101 Photos From Seattle, Washington

I’m in Washington State for the next few days in Bellevue, the home of Microsoft, for the Microsoft Hosting Summit. This is an invitation only event for executives in the hosting industry, so it’s pretty much a whose who from around the globe.

As usual, I’m pretty tied up at events like this, but I used my free time today to run to downtown Seattle and try and do a little sightseeing and photography. So, to be a little more clear, that pretty much means that I went to do photography.

For those of you who don’t know this about me, I really experience a place by photographing it. I find that when I’m looking for a photo, I tend to see a lot more detail in everything around me. This can drive other people around me insane sometimes because I’m perfectly happy staying in one spot a lot longer than they are. But when I’m all by myself, this doesn’t tend to be a problem.

For example, I went over to the Pike Place Market today, which is a real live marketplace, full of fantastic sights and smells, and I spent over and hour and a half just wandering up and down about a 2 block area. I wasn’t shopping or anything. Just enjoying the scenery.

And speaking of which, Seattle’s Pike Place Public Market Center is completely full of things to look at! There are just about every type of restaurant you could want. Greek, Vietnamese, Bakeries, Seafood, Burgers, and more. So the smells all around are actually fantastic, even though there are also a lot of raw fish places.

As far as fresh fish is concerned, Pike Place Fish, which occupies the very first spot inside the market, is a fantastic place to hang out because the guys working there are so damn entertaining! They are always hollering, handing our samples, chatting with visitors, and most famously… throwing salmon around to one another! In fact, I was brave (or stupid) enough to stand right behind a “catcher” as the fish was coming our way, and that’s the shot we’ve got right here.

While I was in Seattle, I also wandered over to the Washington University campus, and on the way there I went over a drawbridge and an apparently man made canal! This caught my eye, so I stopped and parked at the Husky Stadium parking lot, then I took a hike back over to the bridge. It was an awesome view from up top, but I also walked down 90 stairs to the banks below so I could get a bunch of great photos for you guys!

After wandering around the canal area, I just walked right on into the Husky Stadium as if I owned the place. It’s amazing, but if you carry a big camera around, no one will ever say a word! So there I was, standing in this huge stadium with the field all to myself, and I thought… this photo I’m taking is going to make someone a very nice desktop wallpaper!

Enjoy the rest of the photos in the gallery below! Pay particular attention to the ones with water in them! Oh, and all of these are available in 1600×1200 resolution in case anyone does indeed want to treat one as a wallpaper.