A History of Seth: TR5 Part II

The fourth and final installment of my blogging about my most recent business trip begins with this picture of some of the many cranes around the harbor of Seattle. I like this picture because it has the moon in it and the mountain in the background. The cranes are nice too.

Here's a closer look at the mountain. Using Google Earth, I've determined that this mountain is in the direction of Mt. Rainier. I have no idea if that is it or not. I looked for it later and didn't see it. How weird is that.

Here's another thing you can see in the harbor.

My camera was struggling with the low light. They certainly were putting a lot of water into the air.

Light's gone. The info on this picture says it was taken at 1:22 a.m. I wouldn't put it past me to be out that late wandering around, but I think I took this picture earlier and just hadn't set my camera back to Pacific time. I'm not sure what the people thought who saw me leaning up against a light post trying to steady my camera to get a clearer picture, especially if they didn't see the camera in my hand.

I diverted briefly from Seattle to the town of Springfield!

I didn't see an ATM.

The Kwik-E-Mart!

Mmm . . . forbidden donut . . . . That used to be my Windows Startup event sound, so my computer said that every time I booted it up.

Here's Homer. This isn't the encounter with the famous person you might remember me mentioning in the third installment. Or, you're reading this backwards and have no idea what I am talking about, but will shortly find out.

I didn't buy anything in the Kwik-E-Mart that night, but I am sure I would have enjoyed a Squishee.

Those who know me know if I did drink Buzz Cola, it would be from a giant mug. There is a tribute page I'm planning for my Fizzonator, which had to retire due to injury. I am not sure when I will be able to get to that. Soon, maybe.

I have a friend with this name, so I took this picture for her.

I also have a friend with this name, so I took this picture for her.

If you've got a really good memory, and you're not reading these in reverse, then you'll remember that I ate at the Oceanaire in Orlando. This is the Oceanaire in Seattle. I don't know how many there are, but I know there are two at least. The one nice dinner I had in Seattle was at Elliott's, though. I did not have time enough to get to another nice dinner while I was in Seattle. Maybe next time!

OK, so now we are technically to the point where I said the fourth installment would begin, with me killing time until I can catch my red-eye flight out of Seattle. They were having a parade the day I was leaving. I don't think that was the cause for the parade, but then again, I never did see the parade before I left to go to the airport.

I've seen pictures like this elsewhere, but I can't remember where. So I decided to take one to add to them.

See? Cranes, but no mountain. I decided to go for a closer look at these cranes.

Here's a closer look.

This is a picture of the dock where they unload the containers. And, I suppose, load them up as well.

Here's a picture of the Hanjin office building. I was starting to wonder how long I could hang around taking pictures before somebody came up to me and starting asking me questions or told me to leave. But I didn't have much time, because I had to walk back in time to get to my cruise.

This is not my cruise ship.

This is not my cruise ship, either. I actually had to hustle to make it on board, so I kind of forgot to take a picture of the boat that I was on. The name on the side of this boat says Norwegian Star. I suppose there is only one, and if that is true, this is it.

This was the name of the company which ran the cruise I went on. I think the name of the boat I was on was Goodtimes III, but don't quote me on that.

I don't have a picture of the boat, but this is the view from the boat after it just pushed away from the dock.

Not surprisingly, there were lots of marinas. I took a two-hour cruise through a canal that connects Lake Washington to Puget Sound. Lake Union is somewhere in there, too. Among the claims to fame of this stretch of waterway is that the floating house used for exterior shots in the movie Sleepless in Seattle floats in it. If you were hoping for a picture, I have bad news: I am a guy. I didn't see the movie. I have no interest in the house.

This was the first bridge I saw. There are lots of bridges on this cruise. Or at least it seemed that way. You have a good variety, anyway. If you like bridges, you are in luck.

Or tugboats.

Our tour guide said this company had the best-maitained tugboats in the area. They certainly looked clean and well-maintained. Good enough for a couple pictures, I thought!

This boat, on the other hand, was looking pretty rough. It was still floating, though, so that's a plus.

I passed under the Ballard Bridge also. Apparently, the residents of Ballard have some strange quirks. The canal was as close as I got though.

We got to see the Ballard bridge raised. The Ballard bridge is, I believe, a Bascule drawbridge. I could be wrong though. The bridge wasn't raising for the ship in the picture, and it wasn't raising for the ship I was on. What was it raising for?

Kisses, that's what. Kisses is a huge yacht, owned by a billionaire, who doesn't like to advertise he owns a huge yacht. This is one of the largest private yachts in North America. It was a big boat. I think this is what I would do if I had a billion dollars. Or at least one thing. Identifying the real owner was suprisingly difficult, but apparently it is Jim Pattison, a billionaire Canadian. He was, according to an article I found on the Internet, hosting another billionaire, TV host Oprah. So this was my second celebrity encounter. Maybe. I don't know when she got on the boat. I just know she got off of it in Alert Bay a week after I saw it, at least according to the article. The yacht is kind of a celebrity on its own, even if Oprah wasn't on it when I saw it. Maybe she went to Ballard first.

This is the visitor center at the Hiram M. Chittenden locks, which we had to pass through to get to the sound. The locks are run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Like I said, plenty of bridges. I believe this is a cantilever, vertical-lift drawbridge. This was down. Usually these bridges are up and only get put down when something has to cross.

More evidence that I was not on that Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise ship. Here it is setting out to somewhere. What looks like a fuzzy top on the ship is actually people standing on the decks as it sails away. You can tell it was getting a little overcast when I was taking these pictures.