As I mentioned previously, I dragged Marianna out for a photo tour of West Seattle this past Saturday. I thought she needed to be reminded of some of the things she was excited about when she first started planning her move to Seattle. I offered to show her some of my favorite photo spots in the south end.

The day was a little cloudy and gray, but the sun was threatening to break through and clouds often provide a little drama in the sky, so we headed off for Alki. Our first stop was at the boat launch across Elliott Bay from downtown Seattle.  From here you get fantastic views of the city and the Port of Seattle. Hopping back in the car, we then headed further west around the point, through Alki Beach proper finally winding up at Me-Kwa-Mooks Park with it’s fantastic views across the Puget Sound. A quick jaunt through downtown West Seattle and we were back near our first stop, but now up on the hill at the Hamilton Viewpoint Park.

Then we decided to head further south in search of a route to Lincoln Park. I had visited this park in the past but via a convoluted path from the south. Marianna offered to use her GPS but I kind of like just navigating with the compass built-in to my car. I tend to find things that are interesting when I just wind my way around in the general direction I want to go. Sure enough, we managed to find it with no major problems. Finding parking took a few minutes as the place was packed with Seattleites looking for a last gasp of Summer.

The park here is a great blend of forest, fields and shoreline. Something for everyone! You also get views of the ferry traffic coming and going from the Fauntleroy Terminal. We hiked down to the beach and spent time taking it all in. We headed north along the shore taking photos as we went, then opted to head back to the car. This began the “death march” portion of our outing, as we discovered that the direct route back was a trail that climbed nearly straight up the bluff, several hundred feet of elevation gain I’d guess. We were both huffing and puffing by the time we hit the top, but it did give us an appetite for lunch, which was next on the agenda.

For that, we headed to my favorite little neighborhood, Burien. I’ve lived in and around this area for quite a few years, and its where many of my favorite restaurants are. Today we visited the Elliott Bay Brewpub for their fantastic beer-battered fish and chips. It was a great end to a morning spent peering through the view finder at some of the stunning sights that the Seattle-area has on tap for avid photographers!

More photos on Flickr…

I kidnapped Marianna this morning and dragged her around to some of my favorite photo spots in West Seattle. I felt she needed a reminder of some of the *good* things about living in Seattle.

I also let her buy me fish and chips for lunch at one of my favorite local pubs in Burien… never let it be said that I am not a kind and generous soul.

This is just a quick peak at a photo from Lincoln Park in West Seattle. Plenty more photos and the full story later this weekend.

Not much going on at the moment. The kids spent the weekend over, our biggest accomplishment was going shopping for pants, school pants.

My daughter found three pairs she liked almost immediately, no muss, no fuss. My son spent what seemed like hours trying on jeans, looking for the perfect combination of sag, bagginess and cuff droop. He finally found it in what must have been the most expensive pair of jeans the store carried. We bought two of them.

I spent my free time torturing Kiko with the camera. I think he’s starting to get used to it. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not.

The new blog is still a work in progress, I hope to launch it later this week. I have things I want to write about.  I just don’t want to write about them here…

Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the Washington Park Arboretum with Leesa and Marianna. There are so many hiking opportunities you could literally spend several days visiting and still not see everything.  We opted to do the shoreline hike this trip. All of us had cameras, several of us had more than one. Photography happened. There was also sarcasm. Lots and lots of sarcasm.

More photos…

Aha, see… Leesa isn’t the *only* one who can take deer photos! Not that it’s a competition or anything like that.

As is my custom, once I find an interesting place I tend to revisit and explore at different times and in different ways. I greatly enjoyed my visit to Hurricane Ridge on the motorcycle last weekend, so I thought I do a road trip back out there with the kids this weekend. As much as I love riding, it’s much easier to stop and hike around with a camera when you’re based out of a car.

The weather was very dramatic this weekend, clouds on the mountains with peaks rising through. We had to drive through one low lying cloud layer on our way up to the ridge. It made for a beautiful view once we were above it looking across the Olympics. Deer like the one in this photo were *everywhere*. We saw four or five just in the parking lot at the visitors center. The kids really enjoyed seeing them, especially Lindsey.

It’s just a matter of time before I head back out here again.  I noted several places on the way that I’d like to visit with camera in hand in the future.

Just in case you want to see more photos, you know where to look.

Or at least, that’s the vibe I was getting when I snapped this photo.  Kiko has a dark side… no, really!

We spotted the ocean, At the head of the trail
Where are we goin’, So far away
And somebody told me, That this is the place
Where everything’s better, And everything’s safe

CHORUS:
Walk on the ocean, Step on the stones
Flesh becomes water, Wood becomes bone

Half an hour later, We packed up our things
Said we’d send letters, And all of those little things
And they knew we were lyin’, But they smiled just the same
It seemed they’d already, Forgotten we came

(CHORUS X 2)

Now back at the homestead, Where the air makes you choke
And people don’t know you, And trust is a joke
We don’t even have pictures, Just memories to hold
It grows sweeter each season, As we slowly grow old

A summer sunset seen from Me-Kwa-Mooks Park in West Seattle

The Blue Angels are in town for Seattle’s Seafair this weekend.  A friend and I took an early lunch and went down to Boeing Field (where they keep the aircraft while in Seattle) to watch them depart and return for their Thursday morning orientation flight. Snapped photos of course, a few more over on Flickr.

This is just a short clip shot on the way home, as I was crossing the North Cascades Highway. No music, just the sound of the bike and the wind rushing by. That’s the soundtrack of riding really. Also posted a bunch of photos at Flickr over the last few days and you can read my ride report over on STN if you are so inclined! More photos and video yet to come.