After receiving word that I would be hosting a couple of Midwestern friends and family who are elderly or have significant health issues, I was nervous. Most of the time, my guests don’t balk too much at the hills downtown and I don’t worry about things like ramps and elevators. But suddenly I was faced with hosting less active guests, combined with having to wrangle a two-month-old and accompanying necessities (i.e. stroller).

Here are my suggestions- and feel free to suggest your own in the comments:

Pike Place Market: You can’t really be a tourist in Seattle without visiting Pike Place, and fortunately, the market is pretty friendly to those with wheelchairs or strollers- plenty of elevators and inclines for those on wheels, though some of those inclines can be difficult for those with bad knees. Additionally, if you get tired or someone needs to rest, there are plenty of places to sit- most notably Steinbrueck Park at the northwest edge of the market.

Coffee shops: As much as I often shake my head in amazement at having two or three coffeeshops per block in areas, it is awfully helpful to have so many spots to duck in out of the weather and rest, particularly if your guests have been kind enough to walk up one of those hilly blocks. Not as friendly to wheelchairs or strollers, but pretty much all Starbucks have a handicapped table, and unless your guests are huge coffee snobs, having a latte at a Starbucks in Seattle is pretty touristy. Other shops that were spacious and/or accomodating: Seattle Coffee Works (close to the market), Zoka in Tangletown, Zeitgeist and Caffe Umbria (both in Pioneer Square), and Uptown Espresso in Belltown. Parking is reasonably easy to find in Belltown and Tangletown; for the others, you may want to take a bus or find a parking garage.

Parks: There are a number of parks in Seattle with amazing views; many are easy to drive or bus to. Personal favorites include Kerry Park for its postcard-perfect shot of Seattle at any time of day (and the amazing ease of finding parking), Alki Beach, Gas Works (which is a little more difficult for those on wheels, but not terrible), and Volunteer Park- though if you’re going with less active folks, I would skip the observatory climb, and simply enjoy the views elsewhere in that park. Snoqualmie Falls is a good bet if you’re looking to get a bit out of town- the falls are viewable from several easily accessible viewpoints.

Miscellaneous:

My new favorite locale for anyone interested in Seattle’s history is Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The Seattle unit has a ton of kid-friendly exhibits, elevators for those on wheelchairs, and lots of information about Seattle’s role in the gold rush.

Riding the ferries is totally doable and worthwhile for the less active. I particularly suggest the Bainbridge Island ferry for the view of Seattle, though my favorite ferry landing is in Kingston, where they have cute coffee shops and bookstores right off the dock. However, the Kingston-Edmonds ferry doesn’t have the Seattle skyline views, and is so short, it’s almost over before you realize you’re moving. Still, any and all ferries are fun for those who don’t live in the area and/or are less active.

Let us know if you have any additional suggestions or places you’d avoid with less mobile friends and family.

7:30 PM – Black Heron Press: Reading
Elliott Bay Book Co.

The local press celebrates 25 years of books with a group reading with founder Jerry Gold and assorted other Black Heron writers.
[LINK]

2:00 PM – ReAct Theatre: Some Girl(s)
Elliott Bay Book Co.

The debut reading of EBB’s 10th Annual Staged Play Reading Series is Some Girl(s) by Neil LaBute. I hear it’s funny.
[LINK]

Kelly O knows drunk people. As creator of the Stranger’s “Drunk of the Week” column, she has faithfully captured Seattle’s inebriated since 2006. Her boozy, woozy photos have the tinge of 35mm film strips developed in vats of PBR, and her oft-hilarious captions read like the charming barfly who’s desperately, sometimes frustratingly, attempting to articulate the theory of the universe in between shots of Jager. The world represented in O’s photos is the ideal drunken Capitol Hill situation: everyone’s passed out, nekkid, sharpied with a penis on their forehead, and wearing something absolutely ridiculous. I absolutely cannot wait for this show.

Opens Saturday, August 15th, 7pm at Gossamer Collective. 1406 18th Avenue. Through September 17th.

12:00 PM – Kat Richardson: Vanished
Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Number four in the Greywalker urban fantasy series, starring Seattle investigator Harper Blaine.
[LINK]

1:00 PM – Edward Channon: Ballad of a Bagpiper
Barnes & Noble University Village
The author will read, sign, and play the bagpipes. There will also be traditional Scottish Highland dancing. Yes, you read that correctly.
[LINK]

4:00 PM – Poets West Open Mic
SPL Greenlake Branch
[LINK]

6:00 PM – Comics Savants: A Survey of Seattle Alternative Cartoonists
Fantagraphics Books
Reception for new exhibit featuring Peter Bagge, Jim Blanchard, Charles Burns, Ellen Forney, Roberta Gregory, Ted Jouflas, Megan Kelso, David Lasky, Jason T. Miles, Patrick Moriarity, Eric Reynolds, Jim Woodring, and Eroyn Franklin.
[LINK]

7:30 PM – Seattle Opera: Aspects of Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung
Elliott Bay Book Co.
I admit that I am not a huge Wagner fan, but the Ring is more than just overblown German opera: it’s mythology, history, literature, music, theatre, and sociology. Even politics, unfortunately.
[LINK]

photo by davezombie [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• Someone dropped an F-bomb on Aberdeen’s Cobain memorila. [theawl]
• it’s been a couple years, so it’s about time to trot out the old fake trendpiece about cafe wifi and the strawman target of how people who use laptops as somehow more offensive than people who occupy tables while reading a book, making doodles, or writing poetry while nursing a mug of drip. [seattlest]
• The latest salvo in the ongoing battle regarding photography in public places makes its way to the bus/rail tunnel. [westseattleblog]
• Short of cash but long of hair? Get a $15 haircuts from up-and-coming VAIN stylists. [vainblog]
• Those ornithologically incorrect marching penguins can find a place in your home for the right price. [woodlandparkz]
• Combing through liquor license applications reveals the possibility of a new indie-bucks coming to Broadway. [capitolhillseattle]

Light Reign, a James Turrell Skyspace. Photo courtesy of the Seattle PI.

Next weekend, August 14th-16th, Seattle poetry press Wave Books, with the UW’s Henry Art Gallery, is hosting a poetry festival: three days of poetry, film, books, art, book arts, et cetera, et cetera. The event will feature Wave authors and take place in the Henry Auditorium, as well as the James Turrell Skyspace.

Authors scheduled to read are Joshua Beckman, Noelle Kocot, Dorothea Lasky, Anthony McCann, Eileen Myles, Richard Meier, Maggie Nelson, Geoffrey Nutter, Matthew Rohrer, Mary Ruefle, Dara Wier, Jon Woodward, Matthew Zapruder and Rachel Zucker. Various authors will read 7 – 9 PM on Friday and Saturday, but all will read in the Skyspace on Sunday, 11 AM – 4 PM.

The festival is limited to 150 tickets, and run $50 for students, $75 for regular folks. A limited number of day passes ($25 each) are available for Friday and Saturday admissions only; there are no Sunday passes.

Also at the Henry next weekend is Ann Lislegaard’s 2062, a trilogy of digitally animated installations based on classic works of science fiction by Ursula LeGuin, J.G. Ballard, and Samuel R. Delany. 2062 closes August 23rd and really should not be missed. The other must-see exhibit is Chiho Aoshima’s The red-eyed tribe, a digital mural influenced and inspired by traditional Japanese painting, modern pop culture, manga, and kawaii.

The red-eyed tribe by Chiho Aoshima. Photo courtesy of Blum and Poe.

photo by Esther Perez [flickr] via our group pool [#]

• the Olympic Sculpture Park is open after dark tonight, complete with DJs, Decibel artists, dancing, poetry/musical collaborations Roberto Ascalon & Paul Rucker, a comics drawing rally, after-dark tours of the park by the cast of the local alt-weekly troupe the Stranger, breakdancing ninjas, and a walking tour of the park by PDL. All of this for $5-10, depending on your age and SAM membership status. [belltownpeople]
• South Lake Union’s block party starts this afternoon with watermelon eating contests, spaghetti eating contests, and audacious burger making along with live music from the likes of Grand Hallway and Cosmic Panther Land Band, a community farmer’s market, and sunset screening of Raising Arizona. [southlake]
• Dead Baby Raceday XIII. This is a real thing. [lineout]
• KEXP’s incredible summer Concerts at the Mural series continues tonight with performances by Dyme Def and Fresh Espresso. Tomorrow brings the annual KEXP BBQ, which is free this year and features Champagne Champagne, Born Anchors, Japandroids, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Viva Voce, Dinosaur Jr., a beer garden, and maybe just maybe a break in the cloud cover. [kexp]
• Bikes and beer launch from Gasworks courtesy of Fat Tire on Saturday morning. [wallyhood]
• On Saturday the Northwest Film Forum (send cash!) celebrates the ancient technology of VHS by showcasing some “forgotten gems” and “mindblowing oddities” from the venerable archives at Scarecrow Video. [hotsplice]

The first public lending library in Seattle didn’t officially open until the spring of 1869, but it was on this date, August 7, back in 1868 that the library association that would someday become the Seattle Public Library was formed. Every two weeks until the library opened the group got together for singing, reading and speeches. The group also spent $60 for the library’s first books.

The very first librarian for the future-SPL was Sarah Yesler, community activist and partner in philanthropy with her husband Henry Yesler.

Much has changed since 1868 but the library remains a fun place to go in Seattle, with branches throughout the city offering books, magazines, movies, computers, and more. Over the course of this weekend alone, you can take your young kids to a free concert about bugs at the Magnolia branch, get tutoring for your pursuit of US citizenship at the Central branch, learn nature printmaking at the Northeast branch, play chess at Rainier Beach branch or share your work at a poetry open mike at the Green Lake branch.

Thanks to HistoryLink for historical info.

NWFF presents On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in which George Lazenby takes his first, and only, turn as super spy James Bond. Following Sean Connery’s strong performances in establishing the film version of the popular character would’ve been a tough act for anyone, but audiences really seemed to dislike Lazenby. A shame, really, because this is actually one of the better Bond movies. Bond fights brutish thugs, foils a megalomaniacal plot to take over the world and gets married in a fast-paced thriller.

Also at NWFF: In Ex-Drummer, a deaf guitarist, a stiff-armed bassist and a “psychopathic guitarist-vocalist with a lisp” join together to start a band for a one-night only gig, recruiting a celebrity author to fill the percussion role. Foul language and filth fill this black comedy about abuse, exploitation and death.

Another music film plays at NWFF, this one with way less swearing. Throw Down Your Heart documents musican Bela Fleck’s journey through Uganda, Tanzania, Gambia, and Mali to trace the roots of the banjo and learn about the dizzying array of African languages and customs that go into creating a rich variety of musical forms.

The Garden, playing at the Grand Illusion is an Academy Award-nominated documentary about the intense political and social battle over a community garden in south central Los Angeles, the largest of its type in the US.

If you’ve somehow never seen The Dark Crystal…well, honestly, I don’t think you’re missing all that much. I’ve never really liked this Jim Henson puppet feature about, well…the same thing fantasy stories are usually about: an unlikely hero who goes on a quest to defeat the scary villian determined to take over and/or destroy the world. Some people really, REALLY love this movie, though, and if you’re curious about why, head down to Central Cinema, have a good meal and check out the film.

An animated film I can definitely recommend is Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki’s luminous story of a young girl who must rescue her parents from a scary witch who has turned them into pigs. The story itself is exciting and features charming and funny characters but the best part of the film is the amazing artwork, fantastic and realistic at the same time with an extreme attention to even the littlest detail that makes watching Spirited Away a feast for your eyes. Midnight at the Egyptian.

At the Harvard Exit: SIFF 2009 Festival Opening Night Selection In the Loop, an almost obscenely funny sarcastic comedy that pokes at politics, goverment, and the art of the “spin” in both the UK and the USA. There’s a lot of swearing, used to great effect, and excellent performances from everyone who makes the screen. This is one of those movies where afterwards you’ll be trying to describe your favorite scene and never quite manage it because you’ll keep interrupting yourself to describe a scene that’s even better.