Seattle Spring '07...

Another delightful trip to Seattle...not so much on the horizon this time, but another nice run of weather, no rain!People out there in Seattle want us to think it's all rain all the time but it isn't. Only once in the two weeks I was in Seattle did it rain, and then only a bit. I guess it all depends on the season you come! Lake Washington is wonderfully lovely on a sunny May day! Out on the water or watching geese at the park on Juanita Bay, all good. This time I did see and enjoy the Space Needle. Downtown Seattle is crowded, and all the things you want to see seem close, although I didn't get to the old square. Next trip! The view from the Needle is terrific, but the admission price too high! It is fun though, and really - I guess we can't put too high a price on fun! It was a dull sort of day but that didn't matter. We sandwiched the trip in before a kid birthday party on an Aikido studio. Nice drive around town in the area around the Needle as well. Funky museum and Music center there made good photo opportunities, and grandchildren made the trip extra fun! Other hi-lites of the trip were various local beaches and just the fun of the buildings and the cafes around the area. Seattle has so many little nifty coffee houses and grand cafes. When I say Seattle I mean the surrounds as well. Kirkland has a lovely downtown with shops and eateries, all very arty.



I liked Bothell and the wonderfully magnificent Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park Towne Centre. They shelve the used books in with the new! Innovative and convenient!

I love the buildings in and around Seattle. They range from the Ravenna neighborhood's lovely old Craftsman style homes to the modern cliff climbing glass and concrete apartment houses on Juanita Drive. The picture in the previous blog entry of the angles is a shot taken in Seattle. I love the sort of buildings there that are terraced up a hill, and the lines created by the interplay of the design are wonderful. As usual, a trip to Microsoft is fun and educational. Spread over quite a bit of territory and even at several locations across town, Microsoft is a fixture in the region, and has helped many a Seattle cause. This time I saw the Visitor's Center, which was not as central nor as large as I had thought it would be, but still a very interesting corporate display. I did tremendously, as always, enjoy my trip! For the aerial view from the Needle my picture shows the great view, but not on as bright a day as some days. The trip up into the observation deck was in an elevator with a lot of glass. you get to watch the ground disappear below as you ascend. You can see Seattle and a bit-o-the-Sound. Then, when you come out into the observation deck itself, you find yourself inside a nicely carpeted area - larger than I thought it would be, and hosting a nice coffee shop/snack bar. Eating a muffin at the top of the needle - the end of a good day's adventures!

Seattle...first installment

Seattle is situated in a wild and wooly topography for a city and environs to grow. Sharp rocks, ridges, forest primeval, more hills and even more forests and rocks. Houses perched wherever a square foot of land allows building, and high density dwellings going up all over. Traffic flows more slowly here than, say in North Carolina or New York, where the average interstate flow seems to streak by at about 80 mph. I'd say it averaged about 55 in Seattle, sometimes slower. Although the traffic is slower, it is more congested than some places, and the lanes seem more narrow? Is this possible? Raised medians between some lanes abound, and any route to "somewhere" is convoluted.The foliage is wonderful, with camellias and other flowering semi-tropical plants in abundance. The forests are different than the Norteastern forests, yet quite similar in feel. Two rain forests differentiated by climate. Huge cedar trees and giant old deciduous trees share space with undergrowth of newer pine, spruce and assorted shrubs. Seattle and suburban settlers value their trees, and many a house is engulfed in trees far nearer the foundations than we in New England like our trees to be!Water abounds. I wasn't aware of the size of Lake Washington, which borders the city of Seattle on the East, and which separates Seattle proper from several surrounding communities which are contiguous with Seattle as far as population intensity, and economy. The Lake is a beautiful fresh water lake with parks around its sides, as well as private dwellings of the well to do. The Seattle area has parks aplenty. Nice times for the kids. The community of Kirkland boasts several nice parks, and plenty of Lake Washington views. Just a drive through the arty downtown area on a nice day is like a mini-vacation to the Lake.Next time thoughts on an afternoon trip to downtown Seattle.

Kirkland, Seattle and observations...

Having returned from a trip to Seattle and Kirkland, I have to say that I thank God for the quick tickets on Delta Airlines.
A medical emergency had us on the plane within 5 hours of an early morning phone call. That was in March. Things are going well now, and that lets me write a bit more about Kirkland and Seattle. First, kudos to the staff of Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland. A wonderful staff, hospitalists, nurses, therapists and every one of the ancillary staff were helpful, professional and proactive in the best sense of those words.I like it out there. The number of used bookshops is incredible, the verdure is awesome, the air is crisp except when it's so full of moisture you feel like you need gills, and all in all it's a great place to be.The family lives in the Saint Edward State Park area, and the drive up is scenic indeed, with drop offs to Lake Washington providing idyllic views. There's also a good Mexican eatery right on Juanita Drive, small but really tasty!. Getting around is getting easier, and this time I actually knew where I was at several points driving around. One very important discovery was that Trader Joe's is a block downhill from Evergreen Hospital, which came in handy. I love Trader Joe's and wouldn't have been able to discover that unless I had been to Seattle! Although they headquarter in MA, there is no store here in Vermont. There should be, and I wrote and told them so. The second nice store I must mention is Hancock Fabrics. Again, no store here in that corporate line. Now, lest you think I am all about retail, let me sing the beauties of Juanita Bay Park, Saint Edwards Park, and just the scenery on a good day in Kirkland. Cloud City Coffee appears in these photos, again, a great place to sit and surf or just sit and enjoy, and with all the rainy days, getting out to coffee is one of the main passtimes both in Seattle and Vermont as well! In between visiting Washington, I plan my next trip out. I've never been there in the Fall, so maybe that is the next step.

Seattle...even MORE thoughts

They say that Seattle has the highest IQ per capita in the US. I am not surprised by this statistic after noting two anomolies. First, Seattle and environs has more book stores, new and used per block than anywhere I have been, including New York. Second hand books are everywhere, and the St. Vincent de Paul store on Bothel Way in Kenmore has a huge used book section running to two rooms and a children's section! You won't see that in a thrift store many places. And the books are not all schlock! I had to hold back so I wouldn't have to drag books home on the plane. In the grocery stores and the usual chain stores there are larger selections of books, including literature than I have ever seen in run of the mill stores. I didn't get a chance to hit any larger book stores in downtown Seattle but I have heard rumors of great finds to be made!The second odd thing hit me in the face while driving around the area of Kirkland, Kenmore and Bothel just on routine errands and scenic tours - the street signs! Where else would you see a sign reading "Road Revision" not to mention "Arterial Ends"! Out in normalville the signs say either "No Thru Traffic" or "Dead End", and the "Road Rivision"; does that mean "Construction Ahead?" My goodness, one would have to have ones handy Pocket Webster's to navigate! There must be a handbook somewhere with Handy Travelers Phrases for Seattle. In the foreign language section perhaps. All in all a good thing to see signs of intellect infusing the landscape. Pervasive sense of civilization, all the while remaining quite the most calm setting of any major city I've visited.

Wintery Seattle trip...

Had occasion to go to Seattle again sooner than I expected. January isn't usually so wintery there, and people were caught off guard and panic ensued after already having had a bad windstorm that was more damaging than anyone had seen in decades. We were pretty much inside and watching the news people wallow in the weather news as folks abandoned their cars, slipped into ditches and decried the state of the side streets. Indeed the side streets were in bad shape until the weather warmed up and melted them because the municipal authorities didn't get to the neighborhoods much at all due to the main roads being to big a job for the equipment they own around that area. I doubt they budget for snow removal much.We did do an intrepid trip out to Microsoft to look around and get lunch. That was fun, and it was a sunny day! What could be better in the Seattle area than a sunny day? So if you are going to Seattle in winter you will probably need a warm winter coat, boots and gloves just as if you were in New England, at least for a few days if you hit it right. Take your down vest too, can't be too careful.

Seattle...more thoughts

Thinking about Seattle for another month since my return, I realize I really liked it. I liked the area and the undercurrent of a slower pace of life. With so many people moving to Seattle from the urban East and California, I wonder how long this pace of life will last. The climate, like the climate in Vermont, makes casual comfortable garb the norm - boots and wool; fleece and hats abound in both places. And that's summer. No, really. Oh, I admit in summer there are warm days, then it's jeans and tee shirts. After awhile you own no dress shoes in Vermont, and I wonder if that's not true in Seattle too...unless we call clogs dressy. So, all in all, I am looking forward to my next visit, and I can tell you could get used to living there easily.

Seattle...second installment

Downtown Seattle at the Pike Place Market was interesting. We got there and parked in a garage right at the market. It cost $11.00 for the maybe two hours we were there. It was worth it though, because the streets were narrow and crowded, and finding parking would have been no fun at all. The market itself was not as "grand" as I had pictured it, and in fact bore a certain resemblence to downtown Burlington, Vermont on farmer's market day. Seattle's tourist people should take a real hard look at the Pike Place area, because it seems to be peopled by three sorts. The obviously out-of-town tourist from some tourist factory in the midwest somewhere (where DO they get those same shirts and shorts that tourist wore in 1963?) who walk around faces agog taking in the bizarre sights of the crunchy-hippie-down-and-outs who make up the second group. Unfortunately the nearby park was occupied in one entire half by homeless men trying to catch a few winks wrapped up in their blankets, and bleary-eyed druggies who looked out at the tourists as if the visitors were the odd birds. The third group inhabiting the market is the vendors and the locals who go there to buy. A busy trade goes on, and there are jewelry stalls, art of various kinds, totebags, tee shirts and the like for the tourists, fresh herbs, flowers, seafood, and several eateries, soaps and herbal products, and more. All told a thriving, jostling vortex of humanity packed in like the fish on the displays.The fish market is as you would expect a fish market to be. That whole thing about throwing fish around is really over rated. It looks like guys throwing fish around. Well, I've seen the Fulton Fish Market in NYC, so maybe fish aren't a thrill like they are to some people.I got some lovely honey sticks at a really good price. Less than I could get them in the NorthEast. So that was a good days work.

The crowning glory of Pike Street Market are the flowers. The plethora of bloom was incredible. The variety of flowers was amazing, and the colors and groupings were truly wondrous. The prices for cut flowers were so low that if you could keep flowers for months it would pay to import them from Seattle. I have never seen such lush, large, colorful bouquets. Going rate was $15.00 for a large bouquet better than the local florist could make you for $40.00. Arrangements of these flowers was so professionally done, and so attuned to color and size that if I lived there I would always have fresh flowers and never have to grow any myself!

Seattle in May.....Lovely....

Another nice Spring in Seattle. More rain and snow in the last year has made for a lovely verdant display of greenery and flowers. Although the camellias were mostly done, the other plants were blooming. To go to Seattle after April in Vermont is a radical change in climate! :)  Coming home to Vermont in very late May or June is also a greenery festival!

Seattle entries finally tuned....

I finally finished the entry on Seattle from last July! I had pictures to add, and I must say that the picture coding here on blogger is confusing. After many trials, I have the text wrapping well, but the pictures aren't in the order I had envisioned. Here's the link to Seattle entries. I once again found I couldn't stop myself from starting a Ludlum book. This time it's The Aquitaine Progression. In eReader, my new updated version for Windows of eReaderpro, I am reading Prester John, a dated novel by John Buchan. While a swashbuckling adventure, it does illustrate the colonial prejudices common in its time. I love his writing, and have previously read several of his novels set in and around WWI. The new version of eReadPro has a handy bookshelf feature which the software badly needed. I have no idea why it was so long in coming. The Mac version doesn't have it so far. Soon?

Seattle Spring Photo Musings...

Plants are so beautiful when there has been a good amount of snow and rain previously.  The area around Seattle was in bloom, and this was one of the lovely displays in Bothell.

Eating out is always fun and there are so many choices, from Asian cuisines to American Midwest Food. :) This is the window of a new ramen place in Kirkland. And oh my stars - the definition of ramen has to change from those dried packages we have been buying! DELICIOUS here where people know the food.

Display on table of succulents.....including hen and chickens...set off by RED!  The weather was cool most of the time, a few warm days but all in all the climate of the Pacific Northwest is the best ever because there are fewer HOT days. However, the humidity is high a lot of the time.  Like Vermont, the casual clothing most common out in the PNW is another real plus. If you wear your sandals, jeans and fleeces you are going to look like a native for sure! :)

Maltby Cafe wall, located in Snohomish, WA. Mother's Day 2017. Excellent food and done just right. Local is always best.   But sometimes you want a tried and true piece of pie!!!

When you want that tried and true piece of pie, there is always Shari's!  Of course we don't have that in the East, so this is always a treat.....coconut cream pie.....uuummmmm....good!

Driving the bridge to Seattle...they tell me Bill Gates lives right over there in those trees somewhere. Nice location and beautiful sky that day.

Another of my favorites is this lovely tree. Lovely feathery fronds reaching down....beautiful.

Red Robin is always a fun trip! Another place we don't have here.  I love the menu because it is so varied. lots of good times....

Seattle...trip to Microsoft

I admit to feeling thrilled to be able to visit Microsoft. Even for those who eschew (or pretend to) Windows et. al., it still remains that Microsoft is a mecca of techies everywhere. The day was sunny, giving the lie to the idea of Seattle and Redmond being constantly drenched with rain. In fact in the two weeks I was there the weather must have been ordered by the Chamber of Commerce because it couldn't have been better! So I saw Microsoft at its best in a sunny happy vista (get it? VISTA?) on a sunny happy day. Just a "civilian" observation - Microsoft recruits the best of the workaholic techie community. These people love to work, they love their jobs, they are fired by the competition of the job, and they also seem more collegial that many corporate cultures. There is a shared pressure, a shared deadline awareness, and a willingness on the part of most to "get-er-done." They work in a clean, modern, comfortable environment in one of the most topographically pleasing spots on earth and they get to dress "business casual." And in Seattle that means a lot of shorts and polo shirts.

We sampled the dining hall's offerings, and I must say the facilities are terrific. A varied selection of food was available, and lots of ethnic foods as well. Delicious! Even in the dining hall there are many themed posters and reminders of the corporate culture, such as in the paper table signs reminding employees who they work for, in case they don't remember.

Microsoft likes to decorate the campus with all sorts of promotional materials about themselves, and it lends a colorful and somewhat festival like atmosphere to the whole place. Colorful banners abound, like this one with a festive decorater touch in a server theme. It hangs in the vestibule of one of the buildings, and is visible from a glass enclosed mezzine up on the second floor. An open, airy building which houses workers in interestingly named corridors like a branching miriad of inner city European streets, criss-crossing and leading who knows where, all abuzz with activity.

All in all a pleasent visit, and one I hope to repeat! Next time more pictures and more exploration. As we drove away, I felt that these 24 years of my computing experience had gotten a terrific treat, no matter what OS I currently use. A bit of history visited.