Spring in Seattle: Details & Miscellany

The Posts:

Around Ballard - May 14
Sunset at Sunset Park

Not-Shopping in Seattle - May 15
The View from Phinney Ridge

West Seattle via Water Taxi - May 16
Space Needle

Celebrating Syttende Mai in Ballard - May 17

Azaleas (and Rhododendrons too) - May 18


A few rather random notes:

Very soon you will be able to get downtown from the airport via light rail. Soon, but not yet.

The forecast for the week I was there was 65 and rainy. Instead it was 80 and sunny most of the time. Seattle weather is like that.

Web sites on the Ballard neighborhood:

• InBallard includes dining and shopping opportunities;
• My Ballard has daily updates on what's happening in the neighborhood; and
• The Ballard News Tribune carries news stories and other information about the neighborhood

Seattle.gov has walking tours for various neighborhoods, including Ballard.

The Syttende Mai celebration is always on the 17th, no matter what day of the week it is.

Water Taxi service is cheap ($3 each way) and fun. It departs from the downtown waterfront .

Azaleas (and Rhododendrons too)

Previous Post: Celebrating Syttende Mai

It's spring and I want to see azaleas and rhododendrons - flowers which grow in profusion out here. Our search takes us to the Washington Park Arboretum, which is absolutely perfect today.

Celebrating Syttende Mai in Ballard

Previous post: Space Needle

Ballard was once a booming fishing village with a large Scandinavian population. While few residents today make their living from the sea, there is still great pride in their Nordic past. This is particularly true today, Norwegian Constitution Day.

The big event for the day is the parade. The streets are filled with people – including many women in elaborate traditional dress or bunad (first page in list featuring pictures of traditional Norwegian costumes, descriptions in Norwegian). It seems like half the woman in Ballard own one of these gorgeous outfits. (I’m so jealous, although I’m sure in today’s 80 degree heat, they are probably a bit warm.)

While the parade itself consists of the usual musicians, beauty queens, jugglers, and unicyclists (along with a few Vikings and trolls), it is dominated by these elegant ladies of all ages.

Fun!

Next post: Azaleas (and rhododendrons too)