Category: Seattle

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Saturday/ the new 2 Line 🚄

Eight new light rail stations opened today, on the Eastside. I went out to ride the train and take a few pictures.

The new 2 Line will connect to the existing 1 Line by end 2025. The extension of the new 2 Line to Redmond will come on line by early 2025.
I started at the South Bellevue station. The festivities and crowds of the morning had died down somewhat, but the train was still very crowded as we left Bellevue Station.
Here comes the train! This is South Bellevue station. The trains had only two cars today (I’m sure the platforms can all handle four cars).
Here’s Bellevue Downtown station— close to downtown, but not right in downtown. Bellevue Square shopping mall is a good distance away. There is a Microsoft office tower visible on the left side of the picture.
After leaving Bellevue Downtown station we are now crossing Interstate 405.
Hey look! A reflection of the train in a mirrored pillar. This is somewhere in the Bel-Red district between Bellevue and Redmond.
Part of a large mural art installation called “Dragon and Phoenix,” by Seattle artist Louie Gong, located above the light rail tracks at the new Spring District station.
Passing the other two-car train at the Overlake station.
There are several level crossings, and places where passengers have to cross the tracks to get to the other platform— never the best solution safety-wise, but as long as people don’t clamber over the gates and fences and ignore the giant red lights, it should be fine, right?
A level crossing at a street intersection.
Here’s the end of the 2 Line that opened today, at the Redmond Technology Center station.
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Friday/ a thick black coat 🐶

Happy Friday.
Here’s a Newfoundland dog (‘newfie’) that I had spotted at a coffee shop in West Seattle.
Unfortunately I did not have an opportunity to inquire about the name of the big pooch with his double coat of black hair.

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Caturday 🙀

It has been nine days since my lawn got a fresh start with topsoil and grass seed mix.
I keep the soil damp, watering it up to three times per day with a watering wand and nozzle.
(It’s been mostly dry, with just a little bit of rain today).

A little bit of green is starting to show. 
Hey squirrels!—digging holes in the soil, and little birds! —pecking at the mulch— watch out for the Black Cat sentry that I have deployed.
(It’s the neighbors’ cat, actually, and he shows up at random times).
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Friday/ the pass is open 🏔

Happy Friday.
State Route 20 opened today, a little earlier in the year than usual.

Snow clearing on State Route 20, during spring of 2024.
[Photo: Washington State Department of Transportation]
From washingtonstatestandard.com:
The road closes each winter on both sides of Washington Pass due to heavy snowfall and avalanche hazards. Most years it reopens in April or May after crews clear snow and make repairs. This winter was light on snow, and east and west side clearing crews reached each other about a week ago. Last year, the pass opened on May 11. Highway 20 is the northernmost route in Washington across the North Cascades. Traveling from the west, the road runs out of the Puget Sound region, over Washington Pass, topping out at around 5,400 feet, and then dropping down into the Methow Valley before continuing east.
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Sunday/ the black sun is coming ☀️

Anticipation of the total eclipse of the sun that is about to be visible in a large swath of North America, is at a fever pitch.
The eclipse will be visible starting at 12:06 p.m. CDT near Eagle Pass, Texas, before progressing to totality by about 1:27 p.m. CDT.
It will progress along its path to the northeast over the next few hours and the last of the eclipse in North America will be seen from Caribou, Maine at 4:40 p.m. EDT.

It does look like there will be cloud cover in several places along the way.
Here in the Pacific Northwest we will only see some 20% of the sun being obscured by the moon, and that is if the clouds allow it.

The Black Sun at Volunteer Park tonight.  
The sculpture of black Brazilian granite on a concrete base was created in 1969 by Isamu Noguchi.
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Friday ☀️

Happy Friday.
It was a lovely spring day around the city.
Everyone seemed to be out on the streets.
I colorized the photo that I took while I was stuck at the University Bridge while it was opened to ship canal traffic.
Look for the little float plane up in the air.

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Wednesday/ a cleaner downtown 🏙️

I was in Seattle downtown yesterday, and took a few pictures.
There is still a surprising number of empty storefronts along 4th and 5th Avenue, but at least the streets are clean (of trash), which is great.

There’s a giant heron on the wall in this parking lot off 6th Avenue.
McGraw Square, the downtown stop and terminal station for the South Lake Union Streetcar.
The big Bartell drug store on the corner of the Medical Dental Building on the left has closed down, and there is nothing in its place.
There goes the monorail train, on its way to the Space Needle.
Boarded-up storefronts all along 5th Avenue. The GAP clothing store on the corner behind me is long gone (now occupied by a Ben Bridges watch and jewelry store), as is the Banana Republic clothing store on the far corner ahead of me.
Built in 1973, the 19-story Hilton Motif Seattle holds more than 250,000 square feet, including 36,000 square feet of event space. Originally a Red Lion hotel, the property’s branding and ownership has changed multiple times over the last decade.
[Source: bizjournals.com]
Close by, are the 1977 Rainier Tower (far) and the 2020 Rainier Square Tower. Presumably the Ranier Square Tower has been mostly filled up with residents, but the PCC grocery store in its basement closed down in January, less than two year after opening.
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Monday/ pinks and blues 🌞

Here is a view of the pastel colors out east, and the setting sun reflecting off the buildings in downtown Bellevue.
I am on 17th Avenue on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

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Saturday/ sunset 🌇

We had more sun today, with the highs of the day bumping up to 71 °F (22 °C).
There was a party going at the entrance of the flagship REI store this morning, (camping gear and outdoors equipment), celebrating the imminent start of spring.

Here’s 18th Avenue E on Capitol Hill.
It’s 6.43 pm, and there is still some 30 minutes of sun left in the day.
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Wednesday/ twilight ✨

There was sun today, but it does not feel like spring yet here in the city.
It was only 47 °F (8 °C) as I went for a quick walk after dinner.

Sunset is now at 7.13 pm.
I am standing on my usual spot at 14th Avenue East and East Thomas Street.
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Sunday/ a U-district run 🚉

It was time for a U-district/ bookstore run this afternoon, and off I went to Capitol Hill light rail station.

The 13-story University of Washington office block building on top of the U-district light rail station is taking shape.
On the street below, first responders were picking up someone that had experienced a crisis of some kind.
A nod to the Year of the Dragon in the UW bookstore’s window.
The luxury student apartment building (on the right) called The Standard is complete.
It has studios, one, two and three bedroom apartments.
Students can double up in the bedrooms.
Even so, the cheapest that the rent per student will come to is $1,200 to $1,300 per month. The studio apartments would actually be the most expensive, at some $2,400 per month for the renter.
A closer look at the artwork on the side of the building.
It was another gray winter day here, but bright storefronts and mural art helps to lift the spirits.
I always try to stop at Magus Books, the second-hand bookstore.
The cart has some John Updike books (Odd Jobs, Picked-up Pieces) but I didn’t pick one up. Maybe I should have.
Updike’s writing career started early. At Harvard he soon became well known among his classmates as a talented and prolific contributor to The Harvard Lampoon, of which he was president. [From Wikipedia]