Food & Drink
Rahh Recap, Amazon Prime Day and More News
The top Seattle news stories you should be reading today
By Lauren Mang July 13, 2015

Back in May, I wrote about Camp Rahh, an all-inclusive summer camp for grown-ups that I was set to attend in early June. Well I did. And I regaled my experiences over at The Liberty Project. You may recall the camp was cellphone- and booze-free (and also that I kind of hate camping), so just how did I fare? “People discussed shared interests and calmly talked politics. Who knew how polite and engaging we all could be without phones glued to our palms and a few too many glasses of vino flowing in our veins?” Read all about it here.
Traffic: To drive in Seattle around rush hour–or any hour, really–is to question every decision you’ve ever made as you sit and sit and sit in total gridlock. Now the city is aiming to relieve a bit of our traffic pain with what KING 5 News calls “drastic measures.” “Traffic engineers recently closed off the small stretch of northbound Yale Avenue between Denny Way and Stewart Street. Drivers were trying to turn both left and right at Denny and blocking the intersection.” And it sounds like other intersections are up for analysis, too.
Cabin in the woods: A nearly 100-year-old log cabin in Olympia has been added to the Thurston County Historic Register and saved from demolition, according to KIRO. The two-story dwelling near the Nisqually Indian Reservation is located in the Lost Lake RV Park and “is mostly used as the neighborhood library.” Great news for those in favor of preserving the past!
Amazon Prime Day: If you haven’t heard of the huge 24-hour Black Friday-esque sale that online retailer Amazon is hosting this coming Wednesday, you can read about it here. The crazy sale has spurred other retailers, like Walmart, to follow suit. Geekwire reports that “Walmart announced it would be rolling out thousands of specials and will lowering its shipping minimum to $35 from $50.” Amazon’s Prime Day extravaganza does require shoppers to sign-up for its two-day shipping program, which runs you $99 a year (though you can sign up for a free 30-day trial). Walmart fired back at the cost with this on its blog: “We’ve heard some retailers are charging $100 to get access a sale. But the idea of asking customers to pay extra in order to save money just doesn’t add up for us.” Let the sale wars begin!
The warehouse that houses the Old Spaghetti Factory near Seattle’s waterfront will be redeveloped into a mixed-use project, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports. “Nitze-Stagen and Seattle real estate company Meriwether Partners LLC have bought the full-block property next to the Olympic Sculpture Park for $9 million,” and the new development could go up around the building, which was built in 1902, or “possibly on top of” it.