A day in the parks

Seattle is a young city, founded in the mid 19th century, but it shares it's love of green spaces with many other older American cities.  It has a kind of Elmerald Necklace of its own, similar to the string of parks in Boston.  In Boston we owe our Emerald Necklace to Fredierick Law Olmstead, the great American landscape architect.  Many of Seattles green spaces were designed by Olmsted's son and son-in-law.  Saturday's skies had cleared as we drove north through the Queen Anne and Walingford districts to arrive among the iconic architecture of Capitol Hill. We parked and set out to find a spot for our picnic.  Danielle had brought baguettes, strawberries, tomatoes and roast turkey.  We sat on the grass in our own version of Déjeuner sur l'Herbe.  Juliette rolled on the grass as we admired the ancient trees.

 The plantings were so recognizable that we realized immediately that this was an example of Olmsted vision.  It reminded us of Moraine Farms, which is close to home in Beverly, of Forest Park in St. Louis, of Central Park in NYC and especially of Boston.  The tall trees, the curving paths, and the wide meadows were a delight.

After lunch we made our way to the Asian Art Museum at the center of the park. We were pleased to realize that we had arrived on the weekend when admission is free.  There was a wonderful exhibit of Japanese Art Deco design, along with some beautiful Chinese pieces.

From Volunteer Park we continued to the Washington Arboretum where we strolled among native and imported varieties of trees and shrubs.  Only occasional blooms were left from the earlier banks of azaleas and rhododendrons,  I experienced my first mosquito bite of the trip, but it was worth it.

 

From ther we went in search of coffee, which is never hard to find in Seattle.  Danielle says it is because of the dark, rainy winters that drive you to hot, stimulating drinks.

We were lucky to land a table without a wait at the Kingfish Café where home style soul food is the only choice.  We had fried green tomatos and hush puppies for an appetizer.  Our menu choices included fried chicken, grits and gumbo.  But we all save room for cake.  They served up a slice of Coconut Cake which was enough for five of us to share.

 

On the way home Danielle suggested we stop for "a killer view."  There were about ten couples taking prom pictures and various others doing the same.  We took our own shots and headed home.

Iconic Seattle experience

Yesterday we did it all. We slept in for starters. Our AirBNB on Upper Queen Anne is comfortable and even luxurious.  We made it to Danielle's parking garage with 5 minutes to spare for the early bird special. When we got up to their apartment Lee was already working on a conference call.  Danielle and Kate were packing up for our trip to Pike Market.  

It was an easy walk on a perfect day.  The sun was bright and warm.  We walked pat the original Starbucks cafe.  

Danielle piloted us to Le Panier for a real French experience:perfect coffee and pain aux raisins and pain au chocolat.  

Our first goal was the fish market where we watched the show as the Fish Guys yelled and tossed fish.

 Danielle was on the lookout for dinner and had her own special vendors. We checked out a great little jewelry shop with Native American art and crafts.  As we strolled through the crowds we occasionally found a spot to take a photo of the Olympic Peninsula.  

We wandered past the glorious flower stalls that Danielle had raved about ever since she first came to Seattle.

She took us to her favorite vegetable spot where she bought corn and purple asparagus.

 And then on to her fishmonger where she bought a beautiful piece of Alaska Salmon, and we tasted the best smoked salmon I've ever had.

Tasting in Pike Market is miles ahead of tasting in Costco, although maybe that's where Costco got the idea (Costco is from Kirkland, WA near Seattle).  

We got our own bouquet and by then our bags were heavy and we had to head home.

 We did stop briefly in the park, and found Danielle's favorite hat maker,  but then we divided the heavy foods and walked back.  

Lee was just finishing his work day and joined us for cheese and crackers. 

Our next expedition was to the Chihuly Museum and the Space Needle. Peter stayed at the apartment and met us for the Needle.  The museum was a knockout.  The glass is stunning. Each room was surprising and enchanting.  I loved the room which showed his interest in Native American designs. One wall was a mosaic of Navaho blankets.

 The layout was chronoligical and the obkects showed his growing skill and inventiveness.  The black spaces radiated light and color.  

The final space is a large glass room with garlands of glass flowers suspended from the ceiling.  

The pièce de résistance was a garden planted with flowers that coordinated with the glass shapes growing in their midst.  It was a perfect collaboration between landscape artists and glass artists.  

It was also great to see a version of the green glass tree which grows in the MFA courtyard in Boston.

The Space Needle shoots up beside the garden like an overgrown weed.  Peter joined us, and Danielle walked home to fix an early dinner. It was the perfect day for the Needle.  We had a 360 clear view of all the places we had visited in the previous week.  We even saw Mt Baker finally.

The mountains in the Cascades had hidden it from us the whole drive.  And Mt Rainier was splendid.  

Lee pointed out his office building, their apartment and our AirBNB location.

We walked back to the apartment for dinner:  salmon, corn and asparagus.

Then we changed our clothes for the evening show.  Danielle had found us great seats for the Pacific Northwest Ballet production of Giselle. What a perfect way to end the day.  The music was beautiful, the story was romantic and the dancing was exquisite.  What a perfect day!

Arriving in Seattle

Today was a very different kind of day.  Our mileage was much shorter, although we made a wrong turn and got stuck in traffic.  We started the day with a tour of the Boeing factory in Everett.  We had booked a reservation with the 11:30 tour and had read the list of what we could not bring in:  purse, camera, backpack, phone, food, firearms, just about everything.  Fortunately they had nifty high tech lockers in the entrance, and we joined the group right on time.  We took a shuttle bus to the factory, and our guide gave an enthusiastic but confusing description of what we saw unfolding beneath us.  The complexity of what was going on down on the floor was impressive.  We saw three bays adapted to three different airplanes:  the 747, the 777 and the 787, the Dreamliner.  The size of the building is unbelievable.  The guide compared the space to several large places.  The comparison that resonated with me was that 12 Eiffel Towers laid down would fit in the factory.  After the tour we had fun buying souvenirs, especially Kate who picked up good items for her brother, who is a Dreamliner pilot.  

We had originally planned to meet Danielle by 2, but we had a hard time leaving such an interesting place.  When we finally got on the road the traffic had picked up, and when we got to Seattle a wrong turn sent us off in the wrong direction.  Finally we made it to Danielle and Lee's apartment.

 We sampled some Washington cherries before heading out for oysters.

 Then Danielle and Lee brought us to another restaurant which featured local foods.  Our dinner was excellent, although it was not a good night for the Cardinals.

.  We had thought of riding the Ferris Wheel, but we were tired and settled for a walk in the sculpture park beside Danielle's building.

We left the kids and headed up to Nob Hill to our AirBNB. Tomorrow is Pike's Market.

A Long Day's Drive

We made a conscious decision whe we left Yakima to take the long route.  Our eventual destination was Burlington, WA, but we decided that an extra hour or so of driving was worth it to see the Grand Coulee Dam.  We made the right decision.  In spite of the extra miles, the experience was well worth it.

We headed north toward Soap Lake and Blue Lake and followed the eastern edge of Banks lake to arrive at the dam.  As we left Yakima we glimpsed Mt. Adams once again. And Mount Rainier peeked from between a couple low hills.

 The landscape became arid and bare.  Buttes sculpted by wind and water rose in the distance. We crossed the Columbia River once again.

 At a scenic overlook the Northern Cascades rose in the distance, high and covered with snow and glaciers.  On a nearby butte an installation called "Wild Horses" rose against the sky.  The silhouettes of a dozen horses reminded us of a time when horses roamed wild over these hills.The canyons rising on either side of the three lakes were dark and forbidding. 

When we reached the Grand Coulee Dam we found a picnic table in the shadow of a tree at the foot of the enormous concrete structure.  Small birds dipped and soared at the foot of the dam.  It was large and impressive, but not beautiful in the way he natural sites have been.

After lunch we found the North Cascades Scenic Highway, Rt. 20, which leads through the mountain passes.  It was a long drive, but the views were stunning.  High peaks rose on both sides as the road wound up the slopes.  Waterfalls spilled down the rock faces as the spring warmth melted the snow.  

We climbed until we reached the Washington Pass, over 5000feet high.  We stopped to follow a trail leading to an overlook.  The path was still partially covered by snow, but we picked our way through the slush to reach the platform overlooking the valley we had  just left.

From the Washington Pass we gradually descended on our way to the coast.  We kept looking for Mt. Baker but the other enormous peaks stood in the way. The Diabolo Lake was a green gem along the way.

 We finally started to see houses and little towns.  We started looking for a place to eat.  We were  when we saw towns named Rockport and Hamilton, but there was nothing to choose from.  The next town was named Concrete.  We did not stop ther for dinner.

In fact we made it al the way to Burlington for a late dinner.  Our long day was over.  We were tired, but pleased with our choices.