There are a million things to see and do in my new home, and I intend to go exploring every chance I get. When I do, I’ll take you all with me. Here’s the first of what I hope will be many installments.
I got my credit card bill today. 9,000.00 dollars in relocation expenses, and that doesn’t even include my first and last month’s rent. And my Indigogo Campain seems to have died out. (Check it out here if you can help.) I felt like crying. Or having a panic attack. It will be several years before I get ahead of this debt.
But crying is no fun at all. So instead I went out and explored the city a bit. May as well fiddle while Rome burns! You never know when you’ll get another chance to fiddle, after all.
My first stop was the Ballard Locks, also known as the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks. This amazing feat of engineering is what allows vessels to pass through the Ship Canal, and it’s quite interesting to see them operate firsthand. I have been gazing at them from a distance from the Ballard Drawbridge, and my curiosity got the better of me.
What makes the experience even better is that there’s also a really beautiful Botanical Garden in the same location…
and another feat of engineering, the fish ladder, which allows the salmon to bypass the locks. You get a close up look at these salmon as they struggle their way upstream.
I was really impressed. And now I have a craving for salmon. This is a lovely way to pass a sunny Saturday.
Alas, these sunny Saturdays are rare in Seattle, so I couldn’t just linger at the locks. I want to get all this outdoorsy stuff checked out before the weather turns. So next on my list was Discovery Park, which, to me sounds like a Disney attraction. But in fact it was a gorgeous, HUGE park with a 2.8 mile loop trail. At the information center they said it was basically flat and not very strenuous.
To that I say, “Pish!” This Florida girl could explain a thing or two about the whole flat concept. The trail nearly killed me. I’m so out of shape that pregnant women, pregnant women were passing me on the trail! At least it’s through mostly shady woodland, full of the moss and rocks and ferns that brought me back to my childhood. But while I was muttering to myself about the hike, I rounded a curve and came across this:
Which of course made it all worth it.
The weather was so clear I even caught my first glimpse of Mount Rainier, which completely took my breath away. I can’t wait to go there now!
But anyone who wants to see Seattle in its natural state definitely needs to explore Discovery Park.
Where should I go next? Any suggestions?
The View from a Drawbridge 
Well, let’s see…
The 1st Thursday of each month is free day at some of the local museums–I recommend the Burke, at the UW, and the Museum of History and Industry. Seattle Art Museum is worth a look too. It’s just down the street from the Pike Place Market. The huge sculpture out front, Hammering Man, arrived a couple of decades back, and the first time they tried to install it, it got dropped! But they fixed it and tried again next year and now it stands firm. There is also an Asian art museum at Volunteer Park.
The Arboretum, behind Capitol Hill, will be a bit less hilly than where you went. This time of year, bring a bag and glean some fruit. You will find a trail going north-west thru beautiful marshlands. Across the canal, east of the campus, is another reasonably level wildish area.
You will find library branches here and there. The main one, downtown, just uphill from the dark “box that the Space Needle came in”, looks like an irregular stack of boxes wrapped in a net, and you will need a map until you are familiar with it. Books on wild edible plants should be present somewhere, and that will help with your budget. Make sure to identify the poisonous ones as well. There is an obscure turn on the topmost floor that will take you to a tiny lookout that…well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
If in your peregrinations you see a store called “Grocery Outlet” you can expect to save some on food, but what they’ve got is subject to change.
That’s just a start. Have fun.
Thanks. I definitely am so far!
Mt Rainier is freakin’ awesome…
Yet another thing to look forward to.
Yeah it is
Great pictures. Have fun!
Thanks!
My mind has been a wanderer since birth. Alas, I must travel through someone else’s eyes and descriptions. I Thank You in advance for taking me places I will never get to go.
Well, you’re always welcome in Seattle, Carole!
That looks stunning and it looks like it was made for you. I wish I could donate. The rupee to dollar exchange rate works against my favour! Hopefully the money fairy will set things right. Sorry 😦
Your emotional support is more precious than gold, Anju. Thanks. 🙂
Awww hugs!