Sunday, January 10, 2010

Urban Trekking ; Lake Washington Ship Canal and Fremont

I love days like today! The weather was dry and balmy for January - 55 degrees! We went urban trekking. It's so freeing to just leave everything behind and go enjoy new surroundings. And I love being a tourist in my own city. Today we headed for the quiet side of the ship canal, the south bank, and walked the trail to our destination, Fremont.
There were large rafts of these scaups on the canal.
Across the Fremont Bridge, and into "The Center of the Universe", as Fremontians like to call their village within a city.
We were headed for the always fun Fremont street market, a year-round Sunday happening.
I loved the colors at this "antique" vendor.
The Raw Corn street musicians were entertaining.
At this stall you can buy regular chocolate or hemp inspired flavors.
I studied these old valentines a long time, but finally resisted.
I did not resist these charming little vases made from old silverware. I now own one.
And I couldn't pass up this $10 glass bobble, especially since it matched my shirt.
This treasure might only be meaningful to folks who have grown up in Seattle or the region. Tom is holding a homemade toy hydroplane, a Miss Budweiser, made in 1967, according to the inscription on the back. It belonged to a Thomas Eugene Baker, and it definitely has been pulled behind a bicycle, as these toys usually were.
We had lunch OUTSIDE at the PCC deli.
I joined those "Waiting For the Interurban", in a famous local art work.
Tom posed with his treasure at a photo op.
And I posed with a famous Seattle TV star, JP Patches, and his side kick, Gertrude.
We walked down to Lake Union under the Aurora bridge.
House boats and sail boats line the edge of the lake.
As we walked back to the bridge, it was opening to allow a sail boat to pass under.
And then we headed back down the trail to the car.
I love the red berries on this cotoneaster.
A merganser was enjoying a canal swim.
Kayaks and sail and motor craft were out for a day on the water.
After some rest up time at home we had dinner out with the guys, Jake and friends Tad and Russ.
Now we'll settle in for the evening. Chuck is back!
What a perfect day!

11 comments:

  1. What a wonderful day and wonderful pictures. How did your back hold up to all that walking?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I certainly enjoyed the walk with you. I am finally caught up on my blog. I am going to try to keep it up. It is a wonderful way to keep up with family and frinds. Love ya, sister.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My oh my you certaintly went for a walk, didn't you? Mostly my old stomping grounds. Sorta. I grew up in Wallingford and went to a private high school in ballard and spent most of my growing up hours at Woodland Park. Fremont and Greenwood are all mixed in there too.
    Thanks for the travel back. MB

    I scrolled through the last few posts I missed. Very nice. One of my grandsons is mad about Legos too. He builds forever. MB

    ReplyDelete
  4. What? You played tourist in Fremont and didn't take a photo of the troll?? Still, it looks like you had a fun day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Linda, my back was OK but I was getting a bit cranky before I finally got to sit down for lunch.

    Maya, we thought about the troll way up there under the bridge, but didn't want to walk up that far.

    ReplyDelete
  6. how fun to be a tourist in your own hometown or city. fascinating places, I love outdoor markets. Guess I need to explore my own area more just hard to get hubby along but I could ask a girl friend to go exploring-she enjoy the shopping part more...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh I so enjoyed "walking" along with you on this lovely day. I delighted in all the photos of such interesting booths. Ah the furniture I could have brought home with me and the Valentines, too. I was taken by the silverware vases, never seen these before. I've seen silverware chimes though. You certainly brought home treasures! I would love to visit your part of the country for a couple of weeks. Maybe someday.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You had a great day, treated yourselves, got some exercise and that was a wonderful walk you took us on Linda. Loved all the photos.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You really do know how to have the most fun, Linda! I always love going on these treks with you.

    I was excited about seeing Chuck back, too. We were surprised at that beginning though. Gracious! That was quite a BIT of violence for Chuck which I thought was a lighter type series. I was rather put off by the killings.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yes, Kay, I thought of you then. I thought "Kay won't like this". In fact as I found myself chuckling (no pun intended) I commented out loud to Tom that we were making comedy out of a whole lot of killing. May not a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I just read this post, and I loved it. I lived in Seattle as a child and attended Oak Lake Elementary, which was located right where the overpass is now, on Aurora near 101st. So you were in my old stomping grounds to! My favorite picture was the JP Patches statue. I didn't know it existed, now I want to someday venture up to see 'him'. I remember the show, and told my daughter about him reading 'The Weedle on the Needle' the first time.

    ReplyDelete

I would love to read your comments. Since I link most posts to Facebook, you may comment there if you do not have an account. I have eliminated Anonymous comments due to spammers.