Even More Seattle Scenes

Getting ready to return to Virginia. One more update from our visit to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

On Thursday (3.30.17) we started the day by visiting the Lake Sammamish State Park and then on to the Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. Though not as bustling as it will be in the Fall when the Salmon follow their instinct to return to the creek, spawn, and then die, we did get to tour the hatchery and see the tanks of growing Salmon "fry." From there we headed into the Cascade mountains and visited Leavenworth, Washington, the faux Bavarian village, ringed by snow-capped mountains, created in the 1960s, an exhibition of the entrepreneurial spirit.

On Friday (3.31.17), we headed back up I-5, caught the ferry over to Whidbey Island, drove to the picturesque, artsy town of Langley, Washington and took a whale watching trip on the Puget Sound, where we saw five whales and at least as many bald eagles. Back on land we took the island's scenic byway through Coupeville, Washington, walked through the historic wharf and main street shops, including the shop, now holding an ice cream joint, where Seattle's Best Coffee began. From there we drove through Deception Pass and back over to the mainland and home to Seattle.

On Saturday (4.1.17) we headed back into Seattle, visited the sprawling Elliot Bay Book Company in the Capitol Hill neighborhood with its virtue-signalling rainbow colored crosswalks. This began a day of many philosophical discussions on Christianity, culture, ethics, and being in the world but not of it. From there we headed to the visitors' center at the Bill and Melinda Gates' Foundation at the Seattle Center, then on to the Kerry Park Viewpoint in the Queen Anne neighborhood for some spectacular city views, and across to the University of Washington campus, where we got to join a huge crowd enjoying the cherry blossoms. Then, it was on to the sprawling UW campus bookstore where I sat in on a reading from Finnish physicist and "post-human" sci-fi writer (whom I had never heard of before our visit) Hannu Rajaniemi, promoting his new book (Suimmerland). Note: I got to ask Rajaniemi about his spiritual beliefs in the q and a. I did not get his new book but picked up a cheap paper-back of his 2010 debut novel. Finally, it was over to the original Wallingford location of Dick's Drive-in on 45th Street for burgers and shakes before heading home.

On Sunday (4.2.17) we again had the privilege of attending worship with the brethren at Emmanuel RBC. This is a sweet fellowship of believers. The sermons I preached while at ERBC can be found here.