2026.6.28. Mount Washington + Seattle Pride

6/28, Sunday. Weather forecast is not favorable. Still hoping to squeeze in a short hike, we headed towards Bandera Mt. We hit rain on I-90, so doubled back and parked at Ollalie State Park's Homestead Valley TH. Took the trail to Mount Washington. We started in mist, then fog, then rain. Decided to go to a viewpoint instead of continuing up to Mt. Washington. Here it is (the left photo), a bonafide viewpoint, but no view. Some beargrass, tiger lily. Along the road: foxglove, daisy. This cavenous rock has a natural spout of water in the rock. Maidenhair fern adorned the "ceiling". Some climbing walls in the lower elevation, with anchors on the rocks.

Back to Seattle (and out of the rain) hoping to catch the end of the Pride Parade. Too late, the crowds were leaving. Trash everywhere. Went to Seattle Center. Still a lot of people, dance and band on 2 different stages. A guy walking around completely naked, quite a few wearing strange outfits. Definitely body positive here.

2026.6.27. LA Children's Chorus

6/27, Saturday, 7pm. First time, I ever been inside of Plymouth United Church. Quite pretty, bright and airy. It's a treat to listen to LA Children's Chorus on their tour of the west coast. Today's short program is:

Be Like the Bird                    -- Abbie Betinis
Stabat Mater (1 and 8)              -- Giovanni Pergolesi
Niska Banja                         -- Romani Dance (arr. Nick Page)
Ave Maria                           -- Javier Fajardo
As the Rain Hides the Stars         -- Elaine Hagenberg
Tres Cantos Nativos dos Indio Kraó
This Little Light of Mine           -- tranditional spiritual (arr. Moses Hogan)
I Love You / What a Wonderful World -- Craig Hella Johnson

Today's songs were performed by their concert choir and chamber singers, total ~28 voice, only ~2 boys. The last song was joined by ~12 boys, who will sing more tomorrow at Phinney Ridge neighborhood. They sang like angels. Absolutely wonderful. Wish the concert is longer. Unfortunately, not well advertised, very few people in audience.

This is my first time entering Plymouth United Church, despite of walking by it hundreds of times. Quite airy and nice inside. Rather large too.

Another update, I donated to LA Children's Chorus online with a note to support their tours.

2026.6.21. Puget Sound Concert Opera "Aleko" + "Mavra"; Hot Air Balloons in Seattle Center

6/21, Sunday. 3pm. Another free performance by Puget Sound Concert Opera. Mavra + Aleko.

I don't like Stravinsky's Mavra, except that I like the singer of Mavra. He's very funny. The story is comical and stupid (a boy poses as a maid to get into a girl's house), the music is not memorable.

I really like Rachmaninoff's Aleko. The story is more epic (death, exile, love). The music is melodic. I especially like the base singer of the father, Michael Drumheller. His voice is amazing, and his socks are eye popping. Rachmaninoff wrote this opera at age 19, still a student! What a genias.

I also really like this organization's artistic director Regina Thomas. She speaks of why she picked these works, and a little background of each. She also sang in Aleko in the chorus. During intermission, there was some snack and a drawing.

After dinner, we went to Seattle Center for Seattle Glow (2nd time, but I was oblivious to the first one). When we arrived ~8:15pm, too early. There's a basket to check out. the sponsors of today's spectable had their booths: Seattle Ballooning and Muckleshoot Casino who's handing out casino vouchers. A lot of people, no space to sit down on the lawn anymore. Drones are not allowed. There are a couple of "official drone operators". ~9pm, they started to blow up the balloons. One at a time. Total 7. We weren't able to get closer until much later, when they allow you to go next to the operators. It was very colorful, hot, and festival.

Next year: Sunday June 20th.

2026.6.21. Teneriffe by bus

6/21, Sunday. I have Saturday morning open, decided to take the Trailhead Direct bus to Teneriffe. 3 got on the first bus (not full) ~7:50am. The bus wastes quite some time because it now detours to South Bellevue P&R (new Lightrail station), instead of a quick I-90's Eastgate freeway stop.

It's dry this year. I'm not surprised that the water level of Teneriffe Falls is low. Due to time constraint, I didn't stop here, other than snapping a photo.

The Kamikaze Trail is more defined now - this is what I always take. I don't see why anyone would take the trail to Teneriffe described on WTA's website. No view, steep, but because it's steep, somewhat engaging, not as boring as the regular trail. Here's where you finally get out of the trees and reach the top rock section.

5 minutes later, you are on the summit. Today, I might be the first person here, because I didn't encounter anyone since leaving Teneriffe Falls. Not bad. 3900', ~2 hour 45 minutes. I took off my boots to dry the sweating feet, ate my sandwich, and enjoy the solitude. Hoping the clouds would lift more before I needed to head down. 5 minutes later, a hiker showed up, and asked me to take a photo of him.

I left ~11:20am, went straight down to the parking lot. Met a few hikers along the way. Practically running on the flat part of the trail. I arrived a couple of minutes before the schedule. The parking lot was hot and sunny. One guy was waiting behind the TH signage board for shade. I inquired about the bus. He said he missed the last one. But the next one should be coming soon. It arrived ~5 minutes past schedule. Better than I expect.

The bus made all the scheduled stops, most of them with no one getting onboard or off. I continued on the bus to Capital Hill, and surprised to see that the bus made all the bus stops not even on Trailhead Direct's brochure. I got off at Broadway + Pike. Perfect. Only a block to my destination, with extra time to clean myself up in the restroom.

2026.6.20. Admiral District historical walking tour

6/20, Saturday. 10am, I signed up for a walking tour with the Southwest Seattle Historical Society at the Admiral District in West Seattle. Took a bus, and then walked a mile: not the most convenient destination. The tour just started in front of William Hainsworth's house, now a lot of flowers, but mostly obscured by the hedges. The houses along Admiral street all looked very nice, lawns well kept, Hainsworth family moved here in 1889 when the area was mostly empty, and promoted the real estate.

West Seattle branch of SPL, is our next stop. It's the oldest surviving Carnegie library in Seattle.

Next, Ben Bow Pirate Bar. Too early to go inside. The outside of the building is boring.

West Seattle High School is a handsome building of over 100 years. Some noteable graduates: Frances Farmer – Class of 1931, Jim and Lou Whittaker – Class of 1947.

Right in front of the highschool is a Hiawatha Playfield, a city park. It was designed by the Olmstead Brothers. Our guide specifictly pointed out the large Northern Red Oak tree, designated as a heritage tree.

Our last stop is Sanctuary At Admiral, now the new home of Washington State Black Legacy Institute. It happens that there's an event here in conjunction with Juneteenth celebration city-wide. I, and a couple of others in the tour, stayed on for this talk (very few in the audience). Ryan traces his family migration in his project titled Donaldson Odyssey, using archival microfich, images, and interview with his extended families. Especially about his (great?) grandfather "Big Jim", weekly newspaper Seattle Republican, the coal mining in Roslyn. Very interesting. Afterwards I even chatted with him for a bit. He mentioned that he and others are devising a walking trail in/around Roslyn to showcase the mining and African American heritage.

On returning, I decided to check out this ravine which our group walked over earlier. Nice street: Fairmount Ave SW. Not too many cars. I met only 1 guy. I very much enjoyed walking here, pretty deep. It runs north-south, so unless you walk here ~1pm, there's shade to be have.

The Water Taxi runs more or less on time. A long-ish line. No shade. Hot. Barnacles on the pillars, jelly fish in the water. The boat is comfortable. Plenty wind to cool you off. We speeded past in front of Harbor Island: good view of the shipping cranes. One oddity is this large barge piled on with crushed trash. The view of downtown Seattle is very nice. Will be even better if you take the water tax at sundown.