Category: Edmonds

Food Trucks: Making Festivals Better

Carl Setzer

​One thing I noticed about the Edmonds Arts Festival yesterday: food. Once upon a time portable food vendors were, well, mediocre at best. Often times they were dreadful, to the point of promising almost certain food poisoning. Quality was job two. 

We’ve shifted from food trucks to, um, foodie trucks. Better put, food trucks are evolving. They’re becoming exercises is culinary creative excellence. This change is a beautiful thing, which I welcome. They add a new, positive element to our region’s festivals. 

Does this upscaling come at a cost? Are they more expensive, making living in the region tougher for those earning less than the median! Or just uppity, gentrified fare challenging the more traditional palette? It seems we are able to have a blend of costs, foods and styles. So, I’m not concerned. I often wonder about such things, though. I desire the region to be accessible to all. 

Higher quality food enriches the whole experience. I’m pleased at this change, seeing it as progress. 

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Today was a perfect day to be out and about in Edmonds

Carl Setzer1 Comment

It was a fun day down in Edmonds by the Bay. Stunningly beautiful with plenty of sunshine: a perfect day to be outside, with the Saturday Farmer’s Market, the Edmonds Arts Festival and extreme low-tide.

I’ve been dealing, lately, with some foot pain, and my back’s been bugging me, which drug my attitude down some. But it’s hard to be too grumpy when it’s a beautiful, sunny day spent with family and friends.

Highlights:

  • Grabbed groceries and lunch from the Edmonds Farmer’s Market. Today was the first day with the big/full market.
  • Ran into the Bald Fish Guy at Edmonds’ Olympic Beach Visitor Station. I love watching all the folks checking out the touch tank! Oh, he told me there’s a new edition of his podcast, Aquacast,coming out soon. Make sure you check that out.
  • Wandered along the beach from Olympic to Brackett’s Landing, checking out the tide-pools and marine life during our extreme low-tide. You can go tomorrow, too, if you missed today. Or if you just love this! Here’s a tide chart with details.
  • I know it’s kinda silly, but I am very fond of the Edmonds Beach Temperature taker dude (No shirt? No shoes? No problem!). Bill Lindsay is a fascinating guy to talk with. Though I didn’t chat with him today, I have in the past.
  • It’s the Edmonds Arts Festival. Wandered through checking out art, some of the student artists are friends with my son, which is fun. I delight in these person connections. We also had some ideas while exploring the photography exhibit, that we’re looking forward to exploring. It will be going on tomorrow as well.

It was lovely, and I am tired. I took plenty of photos, which I’ll upload tomorrow. Here is my favorite.

I was sitting by this bush with flowers the bees adored. After taking around a dozen photos with my Olympus, but the autofocus hated this. The breeze was bouncing the flowers and the bees were, well, being bees. I gave up on the good camera, pulled out my Samsung S7 and was able to grab this one. I did need to zoom in and crop a bit. A lot of work for this one.

 

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Walking in Edmonds, My Grandparents, Sunsets and Memories

Carl Setzer

One of my favorite things to do: walk along the Edmonds waterfront. It’s picturesque and just delightful, especially when the weather is nice (like tonight). Yet there’s far more to this for me. For most of my memory, Edmonds was the home of my grandparents.

I walked along the same space with my grandpa, though it’s worlds different now. So many differences: no longer able to fish off the ferry dock and pretty much all the businesses they knew are gone (I don’t miss the old cat-food/meat processing facility that was over by Anthony’s, though…blech!), yet there are things that trigger memories. Some of the old buildings, the older restaurants (hi Pancake Haus!), but the biggest thing was walking by the place my grandparents lived. In the dusk, looking at the building, I have expected to see grandpa walking out.

These memories drive home how much this little city by the bay has changed. Yet there’s so much the same. He’d know where he was were he to materialize in front of me, familiar and alien. I do love my dichotomies.

The photos here are, simply, snapshots of this evening’s walk. I think I’ll bring my camera down there, soon, and explore the city in terms of my memory.

 

A Sunday At Edmonds Beach

Carl Setzer

I slept poorly last night, so I took a brief nap after church (I ran media/video today). Our taekwondo school has a blackbelt class on Sunday afternoons. Lately, the act of spinning around for certain kicks has been very unpleasant. Dizziness sucks. I’ve never been a fan. As a small boy, I hated the little “merry-go-rounds” at playgrounds, as I find them nausea creators. It’s been with me my whole life. If anything, it’s gotten worse. Or my tolerance for discomfort has slipped. Not sure which. But the details are less important than the results. My desire to spend Sunday afternoon spinning around has waned.

While my wife was partaking in the blackbelt class, I opted to walk. My favorite place to meander is the Edmonds waterfront. When I lived down there, we’d walk every day. Sometimes twice a day, especially on weekends. North on Third, down Sunset, along the water from Brackett’s Landing to Marina Beach then back up the hill.

One of my desires in 2018: spend more time with photography. So, below are photos I took during my excursion.

A Sunday Walk In Edmonds
Photos from a Sunday afternoon walk in Edmonds on April 15, 2018

I hope you enjoyed your Sunday, and are feeling refreshed and ready for Monday.

What was your favorite part?

Easter Saturday In Edmonds

Carl Setzer

We managed to squeeze a walk in my favorite seaside town yesterday: Edmonds. Though our day was full with prep for Easter, an evening get-togethere with dear friends, and getting the weekend’s errands done as we sacrifice Sunday’s productivity for fun and family. Sure, we squeezed some productivity into the walk, stopping for a few necessities along the way.

I love walking, both as a means of exercise and as transportation. I’ll be writing more about this.

After church, playing some brass church music, I’ll be heading to Bellingham to spend time with family.

What ate you doing this Easter Sunday?

The Edmonds Top Pot Opens! Well, Sorta

Carl Setzer

Ah, the Edmonds Top Pot donuts finally opened! It’ll be a lovely addition to the changing dynamic along the ferry lane.

I expect the good folks at Waterfront coffee, nor the proprietors of the little coffee shop and hot dog stand adjacent to the ferry holding lane will be fine.

Anyway, the shop isn’t quite finished. The upstairs seating area isn’t accessible, nor are all the pieces of the kitchen done (donuts were being unloaded from a van, so I don’t think the kitchen is operational yet). The soft serve ice cream machine isn’t finished yet, and the stairway doesn’t have handrails. But what’s there is nice. Well lit, with the books in the loft a northwest genteel touch. I’m looking forward to having the place done.

The sign on the door said it was open today and tomorrow until 2:00. Not sure about the week. But we have a little action after the years of waiting!

Welcome to the neighborhood Top Pot!

The train’s horn carries

Carl Setzer

The train’s horn carries

Upon the suburban calm

Miles from the shore

I often hear the train’s whistle miles away from the Edmonds shore. A few miles, up the hill, from Puget Sound. It actually delights me. Well, at times the intense quiet unnerves me. At my core, I’m an urbanite. 

Let’s Talk Burgers, Shall We?

Carl Setzer

Over on Instagram one of my chums, Eat Stay Love posted the photo below:

 

Their post led to a discussion about great burger places in the region. Funny, but I realize I’ve experienced many and have my “definitive” list of favorites, which stretch from Seattle north to Bellingham.

This my reflexive list. What’s missing? What are your favorites? I’d really love to hear them.

Several years ago, I considered doing a road trip focused on the best burger places. Might be time to consider that one again. What do you think?

Quite the day, weather-wise here in Edmonds & Lynnwood

Carl Setzer

Quite a combination of weather today near the Salish Sea.

I woke to a lovely morning snowfall.

By the time we needed to head to church, the snow was mostly gone. We had a few flurries through the late morning and afternoon, with nothing sticking.

My son’s youth group went to an Everett Silvertips game in the late afternoon. The sun was shining brightly, though quite cold. Oh, and a brisk, strong wind. So we went and walked along the Edmonds Waterfront; one of our favorite things. According to the weather station at the marina, it was 34 degrees with windchill dragging things down to 27. Brrrr!

Looking north from Brackett’s Landing, Mount Baker was glorious. I didn’t bring a decent camera with me, so you get these taken with my phone. Not too bad, but nowhere near capturing it’s awesomeness.

The wind was pretty relentless. Sea water spraying and wind howling through the boats’ rigging in the marina.

A very lovely afternoon along Puget Sound. Lovely….and cold. But we weren’t alone. Many good folks dared the frigidity to enjoy the sun. Even some windsurfers with their gear on the beach. Pretty sure hoping for a break in the strong winds (there was a small craft advisory for the Sound).

How was your Sunday? Hope it was grand.

Some thoughts on the Top Pot donuts getting built in Edmonds

Carl Setzer

This shop, just across the street from the ferry lanes. It’ll be a nice addition down there.

I like the stairs, and the upper loft they’re building.

Some good work was getting done today. Hope it means we’ll be done soon.

I’m not certain what the root issue has been for the delay. I expect it’s a permitting issue. Hopefully they can get this resolved quickly/finally. Vacant stores are a financial drain.