Don't you love the low gas prices!?! I sure as hell do. Oh, yes, I really do. I mean, it's liberating, in a fashion, to not have to agonize over driving someplace because the cost is prohibitive. Hahaha, it's an honest-to-goodness blessing. Carol keeps saying, in response to my exclamations of awe and joy at the low cost of gasoline, "Then let's take a trip."
And she's right!! Travel is feasible again.
It's wonderful!!
So today, when I began figuring out all we needed to do, I didn't fret over the miles we'd drive and the cost involved. Hahaha, I didn't. Then, to add to my joy, I filled up the gas tank. I had a half tank left but I wanted to have the fun of filling up because I knew I would pay less than half of what I paid for the same amount of gas as I did last year. And it was fun!! Lots of fun!!
I gave the guy at the station $25 and when I was finished pumping my 7.2 gallons of gas, it only cost me $13. Even. Just $13. Hahaha, I was expecting to pay just a little under $25 and it was just $13.
Fun-Tas-Tic!!
This is my long way of saying that I decided to drive on over to Kent, a whopping 12.2 miles (thank you Mr. Google) away. I figured while we were over that way we could drop off a letter to Bonnie that was delivered to her old address, stop by Vinnie's and get gas.
And I did it guilt-free. Hahahaha, loving it!!
Also loving the Vinnie's.
Where else could you find such classics as this . . .
Hahaha, what a great title!!
Fun Facts: Thornton W. Burgess (January 14, 1874 - June 5, 1965) was a conservationist and author of children's stories. Burgess loved the beauty of nature and its living creatures so much that he wrote about them for 50 years in books and his newspaper column, Bedtime Stories. He was sometimes known as The Bedtime Story-Man. By the time he retired, he had written over 170 books and 15,000 stories for the daily newspaper column.
Whew! That could not have been easy, coming up with a new story every day for a column.
The book I got was published in 1918.
You can get an idea of his zeal for conservation reading this Dedication.
Fun Facts: Dr. William Hornaday (December 1, 1854 - March 6, 1937) was a zoologist, conservationist, taxidermist, and author. He served as the first director of the New York Zoological Park, known today as the Bronx Zoo, and he was a pioneer in the early wildlife conservation movement in the U.S.
You know it's going to be a great read just from the title of the first chapter.
All the illustrations were done by Harrison Cady.
Fun Facts: W. Harrison Cady (1877-1970) was an illustrator and author, best known for his Peter Rabbit comic strip which he wrote and drew for 28 years. He had a long association with Thornton Burgess, illustrating the writer's books, including Happy Jack, and his daily newspaper column, Bedtime Stories. Their partnership spanned five decades.
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| Possibly because they were discussing the subject of the first chapter!! |
But after a long morning perusing the latest available at Vinnie's, we both felt a hunger and, there, conveniently located just across the street from us was a Taqueria El RinconSito!!
Ay! Eso es bueno!!
Suddenly, I was in the mood for some Ol' Espanol.
And this immediately caught my attention. Hahahaha, I am such a sucker for good advertising. It's bright, catchy and right to the point.
And it worked!!
Order up!!
C'Mon, I'm ready. Waiting in the dining room for . . .
. . . Lunch!!
We spotted another sign for yet another special and so Carol got that one ... fish tacos.
She said it was good although a bit light on the Ol' El Piscado and a tad heavy on the slaw.
Mine was good. There was certainly enough chicken for me but they were pretty skimpy on the frijoles. I'm not big on spanish rice and so I always mix it into the refrieds and this time I barely had enough refrieds to handle all the rice. Barely.
I had thought the chicken would be a bit spicier. Mine was tasty but kinda bland. It was a good meal for the price.
Ahhhhhhhh . . .
After a big meal you need a good walk. So rather than hit the road we decided to take a little amble round the area. And to our good fortune, as we neared the train tracks there was, comin' down the line, a train!!
Hahahaha, go figure!!
There is something I find exhilarating in standing just feet away from a roaring locomotive as it rushes by in a cacophony of noise. I lose the ability to think or move until the noise dies down. And, hahaha, it's a real rush.
You can't get a feel for how fast this Bad Boy was movin' from this picture but . . . trust me, it was truckin' right along.
So sue me. I told you before how I shot train tracks way back in '69 when I was living in Oceanside. It would appear I still have the same affections for those twin ribbons of steel cutting across 'Merica.
And there, just across the tracks is an old, abandoned granary. Can't help it, it makes me think of The City of New Orleans . . .
All along the northbound odyssey - the train pulls out of Ol' Lodi
And rolls along past houses, farms, and fields
Passing trains that have no name, and freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobile.
#sorrysteve
Now, I had thought this was a song penned by Woody Guthrie back in his days as The Dust Bowl Troubadour. I were wrong. Read on . . .
Fun Facts: City of New Orleans is a folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's City of New Orleans in bittersweet and nostalgic terms. Goodman got the idea while traveling on the Illinois Central line for a visit to his wife's family. While at the Quiet Knight bar in Chicago, Goodman saw Arlo Guthrie, and asked to be allowed to play a song for him. Guthrie grudgingly agreed, on the condition that if Goodman would buy him a beer, Guthrie would listen to him play for as long as it took to drink the beer.
Goodman played City of New Orleans, Which Guthrie liked enough that he asked to record it. The song was a hit for Guthrie on his 1972 album Hobo's Lullaby, and is now closely associated with him although Goodman performed it until his death in 1984.
So when I cross the tracks and see the old buildings that once hummed with life and commerce sitting vacant and forlorn, I think of that song and I feel just a bit of melancholy.
And a little nod towards the melancholy B&W feel of the old building.
And, quite possibly, the first flowers, camellia japonica, of the year for my blog.
I promise you, there will be more.
After the melancholy visit with the disappearing America, we walked into the Kent Station Mall. It's a layout of stores and restaurants with a theater as the anchor.
You all know my affection for window reflections. This one caught Carol's attention and then she clued me into it. It looks good.
Hahaha, the second one from the right looks like a glass of beer! That makes it twice as good!!
Going back to the mini, we crossed over the tracks using an elevated footbridge that looks down on the transit park
The east side of the platform looking back at the granary with the tracks in-between.
They're proud of their agrarian past in Kent. Seems they can't build a public transportation station anywhere these days without spending a good deal of the public's money on art.
Hahaha, this is my art. The pleasing arrangement of life captured in a one dimension representation.
Well, I call it art. Sort of. Maybe. Possibly.
Waitin' for the Train at the Station Selfie!!
Carol caught this with her cell phone as we were waiting on the Robert E. Lee . . . No, wait. We were waiting for the Link to take us to The Emerald City!!
Woo, woo!!!
We were on a mission to find some old Army patches . . . for a special project we're working on. First stop was to the Surplus Too store in SoDo . . . just across the street from the Starbucks Headquarters.
Showing their 12 Pride!!
It was a day for trains. As we were walking over from the SoDo Link Station, we had to cross some more tracks and, just before we got there, this train, The Sounder, came along for our pleasure.
SoDo is the industrial part of Seattle. Running along the Duwamish Waterway, it's where all the goods come into and go out of the country in this area. So it has a bunch of old warehouses, etc., that have been transformed into small businesses. Like this one which is now a Pius Kitchen and Bath store that sells granite countertops.
Fun Facts: SoDo was originally named for being located South of the (King)Dome, but since the stadium's demolition in 2000, the name has been taken to mean South of Downtown.
We'd come so far but all for naught as the Surplus Too came up a cropper.
Nada. Zilch. Nil. Goose Egg. Nuttin' Honey!!
But we did get out, had a nice walk and got some good pictures. Like this one.
Love. The. Zoom.
This was taken at 1601. Still plenty of sun and Ol' Herr Mond!!
Cuz I can.
I'm always fascinated by the original, intriguing and entertaining art sitting out there on these random power boxes along the corners throughout this city. Like this. Tain't bad.
Tain't bad at all. Except for the graffiti crap.
But then we got our Big Thrill of the day!!
We were walking east on South Lander (I know, go figure!) when we saw this coming at us!!
It's the Official SeaHawks Bus!!
Hahaha, how awesome is this!!
I was jumping up and down and waving to the bus!!
Gooooooo, 'Hawks!!
Ah, what a come down from the Official SeaHawks Bus to this ordinary, unexciting but very dependable and reliable, Link.
You might meet some really disagreeable people but at least you get to wherever you're going pretty quick.
Bam!! Up the escalators and into the mean streets of the city.
Hahaha, well, the Starbucks-fueled, laid-back, progressive and "Peace, Man!!" streets. These guys are more into fashion than fightin'.
A semi-Artsy-Fartsy shot. I just like the way they accessorize their streets. From trees to old-timey streetlights.
Still love her.
And love the soft early evening light and the way it plays along the old buildings. I like the reflections you can get from these modern buildings but they can't hold a candle to what the Old Masters have done.
There's the SafeCo Building. Sometimes the windows look like a watercolor painting.
We were walking up Pine and the setting sun was almost directly in our eyes.
We were heading over to the ArmyNavy Surplus on First Avenue when I tried to get this shot of a backlit dog walking his Mistress.
My gosh, the light was great!!
We were amblin' up First Avenue towards the Surplus Store. The sun light was colored by the dust in the air and gave everything a warm, yellow glow.
Then we spotted these two Seattle Icons!! The Space Needle and the 12 Flag.
While we were walking to the store, I indulged myself with recording these little vignettes of life.
Windows and the lives behind them.
Hahaha, this town is so 'Hawks Crazy!! Even the mannequin heads are getting into the spirit of the Big Game.
Gooooooo, 'Hawks!!
I still get a kick out of the presentations stores make with their window displays.
Yes, Virginia, there is an inn.
I was kinda disappointed in the cranes this year. I remember them having been better decorated for both Christmas and the 'Hawks in years past.
They're trying . . . just not too hard.
You've seen this before but it's emblematic of Seattle's need to shock and to be cool. Someday I hope to go in and try one of them. I am, after all, a connoisseur of blissfully baked biscuits.
Mmmmmmmm . . .
Even the swell's are getting into the spirit of the week!!
Gooooooo, 'Hawks!!
What blog would be complete without a shot of a ferry plying the Sound? Certainly not this one.
Oops. When I shot this I thought I was shooting one of the many variations taken on a wool hat with a SeaHawks theme.
What the . . . !?!
My bad. But, still, it's their colors.
Leaving the city at the end of the day, as were we, I felt we'd found what we needed for our special project. Now we just have to get the background for it and we're in business. Almost. I still need a Drill Sergeant Patch. The ArmyNavy Store just had the badge and not the patch.
Bummer.
And, finally, a shot down Pine towards the old Paramount Theatre.
Fun Facts: The Paramount Theatre is a 2,807-seat performing arts venue. It originally opened March 1, 1928 as the Seattle Theatre with 3,000 seats. The Paramount was built primarily for showing films and, secondarily, for vaudeville. It's considered to be one of the busiest theaters in the region.
That was our day. From finding a new small treasure to finding the great light at the end of the day. It was a blast.
And it didn't rain. Not once all day. That's great.
You know, we're awfully fortunate to be able to get out and enjoy life. One of the finer ladies that I worked with at Montwood Middle lost her husband today. She just retired from teaching last year. I ache for her and her family.
Life goes on. People adjust and drive on. That's the way it goes.
Life is good.
Hooah!!
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