Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States in the seat of King County, Washington state. (population: over 737,000) It’s the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America, situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington. It is also the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles south of the Canadian border. A major gateway for trade with East Asia, Seattle is currently the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling.
The area was inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travellers, later known as “The Denny Party'', arrived from Illinois via Portland, on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on the 13th November 1851. The settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay and named "Seattle" in 1852, in honour of Chief Si'ahl of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.
Seattle's first major industry was logging, then by the late 19th century became a commercial and shipbuilding centre, as a gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. Growth after World War II established Seattle as a centre for aircraft manufacturing. Nowadays, the city has developed into a technology centre, with the likes of Microsoft, Amazon and Alaska Airlines all emerging from Seattle.
Seattle also has a significant musical history from Jazz Clubs from 1918 up to the 1950s, to the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix, as well as the Grunge scene from the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains.
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Lumen Field
800 Occidental Ave S,
Seattle,
WA 98134,
United States
Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium, built between 2000-2002, located in the city's SoDo neighbourhood. It is also home to the super Seattle Seahawks of the NFL and OL Reign of the National Women's Soccer League. Originally called Seahawks Stadium, it was renamed Qwest Field in June 2004, when telecommunications carrier Qwest acquired the naming rights. The stadium became known as CenturyLink Field following Qwest's June 2011 acquisition by CenturyLink, when it was nicknamed "The Clink". Its new name came in November 2020 with CenturyLink's rebrand to Lumen Technologies.
The stadium is beautifully designed with two curved roofed three tier stands on each side, with the lower tiers running behind the goals. There’s a triangle-shaped seating area behind the goal, known as the “Hawks Nest” on NFL Game Days with a tall slim scoreboard screen above it which allows for open views of Downtown Seattle.
The seating capacity is 68,740 spectators for NFL games and 37,722 for most MLS matches (with the upper third tiers closed) however in August 2013, the Sounders broke a new home field attendance record when 67,385 fans turned out to watch them play the local rivals Portland Timbers.
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Seattle Sounders 1(Montero 58)
Red card:Rowe 69
FC Cincinnati 1(Brenner 24)
MLS matchday 32
7.08pm ko
Att.31,291
Admission $22
A magnificent strike from Fredy Montero just before the hour mark rescued a point for the Sounders. The match was littered with sloppy play, with the game's first slice of quality coming in the 24th minute when Brazilian Brenner produced a good finish to give Cincinnati the lead. Following Montero’s equaliser, Sounders were reduced to ten men when Kelyn Rowe was given a straight red after a foul on the edge of the box. Seattle actually played better in the closing stages, but weren’t good enough on the night to earn the victory.
#Heedhopper
Seattle is a city I’ve always wanted to visit. Not just because of the facts stated at the beginning of this post, but mainly because I feel an affinity with Seattlelites, due to their location, stuck up in the northern part of their county and the last major place before crossing over the border, plus… I’m a big Seahawks fan!
This was our second game at Lumen Field after taking in the Seahawks game with Atlanta Falcons the previous Sunday, so I was lucky to visit my new favourite stadium twice and tick it off for football… sorry…I meant soccer!
I loved my time in Seattle, as it offers all the things I enjoy - fantastic beers, terrific brewery pubs, a wonderful stadium and loads of top quality record stores, so basically - my perfect holiday location.