Seattle: Volunteer Park!

June 23, 2011:  It was a bit rainy early this morning - a "real" rain that actually had umbrellas popping up on the street for a while.  If other Seattlites feel about the rain like Aaron does, I think that umbrellas probably do not come out frivolously, and are only reserved for actual puddles-in-the-street kind of rain!  However, it cleared up nicely by 11:00AM, so I decided to take advantage of the clearing skies and peeks of sunshine to take a walk to Volunteer Park, which is only about 15 blocks from where Aaron lives.  This page will be a photographic account of my 2+hour visit there:

The sight I saw first, walking up the hill from the street ~ The Water Tower!

Walking around the Water Tower, I came upon the sculpture called the Black Sun, by artist Isamu Noguchi, and affectionately called "The Donut" by locals.  The view from the sculpture features the Space Needle, Olympic Mountains, and Elliott Bay, as shown in my photos below:

Situated on either side of the large pond seen in the photo directly above, are two Lily Ponds, complete with Koi.  The water was rippling with shadowed reflections of the sky, clouds and surrounding flora, with Koi swimming in and out of the reflections.   I tried ~ without a great deal of success ~  to catch some of that feeling:

After the Lily Pond, I walked to the Conservatory (photo not mine, but all following photos ARE mine!) where there are five separate areas of the greenhouse, devoted to various exotic plants including orchids (Orchidaceae), bromeliads, palms, ferns, cacti and succulents, as well as some carnivorous plants!!

These peach-colored orchids are [I think] Phalaenopsis Orchids

Purple Vanda

Fuschia

White Camellia

 

Orchid Cactus (Epiphyllum oxypetalum)

Brazilian Plume Flower~Justicia carnea
(aka Flamingo Flower)

A very large unknown orange blossom
that reminds me of Hibiscus...could it be?

Two types of Pitcher Plants (Carnivorus Plants):  

(1) The first set of two shots are of [I think]
called Sarracenia purpurea
(also the provincial flower of Newfoundland, CA)

(2) The second set of two shots are [I think]  Nepenthes truncata (aka Monkey Cup):

 

There were also many Anthurium,
most of them red and green:

Then a whole roomful of cacti & succulents.
Here are but a few of them:

Cactus Flower

Many had large spines that looked
as if they could do some serious damage!

One very large upright cactus (Saguaro)
surrounded by smaller ones!

Red Jade Plant

Another Cactus Flower:

Walking from Conservatory to the Seattle Asian Art Museum, I walked past a small group of crows that were putting up quite a fuss ~ basically it was two smaller crows trying to fend off a larger crow!  They were loud and angry!

Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM)

Camels outside the Museum:

Fabric Canvas Art

Sculpture 1:

Kubuki Robe

Sculpture 2:

Tang Dynasty Camel Sculptures

Royal Chairs

Special Exhibit:
Tibetan Sand Art (by Tibetan Monks)

After Leaving SAAM, I peeked into the Water Tower, debating if I could climb to the top again to see the spectacular view from the top (I did it in 2009!)  It was certainly turning out to be a perfect day to see the Olympic Mountains!  So I started up, but only went up a few dozen steps before knowing my knees weren't going to make it, so I went back down, but not before taking these shots:

UP

DOWN

Last view of the Water Tower, before starting my walk back toward Aaron's apartment:

Another spectacular view of the Space Needle
from the flowered turnaround on Thomas Street:

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