Seattle Christmas Ships

After biking to see the Christmas Ships in Portland the last few years, I got the chance to compare that experience to Seattle's version this year.

Folks were invited to decorate their bikes and ride to the Ballard Locks to view the decorated boats.

My camera again demonstrated what I consider a major short coming of USB devices. I've taken 25-30 photos since the last time I charged it. It took one photo tonight and died. My old AA battery camera would have had plenty of charge yet, and if all else failed, I could have picked up a new set of AA batteries on practically every street corner.

The only photo I got was very early in the evening, just as people started gathering for the ride.

About 20 of us took off from the alt-bike shop, Hub and Bespoke, in the Fremont neighborhood. The ride was a slow paced ride, as expected. It was a nice night for a ride, and with the decorated and brightly lit bikes, it would have made a nice photo.

We arrived at the locks, and as per regulations, dismounted and walked our bikes the last 150 yds.

Arsen S photo

I was a little disappointed in the ships. These were mostly commercial tour boats that were navigating the locks on their way from Lake Union to Golden Gardens. Rather than the brightly colored and often animated private boats on Portland, these all had simple white lights on the outline of the boats.

Hiram Chittenden Locks photo

One nice thing about them though is they had to pause just feet away from us as they waited for the lock to do it's thing. The largest boat in the flotilla had a choir onboard that serenaded us with holiday carols.

After spending some time there watching boats come and go through the locks, our group began to scatter. Julie had to work early in the morning, so we went with the group that was calling it a night. The rest seemed headed to some warm holiday cheer.

A dad and his small son on their tandem joined us on a slight detour through Ballard where we took in a short street corner concert by a 5 member brass group.

I had hauled our bikes to Hub and Bespoke because Julie wasn't enamored with riding back up Queen Ann in the dark, late at night, when she has to work early. We rode back to where I had parked.

We loaded the bikes, then noted an envelope under my windshield wiper. Drat, a $58 ticket for parking in the neighborhood after 8PM without a neighborhood permit. Neither of us had seen the sign, partially hidden by shrubbery, and in shadows.

It was a nice night for a ride, but the holiday ships probably weren't worth the $58 it cost me. :-(


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