a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
Happy Labor Day.
My friends and I made a round trip across Puget Sound today:
crossing with the Seattle-Bainbridge Island ferry, driving to Silverdale REI* to pick up a tent, and returning on the Bremerton-Seattle ferry.
*Outdoor recreation gear and equipment store
My friends are gearing up for hiking on Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail— and so a visit the the flagship REI store in Seattle’s South Lake Union was in order for today.
Some of the purchases: water bag and microfilter system, powdered eggs, shredded beef with beef broth in a pouch, energy bars, Mount Rainier Wonderland Trail map, waterproof compression bag (keeps clothes dry), pressure-regulated pocket-sized gas stove, isobutane fuel cartridges.
Happy Friday.
This weekend is the last hurrah of summer travel for many families.
Kids in California are back in school already, and kids in Washington State go back next Wednesday.
Here is the reflection pool in the Bloedel Reserve forest garden on Bainbridge Island. (I took the photo on Saturday.)
Here’s what the Seattle skyline looked like at around 8 AM on Saturday morning from the top deck of the MV Wenatchee.
The ferry is making its way to the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal.
Happy Friday.
The weather forecasters say this weekend will be the last of this summer’s warm weather— 88 °F/ 31 °C in Seattle on Sunday.
The National Nordic Museum is a museum in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, dedicated to the Nordic history, art, culture, and the heritage of the area’s Nordic immigrants.
Here are a few pictures that I had taken inside of the museum, and of items on display.
A thousand curiosities are to be found at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop (founded in 1899) on the Seattle Waterfront’s Pier 54.
The surface smoke from the wildfires in Canada and the Pacific Northwest that hung over the city on Sunday, had cleared enough by Monday morning so that the amigos could go out and play a little pickle ball.
These creatures are all from Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo.
The zoo opened 124 years ago, in 1899.
Top to bottom: Grizzly bears, Langur, Gray wolf, Canadian lynx, Kookaburra, Asian small-clawed otter, Western Low-land gorilla, Jaguar, Toco toucan, White-naped crane, Reticulated giraffe, Hippopotamus, African lion, River otter.
Here is a smattering of pictures that I took at Seattle Center: from the Space Needle, from inside the Chihuly Garden and Glass and from inside the Museum of Pop Culture.
Happy Friday.
Cool marine air pushed in from the Pacific Ocean this morning, and made for a beautiful day (78 °F/ 26 °C).
It was warm today, and it will remain warm until Thursday (highs up to 92 °F/ 33 °C).
Granted: residents of the South or places like Phoenix or Las Vegas are allowed to say ‘Yeah— that’s not warm’.
Phoenix had seen highs of 110 °F/ 43 °C for 18 days straight, this summer.
Some clouds, but no rain.
Sunset is now at 8.39 pm.
It was Seattle Night Out last night— an annual event that encourages neighbors to meet each other, and to increase neighborhood support in anti-crime efforts.
There was a small musical ensemble, with a few couples were dancing to their tunes, in Volunteer Park tonight.
I am at the airport, and I made it through check-in at the long TSA Precheck line at checkpoint 4.
The airport is swamped with travelers. Even though the line is long, it’s still very nice to not have to take out anything out of one’s bag.
Happy Saturday.
I found this mural of ladies in their summer dresses at the corner of Denny Way and Nineteenth Avenue.
(I did not see the name of the artist.)
I took these pictures of the newly completed Cedar Hall lobby at the U.S. Bank Center at 5th Avenue and Pine Street last Sunday.
The interior designers and craftsmen did a great job.
I believe they will still add a restaurant or bars inside, later.
I made it my after-dinner stroll to walk down to the QFC on Broadway to buy a bread.
From a block away I could see a commotion going on.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked someone coming from the store.
There were two guys arguing right next to him, he said.
Then one of them pulled out a gun and said to the other ‘Do you want to die?’.
At this point everyone got the hell away from them, and soon after that the store was evacuated.
I later learned that the gunman (age 42) then compounded the two very bad decisions he had already made— 1. bringing the gun into QFC and 2. brandishing it in public during a heated argument—
by holding eight people hostage at the Gold’s Gym next door.
Geez.
He surrendered to the police soon after that and is now in custody.