Green and Blue Over Seattle

Posted on July 12, 2023 by

28 Comments

It’s hard to say which is most striking – the green or the blue.

All I can say is I haven’t found a prettier place from the sky than Seattle.

I was born and raised here so I may be biased. Still, I urge you to get a window seat when you fly into or out of our fair city.

Last week we flew out of SeaTac on a clear day and rather than heading directly south towards our destination, the pilot headed north before swinging back around.

The first views were of south Puget Sound with the mostly snowless Olympic Mountains in the background.

Soon that workhorse of a river – the Duwamish – took center stage,

flowing into Elliott Bay, and with good views of West Seattle.

Next were views of downtown and the waterfront. Look closely and you’ll see the tiny wheel, one of the newer attractions I have yet to ride on and may never do it. Look again to the right and you’ll see the Space Needle, an older attraction, built for the World’s Fair in 1962. I’ve been up in it many times, but not since they renovated it to include a glass floor and raised the prices accordingly.

I worked in downtown Seattle for many years in a couple of different skyscrapers and have fond memories of doing so. I loved the views from on high and the walks at lunchtime to the waterfront and Pike Place Market. (The work wasn’t bad either.)

A bit further north we had good views of Lake Union and the Ballard Locks, a manmade waterway that connects Lake Washington and Lake Union to Puget Sound.

Our farewell to Seattle occurred further south with views of Mt. Rainier, another reason to get a window seat.

Fair is fair so I gave Bob the window seat on our return trip home but still managed to get a few good pictures from a different angle.

Here, facing Seattle with Elliott Bay in the foreground and, Lake Union and Lake Washington behind.

Heading back towards the airport there were more views of the Olympics and Seattle, but I focused on the docked cruise ships in the center below. We’ll be boarding one of them this fall for another cruise to Alaska. Can’t wait for that.

Sharing with Sunday Stills Challenge, #Blue.

~ Susanne

Category: Seattle, TravelTags: , , , , , ,

28 Comments on “Green and Blue Over Seattle”

  1. You showcase your city well, in fine weather. But isn’t Seattle one of the ‘rainiest’ cities in America? 🙂
    Best wishes, Pete.

    • We like people to think that to keep the tourists away! 😉 It actually depends on how you define ‘rainiest.’ We don’t even make the top 30 list in the U.S. based on total amount of precipitation. Many other cities get much more rain. However, if you measure the number of days it rains (with any amount of precipitation) then yes, we move up quite a bit in the rankings. But our summers are very dry. I admit I could use a little less of the gray and drizzle during the long winter months but there’s still nowhere else I’d rather be. 🙂

      • Susanne, do people still joke about “rolling out Mt Rainier for the tourists”? (Sunny days when one can see the mountain!)

      • Haven’t heard that in a while, but I do know of tourists who came and never saw the mountain! These days it’s out a lot as its been sunny and dry all summer.

  2. Wow, you’ve captured your city beautifully, Susanne! I always get a window seat to take a takeoff and landing video. and photos of course! Happy travels to Alaska this autumn!

  3. Such good shots! The last time I had a window the glass was all scratched and everything blurry!!! Love the snaps of Mount Rainier!

  4. Seattle looks lovely from the air, Susanne! All that blue and green surrounding the city makes it feel more nature-oriented at least from above. Great shots from the window as well. Still a lot of snow on Rainier.

  5. Some thoughts about the reputation of it “rains all the time in Seattle, doesn’t it”. I live in western Oregon south of Pdx, but was born, raised, went to college and grad school, and had the first two decades of my career in Seattle. The big shock came when for a career move I landed in the Willamette Valley. The first few years I was here our rainfall totals were over 70 inches. With climate change that’s no longer the case. But compared with Seattle’s 42 annual rainfall inches at that time, there was just no competition. That having been said, the traditional idea of Seattle is based on measurable precip which stat is counted even if it’s just a cloud cover day with slight mist in the morning hours totaling .01″ of “rainfall.” Cloud cover and some of those clouds spritzing the trees and grass is what makes it green. Climate changes are going to up end every weather stat from the last 70 years, everywhere. The noticeable differences here started around ten years ago, give or take. But spritz or no spritz, cloud cover days or no cloud cover days, I’d live in Seattle if I could afford it.

    • Yes indeed! That’s the story behind our rainy reputation, but locals know the rain here keeps everything fresh and beautiful. You may remember Emmett Watson and his ‘Lesser Seattle’ tongue-in-cheek initiative’ aimed at limiting Seattle’s growth and keeping transplants out. I guess it didn’t work! 😉

      • I always thought that San Francisco had that rainy reputation (as well). But there it can rain a lot but it sweeps in and out and you can have many different types of weather all in one day. Besides, I actually prefer the cloudy, drizzly days to the hot, sunny ones in a city but I am an outlier. 😉

      • When I think of San Francisco, I think of both sunshine and fog. We’re always had good weather there and usually visit in the fall.

  6. Nice photos, Susanne. Seattle is a cool city to fly in to and out of. All that water and the mountains make it a very inviting scene.

    • Thanks, Graham. I’ve flown to many
      many cities in the U.S. and can’t think of a prettier one from above.

  7. Fabulous photos from the air! I have my own collection of shots, mainly of the Cascades, from our flight home from Seattle. I agree, it’s a beautiful city 😀

    • Thanks, Sarah! On a clear day there’s nothing like the views of Seattle from above, surrounded as it is by mountains and water!

  8. You reminded me of how my heart filled when I returned home from college and made the descent into Portland. I miss that time, but know that Portland has changed so drastically that I wouldn’t recognize much. I can’t believe how much downtown Seattle has grown. We did go to the 1962 World’s Fair and stayed on a houseboat owned by my mother’s friend. I remember being in awe of the Space Needle.

    • Portland is also a lovely city with Mt Hood behind, but our flight path is usually further east with views of the Columbia so I rarely see it from above. Seattle has definitely grown and I don’t recognize parts of downtown that have grown up in just the last ten years.

  9. Hi ~
    I always love flying over whatever city we’re flying into and seeing the sights from above! When we flew into London from Marseille earlier this year, we got to fly over London from the South East instead of our “normal” approach from the west to Heathrow. Awesome to feel like we were following the Thames!
    ~ Christine

    • Hi back! 😊 Thanks for your comment. It’s fun to see the world from above. We had terrific views when we flew into Washington DC last fall during the golden hour..We couldn’t land immediately and circled a while; I got some great pictures!

  10. Lovely aerial tour of a really pretty place. I’ve only been to Seattle twice but enjoyed it a lot. The latest time was after I moved to Norway and the nature around the city gave me a familiar “Norway” feel in many ways. Hopefully I’ll be back again someday.

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