Seattle visit - May 2009
Finally, I took the US trip I had been hoping to do for the last couple of years. A first birthday was a big incentive.
Miraculously (since I did all the bookings myself and not through a travel agent) it all worked out well. I picked Air Canada, based on good reports, decent prices, geographic convenience and a dislike for a couple of other airlines. Allowing safe margins between connecting flights meant I had a few hours for a brief look at Vancouver, B.C. (Don't forget - click images to see them full size.)
I only had a short time so wandered the Waterfront district, in nice clear, warm weather (I'd have preferred cooler - after a 14 hr flight and about 24 hrs since my last shower, change of clothes and sleep!). Vancouver is preparing for the 2010 Olympics so there's a lot of construction work, but I was drawn to the harbour, with its beautiful mountain backdrop and its floatplanes.
Seattle was a half-hour flight by Air Canada Jazz Dash-8. The first major outing was to Skagit Valley, to the north, to visit, of all things, a tulip fest. I was impressed.
Seattle is a place where, popular lore has it, it always rains. They even sell little souvenir bottles of "Seattle rain". Granted, it rained on several days, but several other days were beautiful. And even the rain was polite enough to fall straight down and not blow in under my cap and onto my glasses.
When cloud cover permits, of course, the big landmark is Mt. Ranier. The waterfront accommodation, which I am sure does not come cheap, was interesting. In some cases it consisted of moored houseboats. Below are some residences on piers with boat parking in between.
Naturally I took the underground tour from Pioneer Square. The founders in their wisdom built on a small island in a marsh. The original town burned down and in the course of rebuilding (using less wood) the city decided to raise the roads above sewer backup levels. But the shop owners owned the footpaths (they call them sidewalks of course) and were not prepared to wait for a local government project, which meant the new roads were well above the footpaths.
Eventually the city gave in, and built the new paths at road-level. This provided interesting subterranean possibilities, for instance, during prohibition! And today we can visit the old ground level of various premises, and emerge now and then into interesting alleyways.
A famous location is of course the Pike Place Markets, near the waterfront on the west side of the city. These are a colourful rabbit-warren of stalls on two or three levels, most famous being the fish stall where the staff hurl purchases ten or twelve feet to the entertainment of onlookers. I visited a few times, once on a rainy afternoon and twice on sunny days when it was fairly busy.
Buskers - mostly very talented - perform in the precincts. The duo below (from the "Ballard Avenue Jug Buskers", I think) gave us some excellent foot-stompin' bluegrass and were very popular. If you visit, a small donation is well spent for the entertainment. YouTube has several clips of various buskers.
Inside, just one of the branches of the rabbit warren...
... and another ...
And nearby, the Alaska Way runs along the waterfront, with cruise and ferry docks and a heap of interesting shops and displays.
Another tour worth taking is a ride on the "Ducks" (or, strictly, DUKWs). These are old WW2 amphibious transports which tour both the streets and the harbour itself, from near the famous Space Needle. Probably the most extravagant single expense of my trip at $25 a seat, but worth it for the sense of fun, the amiability of people as the "Ducks" pass by, and the great sights.
The harbour cruise shows off the houseboat used in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle", the other houses, the skyline, and interesting local traffic - the harbour is shared with floatplanes like this DHC Beaver of Kenmore Air.
The zoo was great, a big park punctuated with zoo exhibits. Plenty of native life like elk, bear, eagle and otter, even an Aussie enclosure with roos, emus and a token sheila. But the unofficial inhabitants were equally entertaining.
Out through the university and the student accommodation is Fremont, often described as "eclectic". I would have said "hippie". And what a great place to walk around, with interesting cafes, shops and eccentricities.
Not least of these is the Fremont Troll, which lives under a bridge (of course) and eats Volkswagens.
We might concede that any place that has a beer and Scotch fest can't be bad, though the artwork is what caught my attention.
How many towns in the US have a huge bronze statue of Lenin in one of their main streets? And as it happens only a short distance from a cold war soviet missile (no longer working, I understand) perched on a shop front.
I did get out of town, a day trip via Amtrak to Portland, Ore. and to visit places like the beautiful town of Snohomish, north of Seattle with the Cascades as backdrop.
Away from the city, the striking thing was the greenery - coming from a country experiencing years of drought - with pines and poplars shoulder to shoulder and offsetting those nice red barns.
And let's not forget the birthday girl! After all, she was the big feature of the visit!
Miraculously (since I did all the bookings myself and not through a travel agent) it all worked out well. I picked Air Canada, based on good reports, decent prices, geographic convenience and a dislike for a couple of other airlines. Allowing safe margins between connecting flights meant I had a few hours for a brief look at Vancouver, B.C. (Don't forget - click images to see them full size.)
I only had a short time so wandered the Waterfront district, in nice clear, warm weather (I'd have preferred cooler - after a 14 hr flight and about 24 hrs since my last shower, change of clothes and sleep!). Vancouver is preparing for the 2010 Olympics so there's a lot of construction work, but I was drawn to the harbour, with its beautiful mountain backdrop and its floatplanes.
Seattle was a half-hour flight by Air Canada Jazz Dash-8. The first major outing was to Skagit Valley, to the north, to visit, of all things, a tulip fest. I was impressed.
Seattle is a place where, popular lore has it, it always rains. They even sell little souvenir bottles of "Seattle rain". Granted, it rained on several days, but several other days were beautiful. And even the rain was polite enough to fall straight down and not blow in under my cap and onto my glasses.
When cloud cover permits, of course, the big landmark is Mt. Ranier. The waterfront accommodation, which I am sure does not come cheap, was interesting. In some cases it consisted of moored houseboats. Below are some residences on piers with boat parking in between.
Naturally I took the underground tour from Pioneer Square. The founders in their wisdom built on a small island in a marsh. The original town burned down and in the course of rebuilding (using less wood) the city decided to raise the roads above sewer backup levels. But the shop owners owned the footpaths (they call them sidewalks of course) and were not prepared to wait for a local government project, which meant the new roads were well above the footpaths.
Eventually the city gave in, and built the new paths at road-level. This provided interesting subterranean possibilities, for instance, during prohibition! And today we can visit the old ground level of various premises, and emerge now and then into interesting alleyways.
A famous location is of course the Pike Place Markets, near the waterfront on the west side of the city. These are a colourful rabbit-warren of stalls on two or three levels, most famous being the fish stall where the staff hurl purchases ten or twelve feet to the entertainment of onlookers. I visited a few times, once on a rainy afternoon and twice on sunny days when it was fairly busy.
Buskers - mostly very talented - perform in the precincts. The duo below (from the "Ballard Avenue Jug Buskers", I think) gave us some excellent foot-stompin' bluegrass and were very popular. If you visit, a small donation is well spent for the entertainment. YouTube has several clips of various buskers.
Inside, just one of the branches of the rabbit warren...
... and another ...
And nearby, the Alaska Way runs along the waterfront, with cruise and ferry docks and a heap of interesting shops and displays.
Another tour worth taking is a ride on the "Ducks" (or, strictly, DUKWs). These are old WW2 amphibious transports which tour both the streets and the harbour itself, from near the famous Space Needle. Probably the most extravagant single expense of my trip at $25 a seat, but worth it for the sense of fun, the amiability of people as the "Ducks" pass by, and the great sights.
The harbour cruise shows off the houseboat used in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle", the other houses, the skyline, and interesting local traffic - the harbour is shared with floatplanes like this DHC Beaver of Kenmore Air.
The zoo was great, a big park punctuated with zoo exhibits. Plenty of native life like elk, bear, eagle and otter, even an Aussie enclosure with roos, emus and a token sheila. But the unofficial inhabitants were equally entertaining.
Out through the university and the student accommodation is Fremont, often described as "eclectic". I would have said "hippie". And what a great place to walk around, with interesting cafes, shops and eccentricities.
Not least of these is the Fremont Troll, which lives under a bridge (of course) and eats Volkswagens.
We might concede that any place that has a beer and Scotch fest can't be bad, though the artwork is what caught my attention.
How many towns in the US have a huge bronze statue of Lenin in one of their main streets? And as it happens only a short distance from a cold war soviet missile (no longer working, I understand) perched on a shop front.
I did get out of town, a day trip via Amtrak to Portland, Ore. and to visit places like the beautiful town of Snohomish, north of Seattle with the Cascades as backdrop.
Away from the city, the striking thing was the greenery - coming from a country experiencing years of drought - with pines and poplars shoulder to shoulder and offsetting those nice red barns.
And let's not forget the birthday girl! After all, she was the big feature of the visit!
posted by DadB | 4:39 PM
1 Comments:
Very well written John!
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