Seattle Summer

Well folks, it’s just about that time – the start of Summer in WA, and I have to say, I’m pretty excited.  Even though it is June, the temperature is in the high 60s to low 70s and supposed to stay that way for a while.  And despite Seattle’s reputation, it’s been one beautiful day after the next.

Even without the fantastic weather, the last few weeks have been action-packed, with lots of great things happening!

First things first, I was honored to win one of two scholarships in the first annual Vandelay Web Future of Technology Essay Contest!  If you’re interested, you can check out Vandelay Web and see my essay here.  You may or may not agree with my points, but I’d love to hear your feedback on it.  Thanks again to Mark Runyon and Vandelay Web for the great honor!

And while that alone would have made the last couple weeks pretty fantastic, I also had the chance to enjoy some quality time in Seattle, soaking up the history and culture.  Lynn Holloway, one my family’s closest friends, visited Seattle just the other week.  While she was here, we had the opportunity to visit one of the best restaurants in the area, Canlis.  Canlis is legendary in Seattle, not only for its history, but for the food.  It’s difficult to sum into words the level of quality of dining, so I’ll let the food speak for itself:

But Lynn wasn’t the only guest to visit.  My sister also came to Seattle for the first time, and we had the chance to explore downtown.  For those of you who don’t know, in 1889 Seattle burned to the ground.  This actually ended up being a good thing, because it allowed many of the original mistakes made within the city to be corrected.  Seattle was initially constructed too low, and had numerous problems due to the tidal activity around Puget Sound.  When the city was rebuilt, the new structures were raised up, and put above the old city.  As a result, there are a whole set of catacombs down below downtown, with old storefronts, storage warehouses, and more.

Touring the underground is a fascinating experience.  The tour covers all sorts of interesting stuff about the founding of Seattle, how it made its money, and all sorts of weird tales.  I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the city.

After the tour, we replenished ourselves by heading over to the International District to eat some delicious dim sum, and grabbed snacks down at Pike’s Place market.  All in all, it was a pretty stellar day!

Well, there’s still plenty going on around here, but that wraps us up for today.  With so much stuff happening, I’ll be making a concerted effort to post more frequently now while I have a little more free time to do so.  In the meantime, enjoy the start of summer, wherever you may be!