, but awfully good

Fountain at Cal Anderson Park

A true survivor, a used bookstore

Keywords: seattle

02/21/09 - Serendipity in Seattle

On our last trip to Seattle, we were a bit tight on time. We had climbed Queen Anne and had made it back to Seattle Center, but we had an appointment downtown, near the Nordstrom's. Could we get a taxi? That wasn't likely. We've had better luck with a street hail at Mosman Gorge in Queensland than in Seattle. What could we do?

Then we remembered the monorail. It's been around nearly 50 years, but it has such a limited route that one barely thinks of it as anything but a tourist attraction. But here we were, needing transportation, and that limited route would take us from where we were to where we wanted to go.

From here on, things went smoothly. The monorail was up and running. A train arrived as we stepped onto the platform, and in a few minutes we were on our way. We made our appointment with time to spare. That, and we got a glimpse of the future, like maybe 1975.

The train to tomorrow: That's the two cylinder Westin looming, another icon of the future.

Keywords: seattle

02/14/09 - Review of Poppy

We heard the hype about Poppy. We gave it a try. We were not impressed. Indian fusion, imaginative cocktails and a nine dish thali plate sound like a sure winner. To find out why it doesn't work, read our review of Poppy.

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

02/14/09 - Review of Maneki

We have finally reviewed Maneki, a Seattle Japanese classic. For over a hundred years they've been serving great Japanese food with a serious emphasis on seafood. We loved it. For more details and ideas on what to order, read our Review of Maneki.

Keywords: seattle, restaurants

12/07/08 - Our Flight From Seattle

These are some photos taken from a Kenmore Air Cessna Citation en route from Boeing Field in Seattle to Fairchild Airport in Port Angeles. As usual, the light was spectacular, and the mountains were most cooperative.






 

Keywords: port angeles, seattle, flying, kenmore


Wheat, on its way east

11/21/08 - The Seattle Waterfront

One of the things about Seattle is that it is a working waterfront, and it is a working waterfront that isn't hidden off somewhere where you can't see it. That means that there is a major grain elevator that loads wheat delivered by rail onto grain ships right on the jogging trail in Elliot Bay. There are container ship loaders punctuating the harbor. There is also Mount Rainier, a ghostly presence on certain days. Look carefully at the latter two pictures, and you'll see it.

You can see Rainier over the container ship loaders to the left

Here's a better view of the mountain.

Keywords: seattle, mount rainier


Some autumn color from Queen Anne - They've got move that power line pole.

11/20/08 - Seattle Update

There are just a few miscellaneous pictures from our visit to town showing some autumn color, a harbor sunset and a new arrival.

The harbor at dusk

An old friend from Washington DC is coming to Belltown.

Keywords: seattle

11/19/08 - Little Hawaii

Now and then you see pockets of Hawaiian influence in Seattle. There's the Kauai Family Restaurant down in SoDo. There's also a bit of Hawaii in Queen Anne. They say "Hawaii no ka oi", there is no place like Hawaii, so we imagine that Hawaiians like to bring a bit of it with them.

Some Hawaiian imagery in an apartment lobby

The name says it all

Down on 1st Street

For an ex-pat, a home away from home

It may be institutional brick, but it is on Aloha Street, so it counts.

Keywords: hawaii, seattle

11/18/08 - View From The Ferry

We've been in Seattle. Here's a view from the ferry. Yes, we were going to fly, but that's a long story.

Insert a picture here

Keywords: seattle

10/27/08 - A Quick Trip Into Seattle

We made a quick trip into Seattle and flew Kenmore Air. It was a great flying day, and we had window seats, so here a couple of pictures from our flight, and one picture from Seattle proper. It seems that summer is over in the city as well.

Dungeness Spit

The Dungeness River - Can you see Dungeness Valley Creamery down there?

A city scene

Keywords: dungeness, dungeness spit, flying, seattle, autumn, kenmore

10/07/08 - Enterprise Rent A Car Park, Follow Up

We wrote to Enterprise about their little park near Seatac airport, and here is the response we received:
Thank you for your inquiry. Officially, we call our park a Japanese Rock Garden. We wanted to beautify the un-useable area infront of our business, so we developed this area into the garden about 3 years ago. Thank you for noticing our efforts improve the Sea-Tac strip, and I hope you continue to enjoy it!
It was nice to get such a good answer so quickly. Then again, we've always had good luck when dealing with Enterprise Rent A Car. We won't suggest taking a trip to Seattle just to see this park, but it is worth a peek if you are in the area.

Keywords: seattle, flowers

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