Sunday was perfect. A friend fed us fresh baked biscuits and jam for breakfast, we went for a walk through the market and shot some pictures, stopped for fish and chips at the beach, then went for cupcakes. We had made no plans for Valentine’s Day and really, it could not have been better.
My possibly shaky understanding of the history of Alki Beach is that the settlers who chose the banks of Puget Sound as their new home envisioned this place as the New New York, that here a city would be built to rival any east coast capitol. Our own Lady Liberty, on the beautifully renovated plaza …
This morning our house is chock-a-block with jetlagged Austrians, they’re stacked like cord wood down in the basement. (If you’ve been to Austria, you know they are very skilled at stacking. They are a stacking people, a nation of stackers. ) Last night, we took them for pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) which I swear is …
“It’s a cedar bark hat” he said. “We’re making the Canoe Journey. We’re going to Suquamish next. It’s 30 miles.” His name was Joe, he was a big guy, and friendly, and told us they’d had a great day, the weather was good and the tides were on their side. I was feeling lucky to …
We weren’t the only ones who decided that on this beautiful day, it was necessary – no, imperative, really – to take our lunch break down at Alki Beach. We opted for a sandwich and coffee from Pioneer, but these young ladies had a better idea: gather your people, pack a lunch and swing your …
Pioneer Coffee is a small space with lots of windows that face out on parked cars, the Alki Beach promenade and Puget Sound. I’m always thinking that parking needs to be eliminated from these pedestrian heavy areas, opening up the views from the sidewalks and making the public spaces more pleasant. Pioneer’s location didn’t change …