Or - Up, Up and Away…
Another Summer day, and they're running away fast, and some more adventures. Yesterday, just because we haven't been there in a while, we went to IKEA. Oh, yeah, I got gas at a very inexpensive (read: cheap) gas station.
It's an absolute kick, this gas station. It looks abandoned. In fact, the time before this, I almost left without gas because I thought it wasn't open. Hahaha, they can keep the prices low because they sure don't spend any money on frills…like landscaping or replacing broken signs. Still, it's .10 cents cheaper than the nearest cheap gas station.
Not much at IKEA but I did shoot their lamps, again. I like 'em. We had lunch, too. It's a change of pace and a lot better than stopping by the local Jack-In-the-Box…but to be honest, we were looking for a McDonald's. They're giving away Seattle Seahawk Decals with each Large Meal. Obviously, we didn't see any Mickey D's.
So, today, because it is cooler and, more importantly, because the cloudy, overcast days are quickly returning, we decided to FINALLY go downtown and visit the Smith Tower.
It's one of my favorite buildings downtown. I've got a lot of pictures of it but I have never been up in it. Today I was determined to remedy that little oversight…and I drug Carol along with me.
But before we left, she went out and harvested a couple more tomatoes. We've got an abundance of tomatoes with more still on the vine.
We're enjoying them and also having fun giving them away to neighbors and friends.
Before we left, but after Carol harvested the tomatoes, I took the empty trash can to the backyard and saw this!!!
A Sunflower!!
Our very own (Yeah, we're claiming it as ours!! You gotta a problem with that!?!) honest-to-goodness Sunflower!!
Up close!!
I'll be tracking its growth right here on this very blog. Count on it!!
Lookin' good, Sunny Boy!!
State flower of Kansas.
And, naturally, while we were there oohing and aahing over our Sunflower, Carol HAD to go and talk with Tada about his garden.
It's a conversation I don't even try to get into knowing as little as I do about gardening. I am, however, always amazed at what Carol knows about it.
A lot!!
Here's the Othello Link Station. I've included this so you can see that after over 34 days of 80 degree weather, it's finally getting back to normal.
See the clouds!! Totally overcast!!
Hahahaha, things are getting back to normal!! Finally!! It's getting cool again and I'm loving it!!
Finally!! Me and the lawn need us some rain!!
But we finally arrived at our destination.
Smith Tower
A skyscraper in Pioneer Square, it was completed in 1914, the 38-story tower is the oldest skyscraper in the city and was the tallest office building west of the Mississippi River until the Kansas City Power & Light Building was built in 1931. It remained the tallest building on the West Coast until the Space Needle overtook it in 1962.
Smith Tower is named after its builder, firearm and typewriter magnate, Lyman Cornelius Smith, and is a designated Seattle Landmark.
Here he is from a painting hanging in the Chinese Room.
Inside, we waited for the elevator to the Chinese Room. Notice the circular design on the elevator door? It has, at its center, LCS, Smith's initials.
The bank of elevators for The Tower. Marble walls and hand-worked wooden ceilings.
The front entrance with a Looky-Loo looking in.
They killed a lotta brass for this building.
Reflected Selfie!! #1
We were in the elevator and, what the heck, who can pass up a unique way to get themselves a selfie.
Reflected Selfie!! #2
Yeah, we're wild and crazy that way!!
Finally, we made it to the Chinese Room!!
The crown jewel of the Smith Tower is this, the legendary 35th-floor Chinese Room and Observation Deck. The room's name derives from the carved teak ceiling and the carved Blackwood furniture that have adorned the room since its opening in 1914. Legend has it that the room was furnished by the last Empress of China as a gift to Mr. Smith. These furnishings include the famed Wishing Chair. The chair incorporates a carved dragon and a phoenix, which, when combined, portends marriage. Hence the chair came with the legend that any wishful unmarried woman who sits it it would be married within a year.
I think this says the same thing…in Chinese.
Some of the original decorations…from 1914.
What else happened that year? In 1914?
World War I started. In Europe.
One of the pieces of Blackwood furniture.
Part of the carved teak ceiling.
Meh...
Chinese Room Selfie!!
Here she is, sitting in the Wishing Chair.
Hahaha, the Wishing Chair…over three hundred years old AND still able to hold a substantial amount of weight!! A whole lotta fat there, Bubba!!
We finally made it onto the observation deck. We're looking out over the North side of the tower towards Elliott Bay. In the distance you can see a ferry coming in (just over Carol's hand) and, to the right of that, the giant ferris wheel they put in in 2012. The Olympics are in the far distance.
Elliott Bay with the Puget Sound in the distance. Here's the Port of Seattle. On the left is the ferris wheel and then, following along the Alaskan Way Viaduct, you pass the marina where the warships that visited during Fleet Week were moored. Then, beyond that where the land curves to the left, you can see the Luxury Cruise Liners waiting for the next cruise.
The Love Boat, soon will be making another round...
As soon as we stepped out onto the observation deck, we heard a din from the streets below. Nothing like what you would normally expect, though. No, this was a whole bunch of cars, lined up and blocking traffic along Second Avenue.
Seems there was a demonstration underway to protest unregulated ride-share services being promoted through smart-phone applications and social media. They were blocking the left-hand lanes and honking their horns…a lot.
We'll come back and revisit the protest in a little while.
Be patient.
For now, let's enjoy the view of this beautiful city. Traffic jam on Second.
Unfortunately, I heard on the news this afternoon that a woman cyclist was struck and killed by a truck along Second Avenue this morning.
The city is trying to stuff bikes into these congested city streets and it is just plain dangerous. To accommodate the cyclists, they'll have to severely restrict the amount of road open to motorists. It's not gonna work. These streets are ALWAYS crowded and dangerous enough without adding another unknown into the mix.
Looking up Second Avenue just a little over a mile and a half and you see…
The Space Needle!!
Another Seattle Landmark!!
Here's a closer view…just because I could.
Hahahaha, it's my blog and I'll do what I want!!
The building with the red dome is the Mars Hill Church. The stately looking brick building just to the left of the Church is the Rainier Club Building.
The Mars Hill Church is a Christian Megachurch lead by the influential and controversial pastor, Mark Driscoll.
The Rainier Club is one of the most distinguished private city clubs in the Great American Pacific Northwest. Centered in the heart of downtown Seattle, Washington, The Club caters to its membership's business and social needs and provides the wealthy, elitist business community a sanctuary from the fast-paced urban life by offering a vibrant sense of camaraderie in an elegant, yet comfortable, atmosphere inside their mansion walls. Poor things! Ah, the rich gets richer and the poor…another story.
Here we go. You've been here!! A couple of weeks ago Carol took her first ferry trip from the dock on the right. The ferry to Bainbridge Island and back. I blogged about it back then.
The city looks a bit different from on top. Can you see the lifestyles of the rich and wealthy (I know, redundant but I am still resentful so…)?
It's a hard-knock life for us…
Looks like one of them has hauled a play pool up on the roof.
Nice, eh?
Here's the Port. Elliott Bay is home to the Port of Seattle, which, in 2002, was the 9th busiest port in the United States by TEUs of container traffic and the 46th busiest in the world.
Some of the old advertisements painted on the brick buildings.
These advertisements are a great source of art and one of Carol's favorite things to see.
Oh, hey!! It's Century-Link Field, Home of the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks!!
And, there, behind it is SafeCo Field, Home of the Seattle Mariners.
That's a glass office building there in front of Century-Link,
Observation Deck Selfie!!
You can't really tell how totally scared I was, can you? I tell you, heights give me the hinckly-winkelys. I was edging my way around the corners. Hahaha, just thinking about it makes me a little wiggly-sniggly. Brrrrrrr…
Some more brick wall advertisements. Some soda from a fountain sounds good.
The lone office building on 4th and Main. It's just a nice looking building…all by itself.
Then there was this beauty. I love the old Flatiron buildings. It all came about because the original settlers of Seattle were so hard-headed and cantankerous.
Because Doc Maynard and Denny couldn't agree on the street lay-out, Maynard laid out streets in his claim according to the cardinal directions (north/south). However, both Boren and Denny insisted on orienting the streets according to their stretch of shoreline to the North of Maynards claim. Seattle's downtown still shows the awkward bends and jogs where the plats met. In reference to the disagreements the originals settlers had, Arthur Denny commented that "Maynard was king of all he surveyed, and some of what Boren and I surveyed as well."
So Doc Maynard and Arthur Denny gave us this…streets heading off at different angles. That set the stage for some original thinking and, viola!! A flatiron building. (Doc Maynard's claim is on the right and Denny and Boren's is on the left of this building.)
This wasn't the only flatiron in this area, though. There was another just in front of the Smith Tower that was torn down, unfortunately, so they could put in a parking lot.
This outrage helped to spark the movement to save the older buildings in downtown Seattle. You can see the first flatiron building in the center postcard of the three that I posted earlier in this blog. Go on and take a closer look at it.
I'll wait.
Did you see it? What a shame they knocked it down for a…parking lot!!
OK, I admit it. I like those old ads, too. They speak of a time long past and simpler. Before electronics. When they still had cigars.
This building is another example of the stately but still utilitarian architecture of the past. Those are, I think, apartments along the top floor. I don't know what the little pink building on top is for but it would be one heck of an apartment. I'd rent it. Only if they had an elevator. A good one.
Look at all the patios out there. Nice place to spend an afternoon.
Here's the Seattle King Street AmTrak Station. The depot's 242-foot tower was modeled after the Campanile di San Marco in Venice, Italy, making it the tallest building in Seattle at the time of its construction in 1906.
They were concerned with 'tall' back then.
It's worth a trip just to walk around inside this architectural gem. What a beauty. You can see some of it from my blog in March when Carol and I took the AmTrak to Portland.
Here's Union Station. It stopped being used in 1961 and sat, unused, for over 30 years. Now it is currently being used by Sound Transit as its Headquarters. You can, however, still rent out the great hall for weddings and other such.
Oh, and if you go visit here, look for the bullet holes from the Roaring Twenties. They had a bit of a shoot-out in there.
We're done with the deck now (Whew!! Huge sigh of relief!!), let's check out the original elevator motor. Hey, as long as it worked.
We sort of lost our faith, almost, in the elevator. While we were waiting for it, it came up and just couldn't quite reach the top. We could see half of it and the other half was still below the floor. The operator, Elvin, tried several times to get it to come all the way up but no luck.
He went down to the floor just below ours and had everyone get out and then came up with the empty car to get us. As we were boarding we saw the guys who had been on the elevator and, well, let's be nice and just say they were on the very beefy side.
All of them.
I began to understand the difficulty.
But Elvin kept his smile on and warmly greeted us for the ride down to the ground floor. What a neat job, eh? Working the elevator at the Smith Tower.
So we made it downstairs and out of the building and ran into this.
These are the licensed cabbies and they are unhappy with the unregulated ride-share services being promoted through smart-phone applications and social media. They were kicking up quite a fuss and there were still cars on Second Avenue honking their horns.
The guy in the red shirt was unhappy because they were upsetting his employees and driving away (Hahahahaha, pun intended) his business. He got into a bit of a shouting match with a couple of the fellows and then all of them came on over to yell at him.
Keen fun of a different sort in front of Shawn O'Donnell's American Grill & Irish Pub. Well, we left them to their protest and honking and made our way uptown.
But, before we go, one last (for this day at least) look at The Smith Tower. It's facade was so well-made and the materials so rich that it only got its first washing in 1974.
We made our way down to Pi2 (Pioneer Square) and came upon this scene.
He was playing a beautiful rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. He was playing an electric violin and had a machine playing some soft background accompaniment. I really enjoyed his playing and so I kicked in a buck and felt I could then get a picture.
He was really very good.
After the song, Carol began clapping and he turned and gave her a small bow and a huge grin.
Right next to Pi2 is this vintage clothing store. It's one of Carol's favorites and she always window shops when we go by.
Part of their display.
We've gotten more than one picture of a mannequin here.
There's Fado Irish Pub. Cold ale and a great atmosphere. Haven't eaten there yet.
Are you ready for some football!?!?!
Seattle is!!
Unfortunately, Seattle is 1-2 for exhibition play. The real stuff starts, as it says here on the sign on September 4.
Kickoff!!
We passed an art gallery featuring this artist's work. A local artist, obviously. I failed to get his name.
I like his colors and his subjects but I don't like the wavy stuff. And everything he did was wavy.
We stuck our heads inside the SAM (Seattle Art Museum) for a quick look-see. And this is what we saw…some artist (?) convinced someone that this is…art. There was some convoluted explanation of what he was trying to do but I got lost reading it.
Bottom line it's cars with lights coming out of them.
And, I guess, it's art.
It's in the SAM.
I wasn't too impressed.
Then we went into the SAM Store.
Artsy-Fartsy all over the place but, then, that is understandable given it is the Seattle Art Museum.
This was colorful and beyond that I have no idea what they're intended to do nor how they're supposed to be presented.
Little painted cars.
Hmmmmm…
This was interesting. A nice scene. I think it was made of clay. I also think, but I wouldn't bet on it, that this is from Peru.
Looks like they're having fun.
And, then, over to these…glasses.
I thought they were nice.
Nothing to shout about, I thought...
Until I got home, uploaded the pics and then saw this!!!!
The bowl, the bowl alone, cost $560!!!
WHAT!!!
Hahahahaha, obviously they weren't expecting my trade.
These were nice. I didn't bother looking at the price tag because, 1) I didn't want them, and, 2) I am pretty damn sure I couldn't afford them.
So we walked some more and found The Blarney Stone. Another Irish Pub.
This one hosts a Geeks Who Drink Trivia Contest every Monday. Our upstairs neighbors, who proudly proclaim their Geekiness, told us about this. Apparently, given the geekiness of the clientele, there is no Sports Trivia Category.
Hahahaha, but they still have...
My real goal of walking uptown was to eat at the McDonald's by Macy's.
And we did. We split a Fish Sandwich.
Now, why would I walk all that way and get that ONE sandwich?
For...
…these!!
Our Seattle Seahawks Decals.
Hahahaha, yeah, we're that childish!!
Gooooo, Seahawks!!!
We walked past Westlake Park on our way back and they had the fountains on.
Heavy traffic along 4th Avenue. It's already crowded enough with the cars, trying to carve out enough safe lanes for the bikers is difficult. That cyclist that was killed this morning was in her proper bike lane but a truck turned left in front of her. It was a terrible accident.
So we hopped on the Link for the ride home and several men got on. They milled around until Carol offered the seat next to her telling them it was open if they wanted to use it.
So this fellow sat down and, after a while, we all got into a discussion. His companion had purchased some kind of small coffee maker and he and Carol got into a spirited conversation about coffee in different regions of the world.
Then we got talking to this man. His name is Paul and he is from Oxford, England. He and his companions were at a Cisco (?) convention in Las Vegas. They are on their way back to England and they had a six-hour layover here in Seattle so they decided to use the Link and spend some time downtown seeing the sights.
They did make it to Pike Market and they did get to see them throw the fish. Hahaha, tourists!!
We had a lively and enjoyable conversation before we had to get off at Othello. Right about now, they're winging their way over the Atlantic to Jolly Old England.
Fun, Protests, Music Fashions, Food and Foreigners…what more could you ask for?
We had a good time and saw our beautiful city from a different perspective and it was fun.
Who knew!?!
Life is good!!
Hooah!!
