Seattle

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I'm in Seattle for four days for the American Society for Environmental History (ASEH) conference. I put together a panel entitled How Green is Green? Complications in the Eco-Friendly Narrative, and I'm presenting a paper based on some of my dissertation research. I was really excited about the conference because it would be my first time to talk about my research and Steve was going to join me. We were going to make a vacation out of it. Unfortunately, the whole job thing happened. Now, not only is Seattle a solo trip for me, but Steve leaves for Puerto Rico on the day I travel home. So the conference isn't quite as I hoped or expected, but I'm still happy to be sharing my work.

Today the presentations only ran for half a day. A big thing about the ASEH is the field trips organized for Friday afternoon during a conference. I opted to explore a bit on my own, instead. I took a stroll down to the waterfront and lucked into an hour-long harbor cruise. It was an absolutely exquisite day today, and I'm glad I spent a part of it on the water.

Here are some of the many pics I snapped.

 I started off at Pike Place Market, but it was heaving with people. And to be honest, I just wanted to see the water. I have a full day of exploring on Sunday. I can check out the market then. I made my way down to the waterfront. Shortly after I snapped this, I stumbled upon the harbor tour place, found out a cruise was leaving within just a few minutes, and bought a ticket.

 Is a shot from the other end of that waterway.

You get three rotations of the wheel, which takes about 15 minutes. Or, you can pay three times the price and ride in the special VIP car. Riding in the special black car gives you six rotations, a glass floor, and a bottle of champagne. Not sure how I'd cope with the glass floor.

 Apparently, Seattle doesn't see Mt. Rainier very often. The mountain is in view about 90 days a year. The tour guide kept calling the mountain "she." That seemed weird to me. I guess because when I think of the name Rainier, I think of Prince Rainier of Monaco.


 I remain gobsmacked by mountains. It's almost bizarre to me to look out over the water and see mountains. To think folks in Seattle see these all the time! I believe these were the Olympic Mountain range. Apparently, it's the smallest range around these parts. 



 The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair. The architect believed that this style of building would dominate the Seattle skyline by the 21st century. Guess he was wrong. Perhaps one reason why it didn't catch on is it only has three usable floors. 

 Another shot of Rainier. What can I say? I'm obsessed. :-)

 A big grain ship. It seems a bit silly to have this in Seattle. The guide was saying the grain can't get wet, so the loading stops whenever it rains. Granted, I've seen nothing but clear skies since I got here, but isn't Seattle known for its rain?

 I'm going to wager that rich people live here.

Yup. Rainier yet again. 

That's it for now. I'll have more pics from the harbor tour in the next blog.



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