Seattle, Chicago: architecture, Wright, Gehry, photos

20 January 2016 - Woke this morning to sounds of a city under construction. Jack hammers.  Beeps from backing trucks.  Tower 12 Apartments going up a block away.  Big-time residential city with lots of high-rise condos and apartments.  Makes for a vibrant street scene.

Chicago, after the great fire in the late 1800s, shied away from allowing residential in high buildings. Street scene less vibrant.  Quieter at night when people head out to the suburbs - like Oak Park, Hyde Park, Highland Park (where my grandparents used to live) - to their homes.  Downtown Wilmington has a similar problem.  Needs more people living downtown - like in the tall towers there by the Christina River - to make the street scene more alive.

Downtown Seattle.  Second Avenue and Virginia.  Moore Hotel.  Old, funky, simplicity, clean.  Josh Ritter playing the Moore Theater Sunday night. Meredith says he's great.

Moore Coffee shop downstairs.  Drank a Matcha Green Tea Latte yesterday after reading a long article about Matcha and its high levels of amino acid L-Theanine which help bring alertness and relaxation - unlike strong coffee's jumpy and jaggedy buzz.

Tasted a little like wheat grass juice to me.

On the way home from seeing Revenant at the Big Picture last night - across the street from the Cyclops and Ace Hotel - we crossed a bridge over - I think - I-5 through the heart of Seattle. (I've since been informed it was actually the Alaska Way Viaduct. The image stopped me. It reminded me of the pedestrian bridge in Chicago's Millennium Park designed by organic architect Frank Gehry. I've included photos of both here.

Architecture, architecture, architecture.

I'm including photos of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes near his Oak Park studio on Forest Drive; the office in his studio; and a few other images I found memorable from the last few days off traveling.

Tonight taking Maisy Peach and family out to UW to see Colorado Buffaloes play the Washington Huskies at Alaska Airlines Arena.  We're supposed to fly Alaska Airlines back to Baltimore on Sunday.  Keeping an eye on the mid-Atlantic coastal storm. Thought about changing flight from Sunday to Friday. Price difference? $870.  Ended that thought process.