Tag Archives: Bellevue

A Especially Lovely Day at Enatai Beach Park

14986119982_4f32d91867_kI went off today with dear husband to find the the Village of Beaux Arts because its such a cool name. The village has about 300 people and no commercial buildings. Since I’d rather not take photos of people’s houses, I only snapped the sign and then drove out of the tiny village to discover the lovely Enatai Beach Park, which is located in Bellevue. What a great park. It has a beach with people sunning (I was in a jacket!) and fishing off the dock. There were kayaks available to rent also. There was a lifeguard (also in a jacket) who told me that while there were no people swimming today, there often are when it gets warm. The park is practically under the I-90 Bridge, but I didn’t notice any traffic noise.

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Kelsey Creek Farm, Bellevue

13340504343_aa9c5da73e_bI’ve been wanting to visit Kelsey Creek Farms Park at 13204 SE 8th in Bellevue for a while, so on Saturday after dropping off dear daughter for her ride back to college I stopped by. There was a birthday party going on and plenty of children in the under five crowd. The 150 acre original site had been a forest and was developed as the Twin Valley Dairy Farm in the 1920s. Despite pressure from real estate developers, in the 1960s 80 acres of the property was sold to the City of Bellevue for use as a park. It receives over 200,000 visits a year. ThePark’s website is here.

The log cabin is the Frasier House, built in 1888 and moved to Kelsey Creek Farms Park in 1974.  It was built by two Norwegian woodsmen and lived in for a short time. Mostly it was used as storage. 

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Endless Celebration, Bellevue

ART bellevueEndless Celebration in front of Bellevue Place, Bellevue, WA is a fifty one foot cast bronze sculpture commissioned by Kemper Freeman Jr. and created by Gesso Cocteau. It was installed on  November 18, 2005. It is the tallest standing cast bronze sculpture in the United States. To see more of the artist’s work including additional photographs of Endless Celebration, go to her website.

Paper Source, Bellevue

11038019176_a3d1e4b2aa_bI was planning on spending some quality time at one of my favorite stores, The Paper Source at 700 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA 98004. Sadly I ended up being in such a time constraint that I only paused to snap the one photo. The Paper Source has an abundance of very cool kits, stamps, stationary, unique trinkets and gift wrap. I’m hoping to go back soon and spend some more time!

The Earth laughs in flowers, Bellevue Botantical Garden

23131f99-ba63-456c-98af-815f782b4820wallpaperThe Bellevue Botanical Garden (1200 Main Street, Bellevue) is really lovely and has the added bonus of being free. I explored some of the gardens today and it was tranquil and smelled good. I strolled through various gardens with my favorites being the kitchen garden and the border garden. I also wanted to see the ravine and suspension bridge, but I turned right instead of left. Oh well, next time! There is some significant construction going on and new delights are promised for next year. I’m already looking forward to visiting again! There website is here.

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Silver Root, Bellevue

8562968517_8cb5a7df91_zSilver Root in front of Bellevue’s City Hall is one of the most wonderful sculptures that I’ve seen in a long time. It is an old cedar root harvested in the 1800s, then cast in bronze and plated in silver. It seems as though the piece is having a small technical problem with the reflecting pool not full and orange cones where the recessed lighting is. Dan Corson is the sculptor. His website is here http://dancorson.com/root and shows the sculpture in an intact pool.

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