Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Scenes From A Vacation

So, here's a quick photo-tour of our time in the Northwest. 
As always, you can click 'em to emBIGGERate 'em.
My father lives very near, very near, the Canadian border, in a small farming community.  I mean, it's so close that one wrong turn and the Mounties demand to see your passport. This is a view of Mount Baker rising behind one of the farms.
Speaking of Canada, with their gay marriage and health care, this is the Freedom Arch at the border, and a view of the Canadian flag, done flower style.
In the harbor of Bellingham, I found the name of this boat particularly suited to me, as I often don't give a Flying F. After spotting this, I went in search of the Asshat and the Fucktard, to no avail.
This is the City Center of Tacoma, right across the street from a delicious Mediterranean restaurant we enjoyed. Tacoma is very reminiscent of San Francisco, so it holds a special place in my heart. Old buildings, streetcars--albeit new ones--and a waterfront.
In Tacoma, we saw an exhibit of Chihuly glass--if you've never seen a Chihuly exhibit, what are you waiting for?? But I was stunned that so much of his gorgeous glass pieces could be found on the streets and on freeway overpasses.
A piece of Chihuly glass. I love the reflection  of the overhead lights and how it looks like stars.
Another Chihuly. Many of his pieces are inspired by the handwoven blankets of Native Americans.
 The Tacoma Union Station, now a US Courthouse with a lobby filled with Chihuly glass pieces.
 Mount Rainer, as seen from the Chihuly bridge overpass.
 The street art. Row upon row of Chihuly artwork on a pedestrian bridge from the City Center to the waterfront.
 These are some of the fabrics created by Chihuly and then used as inspiration for his glass pieces.
 And what's a visit to Seattle without braving the crowds, sights and smells of the Public Market.....
....or getting all touristy and going to the Space Needle.
 I loved the views from the top of the Space Needle, looking out at Seattle. I was not so fond of looking down.
 The beautiful Snoqualmie Falls are just about 45 minutes from the craziness and traffic and noise and fun of downtown Seattle.
 The town of Snoqualmie had a railroad museum. Carlos loves railroad cars and railroad travel. I, however, was more taken by the rust and decay of the rail cars and found many--and I mean many--shots I had to take of rust and ladders and numbers.

So, there's a brief tour of some of what we did and saw and smelled and tasted and touched. farmland to city, waterfalls to trains. A little bit of everything, I guess!

10 comments:

  1. As a kidlet we used to go skiing on Mt. Baker, traveling down from Vancouver BC.
    Glad you got to enjoy the brief summer that the west side enjoys!

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  2. Anonymous11:07 AM

    I've never seen those glass pieces before. I loved them!

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  3. Beautiful pictures...thank you so much for sharing! Love all the Chihuly glass! I have seen one of his exhibits and it was amazing!

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  4. Nice photo set,
    Simplicity in itself...

    Sorry you couldn't find the S.S. Fucktard.

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  5. Seattle is one of my favorite cities. I love when "the mountain is out." The Chihuly Museum in Tacoma is amazing. Pike Place Market... Ahhhhhh. Thanks for sharing your experiences and for bringing back so many great memories.

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  6. It looks like such a nice place to visit and explore. I hope to make it there someday. So glad you had a good week there.

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  7. What a beautiful post! I have always wanted to go there just to see the Public market! Its so hard to get back into life again after vacay isn't it. I was in P-town for 14 days and it was a blast. Its only a shame you did nt have time to visit the fabulous post apocalyptic bohemia!

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  8. PS- I also was watching the news to see if Palin had gone missing, or got it hit by a drive by creme pieing!!!!

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  9. Thanks for posting the photos! It was a bit of a tour vicariously. There was a Chihuly exhibit in Nashville. Amazing!

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  10. I think it's the colors of Chihuly that really make me love his work. The pictures were beautiful! Glad to haer you and Carlos had a good time!

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