After two years, I’m back in Seattle for a short spell

As some of you may know, I am originally from Seattle and occasionally spend time in the area since I have family and friends in the Pacific Northwest. The last time I was in town was over two years ago for my father’s memorial. This time, it was for a cousin’s wedding and to catch up with family.

My sister Susanne and I flew from separate airports and met at SeaTac where we split a rental car. First stop was Alki Beach in West Seattle so that I could get my fish & chips fix. Susanne had never been to Alki before (she is my half sister and we just met a few years ago. Amazing story, you can click to read more), so I enjoyed showing her around some of the sights. My folks used to have a condo near the beach so I’d often used it in between my travels.

From West Seattle we headed to Edmonds to spend a couple days with our stepmother Hattie. A fantastic sunset greeted us upon our arrival. Susanne and I both reside in the southern part of the country, so the 9:30pm sunsets are always a surprise (1.5 hours of extra daylight).

The next day we had a wonderful breakfast at the Rusty Pelican, then we went to see Andy Steves (Rick Steves son) speak on travel. Andy has picked up his famous father’s love of travel and shares his experiences by speaking around the world. On this date he just happened to be speaking in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington. After the talk on travel we strolled the downtown streets where each Saturday they roads are blocked off for a large street fair/farmers market. There were craftsmen, florists, food purveyor, musicians and more. Finally, we toured a wonderful museum where Hattie volunteers. Everything we did this day was located in downtown Edmonds, a really cute little town where everything is walking distance to Hattie’s house. It was a fantastic day had by all.

After the family wedding the next day, Susanne and stopped by Swansons Nursery, a massive garden center with a cafe in the middle. Swansons has been a Seattle staple since 1924. After a nice lunch we drove to the Ballard Locks, where we discovered a big band performing in the park. After listening to some music we went to observe the locks in action. If you’ve never witnessed locks, or are not familiar with how they work, it’s an ingenious system of raising boats (via the water level) to connect two bodies of water to enable the vessels to transfer from one to another. In this case, the Puget Sound with Lake Washington.

The next day Susanne and our cousin Nick took a drive through the Cascade Mountains to do a hike along Denny Creek in the Mt. Baker National Forest. In typical Pacific Northwest fashion, the rain came. The weather however did not dampen our spirits or the enjoyment of the hike. For the most part we were sheltered by the denseness of the tree canopy. The hike was pretty easy and provided some lovely scenery. We occasional stopped to take in the beauty of a rapid or small waterfall.

On our way back to town we stopped at the famed Snoqualmie Falls where we had a late lunch at Salish Lodge. It had been 20 years or so since I was last at Salish, my memories of an extraordinarily romantic weekend with a girlfriend at the time swirled through my head.