Where else can you eat a bag of Dicks?

 

Because, well, why not?

There couldn’t have been a more beautiful summer day to do it either.

We stopped by Dick’s Drive-In for our old school burgers and their signature soggy fries just after a visit to the famed Freemont Troll.

It was built in 1990 as part of an art competition to rebuild an area under the Aurora Bridge that was becoming a dumping ground. At 18 ft tall, the troll makes the actual Volkswagen beetle in its hand look like a toy (along with us).

Then it was off to the Gas Works Park, the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, where you can see some of the best views of the city skyline.

Gasification? Yep, and it’s pretty much what it sounds like: “a process that converts organic or fossil fuel based carbonaceous materials into carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide.” Apparently the syngas (“synthesis gas”) product was used to power cities before electricity and natural gas replaced it. Thank you Wikipedia.

It was pretty busy for a Thursday night. People were picnicking, practicing group dances, playing volleyball (and a game we discovered, called “Spike Ball”), walking dogs, biking, stand up paddle boarding, you-name-it.

There’s a beautiful interactive sundial built into the ground at the top of the highest mound at Gas Works Park. You stand on the date according to its calendar (to account for seasonality), and your shadow becomes the reference for the time. We were there at sunset, which didn’t make for very clear shadows, but did make for beautiful views against the changing sky.