Week One

I meant to do this a few days ago but I have been busy. As most of you know I am in Seattle for the next several weeks working as a summer associate at a law firm. I am living in a neighborhood called Ballard, once an independent town that was swallowed by Seattle in the early 1900s. I spent the first few days getting acclimated at work (haven't been fired yet) and getting the lay of the land around my temporary housing. I have posted some pictures from Ballard and some of my building and the view from my office. I look down on Pier 52, the pier from which the ferries to Bainbridge and Bremerton depart. For those of you that were concerned for me, it really is business casual in the office; very rarely do you see someone wearing a tie. Still, no Birkenstocks or Keens, though.

Last weekend was Memorial Day and the Northwest Folklife Festival was happening at Seattle Center (that's the area where the Space Needle is - kind of reminds you of Tomorrowland at Disneyland). It featured hundreds of musical and dance acts, as well as numerous craftsman and artisans. As you can imagine, this being Seattle, the people watching is interesting. It is kind of like Lollapalooza meets a Renaissance festival. Anyway, I spent all of Saturday there but was unable to take any pictures as I had forgotten my camera.

These are popular in Seattle, apparently:

www.utilikilt.com

Sunday I took a trip to the Olympic Peninsula to do some hiking. I ended up on the Hoh River Trail in Olympic National Park. This trail goes through a high rain forest which was pretty incredible. Some of the Sitka spruce in this area get up to 300 feet tall. There was a lot of deadfall that give you an idea of just how big these trees really are. On the way back, I stopped at the Logging Memorial in Forks, WA, which pays tribute to individuals in the local timber industry that lost their lives on the job.

The day began an ended on one of the ubiquitous Washington State ferries, necessary to get across Puget Sound.