In Fall of 2009, my mother and stepfather, Hiram and Vickie, came up for a visit. It'd been a while since I'd seen them, and they've been wanting to take a vacation of sorts for some time.
Over a few days, I had taken time off and showed them some of the area. About the only thing I did not shoot was the drive from the airport through Seattle, as I was driving at the time to take them to get their rental car in Kirkland - as well as dinner at our apartment in Redmond. But here's what I did get.
The photos, in retrospect, are a bit small - at the time, my camera of choice was a Nikon L10, so not much but it got the job done. Yet here it is, not quite seven years later, and I'm parking them up here. =)
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At the obelisk on Alki Point in West Seattle, where I like to take people if they've not seen it.
It is at this point the settlers who first came here landed.
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Another shot from Alki Beach. Magnolia can be seen to the right.
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Looking south from the observation deck of the Space Needle. This is what downtown Seattle looked like from the north. The skyscrapers haven't really changed, but a lot of the foreground has owing to Amazon's development work in the city.
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Northward from the Space Needle. In the far background centerish you can see the skyscrapers in downtown Bellevue.
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Looking southwest. Behind the cruise ship is Harbor Island; in the background is West Seattle.
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Facing west. Alki Point is there, amidst the glare from the afternoon sun.
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Facing northwest. From back to front: The Olympic Mountains, Bainbridge Island, Elliott Bay, Terminal 86 (the grain transfer terminal, which is used to transfer grain from rail to ship), and various biuldings found in Interbay and Queen Anne. The edge of Magnolia is off to the right.
At this point, there isn't a whole lot of Interbay visible aside from the docks and what's immediately against the water; Elliott Ave W separates Interbay from Queen Anne.
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Getting a bit closer, maybe this is NNW? In any case, Queen Anne is in the foreground, and right behind that are Magnolia and the rest of Interbay. If you look kind of center-left, you'll see a bridge leading into the southern part of Magnolia - the aptly named Magnolia Bridge. These days, the docs in Interbay are used for most of the cruise ship departures.
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At this point, we're pretty much straight north. Queen Anne is in the foreground. I think that's Ballard or Fremont in the background, not sure. The radio towers are atop Queen Anne Hill.
It was seeing this, prior to photographing it, that kinda cemented in that I was home, about 3.5 years after moving up here. |
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Northeast. Lake Union is the prominent feature.
In the second photo, you can better see the campus of University of Washington in the background - just behind the I-5 bridge.
The bridge, by the way, has two levels - one level is the mainline traffic, and the lower level is for the reversible express lane.
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A busker. My stepfather, Hiram, is in the first shot; my mother, Vickie, is in the second. I can't help but admire the busker's costume....
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From Juanita Beach, looking at the pier that surrounds the swimming area.
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Behind the fountain at the LDS temple in Bellevue. This was taken the following day.
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LDS temple, Bellevue, WA
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A close-up of a tree that I have yet to identify.
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At Snoqualmie Falls, from the observation deck.
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Planes in formation, taken from Enumclaw during Penumbra Faire
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Ocean Shores, WA - the view from the beach. It's a little different up here, as at this point there are no islands on the horizon. Beyond this horizon, there be dragons. There was an odd, dark, splotchy residue coming up onto the beach that day.
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There was a small family of deer in somebody's yard as we were departing Ocean Shores. Here are a couple shots of a buck I was able to stop and photograph.
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Shots from Triple XXX Root Beer - the last one standing of this once larger chain, located in Issaquah. The memorabilia inside is remarkable, the food is pretty good, and the root beer is worth the money. One can frequently see car shows happening at this spot - if there is one at the time you come in, good luck getting a bite to eat. =)
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