Seattle Airport ranked number 10 busiest airport by Orbitz Insider for the holidays

If you are thinking about traveling over the holidays, keep in mind that SEATAC Airport has just been named the 10th busiest airport in the nation, so you need to plan ahead to avoid and/or deal with delays with a minimum of irritation.  Read more… Seattle Airport ranked number 10 busiest airport by Orbitz Insider for the holidays

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Oklahoma City has more in common with Seattle than taking the Sonics

 

It is ironic to me that Oklahoma City got the Sonics away from Seattle.  I left Hawaii for Oklahoma City only to eventually move to Seattle (and not a minute too soon in my opinion that year).  I left my only child in Oklahoma City, although she was born, raised and schooled in Hawaii.  It has worked out ok for her but it just was not a place I had wanted to be.  Seattle is a good second choice to my one true love, Hawaii.  I have grown to love Seattle, kind of like one loves a second home.  Many places I remembered from my time in Oklahoma City were very much the same, while others had changed just a little.  I had been to Leadership Square in downtown OKC, but I had never noticed the sculpture outside the building.  As we were driving around commenting on the changes, I saw a bright red sculture down one of the streets and had to go around the block just to take pictures of it.  When you look at the pictures below you will understand why. 

I currently live a few short blocks from Seattle Center and the sculpture there has been a favorite of mine to shoot.  I think I have shot it every which way but from on top of it (since I am afraid of heights, that is not likely to happen).  The resemblance is striking, don’t you agree?

Seattle Center red sculpture, Seattle, WA

Seattle Center sculpture

Red Sculpture, Leadership Square, OKC

Red Sculpture, Leadership Square, OKC

Reflection of the red sculpture, OKC

Leadership Square, OKC

Culinary Travels: Help to save the Bluefin Tuna from sushi plates

I just read an article in the Christian Science Monitor about endangered bluefin tuna due to the rage for Sushi that has taken hold over the past few years, not just in America but around the world. This is really worth noticing and reading, as well as consuming.  Perhaps we should all become connoisseurs of sustainable Sushi:

Written by Trevor Corson, the only “sushi concierge” in the United States, is author of “The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice.”

…..Perhaps the most significant development for bluefin in recent days was a little-noticed event this month in Seattle.

A Japanese chef named Hajime Sato did what celebrity chef Matsuhisa has not had the wisdom to do. With the help of a seafood conservation expert named Casson Trenor, Chef Sato converted his sushi bar, Mashiko, to an entirely sustainable menu. Although a few other sustainable sushi bars have sprung up in recent months, this was a first for a Japanese chef in America – perhaps anywhere. Sato no longer serves bluefin. And he’s thrilled. “I found probably 20 more fish that no one uses for sushi anymore,” he says. “My restaurant has so much more different fish that I can’t fit them all into the new menu.”

Sushi doesn’t need to die because the bluefin is endangered. With our help, sushi can be reborn – better than ever…..

Read the entire article here

Ground Transporation – So Many Choices Coming Up

Christmas Day, 2007: 

I took a ride on Christmas Day on the South Lake Union Trolley.  After some fun was made in the local newspapers about the acronym, the name has been changed to the South Lake Union Streetcar.  It was really cool.  One car was red, the other was purple.  Being new, they were nice and clean without graffeti and garbage.  No damage has yet been done to them.  It was a pleasant ride between the downtown Seattle shopping areas and the South Lake Union business and entertainment areas. There were not very many people willing to brave the cold wet weather just to ride from one closed area to another. Being as how it was Christmas Day, no stores or restaurants were open. But it made for a pleasant ride with the ability to take a few quick pictures with my little point’n’shoot camera.

For those who live in South Lake Union and work in town, or for those who live (as I do) in Belltown, but enjoy the restaurants in South Lake Union, it is a very pleasant method of transportation. It will be priced like the metro bus system at $1.50 or one can use their bus pass, their transfer or even a credit card (at some locations) to purchase a ticket to ride. And so far, the people who regularly ride the metro buses in the free ride zone have not indicated a willingness to pay for the same comfort on the Streetcar.  A pleasant ride, all in all.

And I just read where the Amtrak’s Empire Builder will get a new stop. This is particularly exciting as it will be stopping in Leavenworth, WA. Leavenworth is about 20 miles west of Wenatchee on Highway 2. The Empire Builder runs between Seattle and Chicago. It already stops in Wenatchee, WA. This is supposed to all happen sometime in late 2008. Right now, other than the tour buses which go to Leavenworth for Christmas lighting events and other touristy kind of opportunities, there is access only by car. For me, it is a major hassle to drive up there, find parking, etc. etc. Being able to reserve a room for a night or two, shop and dine, and generally enjoy the quaint atmosphere without the hassle of the car is going to be very enjoyable. And then there is simply the train ride. Since moving to the Northwest, I have grown almost addicted to the soothing ride on a train. In other areas I have lived I would never have considered being without a car for a moment. But here, with the public transportation being so convenient and affordable, I save huge amounts of money every month by not having a car.And train rides are such fun! More choices in ground transportation are becoming available, pleasant and affordable. How much more can one ask of getting around as we leave 2007 and start into 2008?