Resolve

My New Year's Resolution has a lot to do with Seattle tourism. In fact, it IS Seattle Tourism (capital T).

Resolution 2010: Keep being a tourist in my own town.

To wit:
1. Take a photo, and publish it online, every day (but seven photos a week, on average, will do too).
2. Use transit/walk/bike whenever possible.
3. Go to more classic films at Central Cinema.
4. Go on the Underground Tour.
5. Ride the Ducks.
6. Take a tour of the UW. I'm a student there and all, but not on the actual campus.
7. Hit First Thursday as much as possible. And visit the museums quarterly.
8. Go on an organized bike ride or two. (And generally ride the bike more.)
9. Visit a farmers market at least once a month. Each month.
10. Explore Pike's Place to the max. At least once a month. 
[Bonus] 11. Add to this list as much as possible. (Suggestions welcome.)

We'll see if I can't get most of this taken care of in the next couple of months.

To Mercer Island (almost)

I'm in a coffee shop on Beacon Hill right now, enjoying a oh-so-healthy treat in the middle of my bike ride. I brought my computer because I'm much more productive when I'm not at home.

It's hard to work, though, since I'm so amped up with adrenaline: I rode across the I-90 floating bridge, and back. You'd think that because it's floating that it's flat, right? Wrong. You've gotta go up a hill to get back to land. Phew.

It's really noisy, since it's right along I-90. It's an interesting trip, though ... you're right by the water AND the traffic. Next time I think I'll ride around Mercer Island instead of turning around before I got to land (I had plans to make it to this coffee shop and going around Mercer Island would mean I would be too tired to make it up the hill to get here).

On the way back to Beacon Hill I came upon this sculpture, this time during an overcast day (last time the sun was blazing). 

It is 30 degrees cooler than it was last Wednesday. A perfect day to ride.

Ride around Seattle

And when I say around Seattle, I really mean around ... didn't go too far into the city core, since that's where all the hills are, after all. A good trip, though, and I got to see things I haven't seen before.

Three duck boats in Lake Union.

The very end of the Burke ... I've been to the other end too, but didn't catch the sign.

The beach and the Olympics at Golden Gardens park.

A long, narrow, rickety bike bridge above some railroad tracks.

Enough said?

I got tired so I didn't ride my bike all the way home (more hills!). Instead I took the light rail. Easy. Except for the getting-the-bike-hung-up part. That'll get better with time, I'm sure.

A map of my route:

Around at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail: Geotagging Community

Rumsey Seattle tour

I got to take the Rumseys on a tour of Seattle. Here's some of what we saw.

And we did some fun touring around Kitsap County too:

Trip over I-90

I took off on a 16-mile bike ride yesterday, with the intent to go from my house, OVER I-90 (I just found out you could do that), then up Beacon Hill and back down to home. It wasn't a terribly long ride, but it was hilly and H.O.T.

That shore in the background? That's my goal.

Standing above I-90. The westbound lanes were closed. Odd.

Sign that greets you as you enter Seattle. I got to see it close-up.

Exiting the bike tunnel that goes above the I-90 traffic.

One of the sidewalk embellishments. Vampires, anyone?

Biking right ON I-90, almost. Crazy.

A cool pagoda, and our very parched land.

Detail of the pagoda.

A Monopoly-themed art installation?

After that I was too tired/in too much traffic to take pictures. The rest of the trip involved a picnic, so it was good, just not picturesque, I guess!

Seattle welcomes summer

The Fremont Solstice Parade is famous. It's held in the "Center of the Universe ," but it's mostly famous for its naked bicyclists that mark the beginning of the parade. Naked minus creative body paint. If that counts.

It was jam-packed on the bus ride to get to Fremont. It was so busy in other parts of the city that a friend who was going to meet me there wasn't able to make it!

But first, do you remember this guy? I do. I doubt I will ever forget him, either.

Then the naked bicyclists. This is all I could find that was appropriate!

And here is an assortment of characters from the parade:

The hula-hooper in the middle of this picture was on my bus: 

Zombies! 

And the Flying Spaghetti Monster! 

And a giant ball that runs over kids!

Oh wait ... now it's running over the audience.

And there's no explanation for any of these floats. There are few rules for the parade, but one of them is: No written words. So, we're left to guess.

But this was my favorite float of all. And I have no clue what group it might have been for.

To recap

To recap:

Here are the things remaining on my "to-do" list. I've wiped out quite a bit!

• The Underground Tour
• Ride the Ducks
  
• First United Methodist Church
  
• Waterfall Gardens
  
• Lakeview Cemetery
  
• Lincoln Park
  
• Columbia Center (downtown)
  
• Maritime Pacific Brewing Company
  
• University of Washington (tour)
  
• Viretta Park
  
• The Center for Wooden Boats
  
• Gallery Mack
  
• Seattle Chinese Garden
  
• Gay Pride Week
  
• Discovery Park
  
• Golden Gardens Park
• The Children's Museum
  
• Ballard Fetherston Gallery
  
• Duque Salon
  
• Fisherman's Terminal (Queen Anne/Magnolia)
  
• Seattle Chamber Players
  
• St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church
  
• Private Eye on Seattle Mystery and Murder Tour
  
• Carkeek Park
  
• Temple de Hirsch Sinai
  
• Frye Art Museum
  
• William Traver Gallery
  
• Garde Rail Gallery
  
• St. Joseph's Parish

But there is still plenty to do.

Sounders 'til I die ...

Really, that's just part of the chant you sing when you're at a Sounders game, which I was last night. It was tons of fun, and each team scored three gooooooooals. It meant there was an anticlimactic tie at the end, but it was still a fantastic game.