Last Friday we went out for a drive through the temperate rain forests on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula to celebrate Mom’s birthday. As it turns out, much of the forest along Scenic Highway 101 has been clear cut, but my oh my, how refreshing was the view of the Pacific Ocean
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.
You might recognize Gas Works Park from the movies Singles and 10 Things I Hate About You.
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.
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We had a bad case of cabin fever and just had to get out of the house so we hopped in the truck and drove around till we came across highway 20 – we got on highway 20 and kept going till we got to I-90 and then decided to go to North Bend.
North Bend is a really cute little town that reminds me a lot of the town I grew up in with Mount Si looming in the background the way Pioneer Peak loomed at the homestead. After puttering around North Bend for a while we headed up to Snoqualmie to check out the falls.
Snoqualmie Falls is definitely worth checking out. I’ve been there a dozen times and each time it tak
es my breath away.
On a lark yesterday, Mr. H and I decided to hit the road and check out Northwest Trek. It was kind of a long trip for a lark, because it’s a wildlife park near the foot of Mt. Rainier, but then we’ve missed the house on our way home and ended up going to dinner in Port Townsend before too. We do odd things when we’re feeling spontaneous.
NW Trek is kind of a cool concept in wildlife parks/zoos, the prey animals live in a 500 acre area that ranges from steep hills, forests, pastures and wetlands. The animals roam freely, the people are caged in trams that are driven about the park by naturalists.
We got some great viewing opportunities, and up quite close to everything from bison, to moose to black tail deer, elk and caribou.
The predators are kept in a much more zoo-like setting – smaller habitats surrounded by fencing and moats. We enjoyed the black bear bathing himself and rolling around in the water, the cats, however seemed to think it was much too hot to come out of their little dens.
We missed the snakes and bugs this time. I think I’ll get over it.
We’ll definitely be back soon.
For Mr. H’s 30th Birthday, I took him out whale watching… well that was the idea anyways, but apparently the whales didn’t get that memo.
The tour went out of Friday Harbor, so we had an adventure just getting there. We drove to Anacortes, two hours north of home, and then took a ferry across to San Juan Island where Friday Harbor is located.
We tried to have dinner at Front Street Ale House, but the service was so slow – not so much the kitchen, but getting the attention of the waiter (the one with the flat brim baseball hat cocked askew) – so we asked for the food to go and ate in on the boat as it was pulling out of port. The food was a bit greasy, but not bad.
The tour company we used was San Juan Safaris, and I would definitely use this service again. Our Captian was an old sea dog that looked like he’d spent more of his life on water than land, and the naturalist was a young college student who had been born and raised on the islands. They were both very skilled at keeping their guest happy and engaged (there were 20 of us on board) especially after it became apparent that the whales were not going to make an appearance.
We saw lots of eagles and eagles’ nests, rhinocerous oclets (horned diving birds), harbor porpoise, seals, sea otters, and beautiful scenery. The most fascinating sighting was also the most grotesque, we came across a tiny island, maybe 20 feet in diameter, with two young bald eagles on it. In the water below were a seal and her newborn pup. By newborn, I mean minutes old. We came up right after ther birth. The eagles on the rock were displaying their pecking order, the older eagle was eating the placenta, while the younger eagle stood by patiently waiting his turn.
We got back to Friday Harbor in time to catch the last ferry back to the mainland. The 9:55 is the milk run stopping at every island on the way, so we got back to Anacortes by midnight. That 2 hour drive back to Auburn was exhausting.
