Playing Tourist in Our Hometown

One of the coolest things I've discovered this past year is http://www.yelp.com/.  It's the best site for discovering new restaurants, places to visit, attractions, parks, etc.  You can get reviews on places (both good and bad) from regular folks who've visited and posted their reviews.  Anyone can utilize yelp.  Best of all, it's free!  I just discovered a few months ago, via yelp, that Kerry Park in Seattle is the best place to visit if one wants to get the best view of the Seattle skyline including downtown, the Space Needle, and Mount Rainier.  It's apparently a real hot spot for wedding parties and photographers on any given rainless Saturday.  We had wanted to take my sister here for some photos when she was in town last week, and we had also wanted to take my husband's aunt and uncle from Stockholm who were in town at the same time.  Unfortunately, we've had a long stretch of nasty weather - rainy, wintery, dark and dreary.  We knew this weekend was going to be beautiful - and it has been! - so my husband and I took Bandit to Kerry Park this morning, getting there at 8:30 a.m. for the morning sun.  The plan?  Get some blog-worthy photos of Bandit and allow me to play around with my camera.

8:30 in the morning was the perfect time to get here.  We didn't have to contend with a bunch of other people.  There was one tourist from North Carolina snapping photos and maybe three other people at the most.  This is my favorite Bandit/skyline photo that I snapped.

Papa was holding on to Bandit's leash, so he wasn't at risk for going over the side.  I definitely need to work on getting my background and foreground subjects both in focus, but I'm happy with these shots for my first go-round.

Kerry Park sign

I utilized my zoom lens to get this closeup of the Needle.

It was a beautiful day for seeing Mount Rainier.  Many days it's obscured by clouds or fog. 

Seattle skyline, the Space Needle, and Mount Rainier all in one frame.  I want to come back here at night to practice some nighttime photos.

A ferry heading out to its destination

Bandit was such a good boy this morning and cooperated so well for all the pictures.

Last summer he got tons of attention because he was a little puppy and everyone wanted to pet him and ask about him.  Now that he's older he still gets attention.  The phrase we hear most often is, "What a cool-looking dog."  We think he's pretty cool, too.  He's rarely mistaken for a girl these days.  For the longest time it seemed everyone who inquired about Bandit would initially assume he was a she.  Nowadays, he must be looking a little more buff and masculine because the greater majority now refers to him as a he.

Here's Bandit looking boyishly handsome

On our way back to the car I decided to try an artistic approach

We took Bandit for a short walk in the neighborhood surrounding the park.  Kerry Park is located in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle.  The homes are very old, very upscale, very well-manicured, and many have the same very awesome view as seen from Kerry Park (very out-of-the-ballpark price-wise for your average home buyer).

I could so live here!  Vintage Seattle homes have so much character.

K loved the balcony on this house (on second look maybe it's balconies)

I love this iron railing.  Either a party's going on today or there's going to be an open house; there was a for-sale sign out front.