2026.8.15. Lower Duamish boat tour + Belltown Block Party + Seattle Design Fest

8/15 Saturday. Belltown Block Party. Mural artists live painting on large wooden canvas. They were just starting when we walked to the waterfront around 1pm. By the time we came back, ~4:30pm, some were near finished. It was very lively. Vendors, visitors. One block was reserved for strange bikes and 2 unicycles. Anyone can try one of those. Looks fun.

There is also a block party at waterfront, Pier 62 and 58. Saw a K-pop dance. More vendors. My buddy bought some orange chicken.

2pm, Duwamish River boat tour. Suprised to see all the sandwiches, and spring rolls. Free. Soft drink too. There were also interpreters of ~5 languages.

Various agencies spoke of their partnership in cleaning up the river. The worst contaminants were dugged out (see the left photo where they were piled on, waiting for transport). Some were encased with gravel or other materials. With all the noise of engine, people, food, kids, hard to hear. They were around to answer questions, which I find more useful. A nice day out on the water.

Afterwards, I walked to South Lake Union Park to checkout the installations of this year's Seattle Design Festival.

2026.8.9. Gothic Basin and Del Campo

8/9, Sunday. Clear sky. After a week of haze and high temperature, this is a welcome reprise.

A lot of cars at Gothic Basin TH. Trail is straighforward, all the way to Foggy Lake. People dipped into the cold water after the sweaty hike. A lot of people though.

After lunch, I headed to Del Campo. There is a clear trail all the way to the talus field. Still a bit of snow left at the bottom, where I filled up my water bottle. This photo on the left was taken from the trail, no scramble needed yet.

I made a mistake scrambling all the way to the end of that field, because I remembered turning left there, and rounded back. A mistake. Had to back down, and scaled the peak more or less directly. There were a steady stream of folks trying to climb Del Campo. I forgot to pack a helmet. The view on the summit is stupendous. Not a lot of room. I stood on different spots to take photos so not to have other climbers in my shot.

I climbed down very slowly. Always feels more dangerous on my way down. I might be the last person off the mountain, even though 2 more went up on my way down.

On my hike out of Foggy Lake, I stumbled onto the southern shore of the lower Foggy Lake. It's a very nice detour. No one out here. New to me.

Saw a few more backpackers hiking in, on my way out.

A couple of take-aways:

• always bring a helmet, if climbing
• cannot rely on my memory

2026.8.8. Museum Day in Tacoma

8/8, Saturday. Hot (~85°F) in Tacoma. Annual Museum Day. A large indigenous craft market by WA History Museum, and a smaller glass art market in front of the Glass Museum. At about 40 minutes after the schedule, the speaker and performance took place outside of WA History Museum.

Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) has an exhibition of titled Finding Home about Chinese American in the west in 1800s. Only 2 paintings (I liked both) and a long scroll by Zhi Lin about the 1885 Tacoma expulsion, when the city forcibly removed its entire Chinese immigrant community. I visit TAM rarely, so all is new to me. I quite like these glass balls in the unaccessible courtyard.

Museum of Glass is in the middle of renovation. The hot shop is open. Apart from that, the only exhibition is Paul Sankard's miniature world. It's quite amazing. I like his bees. They look so real.

I didn't have enough time to go through the History Museum. These teeth on the first floor look impressive. Next year.

2026.8.1. Summerland - Panhandle Gap

8/1, Saturday. This year, no more timed entry reservation at Mount Rainier. For fear of long line at the gate, we left home before 7am. Thanks to the unfavorable (40% precipitation) weather forecast, there was no line at the gate. There was a sign at the turn to the Sunrise Road, warning parking lot full. Luckily, got a parking spot right at the TH lot. It was drizzling as we laced up our boots. The car next to ours, the driver had his seatback down, sleeping.

Summerland trail starts in the forest. The light rain was mostly blocked by the trees. The asters near the Panhandle River is always nice. Passed prime now, as this year had been very dry. By then, the rain had stopped. Low clouds, limited view.

Continued past Summerland towards Panhandle Gap. Still very foggy. Monkeyflowers are still abundant. Some gentium. Lupine all dead. Saw only 1 marmot.

At Panhandle Gap, a group of Chinese backpackers were taking photos of each other. Very happy and loud. Too cloudy. Couldn't see Adams.

From the gap, I headed up right (west) towards an unnamed peak. There is a clear boot track which I followed to its end. Then rocks. After some scramble, I gave up. Good view looking down to the gap. Too bad: so cloudy.

Back the same way, and waited a bit more for the clouds to lift. No luck. Back to Summerland and out. It was less cloudy than on our way up, but still too cloudy. Never saw Rainier. Beautiful non the less. Temperature was perfect for hiking.

We were very luckly. The following week, the road to Sunrise was closed due to fire.

2026.7.31. American 250 at MOHAI

7/31, Friday. Attended this event in conjunction of the exhibition of Freedom Plane national tour at MOHAI, the final stop.

• Original Engraving of the Declaration of Independence, 1823: One of only ~50 known engraved copies of the Declaration of Independence.
• Articles of Association, 1774: Signed by all 53 delegates. The Continental Congress’s first major unified act of resistance against Britain.
• George Washington’s, Alexander Hamilton’s, and Aaron Burr’s Oaths of Allegiance, 1778.
• Treaty of Paris, 1783: Signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay. This Treaty with Great Britain formally recognized the United States as an independent nation.
• Secret Printing of the Constitution in Draft Form, 1787: A rare copy of the U.S. Constitution in draft form, with the delegate’s handwritten notes made during the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
• Tally of Votes Approving the Constitution, 1787.
• Senate Markup of the Bill of Rights, 1789.

The talk/discussion started at 7pm. I didn't quite like it. The exhibition was open for viewing before the talk, which I enjoyed. It's rare to see these original documents, and learn about the US history of independance.