Thanksgiving in Seattle

We arrived in Seattle around Noon on Monday, 22 November - just in time for the Arctic Blast of 2010. By 5:00PM that afternoon SeaTac Airport had been shut down to incoming flights, and several major roadways, including parts of I-5 and the Alaskan Way Viaduct were also closed. We checked into the Arctic Club Hotel and watched the chaos from the comfort of what I think is the best hotel in Seattle. They gave us a 9th floor corner room, so we had a great view, and the walrus was there to greet us.

Well okay, maybe he wasn't quite waiting on the bed for us, but still, the view from the room was great. This is what it looked like at about 3:40PM, shortly after we checked in.

Earlier in the day we had stopped at Chinook's at the Fisherman's Terminal for lunch. The sculptures on the fisherman's memorial looked cold.

While we were at Chinook's I finally got the shot I've been wanting to try for a while, ever since I first saw the polished steel trash can by the door of the men's room.

By 9:45PM things were looking a lot whiter out there, and cars were really having trouble getting up the hills. 

During the night the skies cleared, and then the temps really dropped. By Tuesday morning it was beautiful blue skies, with highs in the low 20's. Everything was frozen and icy, even the fountains like this one at the bottom of the Pike Place Stairs.

Heather and I went for a long walk through downtown, it was different to see the waterfront without many people. Many of the stalls in the Pike Place Market were empty, and many businesses were either closed or very short staffed as employees and suppliers could not get around.

This had to be the least crowded I had ever seen the Market. 

Walking along the waterfront we found Ivar feeding the seagulls.

Later Tuesday evening we went out for another walk, and found a way to get up close to the walrus carvings that ring the 3rd floor of the Hotel.

Here's an abstract night shot of the new Seattle Public Library building.

After all that cold it was nice to sit in the Polar Bar and have a light dinner. Being Seattle, the sunshine didn't last long, by Wednesday morning it was back to being cloudy, damp and grey. It wasn't snowing, but it wasn't melting quite yet either. 

We spent Thursday with Heather's family celebrating Thanksgiving, and continued the visiting on Friday with a lunch trip to the Seattle Yacht Club and then a group dinner at the Palace Kitchen. Licorice the cat was waiting for us when we got to Heather's cousin's home on Thursday.

It was cold and raining hard on Friday when we went to the yacht club, but it's a comfortable place to hang out and visit for a few hours.

The Palace Kitchen is one of the Tom Douglas restaurants, and is a great place for dinner. On our way there we stopped to watch the lighting of the Macy's Star and Christmas tree at Westlake Center. The light rain did not deter the crowds. The whole area was jammed with people.

Click here to see more images from our week in Seattle, from November 22 - 27, 2010.