Sunday, April 27, 2014

Pacific Northwest Trip June 2013 Day 8 Sunday June 23

UPDATED: February 10, 2021

This is the eighth of a series of posts dealing with my tenth and most recent trip to Seattle as adult. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports.  What few updates there are indicated by NOW in brackets.

Minor editing to fix typos/incorrect names.

I woke up a bit before 5 due to the loud air conditioning unit and couldn't get back to sleep. I got up some time after 6 and walked to Olympic Sculpture Park with the oddball art pieces. I still think the titular Father & Son (nude man and boy facing each other in a fountain) have an other than parental relationship. The rotating ampersand on the Love & Loss art piece wasn't rotating.  I dipped briefly into Myrtle Edwards Park then back to Olympic Sculpture Park. A new exhibit shaped like a small house opens Thurs I think and you'll be allowed in.  I wandered to the main Seattle Ferry Terminal then passed Pike Place Market/Rachel the Pig en route back to the hostel.

After breakfast there I walked to Target for shoes but they only had sandals.  I got on the new northbound D Rapidride bus (all buses this day King County Metro Transit). It passed the former location of Easy Street Records in Queen Anne; pretty depressing looking building now. My ORCA card emptied out so I paid the difference and got a transfer.  In Ballard I saw my connecting bus go by so I walked  to my destination, the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and more specifically the fish ladder therein. There were way more salmon there than I'd seen before. Others noticed this as well.  I got some incredible fish shots in the viewing window.

[NOW: This location of Easy Street Records is now a Chase Bank.]

I started walk back east. I caught a 61 part of the way but got confused and got off too soon, thus missing a southbound D bus and having to wait for another. I finally got on; it became the new C bus midway and took me to Alaska Junction in West Seattle. I bought some DVDs at the last remaining Easy Street Records and also visited Pegasus Book Exchange and Merryweather Books (formerly Leisure Books).  I had read online that Rubato Records still exited in an Antique Mall but there were gone from that as well; probably defunct now.
 
[NOW: Merryweather Books is now closed.]

I took a C bus downtown. I walked to the new location of the formerly Queen Anne branch of Silver Platters, passing Century Link and Safeco Fields, but there were only bus stops near the end so my feel were burning by then.  I bought a bunch of DVDS there and got on a 21 bus.  At a switchover point for drivers the second driver was late. Later a group just missed getting on but since they had a golden retriever likely wouldn't have made it on anyway.  I looked for shoes at Columbia Sportswear and finally found a pair at Foot locker. I found a pair on sale for $20 according to the box but they insisted the $25 tag on the shoes was correct so I found a pair that really was $20 and got the difference paid back. Outside I switched shoes and tossed the bad pair.
 
[NOW: That Columbia Sportswear and that Foot Locker are now closed.]

I ate lunch at McDonald's on 3rd and then headed to Pacific Place, passing a man holding a sign reading "I want a fat b---h" (the sign lacked the censoring). At Pacific, I took photos of the penguin made of scrap metal and visited Barnes & Noble.  I went back to Pike Place Market and visited First & Pike News, Rachel the Pig, BLMF Books, and Holy Cow Records. Mesker Maps advertises maps of all kinds but didn't have a map book of Ottawa. I visited Zanadu Comics and then went to Westlake Station. After three tries I managed to use my credit card to load my ORCA card with more money.  I dropped off my purchases at the hostel.
 
[NOW: The penguin is gone. That Banres & Nobke, First & Pike News, and Zanadu Comics are closed.]

I got a Slurpee at the 7-11 across from Seattle Center.  At the center, I visited the International Fountain for a couple hours; it's about the only out of town spot I can really "switch off" at. I ate dinner at Mod Pizza in Seattle Center Armory (you can pick as many toppings as you like from a list of toppings and only pay the one price).  I returned to the fountain for a bit and then walked uphill to Kerry Park Viewpoint.  I returned to the fountain very briefly, passing a car with the Transformers logo on the front hood. I then returned to the hostel for laundry.

No comments: