January 26, 2020 - Blue Tease

A Seattle Filter wouldn't apply this morning as the clouds left a little opening for a tease of blue sky.  By early afternoon, the sun had come out.  With a mid afternoon soccer match scheduled, Murphy's Law dictates a change to rain!

 

The Hong Kong flagged container ship Seaspan Hudson arrives from Elliott Bay assisted by a pair of tugs.  The 112,000 ton, 1105 foot vessel (3 times the length of the ferries that ply Puget Sound!) is listed as having a carrying capacity of 10,000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent), or 10,000 20' foot containers!  Each intermodal container has about 1000 cubic feet in volume.

September 24, 2018 - Tardy June Stroll

The first day of fall was Saturday, September 22nd.  Summer is officially over.  It seemed like a good time to finish a blog post begun in June, but never completed.  September is the third driest in the year in Seattle.  While it is a month characterized by mostly sunny skies and temperatures around 70 degrees one can still feel that touch of fall in the air and now it is officially here.

June  2nd was a good day for a late spring stroll from around the prominence on which the Alki Point Lighthouse stands.  Starting at Beach Drive SW on the west, around Alki Point to Alki Avenue, it was a good day to take in the blue skies, Olympic Mountains, Mount Rainier, low tide explorers - human and otherwise - shipping and the Space Needle.  This year, summer seemed to start a little earlier.  It didn't wait until after Independence Day to make its' showing as locals are accustomed.  See you next year!

January 15, 2018 - Luna Girls

Lezlie Jane's "Luna Girls", a sculpture of flame cut slab steel standing over nine feet tall, graces the Alki Trail on the west side of Elliott Bay.  The early 20th century inspired beach attire pays homage to the Luna Park recreational park that opened in 1902.  The attraction included heated pools, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster and restaurants.  Much of the attraction closed by 1913, but the collections of pools, the Natatorium, remained opened until 1931.

The sculpture was originally hoped to be installed at Alki Beach but was installed at this part of Alki in February 2014.

From this part of the West Seattle waterfront you can view the comings and going of ferries, waterfowl and seals. 

July 4, 2016 - An Alki Stroll

Along Alki Beach Drive are small cottages tucked in among more modern condominiums and apartment buildings.  None are more picturesque than this pair of cottages that appear to be constructed almost completely of flowers and greenery.  One of the owners has lived here for nine years.  With ownership came an inherited duty to continuing a decades-long tradition of maintaining the volume of colors that their neighbor demands.  

The Fourth of July holiday, non-rainy weather and a low tide made for a busy day on Alki Beach.

At a lookout one can take in the view of the Space Needle, the skyline, ferries, sailboats, ships and boats of all kind and even an Osprey catching lunch.  Along the Alki trail one can walk, bike, takek photos, skate, or rent a bike thingie that seems to be more efficient at creating more giggles and laughs than actually turning pedal power into forward energy.

March 26, 2016 - Sunny Seattle Spring Saturday

The sun was out on an early spring Saturday morning and with it came all manner of Seattle residents and tourists.  They were out in kayaks, on stand up paddle boards, traveling on ferries, walking dogs, playing volleyball in bikinis (never mind that it was barely 50 degrees out), on roller blades, in running shoes, on skate boards, taking photos, on bicycles or barefoot playing in the sand.

From Alki one can see the Olympic Mountains across a calm Puget Sound to the west, the Cascade Mountains across Elliott Bay to the east and to the north east the Space Needle and the houses on Queen Anne Hill.

January 18, 2016 - From Plymouth Rock to Alki

On Seattle's Alki Drive, a concrete obelisk commemorates the 1851 arrival of the Denny Party, credited to be the founders of Seattle.  The party of 22 dubbed the area "New York Alki".  Alki was a term used by the Chinook tribe to mean "by and by".  It is now the motto of the State of Washington. Arriving in November the group was assisted by local native Americans, including Chief Seattle, in getting shelter from the winter weather.  The next year Arthur Denny moved his nascent settlement across the bay.

The obelisk was erected in 1905 and contains the names of the Denny Party.

In addition to the names a plaque reads "At this place on 13 November 1851 there landed from the Schooner Exact Captain Folger the little colony which developed into the City of Seattle".


On this balmy 45 degree morning the long stretch of beach was busy with bikers, joggers, strollers, strollers with strollers, joggers with strollers, dogs and even a stand up paddle boarder.  All were watched by a Bald Eagle on a branch above the obelisk.