Gasworks Park

Gasworks Park was another area in Seattle where I didn't understand what all the fuss was about. So what, it used to be the home of the gas company and now it's a park. In fact, isn't that kind of disgusting? This used to be basically a power plant! But everyone kept talking about it, and saying how neat it was. Mom even sent me an article from her AARP magazine that mentioned it.

Since Gasworks is only about a mile away from Fremont, we decided to head that way after seeing all of the sights that Fremont had to offer. I'd have to say, Gasworks was BEAUTIFUL. It's funny how structures such as tanks and pipes can become works of art (if you will) after they have outlived their useful life.

The first thing we came upon was a play barn for kids that was put together out of old parts from the original setup. This thing was massive. It was full of gears and pipes and all sorts of other giant pieces of metal. And everything was painted some sort of bright color. The strangest thing was that as we walked into the play barn, it looked like a modeling photo shoot was taking place in there. I suppose there's nothing sexier than a 15 foot gear...

Past the play barn was a bunch of green, grassy open space with occasional structures from the original gasworks company here and there. Just a little further south was Lake Union. What we didn't know about Gasworks before we went is that the park looks south across the water with the most amazing view of Seattle skyline. We watched for a while and got to see boats and even some kayackers float on by. It amazed me how much different this view of downtown was from the view I see every day while taking the bus to work.

After poking around Gasworks for a while, it was time to head back to Fremont (truth is, we were hungry, and had discovered that there was a McMenamin's in Fremont). Once again, we couldn't have picked a better day to explore a new park. And as an added benefit, since it was still the middle of winter, the park wasn't over crowded, though you could see people throwing a frisbee or studying out in the sun.