Alaska’s cargo operation has used 737-400 freighters for a while. They are now the launch customer for a cargo conversion of the 737-700. I read about them taking delivery of the first aircraft but wasn’t too focused on seeing one. I almost ignored this departure since SeaTac has a steady stream of Alaska 737s. I did decide to shoot it though when something about it looked different. Sure enough, it was the cargo conversion. A lack of windows and the cargo markings set it apart.
A little too much celebration of Thanksgiving meant I needed to burn off a few extra calories. I figured a bike ride would be a good option and decided to check out the Burke Gilman Trail. This runs around Lake Washington on the alignment of an old railroad. Not too many hills to deal with then! I wasn’t sure how far I would go but I headed towards Magnuson Park. This sits on the eastern shore of Lake Washington on the site of a former naval base. It was once a Naval Air Station but was progressively pared back until it was deactivated and returned to the city.
One of the things I was curious to see in the park is a sculpture installation called the Fin project. This takes a bunch of fins from decommissioned nuclear subs and arranges them in patterns that are reminiscent of the fins of pods of orcas. The Navy donated the fins and private subscriptions paid for the rest of the installation. The result is an interesting exhibit with varying sizes of fin at different positions and angles.
The meaning of the sculpture varies depending on who is checking it out. It represents the naval station and the service of those based there, it draws parallels with the wildlife in the area, it represents recycling of material and it has a swords to plowshares aspect to it too. Each fin has a plaque that notes the vessel it came from, the name of an orca from a local pod and the names of those who donated to fund the installation.
I was there on a pretty overcast day and only had my phone with me to get shots. I think that the cloudy sky was actually a pretty appropriate backdrop as the darkness of the fins and the hint of their life in the deep would be a little offset on a bright and sunny day.
The floatplane activity on Lake Union is fun to check out, not just for an aviation geek like me, but for plenty of visitors to the city too. I have previously gone down to the lakeshore to check them out but, one evening, while driving into the city to drop a friend off, I was coming down the road on the hill overlooking the lake when a plane took off giving an interesting alternative perspective on its departure. I figured this needed to be explored further.
The question was where to go. The road I had been on was not one on which stopping was practical. Parallel roads exist but there are buildings along most of them so the view is obscured. However, I did find a location that had a clear view of most of the lake (aside from one building that was right in the touchdown zone! I wasn’t around for much of the traffic but I did get to see a few arrivals and departures. Looking down on the flights and having some scenery behind them including the cityscape rather than the sky is a nice change. I may have to try this out again at a busier time.
Wherever we live, we tend to end up at the arboretum and Seattle is no exception. The Washington Park Arboretum is near the university (and I think the university has something to do with managing it) and close to Lake Washington. We paid it a visit at the beginning of Fall with some hope of seeing a bit of color in the trees. The layout of the arboretum is rather long and thin so, while you have a choice of paths, you tend to make an out and back trip as you walk around.
We chose a good day to be there with the sun out and the colors shown at their best but we were either a little early for the full fall colors or the types of trees there were not the sort to turn too dramatically. This wasn’t a hindrance for us, though. Walking through the trees was really great and surprisingly peaceful given how many people were there. When we turned back, we took a larger path and that had a lot more people on it so maybe our choice of outbound trail was a good one for avoiding the crowds.
One end of the arboretum comes up to the lake. It is rather close to the SR520 bridge across the lake so not normally the most peaceful of spots. On this weekend, they were carrying out part of the rebuilding program on the bridge so it was closed one way and things were a bit quieter. Any other day, though, and I suspect that the noise would be rather obvious.
Dassault make some very elegant looking jets. The Falcon 7X is a particularly good looking one in my opinion with perhaps the only issue being the extension of the fin below the tailplane which looks a bit like a fix for something. This example was at Boeing Field heading out. I don’t know where it lives because it has a Manx registration which means it could be from almost anywhere. I did like the rest of the registration, though. I hope they are Scottish rather than just someone called Scott!
Within the space of a few minutes, two Bombardier Global Expresses took off from Boeing Field. This type is a regular feature at BFI so this is not unusual. What did catch my eye was that they appeared to have the same color scheme. If they were NetJets aircraft, that would make sense. However, they didn’t look like a fleet operator I know (not that I know them all). Is this just a standard scheme that Bombardier will finish the jet in if you don’t have a preference or were they connected? If so, was a group of people taking two jets at the same time to go to the same place? Who knows?
My brief trip to the UK was concluded by a flight back to Seattle from London. I ended up in a seat on the right side of the plane and, as we came across the city, I had a good view of the downtown. The seat was rather low compared to the window but LiveView came into its own and I could hold them camera above me pointing down and frame the shot using the rear screen. Technology is a wonderful thing. The Space Needle and the football and baseball stadiums both stand out from above.
The path of jets into SeaTac from the north takes them right over Boeing Field. Sometimes, when you are watching something on one path, something going into the other field gets in your field of view. Either that or a British Airways Boeing 747-400 decided to sneak up on a Cessna. Knowing some guys who fly for them, I wouldn’t rule it out.
As the locks at Ballard transfer the water, they manage to catch a lot of salmon at the same time. It was very common while we were there to see the salmon leap out of the water. Some would leap out and crash back into the water on their sides while others would leap upright and nose back in to the water like a dolphin. Catching this on the camera was a touch trickier. I have a lot of shots of splashes as the salmon has just reentered the water. I did get some on video though so you know I am not totally making this up!
Two small boats came through the locks while we were there. One was just over 50m in length while the other was much smaller and just under 50m in length. Both of these boats looked like they might be quite comfortable. They were also both flagged in the Caribbean. A quick Google search on each showed that they were available for charter. Both seemed to have plenty of people on board but they looked like they might have been the crew rather than the guests as they seemed all business as they handled these tiny boats through the lock. If I decide to get a boat at some point, I might be tempted by either of these. I do prefer one over the other but I suppose I could make do with the less preferable one if the price were right.
