Between the water and the mountains

Seattle

JULY 22–25, 2026 · 23 PHOTOGRAPHS

Our base between the parks and the cruise, and a city worth its own days. We did the tourist circuit without apology: Pike Place and the gum wall, the Ballard Locks and the waterfront, the zoo, the Space Needle on a rare clear afternoon, the glass at Chihuly, and enough of the Bite of Seattle to ruin dinner. The boys picked the Museum of Pop Culture. Nobody argued.

A crowd walking under the Pike Place Market sign.

Pike Place on a busy afternoon, shoulder to shoulder.

14:12 · Pike Place Market
A graffiti-covered poster in a gum-covered alley.
15:29 · the Gum Wall
A brick wall thickly covered in chewing gum.

Thousands of other people's gum. We all thought it was disgusting.

15:29 · the Gum Wall
Two boys at an underwater viewing window watching salmon climb a fish ladder.

The boys watched the salmon fight their way up the fish ladder.

18:21 · Ballard Locks
Curved sculptural forms along the Seattle waterfront.
18:32 · the waterfront
A seagull perched on a railing.

A gull that had clearly done this before.

18:33 · the waterfront
A harbor seal swimming at the surface of gray water.

A harbor seal working the water below the locks, after the same salmon.

18:40 · Ballard Locks
An elk with velvet antlers among trees.
14:29 · Woodland Park Zoo
An elk standing in a wooded enclosure.
14:54 · Woodland Park Zoo
A gorilla sitting among logs and greenery.

The gorilla had a better seat than any of us.

17:32 · Woodland Park Zoo
A family on an observation deck above the city and water.

The whole family up top, the Sound behind us.

18:47 · Space Needle
A selfie with the Seattle skyline and Puget Sound behind.

The city from the Needle, clear for once.

18:48 · Space Needle
A family selfie high above the city.
18:55 · Space Needle
The Space Needle against a blue sky.
19:49 · Space Needle
A cookie in a paper box at a food festival.
20:10 · Bite of Seattle
A father and two boys in front of the bronze statue of Lenin in Fremont, Seattle.

The boys and me under the statue of Lenin, a Soviet-era bronze that ended up on a Fremont street corner.

21:18 · Fremont
Bronze figures lit at night beside a street.
21:18 · Seattle
A man grinning with arms out beside a skeleton-and-branches art piece on a blood-splattered wall.

My new LinkedIn Photo?

13:02 · Seattle
A Star Trek uniform displayed in a case.

The original Season 1 uniform of Captain Jean Luc Picard @ MoPop.

13:04
An inflatable arch reading Bite of Seattle in a park.
14:30 · Bite of Seattle
A tall blue-and-white blown-glass sculpture.
14:43 · Chihuly Garden and Glass
A large installation of brightly colored glass forms.

Chihuly's glass, a whole room of it.

14:53 · Chihuly Garden and Glass
An orange sunburst glass sculpture overhead.
14:58 · Chihuly Garden and Glass