June 18, 2011: Arrival! Arrived in Seattle a bit late, due to delays leaving New York. It was raining when I arrived, but it cleared up enough to walk from Aaron's apartment on E. Denny Way a few blocks to Jamjuree for dinner, and then around his Capitol Hill neighborhood. There's some construction going on nearby - this is a tunnel boring machine being used to extend a tunnel for the Seattle Light Rail.
June 19, 2011: Drive to the Eastern Mountains! It's Sunday, Aaron is free and we decided to take a drive outside of Seattle in to the mountains. Aaron suggested Route 2 toward Skykomish and Stevens Pass, one of his favorite snowboarding areas.
Views at Stevens Pass
In Skykomish we discovered the bridge in town was closed, which prompted us to do some exploring:
An old, one-lane bridge with a wooden roadbed:
Aaron, taking photos:
We could see a rusty railroad bridge from the closed bridge. Let's explore that too!
Under the elevated section:
Gridwork under the trestle:
Water [and Aaron] under the bridge!
Aaron then decided he wanted a level view of the bridge; I decided not to go. The track was elevated to the bridge, and if a train came along, any options available to me would surely kill me! That would include jumping out of the way (a long way down to a stony bed), or laying down on the track! With my luck I'd either lay in the wrong place and get run over, or the anxiety of having a train pass directly over my prone body would give me a heart attack! I'm way too old for that kind of adventure! Aaron went alone!
He stayed on the tracks a long time, really pushing his luck! When he finally came back safely, I sighed a huge sigh of relief, and we drove into the center of this tiny little town for some more photo ops.
Here is Skykomish Public Library. Ironically the sign on the side of the building says in 2010 it was the "busiest library system in the U.S." I did a double take at that, since the population of this tiny town is only about 200 people! But upon closer inspection, I see it's part of the King County Library system, and the statistics include the entire county! Still, pretty impressive!
A small, one-room library:
Open 20 hours per week, which is also impressive, since many of our much larger Brooklyn Branch Libraries have been reduced to not many more hours than this, due to budget cuts!
Staff Parking!
Other buildings in this tiny town:
Small house, with porch railing made from skiis!
Hotel/Inn:
Unknown building across the street from the hotel:
Train Depot, now boarded up:
We then headed back to Seattle, after a great day of exploring!
June 20, 2011: Walking Around Town! Today was a walking day. It's Monday, so Aaron went to work and I was left to my own devices and desires! First I walked around Aaron's neighborhood early in the morning. Capitol Hill sits up high enough, that there are some awesome views from here, especially this view at the turnabout on Thomas Street:
There's a violinmaker on the corner of the next street, which I thought was pretty cool; how often do you see that?
After exploring the immediate neighborhood, and having a new set of apartment keys made for the ones I managed to lose yesterday (probably in Skykomish while exploring the bridges), I then walked downtown, only about a twenty minute walk from Aaron's neighborhood. On the way, I passed another cool view of the Space Needle:
I did a lot of shopping at Pacific Place Mall, then Aaron called and said he was in the neighborhood doing something for work, so I met him for a few minutes to say hi! My final destination was Pike's Place Market on the waterfront, but I was very tired and hungry by the time I got there, so I didn't stay long - I'll go back another time this week when I am fresher and can appreciate all the fun stuff there! Since I had walked as much as I could by this point, I took the bus back to Aaron's.
June 21, 2011: First Day of Summer in Washington! Today I drove about 40 minutes north to Mukilteo, WA to spend the day with Jill. Read about my day on a separate blog page, by clicking here!
June 22 (and 26), 2011: Seattle Public Library! Today I went downtown again, this time via a bus tour of the city (I got on the wrong bus and rode all the way to the University District and back again!) At lunchtime I met Aaron at the Seattle Central Library, which is right next door to his office building. You can see all the photos from the library on a separate blog page, by clicking here!
June 23, 2011: Volunteer Park! It was a bit rainy this morning, but it cleared up nicely by 11:00AM, so I decided to take a walk to Volunteer Park, which is only about 15 blocks from where Aaron lives. You can follow my visit to the Park, the Conservatory, the Asian Museum and the Water Tower on a separate blog page, by clicking here!
June 25, 2011: A Wedding & Aaron in a Tux! On this day, we didn't do much - walked around the neighborhood a bit in the morning - because Aaron had to be dressed in his tux and at the church by 1:00PM for photos and last minute tasks. I drove Aaron there on time, then kept the car and went home to get ready myself for the wedding due to start at 4:00PM. See photos of Aaron in his tux and some sample wedding photos, by clicking here!
June 26, 2011: Gay Pride, more Seattle Public Library and a walk around downtown Seattle! Gay Pride day in Seattle, and a big parade to rival those in New York! And the thing that really blew my mind was the nudity - well there were pasties and body paint, but I can't imagine this happening in New York, without arrests for indecent exposure. Hope these photos don't offend anyone! You can see them, by clicking here!
And now...the rest of it! You can see the rest of the photos not posted elsewhere, by clicking here!
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