Pike Place, Seattle
Friday, 7/20
My brother in law Dave and his wonderful fiancé Jessica have
the distinct pleasure of living in Seattle, and we occasionally have the even
more distinct pleasure to leave the humid flatlands of Houston behind and visit
them there. In advance of their upcoming nuptials, Dave and Jess asked their
friends to come northwest for a weekend of bachelor/bachelorette activities.
Kate and I decided to supersize the combo, and tacked on a couple days in Mount
Rainier National Park.
Rainier above the clouds
After meeting family and friends at the airport after we
arrived, we all sauntered down to the waterfront near Pike Place for dinner[i].
We’ve been to the markets at Pike Place before, but it’s always fun to wander
through the hectic maze of stalls and tourists. No one was slinging fish by the
time we got there, but we did stop and admire their pigs[ii].
I also stopped to admire their pedestrian intersections...instead of the usual
confined walkways, there was at least one pedestrian square, in which you could
start at any corner, and progress to any other point on the square while
traffic waited patiently. This lead to a conspicuous amount of purposeful
directionlessness in crossing intersections, just because we could[iii].
Riding the Pig, Pike
Place Market, Lower Floor!
We ambled through down to the waterfront, to “The Crab Pot”,
located on a wharf over Puget Sound. Dinner was a heaping bucket/pile of
seafood boil (“The Seafest!”) dumped ceremoniously on our table, communal
style. It was just short of perfect. Of all the fantastic nicer restaurants
we’ve been to in Seattle, I think it’s hard to beat digging into a mass of crab
legs, mussels, etc with a frosty mug of beer in one hand and a fork in the
other[iv]
while the sun sets over the mountains across the Sound. As bellies filled and
light waned, we headed back to their Capitol Hill neighborhood[v]
for a drink at the local bar before turning in.
Dinner at the Crap Pot, The
Crab Pot, Seafest!, Crab Pot Vista, Work that Steel, Capitol Hill, The
Bottleneck Lounge
Notes:
[i]
Actually, while there was sauntering involved, there was also the use of
Seattle’s public transportation system, which is one of the most useful and
multi-facted I’ve encountered. It’s
serious stuff there…with the potential exception of the unfortunately named
South Lake Union Trolley. Does no one do acronym checks? I mean, seriously? The
potential for innuendo there (ride the…get on the….etc) is pretty staggering.
[ii]
In the grand tradition of American tourism, despite having no idea what the pig
statues were about, I took a picture of them anyway because we have failed as a
nation if we do not photodocument every last potentially important thing we
come across. If we enjoy things in any other way than from behind a lens, the
terrorists win.
[iii]
Sometimes bordering on “willy-nilly”.
[iv]
Rounding out the meal was a fantastic bowl of salmon chowder and a couple
passed-around desserts.
[v]
Which is one of the cooler urban neighborhoods I’ve walked through. I have a
hard time explaining to some other people in my profession why I think some
urban planning aesthetics are unnatural, or unrealistic. SO much of it comes
from an inorganic, 30,000 foot view of immaculate architects drawings. It
missed the organic reality of city life, and sometimes, unfortunately, borders
on elitism when what is “desirable” is a reflection of only a certain point of
view. I’m all in favor of denser urban area focused on walkability, etc. I just
think some of the ways we go about trying to achieve those things are
artificial at best. However, I often have trouble explaining what my ideal
is.The Capitol Hill neighborhoods in that area are pretty damn close to being
the summation of what I try to formulate into words, even recognizing,
well, it ain’t a cheap place to live. It
feels organic…houses are not uniform, there are gardens everywhere, streets
feel like small town streets, there are lots of thriving little local shops,
public transport is everywhere without being intrusive…just a really nice
place, while still maintaining reasonable density for an urban area. Are you
listening New Urbanists? Get thee to Capitol Hill.
No comments:
Post a Comment