During the last year, many of you have contributed amazing photos to the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. The photos you see here today were chosen from the nearly 700 photos that were taken and posted in the photo pool during 2009. Some were chosen because of their photographic beauty; others, because they captured newsworthy moments on the Hill. Some of these we’ve published before, and some we haven’t.
We would like to thank all of our wonderful Beacon Hill photographers for posting photos to the pool and their generosity in allowing us to share them with you. We hope you enjoy this look back at 2009. Happy New Year! Continue reading A photographic look back at 2009 on Beacon Hill→
The heat is getting to our computer equipment, even. Wendi’s monitor is flickering on and off (mostly off), my little cheap netbook has locked up several times, and the oppressive heat doesn’t make the prospect of sitting with the laptop terribly attractive either.
If you’re not lucky enough to have air conditioning, or if you’re getting a bit stir-crazy being trapped at home by your A/C, what are some places to head to, easily accessible from the hill, where you can hang out for a bit in a cooler atmosphere?
Wandering around inside Red Apple is refreshing, particularly near meats and in the frozen food aisle, lazily pondering which frozen fudge bar or ice cream sandwich would be best, but mostly chilling in the flood of cold air while standing there with the freezer door open.
Last night, we wanted to get out and get a meal somewhere cool with good food and drinks. I recalled the Collins Pub is just a half-block from the Pioneer Square tunnel station. A few blocks walk and we were in the elevator at Beacon Hill station. Once on the platform, it was a very pleasant temperature. A few minutes later, the air conditioned train stopped and we made our way to the Pioneer Square station and then up, out of the 3rd & Yesler entrance. Downhill and around the corner of the Smith Tower and we were at the comfortably cool Collins Pub. (I had a burger, impulsively with Field Roast instead of beef, with fries and tartar sauce. The burger was good, and the fries great. Wendi had a polenta dish with zucchini, broccoli, and a rustic tomato sauce. The polenta was good. The tomato sauce was a bit acid-y, and the broccoli was a surprise — Wendi hates broccoli. Luckily, I love it. Collins Pub offers a good selection of interesting craft beers. I had a pint of 21st Amendment‘s “Hell or High Watermelon Wheat” — surprisingly tasty and refreshing — and one of Ninkasi‘s “Radiant Summer Pale”, which grew on me the lower it got in the glass.)
What we’d like to know is: Where are you going and what are you doing to beat the heat?