Seattle - Smashing, except for the rain!

I had been waiting to go to Seattle since Seattle Public Library opened its Central Library in 2004.  I have to say that building turned out to be pretty amazing, even in the rain - it was worth the wait!  When we arrived in Seattle in late afternoon via ferry from the Olympic Peninsula, it was sunny and warm. But having read the weather forecast, we knew we had to make use of all the daylight hours that day to see Seattle before the rain expected the following day. 

Seattle and the Space Needle at night

 

Our first stop was the Frank Gehry building in which the Museum of Popular Culture was housed - it was top on my list of must-see sights in the city so we had booked a hotel near it and the Space Needle. I managed to get some outside shots even though the sun was almost gone. The night view of Seattle with the Space Needle was smashing and I was glad I had the opportunity to catch that before the rain.

The Frank Gehry building with the monorail spewing out of its mouth!  What can I say about this building? I'm at a loss for words!

  

 

  

 

It was a short monorail ride downtown and we walked through the rain most of the day - it was still the best way to see the city. The Central Library architecture was awesome and the most amazing thing was the complete invisibility of security.  No one checked our bags in or out, nor stop us from taking photos. There were tons of computers and it was obvious it was a haven for the homeless as we saw many with their belongings. We explored all the floors and gawked at the abundance of light from all the glass even on a dark rainy day. It was a very pleasant visit.

The main floor of the Seattle Central Library

Amazing escalators that stood out and yet are also an integral part of the building

The meeting room floor

This glass pattern is repeated around the building letting in lots of light

This is the teen area - empty during the day

Pioneer Square was a bit sketchy but I knew that and visited mainly to see the beautiful arcade although it was difficult to capture since the homeless population was taking shelter there and I didn't want to be rude. A policeman on a bike approached us to ask if he could help, mainly to make his presence known, I think. 

The beautiful Victorian arcade in Pioneer Square

  

Inside the Seattle Art Museum

We walked to Pike Place Market for lunch at the highly recommended Market Grill. The food was delicious but it was not the most comfortable seating arrangement. The Market was astounding in its size and variety and definitely worth a visit.  We walked through downtown before taking the train back to the hotel. It was a tiring day, particularly with the pouring rain.

 

The Amazon Spheres

The "Darth Vader" building - very difficult to photograph because there was not much space around it!

 

The monorail in the rain

Unfortunately it was our last full day in Seattle. The following morning we paid a quick visit to Capitol Hill on our way to the airport. I was curious to see their rainbow sidewalks but there wasn't much street life in the morning. 

Seattle was a great place to wrap up our visit to the U.S. Pacific Northwest with the ocean in view as we took to the air.
 

Seattle from the Bainbridge Island ferry

 This marks the end of our Pacific Northwest road trip.  Thank you for joining us for the ride!

Olympic National Park!

The Pacific coast always takes my breath away and the part along the Olympic National Park is no exception. We spent two nights in La Push at an oceanside resort run by the Quileute Tribe. We were lucky to see two gorgeous sunsets and an awesome golden hour just after dawn the second day. It was a memorable stay in more ways than one especially since I was meeting up with an old friend.

Our first stop on the way to La Push was the Tree of Life, not easy to find as it is not exactly on the map but the name intrigued me and we finally found it after several wrong turns. It was an interesting sight.  Further along Hwy 101 was the Big Cedar which lived up to its name - good for a photo stop.

La Push came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. We spent the day at First Beach and Rialto Beach, both very scenic. Rialto Beach had a lot of huge bleached driftwood trees that almost looked like giant sculptures in front of a grove of dead trees, the result of salt water destroying the roots. The trees were quite spectacular, although a little eerie. There are a number of sea stacks off the shore and one of them is connected to Rialto beach by a causeway that is covered by rocks and driftwood but not easily accessible except at low tide. We waited for low tide but it never came.  


I love the ocean and could spend hours just watching the waves crashing on the beach - every photo yielded a different dynamic. There were also surfers to watch and even someone fishing. To wrap up the day, we treated ourselves to a decent dinner at the River's Edge Restaurant, the only eatery in La Push.  We saw our second glorious sunset on the way back to our lodgings.

We drove to Hurricane Ridge on our way to the Seattle ferry the following day because we have heard the view of snow-capped mountains was quite spectacular. Unfortunately arriving there at midday was not the best time for photos - can't time everything perfectly!  At least the ferry crossing was good and we had Seattle in view just as the late afternoon sun hit it.  

Tree of Life

The roots of Big Cedar

First Beach at La Push

First sunset

The sandbar/causeway separating First Beach from Rialto Beach - we drove around instead

This "island" should have been reachable at low tide - if it ever came...

Waves crashing at high tide

Rialto Beach

Great place for Halloween

 

Giant driftwood

A European Starling foraging

Surfers' Paradise

Don't know how it can be both surfers' paradise and fisherman's too but it looked like this guy caught something!

Second sunset

The golden hour just after dawn - the light made a huge difference in how the islands looked.

This is my "dragon pearl" - not very original as I saw a photo of this in our cabin then proceeded to try and create the same frame, except I lucked out and happened on the golden hour on the island - hence "dragon and the gold pearl"

The view from Hurricane Ridge