Tag Archives: salmon

An eyeball bowling ball at Bass Pro Shop

15264688214_fa213f4f44_kThe new Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Store at 7905 South Hosmer Street in Tacoma opened for business in October and its pretty great! It is huge (142,000 square feet) and full of camping, hunting and fishing merchandise. And there are some surprises including a restaurant with a full bar, a bowling alley with shark ball returns and bowling balls that look like eyes, a 12,000 gallon aquarium stocked with local fish (plenty of salmon), a boat showroom, stuffed wildlife exhibits, a lovely entry with a large fireplace and a holiday area that will soon house Santa. And outside in the parking lot there is a fire-tower. Apparently there are many Pro Bass Stores in other parts of the country, but this is the first one in Washington or Oregon.

 

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Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

8608746132_b795ecaa69_z(1) It was a lovely day at the Lake Washington Ship Canal and Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (the Ballard Locks) at 3015 NW 54th Street, Seattle, WA 98107. Dear daughter and her dear friend had one last day at their Seattle conference and I had time again to explore Seattle. I got wildly lost getting there (darned that GPS woman!) and ended up on the wrong side, but that was just fine since there was ready parking and it gave me more of a chance to stretch my legs. I went down to see the fish viewing area and saw two little bitty salmon swimming gamely along. The causeway over the spillway connects the two sides of the locks and is an invigorating, misty walk. Then on the other side is the visitor’s center and gardens. I walked on through the park to the fish and chips place right outside the gate, then with lunch in hand I returned to a sunny bench in the park for an alfresco lunch.

The ship canal was built in 1917 and connects Lake Washington, Lake Union, and Salmon Bay to the Puget Sound. While I was there, it was mostly pleasure boats. The locks were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

There is a wonderful sculpture at the locks named Salmon Waves by Paul Sorey.

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Big Catch

Big Fish edited_edited-1The story goes that the fisherman fell in love with beautiful maiden, but alas she was turned into a fish (you know how that goes). Eventually they find one another for a joyful reunion and with a kiss she returns to her human form. This statue at Big Catch Plaza (the intersection of 7th Place S. and S. 219th St., near Albertsons in Des Moines) captures to reunion. There was some controversy when the piece was unveiled because the fish has a human female anatomy on top, right where her fisherman is holding on!  The sculptor is Richard Beyer and the park, which was created because of a road realignment, was dedicated in 1994. Richard Beyer, who passed away in April 2012 also created, waiting for the Interurban in Fremont.

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Heron and Fish Mural on Proctor

A brief moment of sunshine allowed me to snap this photo of the murals at 3823 North 26th Street. The heron is fairly recent, installed in 2010 and the original salmon part was created in 2007. The artist is Alexis St. John and her website is here http://alexisstjohn.blogspot.com

 

Fountain on Broadway & 11th

Fountain by Gexydaf
Fountain, a photo by Gexydaf on Flickr.

There is a concrete fountain on the corner of Broadway and South 11th Street in Downtown Tacoma. I really like how the fountain is laid out so that it can be climbed. The fountain use to have a salmon (the Peace Salmon) as part of it, but it isn’t there anymore.