I had no expectations when I pushed my bike out the door on Saturday morning. I was just happy it wasn’t raining. I had no destination in mind as I rode down the Burke Gilman Trail. I was thinking I’d maybe go to the West Point Lighthouse and look for the eagle that often hangs out on the weather station there, when I saw the crescent moon drifting in and out of thin clouds. It six weeks past the winter solstice but the sunrise had only gained 20 minutes; 7:36am today. I had plenty of time to get up to Kerry Park. I figured I’d do a sunrise tour on the way there; first stopping off at the small park at the end of Lynn St, but the Central Cascades were banked in by backlit clouds. I remembered a small, almost private park off Bigelow with a beautiful view of the skyline and headed there next. The moon hung over the expanding skyline of South Lake Union. I took pictures while a man stood on his back balcony drinking coffee.
Kerry Park was packed with photographers as I rolled up. I could’ve found a spot if I wanted, and everybody was friendly, but instead I just snapped a few shots of the Space Needle and the moon before leaving them to their postcard pictures and moving on. I like the view of the mountain from the Elliott Bay Trail; foregrounded by the cranes raising up in praise of the new day from Harbor Island; alongside a ship docked at the Grain Terminal; through the chain link fence on the overpass in Balmer Yard.