The Columbia Building Sky View Observatory Floor 73

Columbia Center - The Second Tallest building on the West coast
see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Center

Can't Touch This!

When we got to the 73rd Floor sky view Observatory we learned that they put a paper braclet on so you can come and go till 10:00 pm

At 335' taller than the space needle and 1/3rd the cost.

Looking South, the International district bottom left, Pioneer square bottom right and the two major stadiums, CenturyLink for the Seahawks and sounders and  Safeco Field for the Mariners Baseball in the middle

Starbucks flying the Pride Flag for Pride week in Seattle

That's Smith Tower, were going to visit that soon.

CenturyLink for the Seahawks and Sounders bottom  and  Safeco Field for the Mariners Baseball

Port of Seattle

Two Coast guard Ice Breakers and Cutter.

Hardworking Tugs

Think it would be good to hang some tires around Wand'rin Star

Washington Ferry Dock to Bremerton and Banbridge Island

The Giant Ferris Wheel

Bell Harbor

It's funny to be eye with a Jet on approach to the Boeing Field.

Looking across Elliot Bay past West Seattle to Bainbridge Island

Elliot Bay Marina, count the mast!

That is a really big Flag!

Looking North and a bit West

Looking down at the Space Needle

I captured this pic off the internet but if you time it right you can get a very different scene by visiting when you are above the clouds and fog covering the city but you are far above  in the sun..

It;s Tuesday so that is the duck dodge Race on Lake Union

That is the Washington Lake Ship Canal from Lake Union to Lake Washington

The Northern end of Lake Washington and the 520 Bridge, one of two spanning lake Washington and limiting the access to Seattel is either one is ever shut down.

That is the central Lake Washington and Bellvue on the right

This is the other Bridge Hwy 90, it floats, and crosses Mercer Island to head East across the Cascades and Snoqualmie Pass

Mercer Island

The North end of Lake Washington

I looked at the map and realized that this is near the entrance to Gig Harbor and that is right across from the Port of Tacoma, a long way off.

Vashion Island

The clouds receded for about 30 minutes so we got this view of Rainier.

The 70' Sparkman Stephens we sailed on for another sunset.

We left to go eat dinner and came back for the sunset

I was concerned the cloud bank would continue roll in  removing the chance for a great sunset.

But it just kept getting better

Patience

The Columbia Building Sky View Observatory Floor
http://skyviewobservatory.com/

We first visited the Columbia Center years ago on a visit to Seattle and our son in law who worked for Amazon.com at the time had an office in the building. So he got us on the Observation floor for a brief tour. After living here in Seattle through the winter I wanted to try and time a visit to see the city covered in a low cloud ceiling where the 73rd floor is above it all to see the city covered but you are in the bright sunshine with the mountains all around in clear view. Well that never happened. The Admiral got a Groupon so we could return on some pleasant day to have a more casual time to really enjoy the views. The thing about the Pacific Northwest is there are numerous micro weather systems around the Puget Sound region all determined by the geography of the numerous mountains and the nearby water and the Pacific Ocean. So every couple of hours the entire scene changes like a Giant Kaleidoscope. If you want to take full advantage stay awhile and then come back a couple hours later to see how it changes. Since they give you a wristband you can come and go till 10 pm.
When we first got there most of the mountains were covered in clouds so we stayed a couple of hours hoping to get a view of Rainier. We decided to go have a early dinner at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant located nearby in Benaroya Hall where we volunteered for the Symphony throughout the winter. The Indigo girls just happened to be Performing with the symphony that night so we got to quite a Alternative fashion show along with our meal.
We returned to the SkyView observation deck hoping to see a great sunset, you never know in Seattle as it is not uncommon to have a low lying cloud bank blow in right before sunset over south Puget Sound. The good news was the clouds around Rainier began to recede so we got some More fine pics. I could see the cloud bank coming in from the Southwest looking like it would mess up a fine opportunity for a Sunset but we stayed the course and was treated to a great one as a tiny sliver of open sky allowed the sun to come through and paint a great sunset.