Pacific Northwest Chalk Fest

It may be "back-to-school" time and the beginning of football season, but I am still enjoying what's left of my summer.  Is August more than halfway over already? (gasp!)  Around here, summer means lots of festivals, Mariner baseball games, free concerts, art shows, air shows (Blue Angels), boat races, and lots of yummy food everywhere.  What can I say.  I love summer and I don't want it to end. So far this summer, we've gone to Alki beach for two of their festivals; the Alki Art Fair last month

where they had a stand selling mangos-on-a-stick that I loved 

and then, of course, the big Sub Pop Anniversary concert last weekend that I blogged about already in my previous post. (Our rock-and-roll weekend.)

 We also went to our neighborhood's SummerFest that they have every year at the Junction, which is West Seattle's main downtown area.  

It's a lot easier to go to local festivities in our neighborhood but all over Seattle there are fairs going on every weekend of the summer, like the Milk Carton Derby at Greenlake, hydroplane races on Lake Washington, lots of Seafair parades all over town including here in West Seattle and lots of free concerts everywhere.  Our neighborhood has free concerts every Thursday evening at Hiawatha park which is a few blocks from our house.  We've walked up there 3 or 4 times this summer to have a picnic dinner and sit and listen to the concert.

My dietitian friend who worked with me at Swedish hospital 30 YEARS AGO (another gasp!) also walks over from her house and we enjoy a lovely dinner together in the park.  You can imagine with two dietitians together, we've had some pretty good picnics in the park.  Bruce is in heaven.  

Last week was our last concert in the park and we were sad for it to end so we just stayed about an hour after the music ended to enjoy the park on such a lovely, summer evening.  This past weekend there were more fairs going on including the 27th Annual Hempfest at the waterfront which is a really big deal.  There were over 400 vendors, 80 musical acts and 100 guest speakers.  There is a lot to know about marijuana since it is legal here, but then this festival was popular even before it was legal.  Instead of going to the Hempfest, my girlfriend and I opted to go to the NW Chalk Fest out at the Redmond Town Center that is a large mall east of Seattle.   It was a three-day festival where artists from all over the world came to display their artwork in the form of chalk drawings on the sidewalk.  Yep, that's right, just like we all did as little kids.  Only their drawings are little more elaborate.

It takes them 3 days to do their drawings so you'll notice that some of them are not quite done yet but you get the basic idea.

Isn't it amazing?  Some of them don't look like they are drawn flat on the pavement at all. 

It was interesting looking at their supplies that they used and watching them in action. 

Most of them just had a picture that they were copying their design from. This guy's picture had a graft for him to follow.

It was one of those things that you got sort of mesmerized watching and we felt like we could stand there for hours. At one point, we walked up to the second level of the mall to look down at the drawings. That was a good view point, too. 

 

One artist had a lens set up to view his drawing to get a different perspective. Here's without the lens:

and the view through the lens:

It looks more 3-D from a distance.

This artist was from Tampa, Florida. Several were from California and one was from the Netherlands. It was just amazing, really. This one looks like 3-D, too.

Here are more:  

Viewing all this art made us hungry so we stopped for lunch at an all-day breakfast place that's one of my favorite places, The Original Pancake House.  Nick even took Bruce and I to one that opened in Tokyo last year.  It originated in Portland, Oregon in 1953 and the first time Bruce and I ever went to it was in 1980 and it was so popular back then that we had to wait about an hour to get in.  It is still a very popular place but now they have their restaurants everywhere and there are several in the Seattle area.  This is where Bruce and I had our very first Dutch Baby and we loved them.  A few years later, my mom found the recipe in a Seattle Times article about the popular restaurant in Portland and she started making them regularly and we've been eating them ever since.  It is one of our all-time breakfast favorites. But on this day, I did not order a Dutch Baby (since we eat them at home all the time) but instead ordered their fresh fruit waffle.

   

I told you I was still enjoying summer and this meal was like a giant strawberry shortcake.  It was so full of summer deliciousness and my friend even ordered the same thing.  It really did not need the extra syrup that most places give you because the whipped cream and fresh strawberries were just the right amount of sweetness.  They have a lot of choices on their menu from waffles, pancakes, Swedish pancakes, and French toast to crepes, omelets and egg dishes.  They also have another signature dish besides the Dutch Baby called the Apple Pancake.  I saw many of them being brought out to serve and they looked like a giant cinnamon roll except it's a large pancake smothered in a sautéed apple mixture.  We had to wait about 40 minutes to get in for lunch so they are still a popular restaurant around here.  The last time I ate at The Original Pancake House was in Portland when Nick was still in college.  He loved it when we'd take him there to eat.  The servers in the Portland restaurant were still wearing their old fashioned uniforms from the 50's and the dishes were still the old style 50's cup and saucers, etc.  I think they were trying to keep it authentic in Portland since it was the original location.  So, if you are ever looking for a good breakfast place, check and see if there is one near you.  It's a treat.  And, if you ever have an opportunity to experience a chalk art festival, I'd highly recommend that, too.  It's truly amazing.