Last Weekend In Seattle

In my uncle's lovely garden.


During my last weekend in Seattle, I visited Mt. Rainier National Park.


A scenic overlook near Mt. Rainier.


These big black bugs loved the smell of my hair. You can see one to my right and one sitting on top of my head...


Me and my Great Grandma. I was in town to celebrate her 97th birtday with her.

Three-Day Weekend

Fog


Volunteer Park, Seattle.


Court House in Tacoma.


Look closely and you can see Mt. Ranier


Tamoca Narrows




Tacoma Museum of Glass - this is the glass blowing studio.


Cool reflection.




My "Bite of Seattle."


A frozen banana ended a day full of good food.


In Manchester, Washington


Hiking in Manchester

Cassette v. CPU

Today at work I needed to listen to a casette tape. Here is a picture of the cassette player I used.



I placed the casette player on top of my computer's CPU, only to discover that the two machines were equal in size. But that is where their similarities ended, as their style and processing capabilities are polar opposites.

I had to ask for help operating the casette player twice. The first time I found myself fussing at a high-pitched, high-speed playback that I could not correct. By the time the second snafu popped-up, I was more than willing to admit that I could not remember much about casette tapes.

So I can't operate a bulky, out-dated cassette player without help - so what. I may have been born in the 80's, but by the time I was old enough to buy my own music, casette tapes had been replaced by CD's. It was a bit humorous, however, that I couldn't figure out the few simple buttons on the tape player but had no problem with my much more complex computer.

Culture Barrier

Today I found this strange little Japanese store filled with ten times the stuff you would find in an average dollar store. The store carried just about anything you could possibly need, and a lot of stuff you would never need, including multiple shelves of tiny porcelain plates and cups. All of the tags were in Japanese, contained metric measurements, and prices in foreign currency. After aimlessly wondering around for a few minutes, I asked the cashier if the store carried Chapstick. Actually, I was pretty sure that in some small corner there was a small box of Chapstick tubes waiting for me, it was just a matter of finding it. The cashier's eyes lit up upon hearing my question, as if to say, "I know exactly where we keep the small tubes of Chapstick among these endless isles of junk." As I followed her to what I thought would be the end of my pursuit, I was impressed that she could navigate her way through the store so quickly. I was a little disappointed, however, when she escorted me to a tall display of chopsticks. I think this was the result of more than just a language barrier.

Ninety-Six but not Slow

A couple weeks ago I was at potluck with my great grandma. She is 96 years old and probably weighs her age. As we were waiting for our table to be called, she told me that the potluck line moves too slow. Whatever you do, do not be deceived by my great grandma's aged body, and do not get in the way when it's time for her to eat.

Fireworks on the Fourth

Chris and I went to a park on Lake Union to watch the fireworks. The sunset was great.


The place was packed. Even Lady Liberty was there.


The park is called Gas Works park because of the old refinery equipment still in the park. Note that this is just a fraction of the spectators waiting for the show.


The backside of Seattle, at night.


Awesome fireworks!

Trip to Marrowstone Island

Chris and I went to my aunt's beach house on Marrowstone Island. On the way we drove through historic Port Townsend.


This is a really cool court house in Port Townsend.


Chris loves hot dogs. We decided that this particular hot dog is suicidal.


At the beach.

Seattle Center

Chris and I went to the Experience the Music Project museum. This is an aerial view of the interesting(?)Frank Gehry building.


Inside the museum - this is the crazy-lights-and-music room. It was awesome.


The space needle from below.


At the top of teh space needle.

Random Pictures

Friday night we had a really nice dinner on the deck at my grandparents' house.


This is the inner harbor in Victoria. The building in the background is the legislative building.


One evening we drove to Alki Beach, where the view of Seattle is spectacular.


One evening Chris and I went to the Museum of Flight. Here is what I would look like if I was in space.


This is the AeroCar - the coolest thing at the Museum of Flight. The wings and tail attach to the car for above-ground travel or they can be pulled behind the car like a trailer when traveling on the road.

Ocean Kayaking

Chris and I went kayaking in Victoria. Because we went during the week and because we went on a longer tour, we were the only people on the tour. It was awesome.


The weather was perfect - no wind or rain. Just lots of sun.


We saw lots of wildlife and hardly any other tourists. These seals were all over the place and followed us around until we left their territory.

Afternoon Tea

What we thought would be a nice meal turned into afternoon tea with a great view.


The tea was fresh brewed from flower petals, etc. We started our meal with berries and cake.


This was the main tray of food - almost too pretty to eat. The bottm tray was sandwiches, quiches, etc. The middle tray was tiny cakes and tarts. The top tray was scones.

Butchart Gardens, Victoria, BC

Snoqualmie Falls

The falls were flowing pretty well.


The park area around the falls was beautiful.