Santacon is Coming to Town - Seattle Santacon

Seattle Santacon 2010 - Fremont

(Photo credit: Jamiriquai on Flickr - Creative Commons License)

With the holiday season approaching, those of us who live in the Seattle area or will be visiting Seattle in December have three opportunities to join in a Santa Pub Crawl.  There are two different groups organizing Santa events on the following dates:

December 1 - Santacon
Meet at 12:30 pm at the International Fountain at the Seattle Center heading to the Queen Anne area
For more details go to: http://www.seattlesanta.org/

December 8 - Santapalooza -
Starts at noon
Location to be announced
For more details join the Meet-up Group: http://www.meetup.com/20s30sSeattle/events/88987112/
or visit the event facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/475962139092942


December 15 - Santarchy
Meet at noon at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill - 1635 11th Ave
For more details go to: http://www.seattlesanta.org/
or visit the event facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/410422489006739/

For more information about Santacons all over the world visit Here Comes Santacon


Be sure to have your Santa Suit Ready!

The Seattle Underground Tour

The Seattle Underground Tour

I think I'm a fairly typical resident of the Seattle area in that I don't take the time to explore many of the local tourist attractions until I have someone visiting from out of town.  I hadn't been to the Seattle Underground Tour for probably around 15 years, but I recently had some house guests who had heard about it and wanted to go.  I'm certainly glad that they suggested it.  It had been too long ago to remember all of the interesting and funny stories the tour guides tell about the early days of Seattle.  We had a great time as we were led though the labyrinth of streets and alleys one story below the current street level.  Like many frontier towns, Seattle was rough and rugged and had its share of interesting characters.

The Seattle Underground Tour was started by William C. (Bill) Speidel, a local historian and writer who began the tour in the 1960s  to publicize and build support for the effort to preserve the historic Pioneer Square area of the city and save it from the wrecking ball.  Bill Spiedel passed away in 1988 but his tour and books about some of Seattle's early pioneers live on.

For those who are interested in the history of Seattle, here are some of Bill Speidel's books:

A Visit to the Seattle Aquarium

The old warehouse building on pier 59 on the Seattle waterfront may look rather plain, but step inside and discover the colorful, amazing undersea world of the Seattle Aquarium.  I hadn't visited for several years and this visit was prompted by my desire to see the new baby sea otter before she was all grown up.  Who doesn't love the adorable sea otters?

 I loved watching the sea otters, but I had forgotten how interesting and fun it is to explore the entire aquarium.   The Seattle Aquarium features the marine life of Puget Sound like the Giant Pacific Octopus, jellyfish, tide pool creatures, shore birds and fish, but also has a beautiful coral reef section.

For more details and photos from my visit to the Seattle Aquarium, check out my page on Squidoo called Discover the Seattle Aquarium.

Recommended Reading:

Blueberry Crisp Recipe

Fresh local blueberries are ripe in the Pacific Northwest.  Blueberries are one of my favorite berries and my favorite easy blueberry dishes is Blueberry Crisp!   Crisps are also called "crumbles" and with healthy ingredients like oatmeal, nuts, cinnamon as well as the blueberries we can justify eating it for breakfast as well.  Crisps are an old-fashioned dish that is so much easier to make and, in my opinion, tastier than a pie.  The complete recipe and instructions can be found on my Squidoo page: Bake a Blueberry Crisp    Enjoy!

More blueberry recipes:

Take a Trip Back to the Future - Celebrating the 1962 Seattle World's Fair

From April through October 2012 Seattle is celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the 1962 World's Fair.  With its futuristic theme, it was officially called the Century 21 Exposition.  The expo brought together ideas of what the future might hold from industry and governments. In 1962 Seattle was a virtually unknown outpost to people in the rest of the US and the world.  Those of us who lived in Seattle at that time were treated to a steady flow of sightings of famous people visiting the fair each day.

The highlight for many women and girls was having Elvis in town to film "It Happened at the World's Fair". 


Buy This at Allposters.com


One of my personal favorite parts of the fair was the Bubbleator elevator located in the Washington State Pavilion.

(Photo credit: DCC on Flickr - Creative Commons License)

The fair inspired and encouraged a generation of young people to think about the possibilities in science and technology - especially some local young men named William Gates and Paul Allen. 

As its planners intended, Seattle was left with the legacy of the Seattle Center and the Space Needle, the latter of which became the symbol of the city.  To take a longer trip back to that exciting time in 1962, visit my page about The 1962 Seattle World's Fair on Squidoo. Suggested Reading:

Escaping the Winter Blahs

The holiday frenzy is over and the Christmas decorations are put away.  As much as I love the Pacific NW, about every year at this time the dark, dreary days of winter seem to loom ahead for an unbearably long period.  I long for warmer temperatures, sunshine, beautiful beaches and adventure!  Fortunately many years I've been able to make a mid-winter escape.  For people living on the west coast, a trip to paradise can be fairly affordable and is only about a 4-5 hour flight away.  Hawaii is hard destination to beat for pure relaxation.  No need to make sure your passport is valid, no currancy to exchange, you can speak the language and the water is safe to drink. One of my most fond adventures in Hawaii was on a trip to Maui a couple of years ago.  We did the Haleakala Volcano Sunrise and bike downhill.  I know the Haleakala Sunrise is a bit of cliche, but sometimes the reason things are popular is because they are really great experiences. 


The sunrise was gorgeous and as it rose we were treated to the Hawaiian chant to the sun performed by one of the interpretive naturalists at the Haleakala National Park.  The whole experience was very moving and added added a uniquely wonderful Hawaiian cultural experience.

We opted to rent bikes and do the famous Maui Downhill Bike Ride after the sunrise.  It was fantastic - beautiful scenery at every hairpin turn!

See more details about our adventure on top of Haleakala, the full story is on my Squidoo page: Maui Sunrise and Downhill Bike Trip My favorite Maui Travel Guidebook: