Posts Tagged ‘Phinney Ridge’

Date Night #15: Wooded Trails to Wallingford – Seattle City Hike

April 27th, 2013 by Shelley Goulding

Blooming Seattle

Blooming Seattle

Where can you get a woodsy hike and an urban stroll in the same afternoon? Let’s call it the Woodland Park to Wallingford hike. Mike and I walk the 1.5 miles (each way) to the Wallingford neighborhood fairly often; there’s a drugstore and grocery store, various shops of both practical and whimsical natures, and plenty of eateries.

The simplest route is via local streets bordering the west and south sides of the Woodland Park Zoo, down the N. 50th St. hill, turn south (right) until you hit 45th St. – Wallingford’s main drag. That’s the neighborhood/urban stroll.

But today, we navigated one of the paths of lower Woodland Park, a surprisingly forested oasis between the zoo and south end of Green Lake. This trip is a bit longer than the normal half an hour, but it makes for a fun – and only very slight – detour. The trick to getting from our Phinney Ridge neighborhood to any point east – Wallingford, Green Lake, and beyond – is knowing where you can cross Aurora Ave. (Hwy 99). This would be true whether you’re driving or walking, because the road is 1) a real highway with fast-moving cars, and 2) divided by Jersey wall in stretches.

On foot, you can go under Aurora Ave. by heading east on N. 50th St. and dipping beneath the Hwy 99 overpass (stay to the left-hand side of 50th). If you want the woodsy hike, however, you have to find one of the two pedestrian overpasses. There’s one at roughly N. 55th St. and another at roughly N. 52nd.  In the Wallingford direction, you’ll want the one at 52nd. Get there by taking Phinney past 52nd and looking for a little trail to one of the zoo parking lots. Skirt the zoo’s perimeter fence and cross the lawn then zoo’s south entrance, head toward the rose garden (a pretty, free park at which you might want to stop). Then it’s through the woods and over the highway – meander downhill and to the right and you’ll re-connect with N. 50th St. After crossing Green Lake Drive/Stone Way, you can take a right at any street and go a few more blocks to the heart of Wallingford.

We turned on Woodlawn, the street closest to our lunch spot: The Golden Olive. Small and friendly, this Greek restaurant serves up tasty avgolemeno and other traditional dishes. We ordered pita sandwiches; Mike’s with large grilled tiger prawns, spring mix, tomatoes, onions and tzatziki. Mine had balsamic glazed veggies with fresh basil and goat cheese. It was nice to be able to choose soup, salad, or Greek fries with our sandwiches, and to specify white or whole-wheat pita. Double hits of Greek coffee finished off the delicious meal for both of us…well, Mike took one for the team and tried dessert: Galactobourieko – citrus infused farina custard with phyllo, honey-lemon syrup, and cinnamon. It was so tasty that it disappeared before I could get a photo!

After running our errands at the drugstore and family-owned lighting store (where I ordered a cool new LED light track for the kitchen – the better to cook breakfast under), we took the more direct route (N. 50th to Phinney) home so I could get back in time to check in arriving guests.

Click here for a map of the routes (enlarge to see pedestrian overpasses).

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Date Night #14: Low-Key Outing Yields Pleasant Surprises

August 20th, 2012 by Shelley Goulding

During Seattle’s busy summer tourist season, Mike has learned that I’m highly unlikely to be preparing dinner after spending much of the day in the kitchen. His options: bring it home, make it here, or take me out. Odds are he’ll choose what’s behind door #3.

Since this happens so often right now, our outings are leaning toward low-key, neighborhood spots that don’t make Trip Advisor’s Top Ten lists. So if that’s what you want, stop reading. If, however, you sometimes need a quiet evening of casual chilling, read on.

Setting off on foot, we decided to zigzag – left on 58th, right on 1st Ave NW, left on 60th, then another block to what looks like a dead end. Dare to step through a break in the guardrail and behold a unique thoroughfare. There’s sidewalk all the way, but in place of a road is a series of terraced community gardens displaying flowers, vegetables, and other well tended flora. Oh, and it’s steep enough that there are pedestrian speed bumps in the cement (to keep you from slipping in the rain and help you grip on the way up?).

A right on 3rd Ave NW, a few more blocks to 65th, and there we were – not quite Ballard, not quite Phinney Ridge – back to the little strip of commerce that we visited on Date Night #3 (The Walk Home Will Do You Good).  This, time, we wanted to poke around a handful of pubs to check out the food (and it would be rude not to check out the drink, don’t you think?).

The first place that we hadn’t yet tried was 418 Public House. From the outside, you know it’s a bar, but it’s not clear what for food it offers. I’ll tell you: surprisingly fresh, fabulous Mexican. You order at the bar from a simple menu with clear choices that include shrimp, chicken, pork, and vegetarian dishes. Mike got the mahi tacos while I went shrimp. We shared a bowl of the prawn soup from the specials board. The portions looked deceptively small – two pairs of soft, mini taco shells with the filling spooned onto the top two, and a modest side of tortilla chips with individual dish of fresh salsa. But the toppings easily filled all four mini shells and were simply delicious. We didn’t really need the soup, which came with rice, but there it was, so… My mouth is watering so much as I write this that I don’t even need to talk about the beer, although now I will – very tasty Pike Kilt Lifter for me; my cocktail-loving husband had a Manhattan.

Our original intention of hitting at least one other place was less appealing with our appetites sated, yet we wandered another block or so to The Dray. We’d heard it had a good beer selection but its food offerings were a mystery to us. It turned out to be a funny, friendly place – narrow yet comfortable, with medium-high tables in one section and cushioned lounge area in another. Very straightforward menu – beer, wine, espresso, and sandwiches. Creative sandwiches from the look of things, though, and we’ll have to go back and try them.

But it was time to tackle the hill – we were glad it was cooler than a couple of hours ago and even gladder that we turned around to walk up backwards….the sunset over the Olympic Mountains was pink and misty and picture-perfect. Unfortunately my iPhone couldn’t do it justice, so no photo for the blog.

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Date Night #11: Day Off as a Downtown Seattle Tourist

July 17th, 2012 by Shelley Goulding

New waterfront attraction:                            Seattle Great Wheel

Okay, not really a whole day off, but my friend Sally whisked me away after I served breakfast, leaving Tina and Ashley to get ready for the guests checking in later. A perfect Seattle summer day awaited: sunny-ish skies and temps in the 70s (did I mention the main reason we moved from Washington, DC ten years ago was the hot, humid summers?).

Two short blocks from the bed & breakfast, the #5 bus picked us up and made record time (10 minutes or so) down to Aurora and Mercer, where we disembarked near our first destination: the new Chihuly Garden and Glass gallery on the grounds of the Seattle Center (where the Space Needle is). Very cool inside and out, offering just enough beautiful glassworks to satisfy, but not too many to overwhelm.

It was enough to make us hungry, though, so we strolled into the Queen Anne neighborhood in search of lunch. In a festive mood, we aptly chose a place oozing New Orleans spirit: Toulouse Petit, named by CNBC as one of the ten best happy hours in the United States. Of course we needed to verify this claim by ordering a Cajun Bloody Mary and a Red Snapper (Bloody Mary with gin not vodka). Best Bloody Mary I’ve had in a long, long time. The spicy dust rimming the glass sealed the deal. The tempting menu made it difficult to narrow down our food order; the waiter had to help. We shared Dungeness crab over fried green tomatoes with a tarragon-chive sauce and a hot Cajun roast beef sandwich with Provolone, caramelized onions, and Mama Lil’s peppers. Out of this world.

We would’ve been totally content hanging at Toulouse Petit the whole afternoon, but we thought it best to burn some calories. Off we trotted to the Olympic Sculpture Park, about a mile or so south. The larger-than-life art is a treat on any day, but this day offered clear sweeping views of Elliot Bay and beyond, and more immediate views of men (oh, and probably some women too) taking a free Zumba class held Saturdays in July.

Our tasty lunch fueled us to go still further – south along the waterfront where we spotted the newest Seattle attraction: the Seattle Great Wheel. Now I’m sorry, but I’m forever going to call it the Seattle Eye, for this huge Ferris wheel with enclosed cars reminds me of the London Eye. Alas, one of us – I won’t say who – wasn’t too keen on riding it, so we enjoyed a refreshing beverage from an indoor perch below. Good timing on our part, as it had started to sprinkle.

Figuring we had had enough fun for an afternoon, we hoofed it up to 3rd Avenue to catch the #5 straight back to 9 Cranes Inn’s Phinney Ridge neighborhood. Oh wait, on the way to the bus we made a quick stop at the Pike Place Market’s Gum Wall because Sally had never seen it. Would you believe we made it home not only in time to take in the Ballard Seafood Fest but also with room to sample the wares there?

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Date Night #10: Revisiting a Re-Make Just Blocks Away

June 16th, 2012 by Shelley Goulding

The fab slaw has horseradish and apples in it — very sassy!

There’s something to be said for facelifts. Not the literal kind – I’ve no experience with those yet – but the figurative kind. In this case, we’re talking vibe and menu makeover. One of our Phinney Ridge neighborhood pubs is relaunching itself this week, and we got a preview tonight. Not because we’re special – simply because I never feel like cooking dinner anymore and because Mike had just returned from another business trip to a dark, cold, kitchen. And because we got lucky – The Park Pub’s new menu hit the streets just 10 minutes before we sauntered by on a balmy evening.

We took advantage of the 70-degree weather to sit outside and peruse the menu – four or five pages served up on mini clipboard. There were Little Bites; Big Bites; Park Plates; Burgers, Sandwiches, and Dogs; and Sweets. Little Bites range from basic to epicurean: Hot pretzel on one end; gourmet meats with pear mustard, caper berries, and bread crisps on the other. The chef hung on to tater tots (from the old menu) as one of the three spuds options because of popular demand. Big Bites and Plates are meals – Fish & Chips (yum), baked mac N cheese, and pork sliders, to name a few – then a handful of salads and nearly 10 burgers (veggie too). We didn’t do sweets tonight, but a chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich sure sounded good, as did a piece of pie from A La Mode, the tasty joint down the street that you can read about in Date Night # 7.

We had snagged one of the few seats in the narrow sidewalk space out front and did some people watching. This was especially entertaining because today was one of the first days of summer-like weather we’ve had and people were OUT. Waitstaff were attentive but not intrusive; not to be overlooked is Jesh, the bartender who extended the pub’s usual range of microbrews and token wine pours to include some serious cocktails. So serious, in fact, that we’re planning another date to try out the other establishment he bartends at in Ballard. But that’s a blog for another day.

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Hitting the Homestretch on our Phinney Ridge Renovation

February 24th, 2012 by Shelley Goulding

Tile detail in Phinney Ridge tub/shower

 

You should feel sorry for my husband, silent partner in this Seattle B&B adventure. He works a “real” job (being an innkeeper is everyone’s fantasy, right?) full time during the week, so he dreads these words from me: “I’ve got a project for us this weekend.”

This time, though, I promise a really, really good project: Moving furniture into the brand new Phinney Ridge room in preparation for opening it to guests in the next few weeks! More immediately, our activity will liberate the black-and-white-and-a-little-red Fremont Room for guest use. It too had been out of commission while it got a new ensuite bathroom (not to mention serving as storage central during the renovation).

That’s right, you heard it here first. The carpenter, plumber, electrician, and painter have left the building. We’ll still have a few furniture delivery folks around today, but then, the house will belong to us….and our guests, of course.

Phinney Ridge bedroom looking toward sitting room

Through the pocket doors to sitting room

 

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Fourth and Final Room Update: Neither Rain nor Snow…..

January 31st, 2012 by Shelley Goulding

The Fremont room's new bathroom takes shape

Our fair city enjoys (!) a reputation for turning sissy when it snows. Rather than get defensive about snow in Seattle, we should embrace it…take time to slow down, avoid hills, and enjoy the crisp, cold quiet. At the risk of being accused of embracing a double standard, though, I’ll admit that I’m totally pleased that the carpenter on our B&B renovation isn’t a snow wimp.

During our recent week of – for us – prolonged exposure to the white stuff, Scott showed up every day, keeping the project on track (even with the changes I made along the way). To make matters even better, my contractor had rigged up a system to reduce wear and tear on the rest of the house by erecting scaffolding out back and removing a window through which all crew members and materials come and go.

Now, the black & white Fremont room has a hole punched in the wall, leading to its new en suite bathroom. (Also site of one change I made – the planned shower just didn’t look like you could turn around in it, so we enlarged it.) The new Phinney Ridge room’s walls are ready for priming and painting, and its good-sized bathroom affords enough wall space to hang towel bars everywhere.

True to our Seattle Bed and Breakfast’s personality, the Phinney Ridge room will look different from the other individually decorated guest rooms. It will be purple, gray, and silver. Guys – don’t worry, it’s a manly purple, not a girly purple. And I’m really excited about the double pocket doors that lead into a small sitting area, where a very comfortable fold-out twin bed will be available for a third guest or a second person not wanting to share the queen bed in the adjoining room.

I don’t want to jinx anything by predicting when the room will be ready, but what the heck? I’m thinking April is a safe bet. Now let’s hope that the (April Fools) joke’s not on me.

Scaffolding out back kept the B&B's "public" areas clean

Phinney Ridge bedroom looking toward sitting room

Looking back from sitting area to Phinney Ridge bedroom

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New Year, New Guest Room at a Seattle B&B

December 31st, 2011 by Shelley Goulding

Phillip is always ready to assist in any way he can.

This weekend we’re trying to psych ourselves into clearing out the future Phinney Ridge room – 9 Cranes Inn’s fourth and final guest room, renovation of which begins January 2. Before Scott the carpenter shows up bright and early Monday morning, Mike and I have to find a place for all of the stuff we happily stashed in what became the forgotten zone.

Anyone who’s seen this second-floor space knows that there’s a lot of potential in it. We plan to exploit that potential by creating a guest room for two or three people; it will have a queen-sized bed in one room, and a good quality twin pull-out bed in the adjoining sitting room (with privacy option of double pocket doors). Private bath, of course, plus all of the amenities featured in our other Seattle Bed & Breakfast guest rooms.

There’s enough square footage back there to steal some so the Fremont room next door can get its own en suite bathroom. No more traipsing across the hall for Fremont guests (don’t worry, though, we’ll keep the comfy robes in the room anyway). The old Fremont bath will become my much-dreamed-of powder room for visitors not staying in a guest room. Way better than sending them to the sometimes scary innkeepers’ quarters on the lower level.

So that’s the plan in a nutshell. Be warned that I’ll probably update you – not to mention whine about the process – as we go along. But first, tackling the cleanout so construction can begin. You could say that it will mark the end of our move-in…a mere two years after buying the house.

 

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Ideas for Date Night #4: Culture, Community, and Comfort Food

August 3rd, 2011 by Shelley Goulding

One of the coolest things about the Phinney Ridge/Greenwood neighborhood in which 9 Cranes Inn is located is that you can walk for more than 30 blocks straight and find stuff to do. Eating is one activity, but so is shopping, beer tasting, and on the second Friday of the month, checking out local artists’ work displayed in businesses all along Phinney and Greenwood Avenues.

A bonus about the route any day of the week is that it’s flat. An added bonus is that on a clear day/evening, you get picture-perfect views of the Cascade Mountains to the east and the Olympic Mountains to the west, seeing as you are basically walking along a ridge top.

But back to the art walk. You don’t even have to like museums to enjoy Art Up, the neighborhood’s name for its art walk. While the displays are varied (from paintings to photography to sculpture and more), always interesting, and sometimes weird, at least half of the fun is seeing even more people than usual out and about, and visiting shops that you might not otherwise step foot into. For instance, I’m not in the market for a piano, so last month was my first time in the piano store because they had art….well, and wine and cheese. On the other hand, I didn’t even pretend to look for art at the vegan shoe and chocolate place (yes, these products are sold from the same shop). My foray there resulted in little art browsing but I snagged two terrific pairs of shoes!

All of that walking – not to mention bending over trying on shoes – had given me an appetite, and it was time to meet my husband for dinner. Because it was his night to “cook,” he got to choose, and he wanted meat. Well, he actually said “protein,” which often means following a well worn path to an unassuming little place that serves up plenty of protein. It’s called Ed’s Kort Haus. Described by others as alternately, a tavern, dive bar, and “Gee, I haven’t made it in there, yet (read: I’m kind of afraid to go in),” the place is completely devoid of pretense. Mike calls is “delightfully real.”

You have to look hard to find a real table, but they’re there – sort of. Cozied up against the back wall past the pool tables. We sit at the bar – not, as in other restaurants, so Mike can talk cocktails (although they have a perfectly selected, if not huge, liquor collection) – but to ogle the taps and take our chances on a new brew.  My Gospel IPA from the Skagit River Brewing Company was amber and hoppy enough for summer but not too spritzy. Good choice for me. Mike couldn’t resist Southern Tier’s choklat stout – literally dessert in a pint glass.

So you get beer, darts, sports on TV, and locals. As much or as little conversation as you want with whoever is tending bar – Ed himself, or tonight it was J.J.  Oh, and did I mention exotic meats? No, not exotic dancers, but meat – elk, kangaroo, bear, llama. Mike opted for Yak this evening, while I played it conservatively with the deluxe 1/3-lb hamburger.  Side of chips unless you upgrade to fries or tater tots. Yum. You don’t really need dessert after all of that, but Mike could’ve saved me a sip of his stout to finish off the meal. He didn’t, so I settled for one of the Tootsie Pops I keep stashed back home.

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Ideas for Date Night #3: The Climb Home Will Do You Good

July 17th, 2011 by Shelley Goulding

We’re pretty much fair-weather runners, so this evening’s summer drizzle saw the planned run around Green Lake morphing into a much shorter jaunt in the other direction – seven blocks north and seven blocks west of 9 Cranes Inn to a fun little strip of restaurants, bars, and a coffee shop that straddles the Phinney Ridge/Ballard neighborhoods.

Tonight’s destination was The Blue Glass, a restaurant/bar that opened last December – one we’d been meaning to try for a while, but we kept getting distracted by the nearby Ridgeback Café, a great place for crepes and other fun bites.

This time we made it to the corner of NW 7th St. and 65th Avenue NW, where a modern yet approachable space welcomed us in shades of blue. We like to sit at the bar so Mike can swap cocktail recipes with the bartender, so belly on up we did and I ordered one of two featured cocktails off of the large chalkboard on the wall. It was rosé Sangria – light and summery. (On a 62-degree July evening, sometimes you have to force the “summery” thing in Seattle.) Mike’s Vesper martini was spot on, he says – better than he makes at home. The secret, apparently, is all in the garnish – a huge knot of lemon twist. We don’t get much beyond olives at home.

Daniel at the bar and Chelsea handling other serving duties contributed to a friendly and informative visit to a cool, relaxed establishment. The music was eclectic, but skewed toward drum & bass, played at just the right volume.

Once again we ordered too much food, but no sacrifice is too great for 9 Cranes Inn blog readers wanting as much info as possible. Penn Cove mussels, billed as a “small plate,” were plentiful and fabulous. Its sauce of Pernod, cream, shaved fennel, and more capers than I’ve ever seen in one place required us to order even more bread than came with the appetizer so we could scoop up every drop.

But we didn’t stop there. Mike’s arrangement of seared salmon and a small sushi selection was fantastic, as were my grilled prawns with pomegranate, serano chile gastrique, and quinoa salad. The latter was quite complex, but I couldn’t name one ingredient that should’ve been left out. Yum.

Desserts such as chocolate bread pudding and some sort of fig tart were tempting, but we were too full to indulge. Besides, we had enough food to work off and only a short uphill climb in which to do it.

Full disclosure: the rain had pretty much stopped by the time we left the restaurant. Okay, It had stopped before we even went to the restaurant, but so what? We convinced ourselves that the walk home up the hill was nearly as much exercise as a run around the much flatter Green Lake path. It sounded good to us anyway.

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