Jutting 400 feet into Lake Union and offering a spectacular view of Downtown as well as the Queen Anne and Eastlake neighborhoods, Seattle’s Gas Works Park is one of the city’s most unique landmarks.
The Seattle Gas Light Company converted coal to gas from 1906 to 1937 and oil to gas from 1937 to 1956. Gas production ended in 1956; the City of Seattle bought the property for use as a park in 1962 and Gas Works Park opened to the public in 1975. The architect retained many of the old structures in the park; some are off limits, cordoned off behind chain link fences, others were painted bright colors and included in the children’s play area.
There were several concerted cleanup projects to remove benzene and other contaminants from the soil and groundwater. Tar still bubbles up every once in a while. The park is monitored closely for contamination but it is considered clean enough for public use.
Just don’t eat the dirt.
The property is now a monstrous bird condominium and a favorite target of taggers. It has been the site of numerous weddings and a gathering place for rallys and watching fireworks.
Its also a favorite spot for Seattlites to picnic.
The man made hill is made from rubble and top soil and is topped with a sundial. It is by far the best place in the city to fly a kite.
My brothers, Alex and Tim, are stranded somewhere in the middle of nowhere Canada.
They left Alaska Thursday morning in a U-Haul vacuum packed with my Mother’s possessions and headed South to the Seattle area. The trip can be made in three days if you have two drivers and don’t stop to sleep. That is also provided you are driving a vehicle that has been maintained a little better than a U-Haul.
This little adventure has netted the boys so far (on separate occasions): brake lights out, engine light on, lost power, fuel line failure, lost second gear, RPMs won’t go over 200. Responses from U-Haul have included repeatedly hanging up on the boys and one assistant manager stating that U-Haul doesnt pay him enough to drive out there with a new rig to swap them out. They did finally send a tow truck so now I’m hoping they’ll get moving in the right direction.
Apparently we’re not the only one to have trouble with U-Haul. A quick google search came up with a list of sites like this:
While we’re really here to spend time with the family and as much time with Dad as we can, we took a time out today. We borrowed Dad’s truck and drove up to Hatchers Pass to check out the old mines and maybe see some wildlife. It was a very cold, drizzly day but we managed to get some great pictures anyways.
I love a small town parade. There is a certain innocence, or maybe it’s a lack of cynicism…
This was the annual Toledo Washington Cheese Days Parade. It felt like the whole town was in the parade and we were there because somebody had to be in the audience.
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