A few weeks ago, in my increasingly extenstive research on the status of the Seattle Waterfront revitalizations projects and when a bunch of them are set to open this year, I discovered a minor but very fun sounding weekly event: "Waterfront Park Firepit Socials," at Pier 62. They are happening every Sunday, weather permitting, between 3 and 6 p.m. until March 30. I thought it would be fun to walk down there one Sunday, and today I had nothing else planned.

I had first proposed it to Laney, but she and I had already hung out three days in a row the past three days, Thursday (drinks at Vermillion Art Gallery & Bar), Friday (seeing the movie Black Bag) and Saturday (Braeburn Condos theater double feature: Death at a Funeral 2007 and Death at a Funeral 2010). The weather today seemed like it might be touch and go for a while, then by yesterday the forecast showed rain stopping by early this morning. By the time this afternoon came around, it was merely partly sunny, nearly 50°, a gorgeous day.

I suggested to Shobhit that we walk down there. I knew he'd be up for it, he always wants to increase his steps. We even took a separate walk this morning, to the Capitol Hill Farmers Market and the Broadway Market QFC. On our way back, passing Seasmith Coffee, which is right next to the Farmers Market, an old man on a bench was hollering at passersby: "Buy me a coffee?" Shobhit decided to buy the guy a coffee. He even took his order: a 12oz vanilla latte. Shobhit was a little annoyed that the register apparently auto-added a 20% tip, and his total came in just under ten bucks. That's a lot. But, he bought it, and the old man was genuinely appreciative: "Thank you," he said. "Thank you very much." Shobhit wasn't even sure if the guy might have been blind. I didn't get a very good look myself; I would never have bought a guy on the street a coffee. I guess I'm a worse person.

Anyway! We decided to leave at around 3:00. I made us hot chocolate to go and drink down there by the firepit.

But, first we walked down to NW Film Forum, to buy tickets to a movie Shobhit wants to see there on the 29th. From there we walked down Madison Street to the waterfront, and Shobhit used the bathroom at the ferry terminal. We walked up the waterfront to Pier 62, and by then Shobhit was warm enough he actually took off his jacket. I was getting pretty warm too, but kept my jacket on.

We were actually at Pier 62 for about half an hour. Still, it was long enough or us to stand by the firepit for a couple of minutes, and also sit and relax in the lounge chairs over by the end of the pier, taking in the gorgeous Elliott Bay view, for a little while. At first we tried to grab chairs from a nearby table and take them over by the firepit, but a Waterfront Park employee was there to tell us we weren't allowed to do that. We saw her have to say that to several other people too. My best guess is that they disallow it because too many people would leave chairs by the firepit and not take them back to where they found them. In that case I kind of think they should chain the chairs to their tables, but I suppose it costs less to just have an employee, who is probably going to have the job either way, tell people they can't do it.

With no chairs to sit in near the firepit, Shobhit suggested we go over to the lounge chairs. We found only two empty next to each other, and we snagged them. We were there less than fifteen minutes, but long enough to make it a kind of "stop and smell the roses" moment. It was just such a beautiful day, the bay was beautiful, the city was beautiful. There was a slight breeze. It was overall really pleasant, and I think we could have stayed a while longer. But, we wanted to go home via the Overlook Walk and then through Pike Place Market before it closed at 5:00, and by this point it was 4:30.

We did discover that Victor Steinbrueck Park, long Shobhit's favorite place in Seattle, has also finally reopened, so we wandered over there while going through the Overlook Walk and then the Pike Place MarketFront. We made it to Three Girls Bakery barely before 5:00, only to find, in retrospect unsurprisingly, their breads for the day were basically sold out—just one loaf left, and not one we wanted.

We were going to walk the rest of the way home, but then we happened to get to 4th and Pike right when a #12 bus was pulled up, so we caught that and rode it the rest of the way home.

[posted 5:59pm]