It was the day before Halloween, and while I didn’t see all that many places dressed up, I did pass this bar in Capitol Hill that … honestly, between being pink and the cobwebs and the “Sorry we’re dead (inside)” sign, was kind of a delight. I was roughly trying to make my way to Volunteer Park and the Arboretum, but since downtown was nowhere near any of those places, I walked through a number of neighborhoods to get there.
Once I got out of Capitol Hill, the streets became more tree lined and the neighborhoods became a lot more residential.
Volunteer Park was lovely, and clearly quite popular with runners, as I saw them all over the paved paths. There’s a museum and a cemetery, and a small tower of some sort that I didn’t go into because a homeless man was standing at the doorway, talking to anyone who would listen.
There wasn’t really a straightforward way to get to the Arboretum from Volunteer Park, or perhaps there was and I just saw Interlaken Park on the map and decided it was too close not to check out. Either way, I walked along the narrow, winding road through the park, and tried not to get run over. Which, it turns out, was unlikely to be an issue since they were also shooting a movie there! Not anything big budget, but there was a serious looking video crew and lighting and two actors who looked like they were doing a date scene. They were on break as I walked past, and a little further down the road, I saw a crew member running up the road with extra equipment.
Finally got to the Arboretum and of course headed straight for the Japanese Gardens. It was late fall and the colors were everything I wanted. Not going to lie, I had to do some considerable photoshopping to the image below to clone out the bags and other accessories because some folks were taking pictures and had left their stuff all over in a way that really detracted from the scene.
Yes, the water was strangely pitch black.
Having gotten a taste of Japanese gardens at the Arboretum, and seeing that the actual Seattle Japanese Gardens weren’t that far away, of course I had to go visit. I’m sure it would have looked stunning if we had a little bit of break in the clouds and some light, but I’ll take fully overcast over blue skies any day of the week.
The delicate balancing act between waiting for people to not be in the shot while also not standing in the way of a shot that someone else might want to take. There are times when having a person around for scale is incredibly useful. There are also times when a lumbering tourist in the shot kind of ruins the mood. This situation was definitely the latter.
The walk directly back from the gardens to the hotel wasn’t that far on the map, but what the map didn’t tell me was that the first mile would be entirely uphill. Yes, an entire mile. Thank goodness I stopped into a small cafe beforehand and consumed delicious tea and a pastry. The day was a bit chilly, and both were exactly what I needed. I got back to the hotel and collapsed into the bed for a nap.
But there’s no rest for the wicked or weary, so I dragged myself back out again for sunset, down to Pike Place.
See! Sometimes I leave people in on purpose.
I already had one picture of this mural taken from a different angle and from higher up, but this view from Post Alley is hands down my favorite. The person walking down the stairs, the way the lights on the warehouse, the strange public art… all just works together.
I walked down to the water and had a chance to look back on the city from the pier, and … yeah, it was pretty.
