Seattle Area: April 28

April 28

Seattle

Tom had found something on the net about a troll under a bridge in Fremont. I did some research, and Fremont sounded like a fun place to explore. It seems they have made all sorts of out of the ordinary declarations about the town (actually a suburb of Seattle) and made interesting artistic symbols, prominently displayed about town. The town council makes most of these off beat decisions and symbols official.

Fremont discovered that it is the Artists Republic of Fremont (sometimes referred to as the Republic of Fremont) and also the center of the Universe,

and therefore a state of mind rather than a geographical location. This was confirmed by official fiat.

One of the most well-known and most visited sites in Fremont is the troll under the bridge. The Fremont Troll was conceived as and is maintained as a community project sponsored by the Fremont Arts council.

The troll hides under a Fremont Bridge, clutching a full-sized VW Bug he may be about to crush. One eye is obscured by his hair, the other is a VW hubcap.

The name of a nearby street was changed to “Troll Street”.

After our troll encounter, we wanted to see more of Fremont, so we parked and set out on a walking tour. We found several wonderful Fremont statements in a four block area.

We loved the building we first saw on entering town and went back on foot to reexamine. I have no idea what style to call it, save vintage Fremont. It has little shops in the first floor and the remaining floors are residential, many with their own interesting window décor to add to the total effect.

Along the street at the first floor level are niches with additional artistic statements.

We found the controversial Lenin statue.

This is a seven ton statue installed in Slovakia in 1988. Its creator, Emil Venkov, made a political statement by showing Lenin surrounded by guns and flames rather than the traditional peaceful symbols, such as books. There was some controversy when a veteran teaching in Slovakia found the statue face down, after being toppled in the 1989 revolution. He mortgaged his house to bring it to this country. His family still owns it, and it is for sale. The commission for the sale will go to the Fremont Chamber of Commerce.

The Republic of Fremont feels that the presence of this statue proves that art outlives politics.

The full sized rocket mounted on the corner of a building cannot be described in a few words, so I am including the descriptive sign as well.

By now we were ready for coffee, and by passed on the free Starbucks being given out on the street for a funky little coffee shop off an alley. The shop is called Stickman Coffee, and had a sign in the window that declared it the home of North American Barista Champion. We had to try the coffee there.

The barista on duty evaded our questions, claiming that the champion is kept locked in a small room with a cot in back and fed very little as bony fingers are better for smoothing off the grounds after tamping. We have no idea if the champion actually pulled our espressos, but both coffee drinks were excellent. My latte even had a design on the top of the foam.

The barista did tell us that Fremont is considered an extension of Boulder, CO. I can believe it. It is quirky in the same way as Boulder, CO, Burlington, VT, and Asheville, NC. By this time I had fallen in love with the place.

We had one more stop to make, as we had not found the group of granite people perpetually waiting for the interurban (the light rail that used to run to Seattle) that never comes. With directions from the coffee shop, we soon found them. There are five people and a dog with a human face under a shelter. The dog’s face is supposedly the face of the one councilman who did not approve the project.

This is not just a one time artistic statement by its creator, Richard Beyer. It is considered interactive. The good (and some of the bad) citizens of the Republic of Fremont frequently dress up and decorate the art work—in school colors, a spot theme, or anything that comes to mind. The only rule is no commercial messages and a clean up when your statement is finished. Pictures can be submitted to a posted website if desired.

Odds and ends—street lights in Fremont:

Tom has found a lighthouse that is a Columbarium that he thinks would make a fitting final resting place. I think maybe I want to be scattered around Fremont, WA

We drove to the Magnolia Overlook, that Mike and Leah had shown to us yesterday. Since it was sunny and not raining the views were much better—Tom has better pictures as he cheated and used the big lens.

Leah had told Tom about another lighthouse, so we tracked down the Alki Light Station, along Elliott Bay. It is only open from June to August, but the drive through West Seattle was gorgeous with great views of downtown Seattle and the bay.

We could only see a corner of the lighthouse around the locked Coast Guard Station.

This just whetted Tom’s photographic appetite, so we scoured the alleys (Tom sneaked up on a balcony of a motel to try for a shot—but that was no good either.)

We tried several streets with no better luck. We finally found a beach access where Tom could tramp back over rocks and gravel to get his unobstructed shot of the lighthouse.

I went part way, then decided to go back and enjoy the beach. He told me later that he had to climb a big rock to get the right angle. I was glad I wasn't there. I enjoyed the peaceful scenery where I was.

Next we headed out to Snoqualamie Falls, which Leah had recommended . They were phenomenal. The amount of water thundering over them was incredible, the noise was awesome. The water hit with such force that the spray formed a mist over the whole area. What a wonderful place!

We decided we had one more stop in us for the day and headed for Woodinville to see Chateau Ste. Michelle, Washington’s oldest winery. The grounds are magnificent and the Chateau is very impressive.

However the signage leaves something to be desired. We wandered around trying to find the tasting room and store, which is not marked.

Eventually we found it and Tom tasted several wines, and I tried a couple. I enjoyed trying the same wine from two different years, and actually being able to taste a difference. I know very little about wine, but this was very obvious even to me.

We once again picked out a bottle of wine and some cheese to take back to our room.

The rush hour traffic back into Seattle was kind to us, which I understand is unusual.