Today was a moving day. The day dawned clear with blue skies; a day we would usually spend shooting sunrise and enjoying our favorite areas around Paradise. Today, we packed up and drove down the mountain toward Seattle.
Except for a missed turn on the I-405, we had an uneventful drive to Lake Pleasant RV Park
,
our new home for six days. I knew from images and GoogleEarth that
this would be a nice campground, but I still wasn't prepared for what we found. A lake fills the middle of the campground,
and all the campsites surround the lake. There are only about 20 sites in the campground that are not right at the lake's edge.
Even though it's right in town, the campground is surrounded by 60-foot tall pine trees. All you see is the lake with its
surrounding weeping willow trees and then the tall pine trees in the next layer. You'd never know you were anywhere near a city.
The lake has resident ducks and a flock of Canadian Geese that fly in. We have a pull-through site that looks out at the lake and the island in it. This sure beats working!
Hamilton Viewpoint Park
When we checked out the weather forecast for Seattle, we discovered we would have at least two days of rain while we're here. It's supposed to be clear tomorrow, but a thunderstorm is blowing in on Wednesday. Thursday will be a transition day with some showers before we return to sunny weather. Even though it was after 7:30, we decided we should try to do some shooting tonight while the weather was good. By the time we got all our gear ready, it was too late to reach Kerry Park before sunset. We continued south, crossed the West Seattle Bridge, and drove up to Hamilton Viewpoint Park. The name is certainly appropriate, since the park is at the top of a hill that overlooks Elliott Bay and the Seattle Skyline.
We arrived just after sunset, so we had nearly an hour to wait until the sky darkened and the city lights took their cue. To the north was Seattle Center and the Space Needle. To the south was Safeco Field and Century Link field. Downtown Seattle filled the space between. We were entertained by crossing ferries, planes approaching Sea-Tac Airport, and the nearly constant stream of people of all ages checking out the view. We shot for nearly an hour before the sky got too dark. It was a "spur-of-the-moment" decision to drive down and shoot tonight, but it turned out to be a great choice. It was a beautiful evening, and the colors of the city were gorgeous. The only negative was that it was 11:30 before we got back to camp. And then, we still had to download our images and eat dinner. Tomorrow is going to come awfully early.
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| Arriving Ferry | Space Needle | Seattle Skyline |
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