Seattle Seafair Blue Angels Show

The Blue Angels are here in Seattle for Seafair.  This is Seafair’s biggest weekend with the Blue Angels and the hydroplane races happening on Lake Washington.  Yesterday, I got to out on Lake Washington and watch the Blue Angels in a practice session for Saturday and Sunday’s big shows.  It was amazing to see all the boats out there on a gorgeous Friday afternoon.  We we just north of the I-90 bridge and got a great view.  Unfortunately, my photos don’t do the show justice.  The planes move so fast that by the time I captured a plane (s) in my viewfinder, they were long gone!  It’s thrilling to see the planes fly in formation.  At one point, some of the planes were flown upside down!

Here are some great photos and a video from the West Seattle Blog.

KIRO is the official station for Seafair.

If you live in the Seattle area, come out to see the show.  It’s spectacular.

The Sammamish Valley in Woodinville, WA

My husband and I decided to head up to Woodinville for some lunch at one of our favorite spots, The Purple Cafe and Wine Bar, and then do a tasting at some of the wineries.  Right near the restaurant, you can find 22 wine tasting rooms in just a short distance.  We checked out two of our favorite wineries on Saturday,  Brian Carter Cellars

Enjoying Wine on the Deck of Brian Carter Cellars

and DeLille Cellars.  These two wine tasting rooms were hopping with people enjoying wine and enjoying the day.

There are a lot of wineries to choose from in Woodinville.   I counted over 60 listed on The Woodinville Wine Country site!   Woodinville has become a magnet for locals and tourists alike who want to taste some of the great wine available in Washington State.  Most of the wineries are located in and around the picturesque Sammamish River Valley.

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Locals come, tourists come, people rent limos and take group tours.  It’s a fun thing to do around Seattle and you don’t even have to go to France!

What’s your favorite winery in Woodinville?

Whites, blues, purples, pinks, and reds.

Molbak’s is a feel good kind of place that will remind you spring is just around the corner.   I’m sure if you check your yard you’ll find things starting to bloom and come back to life as I did in my front yard.

I’ve lived on Seattle’s eastside, near downtown Bellevue for 25 years.  I’ve been all over downtown Bellevue.  I’ve watched it change dramatically from a handful of tall buildings to a city dominated by buildings, some over 40 stories tall.

Bellevue skyline

I frequent shops, restaurants, the Art Museum, Meydenbauer Center, and the mall in Bellevue.  I know downtown Bellevue pretty well.

But I, too, had never just walked around downtown just for the sake of walking.  Bellevue is a great place to walk around and explore. It’s made an amazing transformation from a car centric downtown to a place to live, a destination place, and a great place to walk.

I did that just this past weekend.  I walked from the Bellevue Square mall over to the Bravern as part of the Seattle Architecture Foundation’s Bellevue 2.0 tour.

I know a lot about Bellevue’s history and real estate, but I learned a few more tidbits from the two great guides, John Hotta and Eli Lemanski.  The tour began at the mall on the second floor of Macy’s in the women’s jeans department.  (Kind of fitting for Bellevue, since the mall has always represented downtown.)

Bellevue Square

It started as an outdoor shopping mall (bet you didn’t know that) was enclosed, expanded, and became one of the top 20 malls in the country.    The granddaddy of all arts fairs takes place in the parking garage of said mall. The art fair is a true winner.  The caliber of art is far above most art fairs, even if it’s in the mall garage.

From the second floor perch in Macy’s there’s a great view of the downtown skyline.  The Bellevue Art Museum is right across the street from the mall as is Lincoln Towers with its Westin.  Bellevue Place is just down the street.

You can also see some of the newer “kids on the block,” Washington Square, Bellevue Towers,

Bellevue Towers

and the City Center Plaza from the big window.   A walkway begins right across from the mall and can take you almost across downtown, which we ultimately did.

One of the most creative new buildings is the Elements complex. Not only is the exterior fascinating,

Bellevue's Elements Building

if you have a chance to step inside the lobby, it’s quite interesting.

The tour is great in the sense that you are out seeing the city, but wisely takes advantage of many indoor sites for long conversations.  We got to see the view from Lincoln Tower and the City Center building.  Of course, it was pretty foggy out, so the stellar views of Lake Washington, Seattle, and Mt. Rainier were all behind the fog.

Foggy Highway 405 in Bellevue

Lots of great questions were answered by the guides and many of the participants, including me, added their share of information regarding downtown Bellevue.

Here are some of the questions that will be answered if you take this tour:

• Where did the bricks come that were used to construct the Bellevue Library?
• What country is planning a consulate in Bellevue?
• What architectural firms were active in downtown Bellevue development?
• Who are Bellevue’s 3 biggest employers?
• What’s going to be built north of the Hyatt?
• Who was Meydenbauer?
• What was the first hi-rise in downtown Bellevue?
• What’s the difference between curtain walls and window walls in skyscrapers? (This one was graciously answered by one of the participants, so that may not come up on your tour)
• Whose wood sculptures can be found decorating some of the buildings and plazas in downtown Bellevue?  (one of my contributions, so it may or may not come up on your tour.
• Where was the first Bellevue Art Museum?

You’ll have to take the tour to find out the answer to these questions. The tour is fun, engaging and a nice thing to do on a Saturday morning.  Let’s hope the day you take the tour you get to see some of the stellar views available from downtown Bellevue.

I hadn’t been to The Bellevue Botanical Garden for several years.  Over the 4th of July, I had a friend visiting from Connecticut, so off we went to the Garden. It was the perfect time to stop by to enjoy the flowers.  So many of the flowers are in bloom right now.

Bellevue Botanical Garden

Hydrangeas in Bellevue Botanical Garden

A quiet spot in The Bellevue Botanical Garden

Most people don’t think about taking a break and finding a quiet spot in the garden, but this man was enjoying the peace and quiet.

Check the Bellevue Botanical Garden out this summer.  It’s a beautiful place.

This week, it’s all 5 Bellevue high schools in the top 100 Newsweek list. Interlake took the highest spot of the 5  at no. 13.  The Seattle Times had an article with information as to how the list is compiled.

Bellevue, Washington-Interlake High School

Congratulations to all these great Seattle-eastside schools.

Last week Forum XXII, the eastside real estate network, of which I am a member, was invited to take a hard hat tour of the Towers, courtesy of Schnitzer West, the developer, and Neiman Marcus.

Forum XXII Hard Hat Tour

For our tour, we started at the top, the penthouse.

View Looking South From The Penthouse at The Bravern

The penthouse occupies the entire top floor, the 30th, of each of the two towers.  It’s sold as a shell and can be completed to the buyer’s individual specifications.  Entirely surrounded by windows and a huge patio areas, there’s essentially a 360 degree view from Mt. Rainier, the Cascades, to Lake Washington and the Olympics.  The penthouses will be one of the rare homes were you can see both the sun rise and set.

Construction Crew Busy Working

The Bravern also a 25,000 square foot community room with its own fireplace and catering kitchen.  Outside is a glass enclosed sitting area complete with a fireplace.  The garden area, which was recently planted, has areas to barbecue and a unique fountain.

I’m looking forward to seeing the towers when they’re completed next year.

Microsoft

and most importantly, Burgermaster, the ultimate, iconic  burger spot that early Microsofties frequented.

When the duck boats start leading the tours on the eastside, we’ll know we’ve made it!   We don’t have Hollywood stars here on Seattle’s Eastside, but we do have “geek” stars. Welcome to our world of fame and fortune.

You know you’re in the Northwest when…you’re sitting on a boat in Lake Washington watching all the seaplanes land.  Seaplanes fly overhead and land in Lake Washington on a steady basis.  An Alaskan, Northwest kind of thing (think Northern Exposure), seaplanes are an important mode of transportation throughout the islands and the inlets of the Northwest.  If you spend any time in Kenmore or at the northern end of Lake Washington, you can see the Kenmore Air planes taking off and landing. (Or is it gliding along the water?)

Sunday nights are almost as busy as a runway at SeaTac airport.  Seaplanes come in pretty regularly.  The seaplanes are from all over the Northwest, including the San Juan Islands, Victoria, and Vancouver, BC.  It’ s kind of fun to watch the planes land or is it glide on the water?

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The caliber of art is just fantastic.

Art from a past Bellevue ArtsFair

It’s a juried show, so the best of the best are invited to exhibit at the fair. Many local artists participate, but artists will be there from all over the country.  Expect to see great jewelry, fine woodworking, ceramics, glass, handmade clothing and more. The fair has included a regular group of popular artists, plus adding interesting new people each year.  Bring your check book as it’s difficult to leave the fair without wanting to buy something unique and wonderful.  The fair is also a fundraiser for the Bellevue Arts Museum, so you’d accomplish three things when purchasing art at the fair: buying a piece of art for yourself, supporting artists, and supporting the museum.

Here are some of my favorites from last year’s fair.

The fair has come along way from it’s start in 1947 when Bellevue Square was a new, open air mall. Now today, we have meetup groups using social networking to organize a trip to the fair.

The fair has grown over the years to include an arts fair over in the CostPlus Parking lot and another fair by the Bellevue Galleria.

A few tips to help you enjoy the fair:

• go in the evening, early in the morning or dinner time.  It’s usually less crowded than mid-day.
• don’t use the NE 8th exit ramp off 405 along with everyone else.  You’ll be stuck in traffic.  Take the NE 4th exit or come into Bellevue along Bellevue Way.  All the time you spend in unnecessary traffic could be spent at the fair.
• Go immediately to the upper levels of the parking garage.  You usually get spaces up there without having to circle around as much.

Enjoy the fair and let me know what you liked the best this year.