Tag Archives: Seattle

Kinokuniya Bookstore for all your Manga needs

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When dear daughter was in middle school, she didn’t want to go anywhere with her parents. The idea of going up to Seattle was abhorrent to her, but we dragged her along anyway. We stopped at Uwajimaya and the Kinokuniya Bookstore (525 S Weller St
Seattle, WA 98104) and she fell for it — hard. Ever since we have been visiting Seattle’s International District at least once a quarter. Today, my now happy travel companion and I went up to Uwajimaya because we were having an udon craving. We can’t go to Uwajimaya without buying those little chocolate mushroom cookie treats and visiting Kinokuniya. She walked away with a present for her friend, a manga and a CD. The store is packed with manga and all types of traditional, Japanese language books (novels, cookbooks, art, history, etc.). We found both The Hobbit and 50 Shades of Grey in Japanese! There is also a large music selection and plenty of adorable stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, stickers, pens and miscellaneous. Parking is free for up to two hours with store validation.  http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/

By the way, when we got home… she thanked me for taking her!

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Fremont Troll

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You know the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff? Remember the troll? Well, the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle has its own troll located on N. 36th Street at Troll Avenue N., under the north end of the George Washington Memorial Bridge (also known as the Aurora Bridge). In the troll’s gnarly hand is an actual VW Bug, that I assume he snatched off the bridge.  The troll was built in 1990 as part of an effort to clean up the area. It has indeed become a popular tourist attraction with a dozen or so folks stopping to play (the kids) or take photos while I was there. Per Wikipedia “The Troll was sculpted by four local artists: Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead.” I’m not in love with the current orange decorations on the troll, but I’m hoping its a temporary thing. To see the troll without the orange and to read more, go to http://fremont.com/about/fremonttroll-html/

Update 2/13 Here is a photo of a model of the Troll that was at Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry

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Seattle Statue of Liberty

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Today was dear husband and my wedding anniversary and we decided to celebrate by taking a Segway Tour through West Seattle. It was our first time on Segways and we simply loved it! The tour guide, Tina at West Coast Segway Tours, was great (encouraging, fun, smart) and the weather was lovely. And how lovely West Seattle is! We went down a big hill to Alki Point and glided along the waterfront.

After the hour and a half tour we went out to Spud’s for dinner and then walked along the waterfront to view Seattle’s Statue of Liberty. The statue was erected by the Sea Scouts and the Boy Scoutsin 1952. It is one of 200 1/18th size replicas of the Statue of Liberty put into place in 39 states and 4 US territories. In 2006 the statue was recast by The Bronze Works in Tacoma.

Union Station, Seattle

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I’ve been past Union Station at 401 South Jackson Street, Seattle, many a time, but today I actually went inside. It was lovely and reminded me of large stations in Philadelphia and New York City. Constructed in 1911 as a train station, it looks much the same today. The property ceased being a train station in 1971, was placed on the Historic Register in 1974 and was renovated in the late 1990s. The hall can be rented out for events.

One of the workers saw me snapping some photos and said that she loved working in such a beautiful building. Of course to off set that nice moment, some guy asked me for $0.50 to make a phone call!

Pagliacci Pizza

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I had a late meeting at the Starbucks on the Ave near the University of Washington in Seattle. Afterwards I stopped at one of my very favorite pizza places, Pagliaco Pizza. at 4529 University Way NE, Seattle. I love this restaurant because I can order a good size sliced and not an entire pie. They also have some great salads. I got a slice of margarita pizza and a vitamin water for just over $4. What a deal. Pigliaco has 22 locations. It would be great if they opened up a location in Tacoma!

http://www.pagliacci.com/

 

The Panama Hotel Tea and Coffee House

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The Panama Hotel Coffee and Tea House at 607 South Main Street in the International District of Seattle has a fine selection of teas and plenty of history. I learned of it because my book group read The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Though it is a work of fiction, it is based on historical facts about the treatment of the West Coast Japanese during World War II. The book opens with artifacts being found in the basement of the hotel and now a days one can view some of these artifacts through a plexiglass in the floor.

 

First Robotics Competition 2012

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Dear Daughter’s Robotics Team was in a competition this Saturday, so we drove up to Centurylink Event Center in Seattle. The space contains 200,000 square feet and was hosting two simultaneous meets with about 50 teams each.  The teams were made up of high school students, mostly from Washington State though there were teams from Mexico and Turkey. Each team is given six weeks to create a robot to perform in a match.  This year the criteria was that each robot had to be able to shot baskets and balance on a teeter totter style bridge. The teams are given some basic supplies, but they have to add to those supplies and create the robots by themselves with the help of adult mentors.

I’m pleased to say that out of all those teams, my daughter’s team, the SOTA Bots won! It was pretty exciting 🙂

Info on the event center can be found here http://www.centurylinkfield.com/event-center-booking/

Info on the First Competition can be found here http://www.firstwa.org/

It’s the Year of the Dragon

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What luck! The family decided to get out of the house today and each of us picked a place to go. Dear daughter wanted to go to Uwajimaya in the International District of Seattle. When we got there we learned that it is the Chinese New Year and they were having special events, such as a dragon parade. While we were there was grabbed lunch in the food court and picked up some groceries (pocky, drinks, fortune cookies). Uwajimaya is a wonderful store, which is full of treasures. It actually started in Tacoma, but when the US entered WWII the family was sent to Tule Lake Internment Camp in California. After the war, they felt more welcome in Seattle and settled themselves and their new store there. It was a loss for Tacoma! It is the largest Japanese grocery store in the Pacific Northwest.

http://www.uwajimaya.com/

   

Eddie Bauer is having a birthday

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…at least that’s what they said on their sign in their Eddie Bauer Outlet Store at 9990 Mickelberry Road, Silverdale, WA 98383. Everything in the store was 30% off, which was extra good since I had plans to visit today anyway.  I picked up two pair of short ($30 each marketed down to $5 and then 30% off) and a pair of jeans.

http://www.eddiebauer.com/home.jsp

Eddie Bauer originated in the Northwest and first opened in Seattle in 1920 as “Eddie Bauer’s Tennis Shop”.  The shop was only open during tennis season. In 1920 Eddie Bauer was 21.  In the 1940s Eddie Bauer developed hypothermia while winter fishing in Washington State. Inspired he developed a quilted down coat that would prove to be warm and yet lighter then the heavy wool coats popular at the time.

In 1968 the company sold to Bauer’s business partner and in 1971 it again sold; this time to General Mills. Spiegel purchased the company in 1988. In June 2009, the company filed for bankruptcy protection and in July of that year was acquired at a bankruptcy auction.

 

Monorail & EMP

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Monorail & EMP by Gexydaf

On Tuesday we did another Seattle day and visited the EMP Museum, which has two main components, the EMP (Electronic Music Project and the SFM (Science Fiction Museum). The museum is located in the Seattle Center near the Space Needle. Because of time restraints, we only did justice to the SFM. I loved the Battlestar Galactica exhibit. It reminded me how much I had enjoyed the series, And the Avatar exhibit was pretty cool too!

http://www.empmuseum.org/index.asp