Tag Archives: Bothell

Bothell’s New Fire Station

One of the routes that I take when riding my bike takes me through the center of Bothell – a town next to ours.  I would ride past the old fire station but hadn’t been on the route for a while.  There had been a sign saying a new fire station was going to be built and, when I recently rode by, not only was it finished but there was a sign outside saying that they were planning to have an open house to celebrate the opening.  I figured this might be interesting.

The open house was scheduled for a Saturday morning so was not going to be a long event but that didn’t deter people from showing up.  There were plenty of people there when I arrived – indeed some were already leaving having got there earlier.  As I stayed around, it got a lot busier.  So many people came to have a look around.  Many of them brought their kids along to see the station but I suspect the kids were less interested than the parents were.

The appliances were on display in the main open space of the station with fire trucks, ambulances and assorted support vehicles for people to climb all over.  These were of interest to me but I was almost more interested in the stuff around them.  Storage for the equipment, venting pipes for the vehicle exhausts so they could run indoors, things like that.  The one thing that they didn’t have was a pole!  I guess those are no longer a standard of fire stations!

There was much more to the station to see, though.  You were able to walk throughout the building and, while there were some tours explaining everything to people, I was happier going at my own speed and avoiding the worst of the congestion.  The operations space where they could control the delivery of whatever services were needed was pretty compact but efficient.  It was alongside a selection of offices for some of the leadership.  Across from that was a gym where the crews could work out if they wanted.

Heading upstairs and we got to the more domestic side of things.  There was a large kitchen and dining area.  Large cooking surfaces with big skillets were a sign of what feeding a shift involves.  There were multiple refrigerators along one wall with each labeled for the shift that utilized it.  I wonder whether there are ever issues with one shift pinching food from another!  Next to that was a TV room with big recliners arrayed around the TV – each on embroidered with the logo of the fire station.  This logo showed up in various places.

Next was the accommodation space.  There were bunk rooms available for the crews to use.  I understood that they would be on watch for long periods so could eat, relax, sleep, shower and work out while they were not required for operations.  The bunk rooms were compact and basic but looked like they would do the job nicely.

It was interesting to see what a modern fire station involves.  I hadn’t really given it much thought before and seeing the layout gave me a new appreciation for what the crews’ lives can be like.  The new building was clearly a nice upgrade for the facility and it was functional but not unattractive.  They even had some sculpture work outside.  A lot of effort went in to putting the place together.  I hope they find it beneficial.

Bothell’s New Bridge

My bike rides along the Sammammish River Trail in recent months have involved a diversion.  Part of the trail passing through Bothell had been shut down.  It took me a while to work out why but, one day, while driving through the town and past the park, I saw a new bridge structure sitting in the park awaiting installation.  The old bridge had been pretty steep and unwelcoming so this was a positive change.

I would really have liked to have been around when the new bridge was installed but I didn’t know about it until it had been done and that I found from the trail reopening.  The bridge is not yet open for foot and bike traffic as they finalize the installations at each end but it certainly looks nice and I stopped on a recent ride to get a couple of shots of it.  Hopefully it will be open soon.

Follow the Red Brick Road

On the outskirts of Bothell, there is a small park with a red brick road.  It is right next to the Burke Gilman Trail so I had ridden past it many times on my bike and frequently thought to myself I should check it out.  I either forget to go there or am in a hurry on the bike and so, until recently, I had never visited it.  A quiet weekend afternoon meant I had the opportunity and, more importantly, remembered to do so.

The route around the north of Lake Washington had been a dirt trail until the red brick road was built.  When it opened, it increased the speed of travel from Bothell to Seattle dramatically and opened up the area.  The road is now SR522 and is heavily traveled.  It has long ago been re-paved but one small section of the original brick road has been preserved in this park.  Along with the brick itself, there are some signs telling about the history of the road and the impact on the region as well as a couple of sculptures.  I doubt people will be traveling from far afield to visit but I am glad I finally got around to checking it out.

Sammamish River Trail

The Sammamish River Trail runs through Woodinville and heads south towards Redmond or west through Bothell.  We decided to try it out one weekend day.  We were not alone as there were plenty of walkers and even more bikes.  It was a pretty warm day and sections of the trail are exposed which made it hot.  However, as we got closer to Bothell, tree cover meant it was a lot more comfortable.  Plenty of people were also on the river in kayaks and canoes so the river does seem to attract a lot of users in one form or another.

RAT Noise

UPS is buying a bunch of 747 freighters at the moment.  I have shot a few of them including examples here and here.  The route back to Paine Field takes them across our area when the pattern being flown is a northerly.  I grabbed the camera to see this primer example heading over.  As the plane flew by, there was a lot more noise than would be normal for a jet on the approach and it had a vibrational element which made me think the RAT might be deployed.  Sure enough, when I checked the shots, the RAT could be seen under the wing route.  This is a normal flight test requirement so nothing to be concerned about but this was the first time I had heard a jet at speed with the RAT out and I was surprised how loud it was.

Supermoon Rising

The combination of the Super Moon, the blue moon and the lunar eclipse was something a lot of people were interested in.  Sadly, we were due to have a cloudy night so none of the excitement was going to be on show.  As the sun was setting at the beginning of the evening that this was all due to happen, I was walking out of the office at the same time the moon was rising.  At this point we still had a clear sky.  I hadn’t planned anything but I did have a camera to hand so grabbed a few shots for the hell of it.

I decided to try and bracket for an HDR shot.  The twilight meant there was something closer to an even exposure between the foreground and the background than you normally manage with a moon shot but it was still a wide range.  HDR gave a bit more to play with.  Then I headed home and the clouds rolled in.

How to Get Your Family to Stand in the Middle of the Road

We visited Bothell to look at the trees as I mentioned in this previous post.  We weren’t the only ones though.  As we came around the corner, a row of the trees was very intense in their red colors and plenty of other people had come out to check this too.  Families were all over the place taking pictures.  The best place seemed to be in the middle of the road.  Consequently, groups of people were standing there taking their shots and, hopefully, avoiding getting run down!

Fall Foliage in Bothell

The area around where I work has a lot of trees and they have turned out to be the sort of trees that get very colorful in the fall.  It is really nice to be able to look out of my window and see such vibrant colors when the sun pops out (which it does do in the Pacific Northwest sometimes).  I had driven down the road in the opposite direction to normal one evening and saw even more color so, when the sun was out one weekend evening, we diverted to the area so I could get some shots.

The richness of the colors is sometimes hard to represent with photos.  They don’t always have the impact that being there had but hopefully some of these shots will give you an idea of how pretty the street was.