Celebrate Shoreline

This week I fell victim to the JetBlue “All-You-Can-Jet” pass. For those of you who live under a rock and haven’t heard, for $599 you can fly as frequently as you wish to any of JetBlue’s 56 destinations. The catch – I have only one month. So pardon the break in blog entries this past week as I was frantically booking flights and plotting out my adventures over the month. Not to mention, today is Natalie’s wedding…whom you may recall from last weeks bachelorette extravaganza. So here I am, on her wedding day donning my bridesmaid garb blogging about my recent adventures in Shoreline. Hardcore? Totally. I wouldn’t want to let you down.

So yesterday began the festivities of Celebrate Shoreline, an annual event which, hence the name, celebrates Shoreline. Although I blog quite a bit about Seattle, I technically live in Shoreline, just 30 minutes north of Seattle. Here you will find my humble abode, nestled between a court house, casino, and strip club. I could bet it all on red, win big, toss it all to a stripper, and pay a parking ticket all on the same block. Yeah, I know how to live large.

Just a little bit up the street however, sits an old converted school house. I most have drove past it hundreds of times without knowing that this brick school house is actually the Shoreline Historical Museum. So, whenever the husband and I have a morning or evening off we try to find new places to explore close to home. Hence, we found ourselves on the doorstep of this quaint museum yesterday.

Upon stepping inside we were greeted by an energetic, middle-aged woman who was clearly excited to have visitors in the noticeably empty museum. We had barely stepped over the threshold and she proceeded to tell us the history of Shoreline over the next 30 minutes. After her wonderful introduction we explored the museum on our own. The displays were informative and interactive. Dan even took to practicing his best college subject… napping in class:

We were surprised to find out that Shoreline once held Seattle’s amusement park, Playland, from 1930-1961. Complete with giant wooden roller coasters, water rides, and bumper cars, Playland was a “million dollar pleasure resort.” The archives of photos were amazing, here are a couple photos that I snapped shots of (is that against copyright laws? If so, don’t tell anyone!):

Leaving the creaky, wooden floored schoolhouse we walked back up the street, passing the skuzzy 24 hour casinos and littered bus stops. The celebrate Shoreline festivities were not over yet. We still had one more place to check out. And no, it wasn’t the strip joint – jeez people.

On the edges of Shoreline tucked into the corner of a large playfield sits a skate park. Constantly filled with teeny-boppers donning casts and crutches, this park has a wholesome feel to it with a playground sitting beside it. Families sit scattered around the park enjoying picnics while young boys watch in awe as the pre-teens skate around.

On this particular day, the Celebrate Shoreline festivities included a skate competition, complete with all the free Red Bull one could ever consume in a lifetime. The air was buzzing with energy.

Dan and I took a seat and watched as dozens of teenagers crashed, collided, and skidded across the park. In other words, it was one big testosterone competition. Regardless of the inevitable injuries, there were a few good skaters who strutted their stuff across the park as onlookers cheered them on. After an hour, I had had enough. My body hurt just watching the kids throw their bodies around. How do they do it?

The Celebrate Shoreline events continue through the weekend and tomorrow I will be snapping shots at Richmond Beach of the sand castle competition. Stay tuned!