Irrelevance Glorified

Since Bruce moved to Portland, I’ve visited there a decent number of times (4…I think?). However, I was in the mood for something…Norther. So I decided to visit Cameron, who is now up in Seattle. As a first time visitor to Seattle, Cameron took me around to some of the most pictured places, so that I could jump on that bandwagon. Gina actually arrived from Korea that weekend, but due to the jet lag she didn’t actually feel to participating in much. However, we did go see the new Star Trek flick (lens flares anyone?) I was pleased to find out that Cameron and Gina’s cat, Maki, still remembered me. Anyways, I took some pictures, although never as much as I intend to, and am posting them here. Either hit the Flickr set, watch the slideshow below, or hit the jump to get all the pictures in a row with descriptions.

Cameron and I had breakfast/lunch at Mighty-O Donuts in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle. Organic donuts and chai tea. I believe the one on the right is "French Toast", and the one on the left is "Grasshopper." The Keebler elves kind of grasshopper, that is, not the insect. I’m pretty sure. Well, it is an organic bakery and it was a bit crunchy….

 

Here I am standing on the shoulder of the Fremont Troll, who lives (of course) under the north end of the Aurora bridge in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. He needs a haircut.

 

The troll has taken a car, most likely a VW bug, hostage in one of his giant concrete hands.

 

This is the view the Troll has. The Aurora Bridge travels for quite a while above the street before it actually goes over the water.

 

Since I was in Seattle, it was necessary for me to take a picture of the Space Needle. Police were doing random checks of tourist’s cameras to make sure we were complying.

 

When we walked through this area, I thought this amusement park was abandoned. However, this is apparently the Fun Forest at the Seattle Center. According to the website, it should have been open when I was there, but it was clearly not operational.

 

Cameron and I stopped by Pike Place Market because…well….it’s a touristy spot. There are people throwing fish around and stuff. Rachel has been around since 1986, and is modeled after a real pig.

 

The real point of this picture are the mountains in the background (Olympic National Park), but my camera and I are not skilled enough to get that picture to come out. I’m just going to go ahead and blame the cruise ship for stealing focus.

 

The day after the previous picture, Cameron and I went around Seattle and looked for picturesque spots. Here we are on the west side of Seattle, looking out towards Bainbridge Island and beyond. There were quite a few sailboats, motorboats, and tugboats out on the water. Those ominous shadows on the horizon are the mountains of Olympic National Forest, again.

 

A recent research article studied the geotagging distribution of Flickr photos, and identified the most popular places for taking pictures. They even broke it down by city. Seattle, being full of yuppie hipsters, ranked as one of the most pictured cities (at least on Flickr). Because I am a big nerd, I ran through the ten most pictured places in Seattle. Space Needle is tops of course, but Kerry Park was pretty highly ranked as well, although I had never heard of it. So Cameron and I headed over, and we found a pretty awesome view of downtown Seattle. Kerry Park exists on a slope that is pointed towards the skyscrapers. On good days, you can see Mt. Rainier, although it remains hidden here. If you want to see an awesome picture of Seattle from Kerry Park, you can see one here.

 

Another popular place in Seattle is Gas Works Park, once an industrial plant, but now a public park. There were a lot of kite flyers out today.

 

Gas Works Park once existed to convert coal to natural gas and/or crude oil. Eventually, it was made obsolete, and they decided to turn this area into a park. Great use of an area filled with toxic chemicals!

 

I realize that this was once an actual gasification plant, but that piping just doesn’t seem very efficient or probable.

 

I have to admit, I just don’t see the allure in tagging things with spray paint. I mean, guess if you’re tagging places that are hard to reach, it’s a mark of honor, proving your reached new heights. But all that low-hanging fruit? Really, not all that impressive.

 

I noticed these people practicing tightrope walking. I think, though, that this tightrope needs to be a bit, uh, tighter.

 

At the top of the hill at Gas Works Park. It was actually a pretty impressive sun dial. You need to stand in the middle of it to get it to work, but it tells you the time of day depending on the year. It was made before Daylight Savings Time existed, though, so you have to account for it.

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