Our Lady V

The steamship Virginia V (the "V" is a Roman Numeral, so "5").  It's one of the last of the Mosquito Fleet, the once ubiquitous steamships used for shipping and passenger travel between Tacoma and Seattle.  A big storm in something like 1934 wiped many of them out.  Then the company that ran them went bankrupt, and soon after we had the Seattle Supersonics.  This is a short history of Seattle and maybe leaves out some details.  Anyway, the big V is docked right next to MOHI, the Museum of History and Innovation, on South Lake Union.  On a beautiful sunny Seattle day, the brilliant MOHI and our Lady V shines white and brilliant in the Pacific Northwest sky.  Check her out!

Virginia V

Recreational Equipment, Inc.

You'll feel all warm and cozy in Seattle's flagship REI.  Here's the scene, as you walk in:

REI was founded in Seattle in 1938, beginning a regrettable, decades-long trend toward overpriced outdoors equipment for city slickers (who shops at an REI that lives in the actual countryside?).  The first product was an ice axe imported from Austria by the founders, a husband and wife duo (really).  This location's on Yale Street; I don't know if it's the spot of the original.  It's a beautiful store, actually, with two stories (not that uncommon for REI these days), and an entire park area out front for test-riding mountain bikes and so on.  The fire you see is made from 100% recycled fire-fibers.  Enjoy!

Husky Stadium

Husky Stadium, aka the University of Washington football stadium.  Back in the salad days, the Huskies won back to back National Championships (1990,1991), led by the legendary coach, Don James.  They're still (generally speaking) the best college football team in Washington State.  (But then, Washington State ain't Texas.)  This stadium however is beautiful.  It's on the west edge of Union Bay.  To the right (roughly) is Lake Washington.

Queen Anne Hill (plus Magnolia)

A big tanker anchored off the coast of... well it's in Elliot Bay.  Seattle's off to the left (out of view), and we're in Magnolia shooting from the hill.  The ships will sit out there ominously for weeks at a time.  B tells me one ship's been out there since she moved here, two years ago.  This is classic B and I just nod my head.

The quintessential Seattle shot, from Highland Drive on Queen Anne Hill.  When I first moved to Seattle in the mid-1990s where did I take in the Emerald City?  Highland Drive.  Fast forward and where's me and B?  That's right.  All I can report second time around with B is standing poking absentmindedly at my Galaxy S5 while an outdoorsy fellow, say in his mid 40s with a wife-type on a park bench, and me and B directly blocking his view, starts "uh hum"-ing and "harumph"-ing and so on until we move on.  The silly fellow.  We laughed at him within earshot but with his view of the Space Needle restored, an Emerald bubble of bliss surrounded him and his sweetheart, no doubt.  B and I breathed in the deep salty blue and disappeared without further ado, into the dampness of the city we love to hate.

  

Here's the B.

Here's me and B all selfie'd out in the Emerald.

Here's Sexy B.  This has nothing to do with Queen Anne Hill or Magnolia, but it's vintage B in a full selfie mode and so it finds its way here (in background:  "oh, put up that one selfie of me, you know, when...".  Dammit B it's the Queen Anne shots.  And yet.  Here.

Argosy Cruise - Done (Check)

Me and B on the water today round about 1:15 no time to spare.  B's legs blow up en route but we slide in there with seconds left on the clock.  Serious pics with my Galaxy S5.  Not sure why I'm blogging like this but ya know we're pumped.  Saw no less than Bill Gates' humble abode on Lake Washington, CEO of Starbucks modest 17 bedroom spread near Mercer Island (I made up "17", but it's large), and of course the famous Sleepless in Seattle floating house!  It's a two hour cruise starts in Lake Union, goes through Portage Bay, and on into Lake Washington.  It was a rainy, blustery affair but me and B weathered it admirably, and with my new smart phone locked and loaded I snapped off a devastating assortment of high quality pics. Check it out!

The Sleepless in Seattle house is the cream colored number to the center left.  This is the west side of Lake Union and close to our apartment, which is up the hill in the background (and not in view).

This is the Bill Gates Mansion on Lake Washington.  I think the photo doesn't capture the entire house, which is to the right and left here as well.  The tour guide droned on about the number of computers and personalize this and that.  It's a big house.

Our apartment is somewhere on the hill.  I cannot tell you where, because B thinks the information might be used surreptitiously in some kind of creepy B-movie way.  Anyway this is the Westlake area in Seattle, or in other words the west side of Lake Union.

Seattle, viewed when approaching from the north on Lake Union.  Strangely, no Starbucks stores are visible in this photo.

Here's the B.

More B.