Call it the flip side of the phenomenon that occurs in spring and summer, when the sun temporarily blinds you as you’re driving eastbound to work in the morning on the WS Bridge.

The light that blinded me (figuratively speaking) tonight was … light in the western sky, as I drove home at dusk. LIGHT IN THE SKY, AT 6 PM! HALLELUJAH!

Speaking of driving, one more plug for my new friends at the Alki News Beacon — they’re running an online poll about whether signs on local freeways should point visitors to The Beach.

Sounds like a great idea to me. I didn’t even make it over to West Seattle the first time I came to the city as a tourist in the late ’80s; even though I had a rent-a-car and roamed quite widely around the area, this side of the bay was quite the well-kept secret.

I came back two years later, and found my way here after reading a blurb in a tourist guide. The rest was history … six months after that, WS Blogger Spouse and I were loaded in the car and headed this way, for good (in more ways than one).

Even now, though, West Seattle is way too “off-the-beaten-path.” I know we don’t want to be overrun with people, but still — a little tourism could be encouraged (scenic tours? see where Seattle’s first settlers landed?), without much skin off our backs. Just a little. Daytripping, they used to call it. Sunglasses & sunscreen, here we come!