View from Columbia Tower

Happy Birthday Martha!! As any good husband, I took the day off from work to spend the day with my wonderful wife. We've always wanted to visit Seattle's tallest building the Columbia Tower. The observation deck is on the 73 floor and what a view! If you are ever in Seattle, skip the Space Needle (or don't), this is much cheaper ($5 instead of $15) and you have a much better view. In this particular view you can see the Harborview Medical Center, I-5, the intersection with I-90, Lake Washington, Bellevue, Mercer Island and finally, the Cascades way off in the distance.

Vancouver from Granville Island

Wow, it's been a long, long, long time since I've posted anything. Nearly exactly a year since my last post. In any case, last year, we went to visit Martha's brother in Vancouver and coincidentally, it was one year minus 1 day that we went again. This time, I took a picture of what I suppose is southern Vancouver from Granville Island.

Vancouver Kite Surfing

Went to visit Martha's brother Roberto that lives in Vancouver. After visiting her brother in UBC, we stopped at a beach to walk around and got this view of water kite surfers (is that what it's called?) and downtown in the background.

Kite surfers in the Burrard Inlet.

Seattle Panoramic

The Seattle skyline from the Amazon building to the Space Needle. Taken from Alkai beach in West Seattle. Please click to enlarge.

Lenin in Seattle

A few months ago I was in the Freemont area of Seattle for the Red Bull Soap Box derby. After the derby and walking around the neighborhood, I was surprised to see this tall statue of Lenin right smack in the middle of a US city. I took a picture and forgot about it. So as Martha and I walked around Freemont today, I shot another picture. If you are wondering why and how this sculpture made it's way to Seattle, you can find out more about it in Wikipedia.

Fire Escape

The side of a building in downtown Seattle.

Drive Carefully

A funny sign somewhere in the Seattle waterfront.

Year of the Rat

February 7th was Chinese New Year. But part of the celebrations were done today. My beautiful wife Martha and I went to Chinatown to see as a Lion dance group went around evicting evil spirits and bringing in the New Year.

Pair of Lions dancing in front of a business

City Fish Market

Ah... Good old Pike's Market. I know, I know, another picture of a place I've taken several pictures of, but it's been a while since all the neon lights work. See this location in Live Maps.

ISO 500 | 26 mm | f/4.0 | 1/60 sec

The Crapster

Today was the Red Bull soapbox race in Seattle. I've never seen a soapbox derby before, so this was fun. There were many funny looking cars, but this one was my favorite of them all.

Racing down Freemont Avenue

Afternoon Shadows

Chairs at the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle.

ISO 400 | 20 mm | f/10 | 1/400 sec

Kite Fest

This weekend was the Seattle Kite Fest. It was held at Magnusson Park just north of Seattle with a nice view of Lake Washington. Frankly, I was very disappointed. I was expecting to see dozens of cool kites crowding the sky, but there were hardly any. Most were plain hand made rectangular kites. It seems that the event is mostly for kids, but I would have expected at least some cool kites. This dragon was just about the only neat one in the sky. See this location in Live Maps.

Dragons do exist

City View

A partial view of Seattle from Victor Steinbrueck Park next to Pike's Market.

ISO 200 | 55 mm | f/4.0 | 1/800 sec

Lamp Post

A view out of a New Orleans style restaurant in Pioneer Square, Seattle. The food lacked authentic flavor, but the live music was excellent.

ISO 250 | 28 mm | f/4.2 | 1/3 sec

Child's View

Life can be so much simpler as a child. Every once in a while, we should remember what this feels like.

ISO 250 | 18 mm | f/11.0 | 1/500 sec

Seattle View

Today we took the ferry across the Puget Sound and over to Bainbridge Island. After lunch, we rented a canoe and paddled around for a couple of hours. For fear of falling into the water, I didn't take my camera with me. I wish I would have, but better safe than sorry. This picture is a partial view of the Seattle skyline as we are about to arrive at the docks. Originally, it was a nice and sunny day, but as you can see from this picture, it got cloudy and rainy.

ISO 250 | 18 mm | f/4.0 | 1/60 sec

I took this second one in a small nicknack store on Bainbridge Island.

ISO 400 | 55 mm | f/5.6 | 1/13 sec

A Busy Day

Today turned out to be a pretty nice day. We first went to Ballard to see a band my brother Roberto likes play at a record store. They are currently on tour and they were going to go down to Mexico City, but they got canceled. When he saw that they were playing here in Seattle he go pretty psyched about getting to see them up close and personal.

After their small concert at the record store, we drove down to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks that separate the Puget Sound from Lake Washington. While we were there, we only saw the small lock in use. I've never seen a lock in person before, so it was neat to sit there and watch the boats rise and fall as they lifted or lowered them. See this location on Live Maps.

ISO 400 | 18 mm | f/11 | 1/500 sec

These neat wave looking statues are on the south side of the locks in Commodore Park.

ISO 400 | 18 mm | f/9.0 | 1/320 sec

ISO 100 |55 mm | f/8.0 | 1/100 sec

After dinner at an Indian restaurant, we drove the short distance to Discovery Park to watch the last minutes of the sunset behind the Olympic Mountains.

ISO 250 | 55 mm | f/5.6 | 1/100 sec

Busy Sidewalk

A busy Saturn afternoon in downtown Seattle.

ISO 500 | 200 mm | f/5.6 | 1/200 sec

Seattle Cheese Festival

This weekend is the Seattle Cheese Festival. I didn't know about it until my sister and I went to Pike's Market for the heck of it. There were so many people that it was hard to get any decent pictures. Most cheeses were great, but there were a few who's flavor and consistency were quite distasteful. See the entire collection of pictures in my Picasa photo album.

ISO 200 | 30 mm | f/4.5 | 1/80 sec

ISO 200 | 18 mm | f/5.6 | 1/125 sec

You can't have a cheese festival without wine. Featuring wines from Washington, there were also a few from Oregon, France, Spain and Italy.

ISO 200 | 55 mm | f/5.6 | 1/30 sec

Hanging Around

So you thought that only fruit grew on trees? Well, this tree seems to grow shoes, some are very ripe... Now if I could only find one that grows money. But seriously, I came across this tree after church today. It's in front of a fraternity near the University of Washington.

See this location in Live Maps.

ISO 110 | 55 mm | f/5.6 | 1/125 sec

These additional pictures are from a few flower beds around the area.

ISO 100 | 55 mm | f/5.6 | 1/125 sec

ISO 100 | 55 mm | f/6.3 | 1/160 sec

ISO 200 | 55 mm | f/5.6 | 1/100 sec