Seattle Trip 2007 Day 2 Wednesday July 25

UPDATED: February 4, 2022

 

 This is the 2^nd of a series of posts recalling my second annual trip to Seattle. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports. Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of five years later or to add further clarification; I use “NOW” to denote such cases.

Not the best sleep last night but not boring.  I tend to be a light sleeper in the best of times when in an unfamiliar place and dorm proved to be co-ed, people in 20s.  Thus I noticed that some of both sexes walked around the dorm room (outer) pantless, which was interesting.

Day 2 proper was basically one long walk north most of the day.

I visited Olympic Sculpture Park.  As the Duck driver noted yesterday, Seattle artists have a unique idea what counts as art and there were a lot of weird monstrosities, including a rotating ampersand (&) sign partly covered by a tree.

[NOW: That particular art piece is called Love and Loss. Ride the Ducks has now closed.]

I visited Easy Street Records.  They had a small but very interesting cult movie selection.  Past tense intentional; they now have a smaller, less interesting cult selection due to my visit.

[NOW: This was the one in the Queen Anne District, now closed. There’s also a branch in West Seattle.]

Camera still giving me problems.  Harder to load and once it gave me a zero, which normally indicates it has finished rewinding so I opened it on a bright, hot sunny day.  Not fully rewound.  Closed it quickly but don’t know how many if any I lost.

[NOW: I can’t recall if I salvaged any of those photos.]

I walked along Queen Anne, a very steep hill.  Passed on Kerry Park view, which is excellent for a view of the city, because it was too much of a detour and I don’t think I could add to the photos I took there last year.

[NOW: I think I overestimated the amount of a detour. I always go there when I visit now and always get great photos there.]

I tried to follow my instincts and take Aurora to the Fremont area, but took a wrong turn that actually worked in my favour.  The bridge I ended up taking instead was much closer to ground and much shorter.

[NOW: I visited Queen Anne Book Store en route. The smaller bridge is called the Fremont Bridge, and it’s actually closer to most of the Fremont attractions.].

Fremont...is surreal even by Seattle standards.  One video store actually opens later in summer, there is a troll statue under Aurora bridge (took close ups last year so settled for a distant shot this year), there is a statue of VI Lenin in front of a Taco Del Mar. 

[NOW: The video store in question was the now closed Rain City Video. The Taco del Mar is gone now but a non-franchise fast food place opened up. Normally I do visit the Fremont Troll up close now]

According to a post with arrows indicating the spot’s distance to far away cities, a small patch of greenery is where the centre of the universe is.  A statue of people waiting for a non-existent interurban bus is often decorated, there’s a rocket statue, and a shrub and a wire dinosaur.

[NOW: The signpost is called the Center of the Universe, the rocket is called the Fremont Rocket, and I think the plant dinosaurs are just called the Dinosaurs.]

Aside from touring there I went to Gas Works Park, technically Wallingford but close to Fremont and of similar spirit; basically a former industrial area converted into a park with an excellent view of the city from Lake Union.

They have some nice shops in Fremont and I found a book I first saw in the Terrace library many years ago (an action heroes encyclopedia).

[NOW: I think the book store in question was Ophelia’s Books but may have been the now defunct Fremont Book Company. I probably also visited Jive Time Records. The book was probably Adventure Heroes by Jeff Rovin.]

I went to Blue Video, which is accessed by an overpass over Aurora with a nice video.  Turned out to be the wrong kind of blue video, but the overpass view made the trip worth it anyway. Walking further up Fremont Ave I ate at Herfy’s which looked like a local fast food place.  Not as fast and burger was horribly greasy.  When I finally had dinner hours later still wasn’t that hungry.

 

[NOW: Blue Video and Herfy's are now closed.]

Went to Woodland Park Zoo.  Nicely laid out, with very natural areas (though it means that some animals chose not to put in an appearance).  Not many of any one animal but a nice selection.  Lots of pushy kids and parents, many of whom didn’t say excuse me.  Probably best to visit in the fall when less crowded.

 

[NOW: I stopped going to Woodland Park Zoo after one year where they had a dead panther(?) skin primently on display. Not killed by them but still disturbing.]

Camera battery died and my replacement battery proved to be one I probably wore out long ago, so was temporarily without battery until I returned to the hostel. I was feeling heatstroke anyway, but wish I could have gotten those baby cranes.

I did get a lot of other nice animals.  Unsure how many will turn up as my camera almost always flashes at glass viewing areas.  I don’t read symbol-ese too well so unsure how to turn flash off.

I passed over Aurora Bridge on the bus downtown.  There was in fact a pedestrian walkway but undoubtedly it would have triggered my acrophobia had I tried to cross.

[NOW: The bus downtown was the number 5 King County Metro Transit. I later did cross Aurora Bridge on foot.]

The internet connection was down when I returned to hostel so I walked around some more.  I visited the department store chains Macy’s and Nordstrom.  The environment was so sterile it could result in inability to have children.

[NOW: Macy's downtown has since closed. Nordstrom is in Pacific Place.]

 

Took more pig statue photos.  Have to admit they’re more creative than Victoria’s orcas and bears in the past (winged etc).

[NOW: For a couple years Victoria also had themed art on display as part of a competition. Unfortunately that seems to have stopped.]

More shopping.  Ate at Turf (last place I ate at last year).  For you meat lovers, they serve charbroiled burger and fries for $3.99.  Mostly black clientele.  Good service. Better send before internet connection goes down again.  More tomorrow baring Internet mishaps.

[NOW: Turf has since closed. Aside from Internet connection problems, I wasn’t able to type an apostrophe very easily in the original unedited trip report.]