SO MUCH TO SEE IN SEATTLE

 

Today was a bright and sunny day...the first since I arrived in Seattle...just perfect for being outside. Seattle is a city of hills, a harbour and lakes, at the bottom of magnificent Mt. Rainier and bordered on 2 sides by mountain ranges...evidently....so far it has been too cloudy to really see much of them! The roads are like San Francisco, up and down and down and up....always catching a glimpse of the view from the top before diving down again and popping up somewhere else. The houses are all built on hills, much like in Sydney, and the gardens remind me of Melbourne....full of plants that thrive in cool, moist places....as well as avenues of beautiful trees, some full of autumn colour, others the different greens of pines and spruces. The dozens of P-Patches are often on top of hills and command glorious views of the city, the sea and/or the surroundings. There are markets full of local produce to be found somewhere in Seattle every day of the week and it seems to me that people here have grabbed hold of the local and are taking it very seriously indeed. If I were to want to live in the USA, I would definitely consider Seattle..... because they do have pretty good coffee, on the whole!

 

I have been eating summer fruit for days....nectarines in particular!

Melinda and I went for a lovely walk along a new trail by the sea and caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainier, looming up beyond the cranes in the harbour..... bottom right in the grid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the exit gate from the University District Farmers Market this morning there was a chef from a well-known restaurant sitting in a booth ready to answer questions on how to cook the produce you had just purchased and another ready to answer questions on growing food for yourself. I thought these were great initiatives.

There was a rainwater tank system at the University District market that was very creative. Just follow the pipe down from the gutter. left to right....

From a 3rd storey roof...down across the top of a fence to the tanks...

..then the overflow goes out via a tin rubbish bin to a series of metal mixing bowls......

...then onto a rocky outcrop and down into a drain under the surface.....

 

Thankyou so much for showing me Seattle, Melinda, it has been a wonderful few days with you and Matt.

There are more photos here.

Check out what Melinda has to say too in her post today.

Tomorrow.....Vancouver!