Thursday, a beautiful day. We say goodbye to Portland and head for Seattle. Enroute we stopped in Tacoma to see the Tacoma Glass Museum with it's large collection of Chihuly drawings and Glass. (Dale Chihuly is a Glass Sculptor noted for his large, colorful and fanciful installations. Pat is a huge fan.)
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| A few (maybe .05% of Chihuly's Drawings. |
We crossed over "The Glass Bridge".
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| Ceiling panel on the Glass Bridge |
Then we stopped at the former Union Station, now the courthouse....for more Chihuly.
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Chihuly installation at Union Station...
probably 10-12 feet in diameter.
This is one of several pieces there. |
We caught one of the final days of the "Georgia O'Keeffe & Still Life Art in NM" exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum. Yet the Georgia O'K piece Pat liked the most was from the recently donated Haub Collection of Western American Art. There were several pieces by Bill Schenck that we liked as well.
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| Georgia O'Keefe - Pinons with Cedar 1956 |
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| Bill Schenck - South of the San Juan River 2002 |
We arrived in Seattle in the late afternoon and settled in to the first of several home exchanges we have arranged for the trip.
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| Space Needle |
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Paul Allen's Electronic Music Project building
...architecture by Frank Gehry |
Saturday we walked across the Hiram M Chittenden Locks and into Ballard for lunch at the Lock Spot Cafe - Salmon fish and chips. Continuing down Market street we shopped and bought a half-dozen books (lightweight, secondhand fiction).
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| In the locks as the water rises |
In the evening we dined with Lee Daneker (Stanford classmate and fellow San Miguel resident) and his wife Moi (and other of their friends) at their beautiful home with a view of Lake Washington.
Sunday we took it easy, kind of. We helped Bill’s Mom sort out a problem with her computer, we figured out how to pay our TelMex bill on-line and completed other similar fun tasks. Then we went for a 2.5 hour walk around Discovery Park, Seattle's largest green space with miles of rugged trails & beaches, plus views of the Sound. Then we enjoyed dinner at Ivar’s Salmon House on the Waterfront with Alison & Kurt, our delightful hosts at our home-exchange in Seattle.
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| They cook a LOT of salmon at Ivar's |
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| Bill had the Salmon Sampler (King, Sockeye & Coho) |
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| Pat had the the fresh Copper River King and Sockeye Salmon |
Monday we returned to the Chittenden Locks to seek out the Blue Heron rookery. We managed to just miss this on our Saturday trek. Thanks again to Bill's telephoto lens and steady hand, he captured some nice shots of a Mama Heron.
Then we headed to Fremont, home of Google, Adobe and Brooks Running. We wanted to catch up with our great-nephew and “Brooks Beast”, Riley Masters. Don’t be surprised if you see him on the US Track team in the 2016 Olympics. In the meantime he sees himself as one of the luckiest folks in the world, being funded by Brooks to do what he loves most, running.
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| The "Family" photo with Riley |
In case you can't read the card above, his current records are 1:49 for the 800m and 3:38 for the 1500m.
Fremont is a cool town with funky art being noted for it's "One-eyed Troll". There is also a statue of Lenin.
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| The One Eyed Troll |
Brooks, founded in 1914, is a very eco conscious firm. They monitor ALL of their water & energy use and are committed to achieve aggressive targets. They may be slightly motivated by the fact that they will a owe huge (think over $1 million) fine if they do not achieve these goals. Why the huge fine? They were granted the privilege of having the tallest building in Fremont thanks to their environmental sensitivity.
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A piece of a wall-size sculpture that reflects energy & water usage.
The closed flowers reflect using too much water. |
Tuesday we began working on locating a home exchange in NYC for early September, then we went to explore Pike’s Place Market. Pike’s Place Market consists of a rambling set of buildings along the waterfront. For a first-timer it is hard to locate any specific shop or restaurant but it is fun to wander around. We stumbled onto Cafe Campagne, a French Bistro. Pat had poached eggs (a french favorite of hers) that came with garlic fries. Bill enjoyed his lamb burger and fries…finally a burger that we could consider medium-rare, not over-cooked.
Wednesday we went on the Boeing Factory tour to see 747’s, 767’s, 777’s, and 787’s being constructed. The tour is impressive but no photos. In fact you are not allowed to carry ANY electronic equipment or bags of any kind. Hence, we have no photos from the tour. However, they will shoot a photo of you on a green screen and then you can choose your preferred background. Hence the following photo of Pat "in" the factory.
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| Pat "in" the Boeing Assembly Plant |
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The Everett Assembly Plant spans nearly100 acres and is recognized by Guiness
as the largest building by volume in the world. The 4 doors are 81 feet high. |
We went to Woodinville for lunch (at Village Wines….flatbread pizza) followed by a little wine-tasting. The best winery was the Mark Ryan. Airfield and Goose Ridge were also good. And for efficiency in wine tasting, Woodinville gets top marks with more than a dozen tasting rooms in one small area. This was on a weekday so we didn’t bother to checkout the “warehouse” district with it’s dozens of small wineries. These are mostly run by folks with a “real job” so they are only open on weekends.
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| A few wine tasting rooms |
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| It was a lightweight day...we only bought these three. |
Along the way we noticed this vehicle. It seemed to be a shuttle bus to take you to get your LEGAL pot. Yep, Pot is legal in Washington. It will soon be legal in Oregon. And it is legal in Colorado. While interesting this isn't all that significant for us. We love our wine and we limit our "vices".
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