Where does the time go? Bob and I wrapped up our awesome Seattle house sit on Tuesday (actually late Monday night, but we hung out for another day) before heading directly to our Victoria, BC house sit on Wednesday (but we’ll leave that for our next post). We had an active last few days in Seattle with seeing sights, playing with Lucy Lu, visiting with family, and transitioning and partying with our Seattle home owner.
On Friday of last week, we walked downtown to take in the sights of Seattle from the Sky View Observatory at the Columbia Center. The observation level is on the 73rd floor and provides a 360 degree view of the area.
Besides the great views, the Observatory provided a fun, warm setting for our picnic lunch as well as some additional fun facts about Seattle. Who knew —
- Seattle’s annual rainfall is less than Houston, Chicago and New York City. (What?! We did find the rainfall to be very easy to deal with as it was more mist than downpour.)
- Bertha Landes, elected in 1926, was the first female mayor of Seattle, and of any US city.
- Seattle has more than 500 houseboats — more than anywhere else in the US.
- In a nod to our UK experiences, including our trip to Liverpool, Seattle was the first city in the US to play a Beatle’s song on the radio.
On Saturday, Bob and I walked to and explored Discovery Park, a 534 acre park on the former grounds of Fort Lawton on the shores of Puget sound in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle (thanks again to Wikipedia). It is a lovely park that has forests, meadows, historical buildings, and coastal areas along with a number of walking paths. We walked the Discovery Loop path to the South Beach path to see the lighthouse at the outer edge of the park. The lighthouse stands on the westernmost point of the city of Seattle. We were happy to see that it is a well-used park. We continue to be impressed by the level of outdoor activity by Seattleites!
We were able to do Sunday dinner and Tuesday lunch with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Thanks to Teri for her culinary skills and to Teri and Dick for treating (yet again — our IOU list is getting very long!) for lunch. None of us could recall the last time I’d seen my cousins, but it was long enough ago that I was still taller and perhaps still smarter than them (though that could be argued). They are now both over 6′ and either currently attending or just having graduated from prestigious college programs. They were super interesting to talk to, as they managed to keep the computer-related dialogue mostly at a level that Bob and I could understand. They also had some good responses to Bob’s standard jokes.
After our family get-together Tuesday, Bob and I walked to Golden Gardens Park for one last (this go-round anyway) exploration of Seattle. It was a great coastal park with lots of steps down from the neighborhood above, an off-leash dog area, wetlands, and beautiful coastline views. it was also an easy walk from the Green Lake area.
We can’t say enough about the lovable Lucy Lu and her kind and adventurous human. With Lucy, we enjoyed the walks, ball throwing and (her) retrieving, tug-of-wars with her toys and all of her good nature and affection!
We got to attend an impromptu party that our home owner threw on Tuesday night, meet some of her friends, and learn more about her travels in Africa — including climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro! Super impressive. We’re hoping our paths cross again some time.
Peckish Travels 