Friday, February 27, 2009

A Slacker's Friday

The morning was looking pretty grim. Not for the weather outside because it is an awesome spring-like day here today. You would never know we had 4" of snow yesterday morning. It was looking grim because I had finished most of my work yesterday and it was looking like a whole lot of hours stretching out in front of me till the end of the day.

Luckily Jay solved that with a un-planned road trip for me to go down to Tacoma to pick up parts. I'd been chatting (IM'ing) with Kathy about mountains this morning so my goal was to get some pictures on the way down. After deciding to live rather then attempt to photograph Mt. Rainer from I-5, I came up with a different plan.

So after I drove 45 south to pick up the parts, only to find out I that I then had to drive north for an hour to deliver them I decided to stop here: (click on the pictures to make bigger)






This Stair-Master wannabe is the old water tower that sits in Volunteer Park in downtown Seattle.

Local history: Volunteer Park was so name for the men who volunteered to fight in the Spanish American war. They gathered at this site to sign up to fight. The land that the park sits on, and the adjacent cemetery was once set aside in a bid for the state capitol. A fight that Seattle lost to the current state capital Olympia.
Here's why it's worth the climb.














Holy Names & St. Joe's

















South Bellevue & Lake Washington















Mt. Rainer














Kirkland & The 520 floating bridge














Downtown Bellevue & The Cascade foothills


























Downtown Seattle
I still need to work on my camera skills. I'm sure it must take better color shots then this. It's a 360* view from up there at one of the highest points in the city. I miss living downtown sometimes - like today.

My birthday is tomorrow, thank you for the birthday greetings. I'll be 46. My mother and her husband are taking us out for dinner and to a jazz club tonight. Their friend owns the club and step-papa's paying so I'm sure we'll have a great time. I'm not sure what Jay has up his sleeve but I'll let you know.
I took the video below last night while Jay was out in the goat barn. Yes, we now have a baby monitor in the barn. I didn't post it last night because I was laughing so hard while taking the shot it almost seems mean, like I'm laughing AT him - not the case. I'm laughing because he's just so dang sweet. I might lose my nerve and pull it. Jay does look at this blog every once in a while and he'd skin me alive if he knew I posted this.
Hope you all have a great weekend. I can't wait to get back out into the SUN!

24 comments:

Unknown said...

I probably won't be on here tomorrow, but Happy Birthday.

happyone said...

Happy Birthday!! Enjoy your night out.
Great picture of the old water tower and those views are fantastic.
Thanks for the little history lesson.

KathyA said...

The photos are spectacular! Wish I could have joined you. I love that water tower. It actually looks like an arsenal or shot tower. And Lake Washington!!

Cheryl said...

I wanna go to Seattle :(

Scarlet said...

What a view from the top! Amazing. So different from the flatlands of Florida!

Happy Birthday, my friend! Hope you make some fine memories...and let us know about that jazz club!

Now I'm off to check out yesterday's clip...before you take it away!

Smocha said...

Oh my beautiful Washington.

My last hubby worked on those floating bridges.

46 rocks! Happy Birthday!
Have fun out on the town.

Hugs!

Cheryl said...

It's officially your birthday. Have a wonderful year of health and happiness!

zirelda said...

Happy Happy birthday. I hope its great.

And I'm glad you found something really cool to do on a Friday. I hate days that stretch on endlessly, unless I'm not at work. :)

Andrew said...

Happy Birthday friend!!!! Don't party too hard.

C.C. said...

Happy Birthday!!! I hope you had a fun night last night.

So sorry about your goat :{ I'm glad she's okay, but losing those babies must have been hard for you and Jay. Those animals become family, don't they?

C.C. said...

Oh, wait! Your birthday is today, isn't it? I get confused with the time difference...and the date...and where I am...

Anyway, Happy Birthday!!

Summer said...

Happy Birthday again handsome.\
You live in a beautiful part of the country. Thank you for sharing the pictures.

BTW...water towers...when we were on vacation last summer, I got to wondering about them, as you see them a lot in the south. No one in the car wanted to carry on the conversation, but, what's the point of them? I mean, why pump water into a container up in the sky? You must have the water somewhere else because you put it in the tank. It's not like you're going to run out, because usually there is some source nearby, or is there? I just don't get it. Do you have answers for me?

CRUSTY MOM-E said...

Happy Birthday to my big brother Brad!!

Happy birthday to you!

Xo,
me

CRUSTY MOM-E said...

btw, the barn dance post? PRICELESS! I dunno why I said dance, it just sort of sounded right.

Your Jay is sooo adorable. He's so going to kick your ass, isn't he?

xo,
e

desert dirt diva said...

I loved washington as well its a beatiful state, smocha and i were suppose to meet there when we got old after the kids had grown, but i had more kids and we both re-married.....love those pictures...AND HAPPY B-DAY TO YOU...HAPPY B-DAY TO U...HAPPY B-DAY TO MY BLOGGING FRIEND ... HAPPY B-DAY TO YOU!!!!!

Grit said...

and happy birthday wishes all the way from england!

Gin said...

I'm sorry I'm a day late! But Happy Happy Birthday. I can't wait to hear how your night out was!! You look very young for your age! I would have guessed you at 30 something!

Great photos of your area!

Jamie said...

Darn it, I missed the big day---Happy Belated Birthday good friend!

I hope it was one of the best ever..

Hugs. :)

fiwa said...

I hope you had a good birthday? How was the jazz club - and which one was it? I'm always on the lookout for somewhere new and interesting.

I love Volunteer Park. The conservatory is my favorite part.

Love you!
fiwa

Leann said...

Happy belated birthday Brad!!

I loved listening to Jay with the goats, that was so sweet! You can tell he truly loves them.

Love the pictures of Seattle. It is truly a beautiful city, unlike Portland. There is so much to see there.

Jenny said...

don't we live in a beautiful place? Especially when the sun decides to gift us with its presence?

Happy belated birthday, you pup!

And I have the biggest smile after listening in on the baby monitor. It made my day.

Real Live Lesbian said...

Happy Birthday my sweet friend!

Those shots are amazing! The mountain is stunning! Great job!

CRUSTY MOM-E said...

hey there! Whats new big brother? How was your birthday?

:))))))))))))))))))))))))
that's me on too much coffee

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