The Mountain Is Out (And So Am I)

Photo Courtesy of JPChamberland

There's a popular saying in Seattle: "If you can't see the mountain, it's raining. And if you can see the mountain, it's about to rain." The mountain is Mt. Rainier, which can be seen from most places in the Seattle metro area, and especially well from the suburb where I live. It's a pretty big mountain, but on some days it completely vanishes from sight because of the low-lying clouds.

Anyways, as you might have guessed, it's been out lately because the weather's been nice and warm! So I haven't been posting because I've been too busy running around doing errands and things outside before I start work next week (more on this later). Basically, just wanted to say hi and will post soon!

The Pike Place Market

Are you guys ready?! To go...

??

I know, I'm so clever. Pretty sure that exact same joke has been made with this exact same picture at least 421534 times in Internet history. Whomp.

But seriously, Pike Place Market is one of the most famous Seattle landmarks, and one of my favorites, because every time you go there you find something new! It's a collection of buildings built into a hill with a view of Puget Sound, and there are many vendors, seasonal stands, and permanent shops and restaurants packed into the nine acres of the market. The top level or two is usually really crowded with tourists, but once you go down further it clears out and you start to find some of the really weird shops. The only way I can think of to describe the lower levels of the Pike Place Market is as a rabbit warren...cramped, slightly dark, and totally confusing. But I'm going to start up top.

The famous flying fish stand

If you've ever heard of the Pike Place Market, you've probably heard about the flying fish stand. There are many fish and seafood stands in the market, but the one right by the main entrance is the one where the employees toss the fish around. On a nice day it's impossible to walk through here because there are so many tourists standing around hoping they will throw the fish. I gave up on getting a picture of that after about two minutes and moved on to check out some of the other things on the first level.

Like the flowers! Pike Place always has GORGEOUS bouquets for cheap. Yep, those are $5 and $10 bouquets you're looking at right there. And then there are many vendors selling variously tacky or awesome Pacific Northwest art, jewelery, tshirts, stuffed animals, etc...here are some highly tacky but colorful Native American designs!

In addition to all the daily vendors, there are permanent restaurants, like the Pike Brewery and its accompanying pub (on the floor underneath all this brewing equipment).

Mmm...beer...

And my personal favorite, the amazing crepe shop.

And oh yeah, some of the restaurants have views like this:

View from Place Pigalle, an uber-French restaurant (hope you like rare food)

When you go down to the lower levels, where you find dusty old treasures that have entertained many generations of kids, myself included. The Magic Shop was always a necessary stop when I was younger, as was the store that sold caricature portraits and cardboard cutouts (seriously, there is a whole store that does just that), and the House of Jade, aka the Room Full of Every Little Glass or China Figurine Ever Made. There's also an anarchist bookstore somewhere down there (yeah folks, this is Seattle) and some cool murals by local artists.

Need indelible ink that's been sitting on the shelf for ten years? They've got it

Now I like to look at the antiques stores, the used bookstores, and the Polish Pottery Place. And, true to form, I found something this time that I'd never seen before...

I don't really know what to say about this one. Get some seasonal produce and your teeth pulled, all in one convenient location? Hmm...

Here's one of the buildings across the street from the main market building. I didn't get the chance to run over there, but it's home to the Crumpet Shop and a great used bookstore, among other things.

And right next door is a store that I think you'll recognize...

It's the first Starbucks store! Complete with original signage, two unique individuals playing an accordion/saw duet, and a bajillion tourists. Good luck getting a drink there because you cannot even get in (check out all those peeps waiting in line). Luckily there is another Starbucks just around the corner!

Goodbye, market...I'll be back soon!

Seattle Waterfront

 Seattle view from Pier 66

Because it continues to be gorgeous here, I had to put up these pictures of the Seattle waterfront! They should all be clickable for larger versions but they might not be because the new Blogger WYSIWIG keeps messing things up for some reason and after a couple minutes of messing with their ugly code...I gave up :-/

 The Olympic Mountains

That largeish boat in the photo is the Victoria Clipper, which is basically a small ferry that runs passengers between Seattle and Victoria, BC. I also saw some of the bigger ferries that go to Bainbridge Island, etc but didn't take pics. Probably unconsciously on purpose because the first thing everyone asks me about Seattle/living on an island is "do you have to take a ferry?" (no, there are bridges).

I also found Daddy's yacht in the harbor (hah). 

 Who wants to go to for a cruise?

So I didn't get a shot of any ferries, but I did get Anthony's Pier 66, which is one of the best seafood restaurants around and looks like a ferry!

Anthony's Pier 66

Then I played a fun game of Cruise Ship vs. Building. I think the cruise ship won...

This monster is 965 feet long...basically a floating skyscraper

I'm super jealous of the 2,934 people it's taking to Alaska!

And that's a big building on the right, too...yikes. Apparently the ship will be moving port to NY in 2012 for Caribbean cruises, so maybe Xu will see it there!

Then I saw one of my favorite things...

Asdfhjadsfk I love the aquarium

If you ever visit Seattle, you must go to the aquarium! They have tons of cool aquatic life on display; my favorites are the otters and the big underwater viewing dome.

Finally, as I was on my way home, I saw this huge Bengali (I think based on the headgear--Indian friends please correct me) wedding procession going to the Marriott for a lovely outdoor wedding! My favorite part? They rented a horse drawn carriage so the groom and his father could arrive in a traditional fashion--and his dad's on his cell phone. Technology FTL?

They were all dancing down the street, though apparently not in this pic

"Yo, where you guys at?" "Stuck in traffic, man"

Pike Place Market pictures up next I promise! And it's still sunny and warm here...supposed to be 90 degrees this weekend! :-)

The Olympic Sculpture Park

Looking east from the pedestrian bridge at the Olympic Sculpture Park

Happy Labor Day! It's been absolutely gorgeous here in Seattle this weekend, and I've been floating around in a little it's-80-degrees-and-not-humid haze of happiness. Did you know that it only rained once here in the month of August? I bet you didn't! And you thought Seattle was all dreary and grey...check out that sky, my friends.

Anyways, to celebrate the holiday weekend, my parents and I went down to the Olympic Sculpture Park to walk around, view all the weird modern art, and get some vitamin D. There are many post-quasi-deconstructionist-WTFist pieces in the park, but I'm only posting pictures of a few I actually liked.

"Split" by Roxy Paine

This is one of my favorites! Just down the hill, there is a whole installation/exhibit featuring a giant "nurse log" that was brought in from a forest and that's growing all kinds of new plants and trees. I tried to take pictures, but the roof of the exhibit is green, and so are the plants, and with the sunlight behind it all it was like St. Patrick puked in there, so I had to leave those ones out.

"Perre's Ventaglio III" by Beverly Pepper

This one had something to do with filling voids. I don't remember but I liked it.

Sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen

Does anybody know what this sculpture is of? Hint: it's a real-life object!

No idea? I didn't know either. It's a typewriter eraser! My parents laughed at me for not knowing this.

"The Eagle" by Alexander Calder

This one is sort of the keystone piece for the park. In my mind it's like the hybrid child of Native American art and a sports team logo.

The Alaskan Way

Here's the view down the Alaskan Way (the main waterfront drag) from one end of the sculpture park. The city rolls up to the left/east and Puget Sound is on the right, though you can't see it in this shot because of the pier buildings. We walked down to the Pike Place Market, which is about a mile away, so I'll post those pictures next!

Olympic Sculpture Park Beach

And finally, here's a real Pacific Northwest beach! That means lots of rocks and driftwood, and very little sand (I wouldn't be surprised if the sand you see here was brought in especially for the park). Seattle trivia note #1: That's NOT the Pacific Ocean, it's Puget Sound. For some reason people always think that Seattle is on the ocean, but there's a whole peninsula complete with mountain range in between Seattle and the Pacific. Seriously. Check it out:

See? Seattle, not on the ocean. Know what is though? Forks.

Aaand with a Twilight reference...I'm done for the day.