Life on the Left Coast: Elysian Brews, Fremont Troll, Gas Works Park, Bowling Par-Tay!

What a busy day we had today. It was really fun, though. We headed into Seattle for lunch, hitting up a local brewery/restaurant in a part of Seattle called Tangletown. Mike sampled two different Elysian beers and the BBQ pork sandwich; the boys and I had club soda and shared a black bean burger with fries.

Patio dining. Lovely.

Mike and the boys perusing the menus.

We asked the waiter where exactly we were...turns out we were close the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. Well, you can't be in Fremont without making a visit to the Fremont Troll...especially if you have kids and have never been there before. :)

What's the Fremont Troll? Glad you asked...

From Wikipedia:

The Troll is a mixed media colossal statue, located on N. 36th Street at Troll Avenue N., under the north end of the George Washington Memorial Bridge (also known as the Aurora Bridge). It is clutching an actual Volkswagen Beetle, as if it had just swiped it from the roadway above. The vehicle has a California license plate. The Trollwas sculpted by four local artists: Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter, and Ross Whitehead. He is interactive—visitors are encouraged to clamber on him or try to poke out his one good eye (a hubcap). The Troll is 5.5 m (18 ft) high, weighs 6,000 kg (13,000 lb), and is made of steel rebar, wire, and concrete.

What I thought was sort of cute were these three billygoat sculptures that we had to walk past on our way up the hill to visit the troll.

I guess on any given Sunday there are other people here to pay homage and
take photos...?

Merrit seems a bit timid.

Ollie climbed right up on the troll but then needed a helping hand getting down!

After a quick stop off for an iced espresso, we plugged "Gas Works Park" into the GPS. Wow, only 0.2 miles away! Cool. We first heard about Gas Works Park when we cruised past it and heard a little about its history on our locks boat cruise with Clyde and Delores. Again from Wikipedia:

Gas Works Park incorporates numerous pieces of an old gas plant. Some stand as ruins, while others have been reconditioned, painted, and incorporated into a children's "play barn" structure, constructed in part from what was the plant's exhauster-compressor building. A Web site affiliated with The Seattle Times newspaper says, "Gas Works Park is easily the strangest park in Seattle, and may rank among the strangest in the world."

Gas Works Park also features an artificial kite-flying hill with an elaborately sculptured sundial built into its summit. The park was for many years the exclusive site of a summer series of "Peace Concerts." These concerts are now shared out among several Seattle parks. The park also has for many years hosted one of Seattle's two major Fourth of July fireworks events; in 2009 it was the sole such event. The park is the traditional end point of the Solstice Cyclists and the start point for Seattle's World Naked Bike Ride.

Well, we walked all OVER that park. It was super cool. There were all sorts of random events going on--some seemed organized and some seemed spontaneous. We saw people flying kites and remote control airplanes. We stumbled upon some sort of Crossfit fitness challenge/contest/festival. We watched while a group of people stood in a circle and performed a free association improv exercise. We watched some teenagers doing parkour (the boys LOVED that). There were kayakers, sailboats, and paddle boarders out on Lake Union. And houseboats. And sea planes. And then, believe it or not, geeks in homemade armor sword fighting! Oh, and a reunion of Texas Longhorns fans in orange T-shirts. Yes, it was surreal! Here are some pics...

By 4:00, we had to head back to the Eastside (across Lake Washington) for our little buddy Brennan's birthday bowling party. Happy fourth birthday, Bren! We had such a great time at your party!