Category Archives: Uncategorized

3 Seattle Blocks, 3 Happy Hours

1 Reply

Today I’m happy to have a guest post from Haley Shapley who blogs at Girl About the World. Here’s what she has to say about happy hours in Seattle:

They say there’s a Starbucks on every block in Seattle, and, well, that’s pretty much true. But a jolt of java isn’t the only beverage you’ll find on every corner — if you’re looking for drinks of a stronger kind or just reasonably priced food (or both), downtown Seattle offers a veritable smorgasbord of happy hours.

The options just along 1st Avenue are boundless. An easy walk from the ferry and not far from the train station, these three picks in a three-block radius will hit the happy hour spot:

McCormick & Schmick’s

McCormick & Schmick’s

1st and Spring

Renowned for their happy hour prices, this seafood-serving staple offers up ample selection. The menu rotates regularly; right now, you can get garlic bread or nachos for $1.95, the famed half-pound cheeseburger for just $2.95, smoke salmon and chili verde sliders for $3.95, and thin crust pizza and mussels for $4.95, among other choices. Drinks include a $3.95 Coors Light Pilsner, $5.95 red or white wine, and $6.95 fruity cocktails. The service here is consistently strong, and the price/quality ratio with the food can’t be beat.

Happy Hour food at Boka

Boka Kitchen + Bar

1st and Madison

Tucked into the sleek Hotel 1000, this equally fashionable dining venue wins raves for its truffle fries, which are, in a word, addictive. Equally compelling for the carnivores in the room is the $9 Boka Burger, stacked with Beecher’s cheddar cheese, house-made pickles, onion jam, and a side of those delicious fries. All the plates are $3, $6, or $9, and they have a large array of signature cocktails at a discount ($6 to $9). The Red Carpet, with Ciroc Red Berry, black currant puree, house grenadine, and a lime splash, is especially refreshing.

Contour

 

Contour

1st and Marion/Columbia

A dance club by night, happy hour hot spot by early evening, Contour has one of the widest selections of happy hour choices in the downtown area, with more than 20 dishes to decide among. Indulge in tomato honey basil soup for $2, Mediterranean chicken skewers for $3, Northwest oyster stew for $4, or Gruyere macaroni and cheese for $5. But what really sets Contour apart is its hours — happy hour runs until 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 9 p.m. on Fridays, so you can enjoy the discounted dishes much longer than elsewhere.

Washington State Tourism Shutting Down

1 Reply

I don’t often go all political, but the fact that our governor, in her infinite wisdom, has decided to eliminate our State Tourism Department to help save money on her budget really frosts me. As of June 30, 2011, the department will be history. Tourism in this state brings in $14.2 billion each year. The group is making money for us, so why let them go?

The governor also decided that she should suspend the $2 million that is given annual to fund 70 different county, community and youth fairs. Then cut that amount to $500,000 for the next two years. How that is going to help balance a multibillion dollar shortfall, I’ll never know.

It looks to me like our governor doesn’t want people to have any fun. But she has the money to make her own fun because she is the tenth highest paid governor in the United States.

As our local talk radio hosts say repeatedly, “Our state doesn’t have a funding problem, it has a spending problem.”

On that we are all in agreement.

A group called the Washington Tourism Alliance has been formed to try and take over where our tourism department leaves off. I really hope they can, but the people who I’ve talked to in the travel industry seem doubtful.

What craziness has your state government done lately?

Posting Everyday in May – A Big Challenge

1 Reply

Today I’m starting participation in a Blogathon, which means I’ve been challenged to post every day for the month of May. I’m doing this for many reasons – to post more regularly, to learn about blogging, to meet other bloggers and to gain new readers. I have one guest poster scheduled and hope to get more, on Fridays I’m going with a list theme (for example, my favorite farmers’ markets in Washington) and there will be various other themes fit in.

To write a post everyday will be difficult, that’s a given. But you can help me out. If you read something you like or find interesting, please share it with your Facebook friends and your Twitter followers or whatever social media group you engage in. Thank you very much.

Taking a Waterways Cruise    

Today’s post is about the Easter brunch cruise we thoroughly enjoyed. This one is a bit different than the Argosy Cruises that depart from the waterfront in downtown Seattle.

They are called Waterways Cruises and either tour Lake Washington or Lake Union. The boats are smaller yachts. Waterways offers a wide variety of cruises from lunches to brunches to sunset dinners and from skirting the shores of Lake Washington so you can see where some of our resident billionaires, like Bill Gates, live, to exploring the houseboat communities on Lake Union (think, “Sleepless in Seattle”).

Even though we had “silver” clouds the day we boarded the “Olympic Star, the view from the water was still gorgeous and so very different from what you can see from the roads. The waterfront side of most of the homes is their claim to fame, and their most picturesque angle. It is what you would find in a home and garden magazine.

The food was very tasty – especially Chef Udo’s Smokey Thick Cut Bacon, the Poached Eggs on Brioche and the Banana Coffee Cake. When you pair the brunch with a Mimosa, you experience a taste of paradise.

My husband kept commenting, “This would be a great activity to share with out of town visitors.”     

Captain Ron and I after the brunch cruise

Since boat rides place very high on my list of “favorite things,” I plan to take another, Waterways narrated tour to learn more about the homes of the rich and famous or maybe play Bingo or hear the history of Seattle. The choices are endless.

Community Garden Summit: Tacoma Rocks

Leave a reply

Last Saturday I attended the 2nd Annual Community Garden Summit, not knowing what to expect, because I missed the first one. The event made me even prouder to be a Tacomaite than I already was.

First it was totally free – from the workshops to lunch to the vegetable starts we were given at the end of the day. We were welcomed by our mayor, Marilyn Strickland, who told us that the number of community gardens (sometimes called pea patches) per capita in Tacoma has now surpassed those in Seattle.

We had a vast array of workshops to choose from during the day, such as composting, edible flowers, vermiculture, trellising, planting a food bank garden and much more. I chose to attend square foot gardening, container gardening and polycultures and perennial plantings.

The information on polycultures that Kelda Miller of Sustainable Tacoma Pierce gave out sounded really good to me, so I’m going to try it in my raised bed. Basically what polycultures means is that you grow plants together that complement each other in growth habit, nutrient uptake and water harvesting so that they actually care for each other. I’m going to try the four-season polyculture.

 

We actually planted a garden like this at the event so I got hands-on experience. Other vegetables and flowers can be used, but this is what I’ve chosen to plant. First you broadcast radish seeds in your bed, then daisy seeds which become beneficial insect attractors, next comes bush bean seeds for a nitrogen fix and last is carrot seeds for the carrot roots. Then you cover the whole mix of seeds with soil.

The idea is that all the seeds germinate at different times and grow at different rates, so you have constant crops through the fall. I’ll let you know how it works. It sounds quite easy, but I’m a very novice gardener.

 

Tip:  I just heard about a new web site today that is a luxury lifestyle magazine for Seattle. The publication is Seattleite. You might enjoy it – I know I did.

Sure Signs of Spring

3 Replies

Daffodil Princesses

The weather isn’t always the best indicator of spring in the Pacific Northwest. So I have my own personal signs that the season has begun. The first is when I see a pair of tennis shoes strung of the overhead wires – I wish I could see the teens while they attempt this fete. Second, is the smell of backyard barbecuing and my third tell is the start of neighborhood parades. Parade season, if you will, has officially launched.

Yesterday we watched the Daffodil Parade as more than 100 entries walked, marched, danced and played musical instruments along the parade route on Main Street in Sumner.                             

Kita and Elias taking in the parade

This parade is the only one in the country that travels to four different cities on the same day. First, the parade travels along Pacific Avenue in Tacoma, then it moves to Puyallup, from there to Sumner and the last leg is in Orting.

Clowns, pirates, horses, cars, bagpipers, marching bands and buses filled the streets of the different Pierce County communities to the delight of children of all ages. Parade entries came from as far as Penticton, British Columbia and Astoria, Oregon. Of course, as the name indicates, the floats were adorned with bright yellow daffodils and daffodils were passed out to the parade goers. The festival atmosphere almost has to make you smile. 

A friendly Seafair pirate

Upcoming parades in 2011 include:
May 7: Washington State Apple Blossom in Wenatchee
May 21: Rhododendron Festival in Port Townsend
May 28: Ski to Sea in Bellingham
June 4: Farmer’s Day in Lynden
June 18: Berry Dairy Days in Burlington

July 4: Independence Day celebration parades in Blaine, Everett, Sedro Woolley and Tumwater
July 16: Capital Lakefair Twilight in Olympia

Does your community have a unique parade? I would love to hear about it.

Tsunami in Japan, a Wake-up Call

2 Replies

Signs like these mark the evacuation to higher ground in Washington's coastal communities.

Washington doesn’t usually have extreme weather like tornadoes or hurricanes, but settles for a milder, more rainy climate instead. However, our coast was under a tsunami advisory after Japan’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami last week. We escaped without damage this time, but southern Oregon wasn’t so lucky. Brookings, Oregon, sustained several million dollars in damage.

We have “tsunami evacuation route” signs, in our coastal communities like Aberdeen, Hoquiam, Long Beach, Ilwaco and Ocean Shores, for a reason. They weren’t erected just to give a sign maker more business. The danger to us is real.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone, one of the largest active faults in North America, runs parallel to the Washington Coast – 32-70 miles offshore. Researchers say it will cause a giant earthquake and a tsunami. The question is when. No one knows the answer.                      

Sea Lions rest on a buoy in calm Puget Sound waters.

A tsunami can occur at anytime of the day or night and under any weather conditions. Being prepared can only help. Having an emergency kit handy, that you can grab if you have to evacuate, saves time and decreases some of your stress. For ideas on planning for an emergency and building a kit, visit:  http://www.govlink.org/3days3ways/

When warned that a tsunami is coming, please:

  • Head for higher ground
  • Don’t go to the beach to watch it come in
  • Save yourself – not your possessions

 

Congratulations to Mary Nida Smith who won a copy of the book “A Cowgirl Remembers When…”

The Tacoma Waterfront Beckons

1 Reply

Tacoma waterfront from Ruston Way

Yesterday we got a break from the grayness and a tiny taste of spring. Boy was it ever yummy – kind of like a big dollop of plain hot fudge or a juicy Dungeness crab leg. We grabbed the chance to take advantage of the sun shining down on us Tacomans and walked the waterfront along Ruston Way. Mother Nature made a mighty beautiful landscape there and others have helped it along with parks, sidewalks, restaurants and a hotel.

The Silver Cloud Inn, the hotel at one end of the popular walk, offers 90 waterfront rooms. Talk about a perfect place for a Staycation. Rooms come with breakfast, high-speed internet and complimentary parking. No more than three miles from most of Tacoma’s attractions, the Inn is definitely centrally located. But you wouldn’t have to leave the waterfront if you didn’t want to.

Silver Cloud Inn

If you’re not able to spend the night on the waterfront, at least eat. Restaurants about along Ruston Way and there’s not a bad one in the bunch. The Lobster Shop, Duke’s, Katy Downs, The Ram, Shenanigan’s and Harbor Lights all serve lunch or dinner or both.

If you’re walking along the waterfront with a dog or two, you’ll fit right in. Joggers, roller bladders and bicyclists also share the path with pedestrians.

The weather didn’t last, but the sunlit waters of yesterday still shine vividly in my memory. Hopefully, I won’t have to wait long for another sunny day and a walk along the shore of Commencement Bay.

C.I. Shenanigans on Ruston Way.

W. W. Seymour Conservatory Saved the Day

1 Reply

In an attempt to recover from the perpetual grayness that seems to have enveloped Western Washington for the past few months, I visited a garden in Tacoma – the W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory in Wright Park in downtown Tacoma to be exact.

It worked. The beautiful, bountiful colors and textures of the flowers blooming in this indoor fantasy served to boost my mood dramatically. Surrounded by the yellows, oranges, apricot shades, pinks and magentas amidst lots of lush greenery, I wanted to stay all day and continue to drink it all in.

 

More than 200 species of exotic tropical plants make their home at the Conservatory, including the bird of paradise, ornamental figs, tropical fruit trees, orchids, ferns and bromeliads. Azaleas, Easter lilies, hydrangeas, begonias, tulips, cyclamen and chrysanthemums make the perfect backdrop for photo opps. or just for personal enjoyment. You, too, can escape into this soothing, fragrant exhibit any day, but Monday, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and it’s totally free, although the suggested donation is $5. We do want to keep it going.

The Conservatory and nearby Gazebo can be rented for small weddings or other events.

On the second Sunday of each month, you’ll be treated to live music – so not only will the experience be a treat for your eyes and nose, but also your ears.

 

You may not be alone when you go because the readers of the Tacoma Weekly voted the Conservatory ad the “best place to relax.”

For more information, visit www.metroparkstacoma.org and click on “Parks & Facilities.”