Chronicles

We just returned from a trip to Seattle to see our kids. It was a fabulous visit with lots of fun activities. Our daughter and granddaughter joined us from Japan which was the first time we’ve all been together in several years. After spending many years aboard airplanes, I have to call out Delta Airlines for their contributions to this wonderful trip. Everything went smoothly in Tampa and Seattle. We even arrived early on both flights.

The Seattle area provided many amazing photography opportunities. There were the expected scenes of the mountains and city attractions like Mount Rainier, the Space Needle and Pike Place Market. As you can see from the photos, the skies were clear the entire trip. Ironically, we were hoping to escape the heat from Florida, and the Pacific Northwest experienced one of their hottest weekends in many years with temperatures approaching record territory in the mid-90s. But the absence of humidity made it very tolerable for us.

A couple of highlights were excursions to Vashon Island and the little community of Snoqualmie to see the falls. The day we went to Snoqualmie happened to coincide with the annual Snoqualmie Days festival. The main street was lined with vendors, information booths, and food trucks. We opted for a barbeque restaurant called Buckshot Honey and it was delicious.

Vashon Island featured the Point Robinson lighthouse which was built in 1885. It still operates today. Also located in Point Robinson Park is one of the famous wooden troll sculptures of a Danish artist named Thomas Dambo. The sculpture is called Oscar the Bird King. He creates the sculptures from recycled materials. There is a link at the bottom to read more about him and his works. I’m pretty certain this will become an annual trip for us as it was a wonderful reunion in a beautiful place.

Daily trips to Marymoor Park in Redmond were a great start to the day and provided views of wildlife species that are never or rarely seen in our part of the country. Marymoor Park is incredible. It borders the north end of Lake Sammamish along the Sammamish river. At almost 700 acres in size, there are vast areas for dogs to run off of their leash and much of the park is an Audubon nature preserve. There are picnic areas, athletic fields, playgrounds, a concert venue, a community garden, a velodrome, and even an RC airplane field. It is definitely one of the destination spots for families in the Seattle area and it was only 10 minutes away for us.

Area links:

• https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dnrp/nature-recreation/parks-recreation/king-county-parks/parks/marymoor
• https://vashonparks.org/point-robinson
• https://www.thomasdambo.com/

More photos have been uploaded to the Landscapes and Urban Scenes galleries.