Seattle Stairways

There are hundreds of public stairways in Seattle. A majority of them are in the Queen Anne neighbourhood which is a hilly area just north of downtown. I wanted to find some stairways and take the boys along. I read this book and used it as a guide.

I chose the southwest area of Queen Anne. We parked just down the street from Marshall park on 7th avenue.

We found the Willcox Walls first.

I did a little research and found out that:

Construction of the Willcox Walls began in 1913, and they substantially completed that year with plants and other final touches along both sides of the street finished by January 1916. The Willcox Walls, including the design of their ornamental balustrades, lighting, and public stairways, are the work of Walter Ross Baume Willcox. He was personally acquainted with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, and their philosophies influenced his designs and thinking. The Willcox Walls were designated a City Landmark in 1976, recognized for their structural detail, brick work, exterior appearance, and lighting fixtures.


This is Lee street which is all stairs. You can see the Magnolia bridge in the distance.

We came back up more stairs and walked through Parsons park.

I call this one Climbing the Stairway to Heaven.

Walking, more stairs and then we went to Bayview-Kinnear park. It has a cool metal slide built into a hill.

Kerry Park has the quintessential view of Seattle.

We saw this balcony off a house and we decided these people have the best view in the city!

After a few blocks uphill we walked along Galer street and stopped for lunch (but no donuts) at Top Pot Donuts. I liked the wall of bookcases filled with vintage books.

I'm drawn to houses that look like old fashioned doll houses.

After we returned to the car we drove around the north end of Queen Anne and went on the road that goes under the Aurora bridge. We drove by Seattle Pacific University which has a pretty campus.

There is a website that maps the stairs of Queen Anne. http://qastairs.com/map.html

I'd like to go back and find more stairways in Queen Anne. It is a very pleasant area to hang out in. Historic homes and beautiful gardens plus a workout.


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Whidbey Island Day Trip

Coupeville, Whidbey Island

After last week, which was full of activity (one boy away at camp and the other helping at a VBS), this week had been dragging a bit. We didn't have much going on. I decided it was time for a day trip with my boys.

In the morning I dragged my youngest son out of bed earlier than he preferred. We took a very short ferry ride of 15 minutes to Whidbey Island.  We stayed in the car since it was chilly. We played a card game in the car.

Our first stop was the little town of Langley. There are so many flowers around Whidbey Island's small towns. Here is the front of a business.

Next stop was Greenbank Farm.

We had lunch on site at Whidbey Pies. Good sandwiches and pie. We stopped inside Greenbank Cheese store which also had some gag items.

Our next destination was Fort Casey State Park. We had been here before but the boys were little then.

I was pleased with the reaction from A - "this place is awesome." We probably spent 45 minutes here, exploring.

You can see the ferry to Port Townsend here. I also saw the Victoria Clipper go by.
One of the cool places that we discovered was a tunnel (we thought it was a tunnel) to the Switchboard. It was super dark and cool in the there.

Next we drove to the town of Coupeville. The main attraction there is the historic wharf.

We spotted a heron and a few harbour seals. There were a lot of sailboats in Penn Cove. I think there was a race going on.

We got huge ice cream cones (4 dollars for a single scoop but they actually give you 3 scoops) from Kapaws Iksreme and walked around Coupeville.

As we drove back to the ferry we saw (and heard) fighter jets practicing landing close to the highway. There is a Naval Air Station on the island.

The only place we didn't visit (that I planned to) was Ebey's Landing which is a beach. It wasn't sunny and warm enough for time at the beach.




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Bainbridge Island day trip

We spent the day experiencing a quintessential Pacific Northwest summer day. My father in law has been visiting from Ottawa this week. We left home on Thursday morning and took the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. The views from that ferry are spectacular.

We had lunch at Hitchcock Deli in Winslow (the little town close to the ferry dock on the island). Yummy sandwiches.

Our primary destination on Bainbridge Island was the Bloedel Nature preserve. I had heard of it a few times and wanted to check it out. It’s probably best to make sure you know what to expect before spending the money (17 dollars for one adult) to get into the Bloedel Nature Reserve. If you’re looking for 150 acres of colourful flowers, or a place for your kids to run around and play, this isn’t the place for you.

If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a serene and non-strenuous stroll through a variety of natural settings, then Bloedel may be exactly what you’re looking for. The first section is a winding walk through a grassy meadow,

then into the woods with some impressively tall fir trees,

and then by some picturesque marshland without having to worry about mosquitoes.

The section across the road with the manor is more manicured with lawns including weeping willows next to glassy ponds.

I enjoyed the manor house and the surrounding area best.

This is the view from the back of the manor house.

The final segment is the most man-made of all, with the “Japanese garden”

and rectangular reflecting pool – the only straight lines in the place not including the buildings.

The terrain is quite flat and made for spending 1-2 hours at a slow walk. My main complaint is the lack of benches at the gatehouse. When we finished walking the grounds, we wanted to rest a little. There were two benches provided and both were occupied with guests. It wasn't particularly busy, either.

After we left Bloedel we drove to Kingston. After parking our car to wait for the ferry, we got ice cream from Drifters. I loved my espresso explosion ice cream.

They have giant Adirondack chairs in a park near the ferry dock.

We took the Kingston - Edmonds ferry back home rather than the Bainbridge to Seattle ferry to avoid Seattle rush hour traffic. We had supper at Anthony's Beach Club in Edmonds. We ate outside. I was surprised (on a hot day) to be cold in the shade and with the wind blowing. They provided me a blanket.

After a busy day with lots of walking and driving, we collapsed at home.


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Fourth of July wreath

I haven't made anything in a while, so it was time!

I made this fabric scrap wreath for the 4th of July. I finished it just in time to display it.

I got my inspirtation from this blog post.

Two years ago, I made a similiar wreath with a Seahawks theme.

It is quite simple to make. Just lots of cutting fabric - with a rotary cutter, and then lots of tying.





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C's 13th Birthday Party

It is official. I am the mother of two teenage boys. C had his 13th birthday in May. We had his party this past weekend. There were 8 boys plus C at the party.

It started after school on Friday. I took most of his friends home with me in my car. I decorated the windows, much to C's chagrin.

We started with pizza and then explained the scavenger/treasure hunt game. My amazing husband planned this, with help from my older son A.

Here is J's description.

I set up a scavenger hunt all over a neighbourhood south of us consisting of a series of 8 "caches". I made the caches out of 1" white PVC pipe cut to 8" lengths with end caps on each end. Inside each was a clue. Some clues were photos of the next location, some were riddles, and some were GPS coordinates (latitude/longitude). Some were a combination thereof. I spent some time selecting the locations, creating the clues, and deploying them in hidden but find-able locations. I hid the caches up trees, under bridges, on top of shipping containers, inside fence posts, etc. They probably walked a couple of miles by the end of it. It took them 90 minutes to complete. They were allowed to use printed maps, or online maps on their phones (1 or 2 have these devices), basically any technology they had at hand, plus their own ingenuity.

I followed the boys around to attempt to take some photos. They were often too fast for me to catch on film. After they finished we came back to our house for birthday cake (ice cream cake from Dairy Queen).

C received gift cards, cash, and two physical gifts from one friend. A piano horn and magnet beads.
One of his friends is great at drawing and he decorated the brown paper of his present with this:

Six boys slept over. They played video games and watched the latest Spider man movie.

J and I slept pretty well despite so many guests. I did have to tell the boys to cut the noise at 2 am when I woke up.

We fed them bacon in the morning. J said that the best sound in the world is the doorbell in the morning after a sleepover. I managed to get a group photo, minus the boys who didn't sleep over.

J is hoping that he can "retire" from planning these parties!



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Sailing

This past Saturday, I joined C and his Boy Scout troop on a 4 hour sail trip on the SS Odyssey. There were 35 of us (parents and scouts and some siblings) plus the crew of about 10.

C with his friend M.

Here is the main mast.

The Odyssey is a 90 foot yawl. It is considered a tall ship.  It has a rich history. It was originally designed for a Vanderbilt granddaughter. The boat was used in racing for years. In WW II, the Navy used the boat for radar, sonar testing, and echo sounding studies. In 1978, it was purchased by the Boy Scouts of America and is currently used as a sail training vessel for Sea Scouts.

The inside is quite charming. There is a small piano on board. The large dining table tips as the boat moves.

Scouts looking really thrilled that I'm taking their picture. :) Some boys played cards at this table.

We passed by Stadium High as we left the Tacoma port.

Would you believe this is a public high school? It was previously a hotel.

We sailed out into Commencement Bay and near to Vaschon Island.

The scouts were able to help with hoisting the sails and lowering them, if they wanted. C declined and let the older scouts do this.

Passengers were also able to steer the boat.

I was very thankful that there was no rain at all during our trip. The sun came out at various times. No, we didn't feel seasick! I had a pleasant time chatting with the other moms.

This week during C's science class, his teacher asked if anyone had every been sailing and C could say, yes, he had been sailing on Saturday.




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