Checking in on the Seattle Sea Wall

Today we drove in to Seattle to check on the progress of the sea wall replacement.  As you no doubt recall, we were last there in October of 2015.  On the way down to the water front, we walked by the market, where you could not stir the people with a stick.  There's a cruise ship in town.

Prior to descending the stairs down to the water front we observed the construction of a new condo.  I wonder how much the vapor from that stack annoys the neighbors.  We don't know what the building with the stack is, but it has been there forever.

It might be pleasant to own one of the units facing the water.  After the viaduct comes down, the noise level will drop.

The ground freezing equipment has moved north by a good bit.  The road and side walks north of the Seattle aquarium are now closed due to construction.  This is what happened for months to the businesses south of here.  It was difficult for the restaurants and shops, no one could get in or out.

This is the southern end which is completed up to Ivar's House of Clams.  See the glass panels in the sidewalk?  That's to provide light for the salmon returning to spawn.  If they have to swim into a dark area under a pier, it takes their eyes about 30 minutes to adjust.  This slows their rate of progress.  So, the new construction has tried to take the needs of the various sea creatures into account.

This is between Ivar's and the ferry terminal.  They're no longer freezing the ground to hold back water, but the sidewalks are not yet built.

Pretty much the same picture.  Look in the left, you can see the pedestrian bridge leading out of the terminal.  Look beyond the bridge to that odd looking building way out in the distance.  I need to go on fact finding mission to determine what that is.

It reminds me of this building, but it's in the other direction.  Looking at Google Earth, I don't think it's been built yet.  If you have nothing better to do, look at the layouts and prices.  The small one bedroom apartments do not appear to have a closet, but they start in the $300,000s.

Here we have a gigundo cruise ship.

We looped back through the market.  I noticed that this year Piroshky Piroshky has done a better job of crowd control.  It used to be that their line and the line for the original Starbucks would completely block the sidewalk.  As I wonder every year, why would you spend your precious vacation time standing in a huge line for a piroshky?  This is a complete and total mystery to me.

It was a good day.  The weather improved as the day progressed.  We spent about two hours on our feet.  Jim's foot felt good up until about 2 blocks away from the parking garage, so we're considering it to be a success.