Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Waterfront in the Seattle Area

School is in full swing! I have a heavy course load this semester; German, English grammar/linguistics, Canadian history of the arctic, English lit theory, and historical English lit. It's keeping me pretty busy...despite loving school, I think longingly of the few days I spent alternately reading novels and gazing at the ocean....
 
After escaping hilly downtown Seattle, we heading for Gas Works Park, which I'd read about in a guide book. It's a city park on a large body of water (I thought it was an inlet of the ocean, but it turns out it was just a large lake...), and it's main feature is an old gas plant. It's rusty urban decay at it's finest, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. We were there late on a Friday afternoon, and it was full of couples gazing at the water, families having picnic suppers, people flying kites, and even a wedding being photographed.



The blackberries are doing their darnedest to reclaim the structures for nature. This is behind a chain-link fence, and I nearly cried at all of the blackberry goodness going to waste...
 
Just a lake, not ocean - but a lovely view none the less!

We also visited Dash Point State Park. We had tried to go one day before, but I didn't realize you had to pay admission in the form of a day pass. We were only going to stay for an hour or so, so we went somewhere else and came back another day. It was a wee bit chilly, despite the sun, because of the wind off the water. Trevor went to read in the car because it was too cold for him, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. :) Then we went and got subs for lunch and came back for the afternoon, when it was finally warm enough for Trevor. Towards the late afternoon the beach got REALLY crowded, as the tide came in and more families arrived after the work day. There wasn't much sand to begin with, and quarters got very cosy. I'm not sure that I'd go there again - the next beach we went to was my favourite!
 
After we left the beach we had dinner at Salty's at Redondo Beach. It was a lovely seafood place on a pier - we had a corner table by the window, and we watched the sun set over the ocean, while I stuffed myself with some of the best clam chowder I've ever eaten, complete with little oyster crackers. I ADORE oyster crackers, and I can't seem to find any in Calgary. :(
 
Dash Point State Park - also known as 'the seaweedy beach'.
 
Caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainer on our way back. I'd forgotten the sheer immenseness of Baker and Rainer! Albertans like to think that we have 'real' mountains, but these are breathtaking.
 
Seahurst Park was beautiful. There was a river with a pond, lots of rainforest, lots of sand and not too crowded, and no admission fee! I loved it there. We met a random guy who came over to talk to us because he noticed Trevor reading Biblical Greek, and me reading a Star Wars novel. We'd actually noticed him earlier when he arrived at the beach, because he said to his toddler daughter that he didn't like water because he's a nerd. Which made me snort... :)
 
The river leads to the sea.
 
Rainforest!
 
I'll have to go back and check my photos, but I think that's about it for the Seattle area - on to Whitefish, Montana, next!
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