The place: Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park, on the shores of Lake Washington in Renton, a 90-minute drive from my parents' place. The reason why: Somewhere new to stretch our legs and enjoy another sunny (if cold) day. How I found about it: From an article in the "NW Weekend" section of the Seattle Times. The verdict: Father and daughter had a good time (Mother elected to stay home and relax - for her, "walk" is a four-letter word).
Amber tries on my cap at the park.
Gene Coulon Park had a branch of the seafood restaurant Ivar's, noted for its clams and chowder. A definite plus!
Amber checks out the bronze sculpture "Interface", by Phillip Levine.
Mount Rainier - so easy to see, so difficult to photograph.
On the way back from the park, Amber and I stopped off at the Kitsap Mall to do some early Valentine's Day shopping at See's Candies. While we were there, we checked out Bubble Island, a drink stand purporting to sell "Bubble milk tea" (chēnchūnǎich'á 珍珠奶茶), those Taiwanese sweet tea drinks with the tapioca balls inside. Amber's Strawberry milkshake tasted like a Slurpee with "pearls" added, but the neat thing was the plastic cups and seals had been imported from T'áiwān 台灣. In any event, it was too much drink for Amber to handle - she couldn't finish it:
One more Taiwanese-related note from this day: that morning's Seattle Times had a review on the Bellevue branch of Táipěi's 臺北 famous dumpling restaurant, Din Tai Fung 鼎泰豐 (At Din Tai Fung, xiao long bao — wow! — and other dumpling delights). Bubble tea and steamed dumplings 小籠包 - a display of "soft power", or an example of the pernicious influences of globalization? You make the call.
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