Flat Food Dragon in Seattle, Washington
/Otters,
This is Mimi and Poppy, Claire's grandparents, writing from Seattle. Flat Food Dragon visited us last Saturday morning.
Seattle is a large city located about 4 hours drive north via interstate highway from Forest Grove. It is Washington State's largest metropolis, though it is not the state capitol [Olympia is]. Seattle had a population of 737,000 at the end of 2020. That's almost three-quarters-of-a-million people! In 2010, we numbered about 610,000 residents! A lot of growth happened in 10 years!
What would Flat Food Dragon tell you about Seattle in his short morning visit? He'd say:
First, there's lots and lots of water in and around Seattle. There's Puget Sound to the west and Lake Washington to the east and Lake Union in between. The map below illustrates how the Locks move boats and fish from the salt water of Puget Sound to the freshwater of Lake Washington. The photos below show both Lake Union and Lake Washington. And somewhere north of downtown Seattle there's Green Lake, 3 miles in circumference, where runners/walkers/cyclists are everywhere.
Second, with all this water, Seattle has many, many, many boats of all types. Below are some photos taken in and around Golden Gardens Park on Puget Sound. They show the Sound itself, the many boats in the marina, and, from a higher vantage point, both the marina and the far-away Olympic Mountains to the west.
Third, you can see nearby mountains from different high locations in Seattle. Above Golden Gardens is a tiny park overlooking a marina. In the far distance, facing west, you can see the Olympic Mountains, if you look closely at the pictures I sent.
Fourth, it rains here frequently, just like in Forest Grove.
Fifth, there are many tourist attractions in Seattle. For example, I LOVED the Pike Place Market in the downtown area. It has many small shops and restaurants, fish markets, outdoor vegetable stands, Hmong flower stands [I'll let Ms. Aja explain who the Hmong are] and the ORIGINAL Starbucks. It is always crowded, usually with local residents as well as tourists.
I also loved The Locks [the full name is Hiram M. Chittenden Locks]. It is a ship canal and dam - as well as a fish ladder for salmon. I've included a number of pictures of the Locks and I hope you enjoy them. The photos show many aspects of The Locks - the canal, the dam and the turbulent waters it regulates, the salmon ladders and spillways that allow the salmon to move from the saltwater of Puget Sound to the freshwater of Lake Washington. There's also a grainy photo of the stages of development of salmon eggs into fish. Inside the Locks gift store you'll see a board showing, among other things, the number of salmon [for Sockeye, Chinook, and Coho] passing through 2022 - IN THE THOUSANDS!!!!! There's also an explanation of the on-going impact on fishing and the Locks on native tribes and their treaty rights [see the "Indian Fishing Rights" picture].
Our last set of pictures was taken at Swanson's, a long-time nursery houseed north of Ballard, a section of Seattle that used to be home to city residents, many of whom were Scandinavian, who worked in the fishing industry. Swanson's celebrates the holiday season in festive ways - and Flat Food Dragon and Mimi wanted to share those pictures with you, including of the fish in the pool.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, OTTERS!!!!!!
From Mimi, Poppy, and Flat Food Dragon