Activities and Parkour at Seattle’s Gasworks Park

The first of a Pacific Northwest Fall day can be just as beautiful as the first coming of a refreshing spring. The other day I went jogging. I was wearing long sleeves but all in all it was a very nice day. Yet there came a brisk wind and all of the sudden dried and crumpled orange maple leaves started whirling around the paved street, and helicopter leaves twirled down from the sky. This year Seattle has enjoyed one of its best Indian Summers. Practically all of September was sunny which is saying much. Now at the beginning of October, purples, reds and oranges are starting to mix with our Evergreens, slowly easing us into the spirit of carved pumpkins, spiced cider, and Thanksgiving. I thought before I picked out Halloween candy, now was a good time to visit one of Seattle’s most popular weekend parks.

In 1962, a massive gas plant went out of business on the north end of Lake Union. The city of Seattle purchased the 19-acre plot, and 13 years later Gasworks Park was opened to the public. It was genius. The boiler house had been turned into a picnic shelter, the exhauster-compressor building masterfully became a children’s play barn of painted pipes and machinery, and the remaining components sprouted out from the lawn like giant pieces of urban park-art. Today, Gasworks is one of the most popular parks in Seattle. Thousands of people gather here to celebrate Seattle’s annual 4^th of July celebration, featuring an elaborate fireworks display set off from a barge in the middle of Lake Union. Still thousands more arrive throughout the year for picnics and Frisbee, stunning views, and on windy afternoons to climb the Gasworks kite-flying hill.

These aged remnants of an abandoned gas plant make Gasworks one of the most unique parks in the country.

Surprise, surprise, I had never actually been to Gasworks, making this park all the more spectacular for me. When I first arrived I was drawn to the colorful play barn I’d read so much about.

The painted machinery in the children’s play barn… or spaceship… I mean control center.

In the barn, I also noticed a group of young guys, agile-as-animals, leaping from some of the machinery. I had an inkling as to what they were practicing—I had seen the opening chase scene in Casino Royale, and a news special on this sort of thing in Chicago. So I started talking to them, and asked if I could take some pictures. “He’s who you should video,” they said, pointing to Alexander, of the strong and humble type, who had recently moved to Seattle from Russia.

It’s called Parkour, and it turns out that Gasworks Park is the Seattle groups’ favorite place to hold practice. It also turns out that I had arrived on a special day for them—they were participating in Parkour’s first ever “Global Climate Jam,” and were holding a 2-hour public training session, as were hundreds of other Parkour groups in other vicinities throughout the world. To learn more and see a map of world participants visit: Parkour Generations, and be sure to check out Parkour on YouTube to be amazed.

Tyson (right) was one of the Parkour leaders, and showed off the matching blue and white t-shirts promoting the event.

As I walked down to the lake, I noticed couples picnicking, and others enjoying books on a blanket of grass. Once I reached the pebbly shoreline, there was no one around except a group of geese preening and basking in the sun, and there seemed to be a hundred sailboats out on the lake.

Girl and her purple bike; play barn in the background.

Seattle skyline from the Gasworks Park shoreline.

North Lake Union—kayakers cruise under Magnolia Bridge and enjoy the beautiful houseboats and hillside estates.

The next place I checked out was the famous Gasworks Park kite-flying hill. There was already a crowd gathered at the top, and I could see a colorful butterfly and pterodactyl soaring high overhead.

Families and friends gather at the top of the Gasworks Park kite-flying hill

Who knew pterodactyl started with a “p” ?!

There is also a sun dial lying flat at the top of the hill. And to save you from inner-turmoil in trying to figure out how to read it, there is an instructional plaque in the southwest corner of the platform. The easiest way to start is to find the current date in the innermost oval and look in the direction of your shadow (cast by either the sun or the moon). Aside from a few dates where you have to make adjustments for daylight savings, it’s perfectly accurate!

Imagine watching a fireworks display from here...

The wind was blowing around 15 mph that day, and there were about 7 families who managed to get their kites to ride the breeze while I looked on. This (more than The Kite Runner, even though I loved that book) made me want a colorful kite to fly of my own, and brought back nostalgic memories of flying kites on the beach at Ocean Shores. I think I’m going to go to Gasworks Park Kite Shop in Wallingford. They’ve got kites of all shapes, colors and sizes, and a very friendly and knowledgeable staff, so says Yelp.

Aside from these colorful kites, sea planes flew overhead. Most likely they were toting passengers to and from Vancouver, B.C. or the San Juan Islands, and probably were out for some aerial sightseeing of Seattle and nearby mountains as well. What a beautiful day for it!

Pike Place Market – Golden Rays

The Seattle sun blessed the worried Northwest with its presence again, but the forecast predicted heavy rain for Labor Day weekend. Since the weather wasn’t good my last trip, I decided to head over to Seattle (while I still had the chance) so I could write about what Pike Place Market really has to offer. Summer-time Pike Place is the greatest, even though colder days can always be warmed, literally and figuratively, with a visit. I drove this time, and when I parked a friendly man offered me his window ticket so I didn’t have to pay the meter, and so his hour and a half of extra minutes wouldn’t be wasted. I gladly accepted—how nice! As opposed to the first intake of my last visit (coffee in hand staring at frozen fish), this time my first sight was of a police-horse munching on some grass in Victor Steinbrueck Park. There were even some pigeons nesting in the warm grass nearby, which is unusual because they’re usually scavenging near the benches and picnic tables. This park is on the north end of the Market, and it’s so great to eat fresh produce here, read a book, or take a quick snooze. Many days there are musicians playing up front by the tables and water look-out. There’s also a friendly man selling Kettle Corn and lemonade.

Pike Place Market flowers and lunch veranda in the summertime.

Victor Steinbrueck Park

Strolling down the outdoor sidewalk of vendors there were a few that caught my eye. One was a Chinese man who makes signs in 15 minutes, translating anything into beautiful Mandarin characters using black calligraphy ink. Sample signs hung on the chicken-wire wall that read, “Mike Loves Julie,” or simply, “Jessica.” One artist had compressed glass wine bottles, and turned them into kitchen ornaments. Each had a unique logo and was garnished with a hay bow around its neck. Other vendors were selling leather handbags, wooden garden signs, and unique jewelry.

Outdoor Boulevard

Wooden signs; Park and Puget Sound in the background.

I got to chatting with another artist who had watercolor prints and originals on display. He said he specialized in painting nude female figures, and also liked to challenge himself with water scenes. One vibrant print was of a crowd of rowboats floating atop the ocean at sunset; and his latest piece was a collection of colorful, Coy fish swimming underwater.

Inside there were a lot of delightful booths. The first stand I stopped at featured home-made, painted light-switch covers made of clay in all shapes and colors. Some had intricate designs carved into the borders, and others looked like Red Alder leaves, and were painted in rustic, fall colors. There was a professional spoonmaker, and Market penmaker. There was a table laden with inscripted stones. Some had funny sayings on them like, “YOU ROCK!” and “At least you’re not as old as this rock!” Others had inspirational quotes, and still there were larger rocks with more practical engravings like, “Please remove your shoes.”

Friendly craftsman.

Walking through the open-air promenade of Pike Place there’s a couple things you’ll always see—fresh produce and flowers. But farmers also bring their home-made spreads to sell, such as berry jams and honey; another vendor packages up dried snacks from his hazelnut orchard. I stopped by a Honey Farm booth and bought 4, 25-cent honey straws—one each in rootbeer, peach, pink lemonade and honey clover. There were also   whole jars of wild blackberry, rum spice, espresso, and spiced apple honey.

I spoke with a young flower arranger from Maika’s Garden about her family-owned flower farm in Carnation that has been selling flower bouquets at the Market for the past 19 years. She said that some of the senior flower arrangers had been there for more than 20 years.

Maika's Garden

Unlike my last trip, today was a great day for peach and nectarine samples from Sosio’s Fruit Produce. I also chatted with one of their produce experts and he explained that orange and red-crusted lobster mushrooms are on the harder side of mushrooms, so their rich, meaty flavor does well in soups. In addition to the great fruit samples and friendly staff, Sosio’s always has a wide assortment of unique produce, such as purple cauliflower and raspberry beans.

Fresh produce at Station No. 7; chili pepper bunches for sale hang from the ceiling.

To refuel, I stopped by the Athenian Restaurant, famous for being the bar in Sleepless in Seattle where Tom Hanks and his construction friend sit and discuss current dating trends. You might remember the friend saying, “Hellooo, Diane! Take a look at these swatches!” Anyways, since they offer beer and food, and are one of the restaurants in the market to offer widespread views of the sound, I stepped on in. I tried the Athenian Gyro, which features lamb sausage from Uli’s Famous Sausage stand (which I sampled from on my previous trip), and washed it down with Manny’s Pale Ale—a delightful, hoppy and crisp micro-beer brewed in West Seattle.

Manny’s Pale Ale and the Athenian Gyro from the 2nd story of Athenian Seafood Restaurant and Bar.

For dessert I sucked on a clover honey straw and stared out the restaurant’s second-story window watching a parasailor in the sun. The faint silhouette of the chiseled and snow-capped Olympic mountain range served as a backdrop, and the boats left sparkling, saltwater wakes along the Sound.