Spring Break By Multiple Modes

Last night I returned from a 9-day Spring Break to the Pacific northwest. Specifically, Seattle & Portland.

At home I can drive thanks to a couple of minor modifications (steering wheel knob & turn signal lever) that permit me to drive with only my right hand.  Last August I drove to Oklahoma to visit family for a brief weekend visit.

But in flying to Seattle I knew driving would not be an option for me.  While many trips during my visit did involve private vehicles, I still managed a few other modes.  I took a bus to downtown Seattle, rode Seattle’s new streetcar loop in the South Lake Union area, rode two ferries, and rode Portland’s streetcar loop. I typically take transit or walk when traveling. Before my stroke I’d walk considerable distances in strange cities as well.

I saw a lot in both cities and future posts will share my observations and photos.  Stay tuned.

Urban Walgreens of Seattle

Walgreens stores in the St. Louis area are no different than ones in Dallas or Tulsa. Big & boring. Their designs are the same pretty much everywhere. Except in cities where the typical auto-centric doesn’t cut it.

In October 2005 I did two posts about interesting Walgreens stores in suburban Seattle. One in the South suburbs was very standard except for the coffee shop that was built out at the street corner of the property (view post) . That Walgreens I first spotted on a 2002 visit. In 2005 I spotted another I liked built up to the public sidewalk (view post).

Jump forward 3-1/2 years to yesterday and I’ve found two more interesting atypical Walgreens stores. First up is the Walgreens going into a vacant 1950 modern bank building. When I was here in ’05 we walked around this tasteful modern building, appreciating its massing and detailing. The branch, originally a SeaFirst and later a Bank of America, closed in 2006.

The area around this mid-century modern gem is rapidly developing. The developer of adjacent apartments had bought the building a secured a local historic designation for the structure. It is nice to see Walgreens reuse an existing structure. See story from the Seattle Weekly.

In the Capital Hill neighborhood another Walgreens is already open at the corner of Broadway and Pine (map). This time the Walgreens is in the base of a new multi-story building. No huge parking lot, no drive-thru.

This new building is across the street from a community college.

I’ve been visiting Seattle now for 15 years. I’ve seen many areas urbanize in that time. It just doesn’t happen . Seattle has deliberately changed zoning on certain corridors to allow and encourage dense mixed use properties such as the above. Developers can begin to see how building more building on a small site can give them a greater overall return. The first step is on the city to change the zoning for an entire street rather than waiting for a developer to possibly ask for a zoning change to do something more urban. As a city we must be proactive to get more urban development.

Dump No Waste Drains To Sound

Protecting water quality must be a community effort. Sometimes it is important to remind people to not pollute.

I spotted the above yesterday in West Seattle area known as Alki Beach (map). Subtle messages can help build a collective community conscience.

Puget Sound is stunning. They want to make sure it stays that way.

Former Sanatorium grounds offers glimpse into Missouri’s history

Since March 21st I have been at the Missouri Rehabilitation Center located on a big hill overlooking the small Missouri Town of Mt Vernon. Originally the facility was opened in 1907 as a Tuberculosis sanatorium. In the 1980’s the focus shifted to physical rehabilitation.

Back in the day the facility was completely self sustaining complete with its own farm fields, dairy cows and so on. So yesterday I got bored and decided to go exploring — in my wheelchair!

I did three outings yesterday in different directions, taking my camera on two out of three trips.

Above is the main administration building although this entry is no longer the main entrance. Wings were added on each side in the 1950’s. … Continue Reading

Downtown Springfield, MO, a follow-up visit & rehab update

Not even being a patient in a rehab hospital will prevent me from getting out and about. This past weekend my two older nieces and their mom came up from Oklahoma City to visit me. On Saturday they indulged me and we headed eastbound on I-44 to Springfield, MO. My last post on Springfield was nearly three years ago — from when I was there for a class to get certified as a bicycle safety instructor.

Our first stop was to satisfy my nieces’ husbands — we stopped at a Brown Derby Liquor store to get some He’Brew beer so they could take it back to them. It was here that I saw something a bit odd.

A bike rack at a liquor store.

Personally I think we need to have bike parking everywhere, including liquor stores. Such parking could serve employees as well as customers. However the way this rack is mounted up on that curb I think it reduces some of the utility — perhaps it works ok in practice.

Our real destination was downtown and the Park Central Square (see map).

According to When Missouri Took The Trolley by Andrew Young, Springfield’s first horse drawn trolley line originated in the Square, opening on April 15, 1881. In short order additional lines would open— most converging on the square but heading different directions. Eventually electric lines replaced horses for powering the vehicles. St. Louis investors were among some of the early backers of these lines.

St Louis based developer Kevin McGowan and his company Blue Urban have plans to convert the old Heer’s Department store (above) into lofts. Several other smaller buildings on the square have already been converted and at sidewalk level are a couple of coffee houses. A hip new public library branch is open in one of the storefront spaces.

Around a portion of the square remains an earlier attempt to revitalize the area — a concrete canopy that once encircled the square. Facades of once beautiful buildings were blocked by this attempt to give the area a uniform open air mall look. Thankfully this awning has been removed from the other three corners.

The Square’s center is still a bit on the dated side. It was a nice day while we were there but we saw few people out.

Despite the dated appearance we ventured into the center and took time to pose for a picture — On my left is Patty and on my right is Shelley — their mom, my oldest brothers first wife, Sam, took the picture.

Well, since I am sharing personal family photos, above is me & Sam on the square. All three are Oklahoma State fans so I wore my Oklahoma University shirt to get a rise out of them — mission accomplished.

We had lunch at a cute Italian deli, St Michaels bar & grille. We didn’t have to worry about cigarette smoke since Springfield banned smoking a number of years ago — somehow the restaurants managed to stay in business. Imagine that? I guess people do go to restaurants to eat and not to smoke.

Just South of the square is one of Springfield’s more tragic buildings . I’m guessing this is actually an old building that got a horrible new skin a few decades ago. Whenever it was done, they shouldn’t have.

When I was here in 2005 the parking arrangement on South Ave was different than it is now. In 2005 the left side of the street above had angeled parking but now it is basic parallel. All parking downtown is free, a mistake in my book.

At the end of a side street, not far from the square, is a large parking garage. It seems that they left their old downtown intact but chipped away at the edges. Although Springfield is the county seat I didn’t spot the courthouse or the city hall.

After we had toured downtown Springfield it was time to head back to the hospital. Yes, that is me getting into Sam’s big gas-sucking SUV. As my right side remains strong, I was able to pull myself into the vehicle along with a little push from Patty.

That evening we went to dinner here in Mt Vernon and we decided to leave the wheelchair in the vehicle — my physical therapist had given me the OK to walk out in public as long as one of my relatives “guarded” me against falling (holding onto a gait belt around my upper torso). It felt good to walk into into a restaurant rather than being wheeled in.