Discovery Park and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

Some holly berries at Discovery Park in the Magnolia neighbourhood of Seattle


The bluff in Discovery Park overlooking the Puget Sound


Discovery Park


These white things are there seasonally to help juvenile salmon through the locks between Lake Union and the Puget Sound.

,
Hiram M. Chittenden Locks between Lake Union and Puget Sound

Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival 2008

Water plane landing on Lake Union



Checking out the boats



Taking on water...

A few photos from today...

We visited the Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival Today. Here are some shots!

Tulips, tulips, tulips...

More tulips from Pike Place Market

In like a lion...

...out like a lion, apparently. To snow in December is unusual here. Check out the lowland snow we saw today. Nice contrast, huh? The cherry trees are in bloom, and the crocus killer falls from the sky.

I'm dreaming of a white weekend....

You know this rarely happens in Seattle, so I had to snap some shots!

A Weekend in Seattle

I saw this Meme here, on a blog about life in the UAE from an expat perspective. The blogger called for a "weekend" post in the individual reader's city. Here's mine!

Best Place to Eat
I think there are loads of great restaurants in Seattle. Vietnamese, Thai, FRESH seafood...I only wish we had more Arabic and some great pizza places to choose from. This place, Cedars on Brooklyn, ia a fave in our house because you get a Mixed Grill plate or a fabulous Butter Chicken-a nice mix of Indian and Lebanese food choices.



Ray's Boathouse is worth visiting, as is Etta's, a stone's throw from Pike Place Market.


Best Shopping Mall
I hate malls, myself. Pike Place (not "Pike's Place" as it is often referred to) is a great outdoor market. Food, gifts, and some unique gift items.



Famous Landmark
The Space Needle-Frasier's opening credits make this building seem more important than it really is. Truth be told, I haven't been there.


Best Tourist Attraction
Our best shopping is also our best tourist attraction. Pike Place Market:


A lesser known but cool part of the city's history is the Underground Tour of Seattle, as the Seattle you see today it built on top of the original city.



Though I have not visited, the Experience Music Project recieves rave reviews, as well.

Entertaining the Kids
I don't have kids, nor do many people I know who come to visit. I would say that the Pacific Science Center is a fun place for kids of all ages. If you are an outdoor kind of family, there are loads of family-friendly trails within 30 miles of the city.

Popular Outdoor Activity
If you don't enjoy the outdoors, Seattle might not be your thing. It's all about natural beauty. Hiking, skiing, camping, boating...you name it.


Only Available in Seattle

Mmmmm....I would salmon, but that's not true. Great salmon can be found elsewhere. Friendly people? There are certainly other cities where people are kind. Phenomenal views? That they are, though not exclusive to Seattle. Incredible wineries around the city and state also add to the list of assets. I guess Seattle doesn't offer any one particular thing that you couldn't find elsewhere, though it does offer a nice collection of sites and sounds for a weekend visit.



The negatives? I don't think you'll notice them if you come for a short visit, really (aside from the the HORRIBLE city traffic). Most people in Seattle are very progressive, though, and many Seattlites don't realise that once you leave city limits political views begin to skew to the right. In short, this ain't a Fox News kinda town, and people here often assume that if you're in Seattle you are of like political mind. This is only really a negative if you are staunchly opposed to the progressive mindset.


Cedars photo credit here.
Underground Seattle photo credit here.

Autumn Begins and Ends in Seattle

Though it was too late in the day to see, there is snow on the peaks of the Olympic mountain range.

Seattle trolley line has acronym: SLUT

Officially, it's the South Lake Union Streetcar. But in the neighborhood where the new line runs, it's called the South Lake Union Trolley — or, the SLUT. At Kapow! Coffee, a shop in the old Cascade neighborhood, 100 T-shirts bearing the words "Ride the SLUT" sold out in days, and another 100 are on order.

"We're welcoming the SLUT into the neighborhood," said Jerry Johnson, 29, a part-time barista.

Some claim — incorrectly, according to representatives of Vulcan Inc., the company that is developing the area — that South Lake Union Trolley was the original name and that it was changed when officials belatedly realized the acronym.

The $50.5 million project should be completed with streetcars running in December. Underlying the lighthearted opposition, however, is resentment over changes in the old working-class neighborhood.

"There was a meeting with representatives from the city several years ago," Johnson recalled.

"They asked us, 'What we could do for you?' Most people raised their hands and said, 'Affordable housing,'" he said. "Then the people from the city huddled together — 'whisper, whisper, whisper,' — and they said, 'How about a trolley?'"

Since then, Cascade has been ignored in Vulcan brochures that lump the neighborhood together with Denny Park and Denny Triangle under the term South Lake Union. With the streetcar, said Don Clifton, a Cascade resident, "We learned how fun it is to change the name of things."
Original article found here.

Though I long to be abroad again, there are things about living in Seattle that I love. I took these on Monday.

And yet another storm hits the Pacific Northwest

We're weather cry babies here in Seattle. Really and truly, we are not prepared for temperatures below 40F nor above 75F. Rain we can do (ok, some of us clearly can't drive in the rain, but the rest of us are ok). Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't pour in Seattle all the time. We actually get less rain than New York. It just spits. A lot. It spits a lot here. Anyway, I digress. We got hit with a series of snow storms in the area. The night before last, it wasn't as bad as they were expecting. I don't know why I believed what I saw on the weather forecast, but I did. The new round of storms that moved in yesterday afternoon were meant to hit north of the city and continue moving east, Seattle being protected by the Olypmic Mountain range. I work north of the city, and it seemed as though we would escape most of the storm. How foolish we were. We hadn't learned our lesson from the storm that hit the Monday after Thanksgiving. Nope. I left work, thinking the traffic map was accurate. It took me 3 1/2 hours to drive 30 miles home. Gridlock. Snow Squalls. The road eventually became a sheet of ice. Our office was actually open today, despite the surrounding school districts and universities all closing. I could not get out of my garage, as the sharp incline up to the cul de sac was an absolute ice pack. Cars drove up, and then slid back down in to the garage. Here are some lovely shots of the aftermath. I swear I haven't seen this much snow in Seattle since I moved here 2 1/2 years ago. Go ahead. Tell me what foul weather cry babies we are. It's true. I was almost hit today by a car sliding down the hill I was climbing, and was earlier afraid to drive down a hill that was clearly covered in ice (this town's full of hills). I'm from Cleveland. The snow belt. Think "Lake Effect" snow off of Lake Erie. Six inches of snow will almost NEVER get you off of school. This is tragic. I've become a weather cry baby, too.

Some Snow Scenes From Our Balcony

I feel like a kid!

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THEY CLOSED OUR OFFICE FOR THE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M STILL IN MY BATHROBE AND ON MY THIRD CUP OF TEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More Seattle Snow

Courtesy of The Seattle Times

The Snow in Western Washington Falls Mainly on the Higher Elevations

Saturday we drove up to the nearest mountain pass to Seattle called Snoqualmie. It's about a 35 mile drive from the city. They had been dumped on with snow (while the rest of us down below got rain) for the last month. I bundled my husband up in a spare pair of long underwear, some extra layers, hiking socks, and did the same for myself. Because the 'tubing' and sledding hills haven't opened yet, nothing was groomed. We, alongside loads of other people, comandeered a ski hill that had yet to open. We had to climb the hill in order sled down it on our saucers. Talk about a workout-every step we were crotch-deep in snow. Anyway, photo is coming (once hubby wakes up and shows me how to connect the camera).


In the last 2+ years I've seen snow fall here in Seattle two, maybe three times. It never sticks. People freak out. They don't salt or sand the roads, for the most part. No one knows how to drive when it snows, despite a large part of the Seattle population being transplants from other parts of the country. Come to think of it, people don't know how to drive in the rain, either, and as the stereotype goes, it rains often in Seattle. I should say, it 'spits', but I digress. We got hit with a lot of snow-snow that actually stuck!!

Photos courtesy of the Seattle Times.