Fleet Week, Seattle, WA
And we were off to see the world…but all we saw was the sea. An excerpt from an old Navy Ditty my Mom and Dad would sing…about joining the Navy.
Nice lead in to Fleet Week. Along with Sea Fair, Seattle celebrates Fleet Week and invites ships in to celebrate with them. They had two U.S. Navy ships visit and one from Canada. Which is, honestly, a lot like the U.S. Navy.
But we rode our Magic Carpet, aka The Link, downtown and walked down Pine again to the piers where the ships were. And along the way we saw this…
I'm gonna get a Vespa someday. Then I'll be a Bad-Ass Biker!!
On my yellow Vespa.
Or red. I don't know.
Carol spots these mannequin heads all around the city. They're just the heads and used to showcase hats and earrings and necklaces.
Anyway, we spotted this one and, doggone it, if she doesn't look like someone famous. Only we haven't figured out who yet.
NEWS ALERT!!!
We think we just found her…Camryn Manheim from The Practice.
Boy, that's been nagging at the back of our minds for a week or more now.
Whew!!
Hahaha, I'm feeling pretty good having figured out who she is.
But, back to our day. When you come down Pine to the piers, you come up on Vic's Park and the North End of the Pike Place Market.
And this iconic sign. Which I have, of late, shot plenty of pictures of.
In my defense, it is photogenic.
And the whole sign lights up.
And it is ALWAYS busy there.
Here we are at the North End of the Market looking South, up Pike Place. And, yeah, it is still open to vehicular traffic. Along this street, on the left hand side, is the very first, EVER, Starbucks!!
It's the only National Chain Store allowed in the Market. I guess cuz it started there when it was just a single store and then grew into a National Chain.
Go up this street and turn left and across the street is…another Starbucks. They're all over the place here.
Love the Market.
And I'm becoming a big fan of Vic's Park. We found a spot in between the sleeping Valued Homeless where we could eat our lunch.
And from our perch on the grassy knoll, we had this view of Elliot Bay and the Puget Sound. And the ubiquitous Ferry.
They're everywhere. Oh, side note, we were looking out over the Sound and Carol struck up a conversation with a tourist who asked us if it was worth it to ride the ferries…just for fun.
OF COURSE!!
They're an especial treat!! And if you're of a certain age, modestly priced, too.
Hahaha, we're of a certain age!!!
(Read: Older Than Dirt)
From our perch we could also see the U.S.S.Chancelorville and the U.S.S. Howard, the ships where they were allowing tours.
Oh, side note, you can't even carry a small pocketknife aboard during the tour.
They had all the flags a-flying for the color and pageantry. We learned that most of them have a single significance but were all put up just for show that day.
And another view of our famous Seattle Ferries.
Fer sure, go for a little sea cruise on them. It's fun.
But we finally ate our lunch and then headed down to the pier. The City and the Navy really had things laid out nicely.
Along that ramp, we found these flowers growing.
The ships were moored along Pier 66 and a small marina.
We got into line about half-way up the marina. The Sound is so clear and clean. Really nice.
Here's our line looking North towards the Cruise Ship getting ready to set sail. We were looking up at the folks on the Cruise Ship and they were looking down the pier at us. Oh, and see the usher on the left, there? The Navy had sailors set along the way to answer questions and keep folks in line. Kinda like the service they provide the Marines…take us where we need to go and then get out of the way.
Hahahahaha...
Time for a selfie!!
Using the extender allows some great shots AND being smart enough to turn the flash on BEFORE the shot helps out a lot!!!
Who is cuter?
Thank goodness it was a pleasant albeit overly warm day. It wasn't raining and that's always a plus.
Some of the ritzy boats in the marina.
We had a great show while we were in line. We could see a good way into the marina and what was happening in it. We spotted several small fish swimming merrily along and even what appeared to be a functioning umbrella. Oh, there were other things, too, but we were on the look-out for fish. And we weren't disappointed.
Aside from the small fishies, we also saw these.
Moon Jelly Fish
At first, we thought they were plastic bags floating along in the water. Thank goodness for the EXTREME Zoom Lens cuz I was able to see they weren't plastic bags but…these nasty little critters.
Looks like someone was cooking up an egg.
Then we saw another one. This one is, if possible, even creepier looking than the first one.
Nasty little things.
I found this embedded into one of the posts lining the marina and along the sidewalk we were in line on.
Ahoy!!
And we got slowly closer and closer...
Afterwards, we headed up Elliott Avenue towards the city center. They've got some, er, different kinds of public art set throughout the city…like this.
Initially, we thought it was a red poppy…you know, the kind the American Legion 'sells' to raise money.
But, look closer.
Can you see it now?
Appropriate for Seattle…it's an umbrella…blown inside out by the wind.
Hahaha.
Side note: the one we saw in the marina was black.
Another picture of the North End of the Pike Place Marker. I don't know, is it a pergola?
Gives you an idea of the beat of the City…always moving and always busy.
And always just a bit out of step with the mundane…like a woman with pink hair.
OK, in my defense, it's tough focusing on, following and actually snapping a picture of jet planes moving at a high rate of speed all over the sky.
Did you buy it?
Well, hahaha, it's true. And that's why you get this lame shot (cuz it is the only one I got where you could actually see, no matter how small, the Blue Angels.) of them as seen from Vic's Park.
There they are, those four itsy-bitsy dots a little below and almost center of the picture.
I felt happy to get that one, fer cryin' out loud!!
Good, the planes are gone so, Let's take another shot of the Pike Place Pergola (I don't know if it's a pergola or not but I'm gonna call it that from now on.)
See all the little umbrellas on the right side? They're all different vendors hawking their wares…some interesting art work and a lot of tourist gee-gaws.
Like these!!
Love the Little Piggies. And they are spotted all over the City.
Interesting story…The pig statues are part of a charity event where pigs are painted and auctioned off to earn money for charity purposes.
It started in 1971 when the good people of Seattle voted to save the Pike Place Market from the wrecking ball and to also help provide services for low-income people and our Valued Homeless.
The Market Foundation thought a piggy bank could help raise money for all of this so they put out Rachel, the Market's piggy bank. She's still there by the way. (You might even see her in a later blog. I'm jes sayin'…)
After Rachel, folks would put out pigs here and there and it's become a kinda Seattle thing. In 2001, the City had their first Pigs On Parade to raise money for the Market.
It's fun and does good things. Plus it provides another way for the vendors to make money!!!
Oh, there it is!! Look!! Can you see it!!
The very first Starbucks, ever!!
And it is ever so popular!! There's always a line there. Always.
Always busy, the shops along Pike Place.
And inside the Market. It's such a maze of shops and stalls and vendors. It's old but it carries its age well. It has character.
And flowers. Plenty of flowers. But I won't show too many.
You're welcome.
Looking out from where all the stalls are towards Pike Place.
Always something to see…and buy at the Market.
I've shot this area dozens of times…still looking for that one shot. Maybe someday I should try and be a little serious about it. Maybe.
Kind of a light day at the Market.
And I found a picture I took almost exactly like this one from 2009.
The only thing that's changed is I'm older and fatter.
Not fair, man. Not fair.
Carol's favorite stall…The Pike Place Fish Market...where they throw the fish for the tourists…and me and Carol.
See that guy? The one in front in the black shirt? Kinda hard to miss him, really. He was catching some spice bottles thrown to him when I got this pic. Later, he will be catching, and throwing back, several large fish. He's good…catches the fish and then sorta follows through to the face of a nearby tourist. Close, but no cigar.
Everyone has fun and when they're on the place is packed around their stall.
Out of the Market, we went down 1st Avenue heading South towards Pioneer Square and marveled at the City's architecture.
I particularly enjoy shooting this one because of its windows. They look like water colors when they reflect the light and sky.
Seattle is an Artsy-Fartsy sorta town. This is the back of a power box along 1st. Nice artwork, I started looking and each box has an original picture on it. There's one of a dog and so on…just sitting there on each corner along 1st.
I've been into the Merchants Cafe, the oldest continuously operating Cafe in Seattle. It's got a great interior with a huge wooden bar and some fantastic Tiffany Lamps…real ones not those plastic thingies you see around today. Nope, these are the Real McCoy. They're cool.
The building sorta looks like it has been there for more than a hundred years.
Oh, The Merchants Cafe is right across the street from the Pergola at Pioneer Square.
Yesler Way and First. This is where Boren and Denny's holding butted up against Doc Maynard's land holdings, and that is the reason why the streets are set at such odd angles to each other…neither man would change their plans for the other so…
Note the trees. Every city should have them…all over the place.
There's still a lot of old buildings around the City and both Carol and I enjoy deciphering the old advertisements painted on the side of them.
Like this one. Signs of the past.
And, speaking of the past, here's the Pioneer Square Pergola, quite possibly the best picture I've ever taken of it. It was put up in 1909 for the cable system then working in the City.
Note the guy in the Orange shirt. We had stopped at the Square a couple days earlier and, while I was shooting some pictures, this guy came up to Carol and showed her his plans for connecting the building with windows. His plan would allow all the buildings to have corner windows.
He was quite adamant that Carol read his plans. Fortunately, I came back about that time and was able to get Carol away from him. He was there several days later. We could tell it was him because he had the same shirt on. Can't miss that shirt.
It's really, really orange.
We were both ready to head for home after the Square.
Fortunately, our Magic Carpet is just a couple blocks away. Unfortunately, it's all uphill.
Hey, Man!! That makes a difference!!
But we made our way to the Pioneer Square Link Station and got down the stairs to wait for our train.
While we were there, I got this shot of the tunnels used by the Link and the City Busses to get in and out of the station.
It was fun and we got to see a lot of new things…and a couple of old ones, too.
It just goes to show, life is good.
Hooah!!
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