Patriotic interlude ...

Playing tourist in your own city is always fun, especially when you can reach some really nice places on public transportation.

Today I went to West Seattle, specifically Alki Beach, where a reduced-scale replica of the Statue of Liberty was unveiled as part of a community festival.


The statue was first erected in 1952, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Denny Party, first European settlers in Seattle. Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts raised money for the original statue, and they were present in force for today's celebration. Very important to the effort to recast and remount the statue was a man who took part in the original ceremony when he was a Scout. Today these Cub Scouts were intent on their beach catapult, lobbing small water-filled plastic bags at the troop members in the canoe! It was definitely a sanctioned activity - the bags were small, not many reached the canoe, and the cubs no doubt learned many valuable skills while building the catapult!

Near the beach, a wedding party drifted here and there. "We've lost our photographer," said the bridesmaids I met along the walk.


"We can't go on the beach," they said to the little girls. "We have pretty shoes on."

Because they were so decorative, I offered to take their picture.

And since this is Seattle, and a public occasion, and a lovely day, a troupe of cyclists wearing nothing much more than body paint and helmets whizzed by the crowd, drawing a few cheers (and a bit of eye-rolling.)

More about West Seattle here.