West Seattle, Washington
04 Wednesday
More NTG (or at least, his style) creations sighted on our side of the bay — this time, on the approach to the low bridge. Thanks to sneakyfreak‘s Nick for the pic:
Next Monday, if you’re out for a walk on Alki around 9-something am, watch for a woman heading out into the water. No, not a polar-bear swimmer … a County Public Health employee. We’ve seen her the last two Mondays – today, wading quite some distance from shore – taking water samples, then returning to her official county government car. Trying to find out where we can see the test results!
Two days after our last sighting of Seattle Fire Department training in WS, we happened onto another round this afternoon — the fireboat Chief Seattle tied up just west of Salty’s, running a hose (and a couple of small support boats) to the shore. We observed for a few minutes, took pix, then came home to find much better photos in our inbox from Christy of On Focus Photo Blog — so we’ll gratefully use hers instead:
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Chainsaw buzz is echoing through the Cali/Charlestown vicinity this morning as the Seattle Fire Dept. carries out a “training exercise” as part of the demolition of the teardowns-to-townhomes at 3906 and 3910 Cali. So far, as our photo shows, they’re tearing up the roofs; will they set the houses on fire later today? We’ll see what we can find out.
One of the things we adore about West Seattle is that downtown is so close … yet it can be “out of sight, out of mind” until and unless you choose to stop for a view like this:
Supposedly next week brings the gray back, so we’re hoarding the beauty shots till then:
First photo from Alki Beach. Second, about 15 minutes later from just south of Alki Point.
Much as we love sun-behind-Olympics sunsets from Alki, Beach Drive, Lincoln Park, etc., we also are fond of the Mount Rainier sunset-time view from Arbor Heights:
We’ve received a few notes about this and happened to see it ourselves (but couldn’t whip out the camera fast enough) — massive police motorcade along Alki about an hour ago, motorcycles as well as cars — will let you know if/when we find out what that was all about!
One of the ugliest road-rage clashes we’ve seen in a while: At the three-way intersection by Lowman Beach, a huge red pickup and a teal station wagon were stopped side-by-side, pointed north toward Beach Drive, with the drivers screaming bloody murder at each other. (Mostly the guy in the pickup yelling at the station-wagon guy about being an “old guy” who didn’t know how to drive.) So ugly, we were about to call 911, when the truck roared off. (Oh, and really, tomorrow IS “Drive Nice Day.”)
Spotted passing Admiral Heights a few hours ago — this sizable contingent of Seattle Police on two-wheeled patrol. (TUESDAY UPDATE: SPD tells us this was an exercise for officers who hope to join the bike patrol – they get put through some tough paces on WS hills among other spots all over the city!)
Twice in the past two days, we’ve had to stop for these feathered pedestrians just east of Seacrest, and they’re hard to see from a distance.
The Junction‘s hanging flower baskets are going up this morning — after arriving in a big yellow truck that staged just outside Village Woodworks. (Auspiciously, the sun came out shortly after the basket-unloading began.)
Some general exterior and interior sprucing-up is going on at Morgan Junction’s big beige public-housing building, Cal-Mor Circle, and this weekend it looks rather Christo-like:
Courtesy of Cathy Woo, who tells us she took this picture just before 9 this morning at 59th & Alki. (Sure looks like the work of NTG.) 10:35 PM UPDATE: Went down to check it out. This is visible from the beach side of the walkway just east of the bathhouse. We also saw another one — unfortunately peeling badly — a bit further east along the beach walkway, and yet another one on the retaining wall along the bottom of California Way where it meets Harbor Ave near Seacrest.)
You don’t have to drive 22 miles — like these Issaquah elementary-school kids spotted on a field trip this morning — for a low-tide walk at Constellation Park (p.s. looks like it’ll be even lower about this time tomorrow morning):
Sure, Cactus was jumping (including the heated outdoor area), bonfires were blazing, all that, but the most interesting thing we saw on Alki this Cinco de Mayo evening was the aftermath of a ceremony next to the Alki Bathhouse, and the reception inside. The candle-equipped ceremony altar (photo below) was framed by white columns wrapped with barbed wire and red roses. We weren’t nosy enough to peek too far into the (catered) reception, but saw enough of the outfits (white-on-black “skeleton” shirt, etc.) to speculate — Goth wedding? SUNDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: Reader reports in a comment on this post that they inquired and were told it was in honor of someone who died.
Huling/Gee isn’t the only name change along Fauntleroy’s mini-“auto row.” At Fauntleroy/Oregon, the tattered old “Bob Ochsner Cars” sign just vanished, and a slick new “West Seattle Motors” sign (left) just appeared. (If you can’t recall the old sign, check the right side of the photo on the bottom of this city page — scroll down, then over — about the neighboring, historical-ish Wardrobe Cleaners neon sign.)
Just received a note about something traumatic that happened on Admiral earlier today, with a request to let everyone know about those who did a very good deed as a result. We’re putting it up exactly as we received it, and it’s a bit long, so if you’re seeing this on the home page, click ahead to read:
Checked the 35th/Holden Chevron station this morning, for the 2nd straight day. Somewhere between midnight and 10 am, the price of regular jumped another 4 cents to $3.26/gallon (as shown at left). Our subsequent unofficial drivearound survey suggests this may currently be the most expensive price in WS (let us know if you find differently).
Or maybe “strange bedfellows” is better. Anyway, we mused last month about the proximity of the new Temenos spiritual center to Mars Hill-WS. Now, they’re truly rubbing elbows; on off-days, the MH buses have their own little pen in the Temenos lot:
The headline about 4-buck gas might not be so far off. Example: We passed the 35th/Holden Chevron twice in the past hour. First time by, a worker was taking down the 3.18/gallon price for regular. Second time by, when we had a camera in tow, the new price was up (left). Good site for checking local gas prices is here. UPDATE: Even the state wants to know how come we pay more around here.
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