Day 18: Seattle

It was a frustrating and exhausting day. Tons of traffic -- worst than L.A. or anywhere than I can think of. Getting across town is tricky with Aurora and I-5 creating all kinds of dead ends. One way streets. I hadn't expected any of it since usually Sunday is a good day to city downtown areas. Usually they are ghost towns but it sure was hopping in Seattle. Something called Hempfest was also going on which I think compounded the volumes of cars and people. Anything near or around the Space Needle was a nightmare. I still have a short list of stuff to do downtown but hopefully the closed roads will be open.

I took the dogs to a dog park south of downtown, Dr. Jose Rizal park. It turned out to be pretty skanky. I didn't see any dogs -- just homeless people. There are homeless people all over Seattle unlike any place I've ever been. I had heard about Seattle's teen runaways -- so maybe they have just grown up? Most of them seemed to be middle-aged and many appeared under the influence of something. Vast parks in the city where they have taken up uninterruped residence. At the dog park, one woman was topless and using the dog fountain to bathe. But I threw Nik's ball for awhile and kept a close eye on Grem since the fencing seemed suspect. I think Fix and Grip were a little creeped out by the place, too. Yeah, great views of the City but... Here are some reviews which I hadn't read before going here:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/dr-jose-rizal-park-seattle

On with the photos! Here's a nice detail on the side of MOHAI (the Musuem of History and Industry):



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A strange little bit of sculpture in Fremont. I don't know if this corner with moonscape benches, a galactic sidewalk, and these orb-y things were affiliated with the Asteroid Cafe which is now gone. Are there any locals that can fill me in?



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I'm usually not a fan of "retro" (new stuff made to look old) but I really liked the signage at this vet's office:





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More strange artwork in Ballard -- anybody out there know more about it?



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Downtown, there was a jewelry store with this giant retro billboard. Note how the hand projects from the wall. I assume the ring sign is old and just updated a little.





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Some more stuff from downtown. A modern sign -- finally, a companion for all those classic 1950s diving women signs:



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This business is from 1890 -- and I'm pretty sure that's when this stained glass (or is it leaded glass?) was created. The bulb sign above looks pretty old as well.





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And lastly, certainly, way too old for the website but another incredible old Richardsonian style building: