Archive for the ‘Seattle’ Category
Monday, August 11th, 2008
The Space Needle, a shining vision of The Future as seen from 1962 is an icon of our city, our skyline. It’s been in Gray’s Anatomy, Frasier, and The Simpsons. We’ve watched the fireworks off the Needle on many a New Year’s Eve - one year I remember it was so foggy that the pyrotechnics were more blurry watercolor than sharp light show. We play a weird little Space Needle game when we leave the house - the first one to spot it and say “Space Needle” wins. There’s no explaining it. I’ve stood in the shadow of the Needle to play the uke at Folklife, met friends at the base to see the bands at Bumbershoot, and shot plenty of photos of it from different places around the city - if you stand at the Black Hole Sun in Volunteer Park, you can see the Space Needle through the hole.
I’ve lived in Seattle for just about 15 years - longer than I’ve lived anywhere. Until yesterday, I had never been up the Space Needle. Because the IMAX had sold out and because the rain had cleared the skies, yesterday afternoon, we went up the Space Needle.
Wow, it’s gorgeous up there.
Posted in Seattle | 2 Comments »
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
I am not a sports fan. I voted whole heartedly against building what is admittedly a gorgeous ball park because I thought our civic funds should be spent elsewhere. I almost never watch sports on television - save for the random few hours spent gobstruck by the Olympics. I will not go out of my way to attend a professional sporting event. But if you call me up and say, “Hey, I have an extra ticket for the ball game… wanna come along?” I will say yes every time. Because secretly, I like live baseball.
Our friend’s Dad has a concierge-like role at Safeco Field’s Diamond Club. He provided our tickets with the goal being to introduce my Euro-spouse to the game. No, we did not get to see the game while breathing the same rarefied air that the top end season ticket holders do. We did take the club tour where we learned that Diamond Club members are offered just about everything their snacking and drinking hearts desire - inclusive in the cost of a Diamond Club ticket. Their seats are right behind home plate - you can probably see dust fly off the ball when the batter connects. While in the stands, Diamond Club members get menus and servers whereas up in the vertigo zone, a guy shouts “BeeeEEER” or “Cold lemonAAAADE!” while hefting a plastic carton of drinks up and down the steep steps. Diamond Club members have cocktails mixed to order at the bar and a dessert buffet rather than plastic bags of gummy worms. And they get padded seats.
Never mind. Our tour over, we climbed to our 300 level seats - also behind the plate - to munch on peanuts and kettle corn. I drank a 7 dollar beer from a plastic cup. The kid next to us turned his hands and face an unnatural shade of blue by eating a fluffy cotton candy that was about the size of his little brother. The lively 20-somethings just over there sang and danced and shouted at the field. Japanese girls held up Ichiro signs and waved and screamed until the camera picked them up on the jumbo screen.
And on the field, the slow drama that is baseball unfolded. The sweepers did their dance while prepping the field in between innings. There was a beauty queen, Mrs. Washington (”Her husband is George!” snarked my friend) and the moose mascot. Baseballs popped up into the stands behind the plate, beyond the foul line, and once, over the wall into right field for a spectacular home run. The coach ran out on to the field to dispute a call, the umpires gathered and separated, sometimes the pitcher’s mound was a tea party for the entire team, other times, the pitcher stood alone, taking his cap on and off, wiping his brow, turning sharply and hurling the ball towards first where the runner was making a play to steal second.
The crowd sang the Star Spangled Banner, Louie Louie, and Take Me Out to the Ball Game. The sky turned dark, the seagulls flying over were bright white in the spots, and for a while, a double rainbow arced over the park, mirroring the arch of the ball park and the football stadium just to the north. Fans skittered in and out like the tide between innings, wearing jerseys with the numbers of their favorite players, carrying big foam #1 fingers, pillows for their seats, rain ponchos, cardboard trays overflowing with garlic fries.
Baseball. I realize it’s wildly popular in other parts of the world - the Dominican Republic and Japan and oh, I don’t know where else - but to me, there’s something reassuringly, optimistically American about a baseball game. And there’s a theater to it, the players have backstories, they have history, the game moves forward in chapters in time and anything can happen at any point in the game.
It’s why I always say yes when invited. There’s an sense of possibility inherent in baseball that keeps you wondering what’s going to happen next. Maybe that’s what I mean when I say it’s so American. That sense of possibility, that you can come from anywhere and knock it out of the park.
The takeaway for my mate was closer to “Don’t eat so many M&M’s” and “Yeah, I enjoyed that.” Hey, he’s just up from the farm leagues. We’ll get there.
Posted in Seattle | 6 Comments »
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
About 11am.
J, from the kitchen: There’s a guy walking past the houe with a giant fish!
Me: WHAT?!
J: Look outside. He’s walking past the house with a huge salmon.
Me, getting up from my desk, going to the front window.
J: See, he just set the fish down on the grass next door.
Me, opening the front door, standing on the porch gawking.
The guy is wearing a black knit cap, sandy hair falls down his back. He’s got a backpack on and a fishing pole in one hand. I can just see the silver scales of the salmon from where I’m standing. His back is to us. He adjusts his pack, picks up the fish - it’s got to be two feet long - and strides up the hill towards the bus stop.
The salmon are running. We live about a 20 minute walk from the sound and there have been fisherman at the beach every time we’ve walked down there. The last guy I asked about the catch said, “Nothing but little guys, we catch ‘em and throw ‘em back.”
This guy, however, appeared to be taking his catch home for dinner. Do you think the bus driver allows you on with a freshly caught salmon?
Posted in Seattle | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
Jason Solarek, the design guy behind Air Wear sent me a box o’ swag with my airport code on it - that’s SEA in case you’re wondering. I’ll tell you what I told him - those snappy airport logos make my eyeballs happy.
I’m using the notebook for a project I’m starting today - and hey, what traveler doesn’t need a notebook?
From the press/about page, it looks like Jason’s Air Wear could be The Popular Airport Accessory. The bag is cute but the strap isn’t padded, there aren’t enough compartments for it to make the cut for my carry-on of choice, and the zippers don’t feel sturdy enough to last - but there’s no denying that it’s good looking. Totally fine for the day, but I don’t think they’d take the beating over the long haul.
The wrap? I like the look a lot. Get those logos onto some super high quality sturdy bags and we have a winner.
Want your airport on a coffee cup, t-shirt, bag, notebook, or…? Get it here.
Posted in Seattle | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 28th, 2008
Wow. I looked away for a few days to go do a little, you know, traveling (Olympic Peninsula) and now there are 31forum members, a bunch of new threads, and some nice posts about the concept here and here.
There’s a thread on how to start a travelblog, a few links to photo work and a very good question: What do you want from a travelblogging community?
I encourage and welcome your participation.
Posted in Seattle | 1 Comment »
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
Posted in Seattle | 4 Comments »
