July 21, 2008 at 12:00 pm · Filed under Issaquah Washington Moblog
Top Pot Doughnuts – Seattle
Originally uploaded by iiooioiioo
I drove to Seattle from Issaquah this Sunday to make a pickup then decided to stop off at Top Pot Doughnuts at 2124 5th Ave. If you’ve been, you know the building is a star unto itself, with heritage and character. The doughnut restaurant is a great location for morning or afternoon coffee and sweet delights. The size of the “small” treat is a statement of that screams, Eat me! You never are lacking when you order only one doughnut. You find a retro, nostalgic ambiance that embraces you when you walk up the street, and enter the door. The door is interesting in that it’s extra wide. Perhaps I’m wrong, but this particular door seems bigger than a typical door.
From the website the owners state: …in February 2002 out of a small brick storefront on north Capitol Hill in Seattle, Top Pot paired a vintage aesthetic with a gourmet spin on the old “coffee and doughnuts” routine.
Soon, in this town known for more than a few coffee shops, some patrons were driving twenty miles or more to the little doughnut shop on Capital Hill where—from the beans to the bookcases—obvious care was paid to every detail. In response to Top Pot’s wild popularity, we have decided to open two more Seattle locations.
In each new neighborhood, a whole new demographic has embraced Top Pot’s unusual blend of striking design, aromatic coffee, and hand-forged doughnuts. Tattooed hipsters, soccer moms, the business elite, and retirees all feel at home here—because everyone loves a great doughnut!
You can find their website here.
July 16, 2008 at 9:25 pm · Filed under Issaquah Washington Moblog
Las Margaritas – Family Mexican Restaurant
Originally uploaded by iiooioiioo
On a beautiful Wednesday evening, enjoying a delicious Mexican dinner on the curb side restaurant, you may find yourself sitting at one of the few patio style tables on the attached concrete sidewalk. When sitting near the restaurant wall, watching the local Issaquah friends make their way home for dinner, you get a sense of urgency, not one of rushing home or from one place to another. Rather you find a sense of urgency of those that would love to stay in Issaquah, daking this town their home, never to leave if at all. Issaquah has a lovely personality. Many find this personification an appetite that they have and can never satisfy. The friends that live in Issaquah do not want to lose their town.
With such nice restaurant as the Las Margaritas – Family Mexican Restaurant, one would be hard pressed to expect that this town would soon loose it’s much appreciated charm and people friend air of community.
When I dine at a Mexican style restaurant, I find that I order the same dishes. This is personal means of measure a restaurants menu. Some make the cut others don’t. With Las Margaritas, I’ve found 9 out of the 10 dishes that I’ve made my personal favorites are spot on.
You can find Las Margaritas of Issaquah at – 59 Front St North – Phone:
(425) 392-7425
July 4, 2008 at 5:06 pm · Filed under Issaquah Washington Moblog
Lake Sammamish State Park
A sluggish day
Originally uploaded by iiooioiioo
While walking along the south shoreline of Lake Sammamish, I took more than two dozen photos of the shore, trees, plants, animals and even a couple of slugs. It’s a beautiful area for water sports, family picnics, events, fishing, and bird watching. While walking by the bike riders and trail walkers, I saw many rabbits, birds and other creatures that call Lake Sammamish State Park home.
Lake Sammamish State Park is a park at the south end of Lake Sammamish, in King County, Washington, United States. The park is 512 acres (2.07 km²) in size and is administered by the Washington State Park System.[1] The park has 6,858 feet (2,090 m) of waterfront[1] and is known for its boating and watersport activities, such as waterskiing. The park is also used as the course for the annual KingCo Conference 3A cross country championship meet held each October.
The park gained temporary notoriety when on July 14, 1974, serial killer Ted Bundy abducted Janice Ott and Denise Naslund in broad daylight within four hours of each other at the park.[2] Their skeletal remains were found months later on the side of the road two miles (3 km) away near Issaquah, Washington, the town nearest to the park.
July 1, 2008 at 11:25 am · Filed under Issaquah Washington Moblog
Tacoma Dome – 40 min South of Issaquah
Originally uploaded by iiooioiioo
While visiting Tacoma to attend an annual conference, I spent three day’s at the Tacoma Dome. While walking through the corridor that circles the interior of the structure, and encompasses the auditorium, you have access to outside access ramps that run from the mid level to the parking lot.
From the location of the sun and the time of day, I presume I was facing North by North East. The photo is a panoramic photo that requires you to take three photos, side by side. Once they are merged automatically by the Tilt 8925, it gives you one photo that is landscaped. You can do the same with a Portrait photo scene. Using the Panoramic feature you can take a portrait photo of a tall building, clicking a series of three photos vertical, all the while, holding the camera sideways.
The Tacoma Dome has tight seating to be frank. I was cramped, but the corridors are spacious.
The Tacoma Dome (constructed by Tacoma Dome Associates, led by McGranahan Messenger Architects, a design build entity) is an indoor arena located in Tacoma, Washington, USA, approximately 30 miles South of Seattle.
Completed in 1983 for $44 million and opened on April 21, the arena seats 20,000 for basketball. It is the world’s largest arena with a wooden dome in terms of total volume and seating capacity (23,000), with a diameter of 161.5 m (530 feet) and a height of 46.3 meters (152 feet)[1]. The Superior Dome in Marquette, MI is larger in diameter at 163.4 m (536 feet) but is only 43.6 meters (143 feet) high and only seats a maximum of 16,000[2]. The Superior Dome is also not a geodesic dome, it is a planar radian structure of glue-laminated beams. The first concert in the Tacoma Dome was David Bowie with The Tubes as the opening act.
The arena hosted the Seattle SuperSonics from 1994-1995 while the Seattle Center Coliseum was being renovated into the venue now known as KeyArena. It also hosted the Tacoma Rockets Western Hockey League team from 1991 to 1995, the Tacoma Sabercats of the West Coast Hockey League from 1997 to 2002, The Tacoma Stars indoor soccer team of the MISL from 1984 to 1992, gymnastics events during the 1990 Goodwill Games, numerous other minor league ice hockey and indoor soccer teams, and many concerts as well. It additionally hosts wrestling events, such as WCW Spring Stampede 1999.
Unlike most other arenas of its size, the arena contains little in the way of fixed seating so as to maximize the flexibility of the seating arrangements and of the shape of the playing field. It can even host American football, albeit with seating reduced to only 10,000.
A wide range of high school athletics is played at the Dome, as the stadium features the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association High School Championships in Football, Wrestling, 4A Basketball, as well as 4A and 3A Volleyball. The venue became home to the State High School Championships in Football in 2000 after the regular home, the Kingdome, was demolished.
The Tacoma Dome is also known for its controversial neon art, in 1984 the Stephen Antonakos piece displayed inside the dome was the subject of intense debate over public funding of artworks for public works projects.