Easy Washington State Living in GoldenYearsRetirementInns 2

Seattle has it all - great sweeping vistas of mountains, cityscapes, and grand expansive waterways. Puget Sound brings an abundance of waterborne activity and edges Seattle's urban spaces with deep blue waves peppered with tiny craft, tourist boats, cruise ships, and the Northwest's Grand Old Ladies of the seas, the Washington State Ferries.

Viewed from downtown, across the Sound are the snowcapped majestic Olympic Mountains. Freighters and container shipping up and down the north-south seaway corridor punctuates the blue water with activity.

Seattle produces cultural affairs like symphonies, Broadway shows, local theatre and ballet performances. Great universities offer post-graduate and continuing education classes, and teaching opportunities. Downtown living is as refined or as casual as you choose - a truly unique home-base for retirement.

Water sports, golf, and racket sports offer options for the physically active senior. You'll find it all in Seattle!

Seattle is known for it's reading populace. Seattle has 128 libraries, including a magnificent downtown structure shown above. Formerly Art Critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Regina Hackett describes the Central Library: "Crouching tiger, leaping building: If Rem Koolhaas' new library were a movie, it would come as no surprise, but as a building taking up space in the world, it's amazing. It marries European avant-garde architectural theory to populist, Northwest purposes, and that's just for starters."

Architecture Digest presents a beautiful description of the description, selection steps with many photographs of the dynamic spaces and shapes in the building. http://www.architectureweek.com

This sleek structure, at 1201 Third Avenue, in downtown Seattle, is a grand example of Seattle's enticing city center architecture, added after zoning 1988 change implementation. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and the McKinley Architects, it was known for headquartering Washington Mutual, a financial company that no longer exists, but formerly much loved by the community, as it participated visibly in numerous community events, both through generous financial donations to nonprofit and civic organizations, and personally through hands-on involvement in work projects. My personal nickname for the building is the "Tin Hat." From the I-5 freeway, the waterfront, or down at street level, the vistas including this building are beautiful. It boats enough blue colored glass to coat the whole building in a warm blue. Other nicknames are both the Washington Mutual Tower, and the Spark Plug.

Paul Goldberger, New York Times writer, wrote in 1988: "The new 1201 Third Avenue building has an importance that goes far beyond Seattle itself, for like Helmut Jahn's recent One Liberty Place in Philadelphia, this is one of those rare instances in which a downtown office tower big enough to transform a city's skyline is actually a good piece of architecture. Unlike the Philadelphia building, the Seattle tower is not taller than anything else in its city, but this is something of a technicality, for 1201 Third Avenue is in every other way downtown Seattle's most prominent building. While it does not push the art of skyscraper design in new directions, it summarizes, perhaps more neatly than any other building, much of what is going on in skyscraper design today...." http://www.nytimes.com

The New York Times named it one of the three best new office buildings in the United States in 1988, and in the May 1989 issue of Architecture Magazine Walter McQuade called it "perhaps the best recent addition to any U.S. skyline." Paul Goldberger said of the tower, "The building seems proud of its height; for all its classical elements it has a certain sleekness, and in this sense it is characteristic of our time, at least in intention, for it bespeaks a desire to combine the formal imagery of classicism and the energizing aura of modernity."[6] Seattlites have voted the 55-story skyscraper as one of their favorite buildings. The building is managed by Wright Runstad & Company.

Washington State abounds with fresh water and salt water boating venues for Active Seniors. Charter a boat for salmon or fly fishing on Puget Sound. Visit the Center for Wooden Boats, on the southern shore of Lake Union, where you can explore the history of these fine craft, sail in them, or volunteer to share you boating knowledge with newcomers. A great way to establish ties to other boaters in the Puget Sound area.

It's easy to take your boat from Seattle's gorgeous Lake Washington, past the University of Washington via the Lake Washington Ship Canal, over the north end of our downtown lake, Lake Union, and further west along the canal to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, pictured above. These locks that connect Seattle's line of freshwater lakes and the ship canal to Puget Sound's vast playground for boaters, as well as for charter boats and fishing boats, were built in 1911.

The Locks are a popular tourist attraction, for varied amenities, such as underwater-level fish viewing stands where one can watch migrating fish travel upstream along a fish ladder. Landscaping is lush and the venue hosts weddings and flower shows, among other events. Visitors can walk out over the Lock's doors, which partition off sections of water to raise/lower boats from the Sound level to the Lake level. Children of all ages never tire of this adventure. photo from www.seattle.gov

The Center for Wooden Boats lies at the south end of Seattle's Lake Union. Come on down for a city sailing experience. Workshops and Classes are taught by trained CWB volunteers, with a real passion for sailing.

SailNOW! is the Center for Wooden Boats' introductory program for sailors. The series includes six classes, beginning with a 2-hr classroom session that covers terminology and sail theory. Dates and times can be customized within the weekend and evening framework. Families are encouraged to come as groups - with two accompanying adults the cost for youth is nearly cut in half!

Classes continue with new weekly sessions at the intermediate level, with water-ready skippers and novice crew. Learn the basics of racing rules and racing strategy in the classroom, where you can takes notes, and then move outside onto the water to put your new learning in practice.

Excellerated team-course over three-days, for two people only, Three four-hour sessions make this an intensive and smart method of learning to sail.

Membership has double bonus points - learn with your hand-selected teammate & save money on the deal!

Free Sailing

Bellingham, Washington offers a small-city welcome to retirees of all ages. Scenic views from downtown and the hills. Western Washington University sits above the Fairhaven community, with its established old buildings and charm. The Whatcom County Museum offers culture with regular exhibitions and programs. The American Museum, of Radio & Electricity will bring the history of America's experiments and successes to delight the viewer's imagination.

Bellingham sits close to the Canadian Border and the Peace Arch, an easy drive to the north.
Mt. Baker, with thrilling vistas, sits majestically to the east of the city. Take a drive, take a tour and stay for an afternoon or longer. Ski at world renowned courses.

Nearby, the Bellingham city park, Whatcom Falls, pictured above, lies on 241 acres of prime landscape. It boasts not only one of the WPA's finest park works, but trails, bridges, creek, and on the eastern side, even a fish hatchery. Take the grandkids fishing in a children's pond. One of the highlights for the daring adventurer is a 60' jump from a cliff - nonsupervised, of course, but plunging into the cold water pool below. Photo above highlights Whatcom Falls. photo from www.google.com

en.wikipedia.org