The "sea" in Seattle is quite fitting because there is water everywhere around the city...salty, fresh, brackish, you name it, they got it. Our family's recent vacation trip started off at Sea-Tac airport on a bittersweet note. My husband's sister was to meet us at the airport. They had not seen each other in 13 years. He didn't recognize her at first., but our daughter insisted that a grey haired woman sitting by the baggage carousel was her, and she was right. We were all alot older!! Fish always tastes best when eaten in sight of seagulls and sunset over the bay, and the first night's feast was no exception. The second day we headed for a local park where we tried hard to memorize the names of the new and old family members who came out to welcome us. Day three, we headed up to the San Juan islands for whale watching. We took a ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor to catch a small boat and hopefully view the orcas at play. I panicked at the last minute and ran up 3 steep blocks into town to the local general store. I wanted to purchase Dramamine for seasickness and almost missed the boat. I had read 1 too many horror stories of mass vomiting on the online reviews. Note to self...stay away from reviews..remember, happy satisfied customers rarely take the time to post. Anyway, the trip was fabulous and barf free. The whales frolicked freely and the captain said it was one of the best trips ever. Once on dry land we headed for the ice creme shop which had about 86 delicious flavors. Wish we could of spent more time in Friday Harbor but we had to catch the ferry back along with all the other tourists. On Tuesday I looked up an old friend from Oregon College of Art. We had moved to NY together to attend the illustrious Art Students League. She had recently married and moved to a sweet little bungalow high up on a hill in the "green city". We fortified ourselves with breakfast at a "swedish" themed place. The pancakes were piled high with raspberries, blueberries and loganberries. The bacon was thick and Canadian style. Next we all headed south to Tacoma to visit the Glass Museum. I especially hoped to view the work of Dale Chihuly, a world famous glass artist. We walked across the "bridge of glass" where the walls and ceiling were filled with at least 50 0f his creations. Inside we witnessed 2 artists in a tall metal cone shaped studio demonstrating their technique. One of the most interesting galleries was the one where the glass artists took drawings by children and interpreted them in blown glass. The results were wonderful and probably knocked the high and mighty artists and critics down a notch or two off their lofty intellectual peaks. The stuff in the gift shop was outrageously beautiful and outrageouly priced, but Laurel managed to snag a (blown glass) slug for a friend. Seattle is the home of Starbucks and there are coffee-shops on every corner, so we headed off for some serious coffee before parting ways. Next stop was our simple motel in Tacoma to rest up before our trip to Mt. Rainier the next day. One of the few things I didn't like about the area was the insane urban sprawl in the areas outside the city of Seattle. It was the wild wild west all over again. But can a Mexican food lover like me really complain about 5 brands of Mexi fast food within 2 miles? We settled on a Vietnamese Pho place for a delicious and cheap dinner. The Asian influence is everywhere and you especially see it in the architecture. They aren't stuck in the past with sad imitations of our colonial bsckgound as you see in the east. Alot of the buildings are a pleasing mix of Asian and a warm and friendly modern style which I found refreshing. Anyway, the weather was clear the next day and we almost drove off the mountain road more than once on our way up to the Paradise side of the Mt. Rainier National Park. Sadly, we only had a day there, so we took a short hike to some lakes snapping away like crazy people with our brand new camera. The first place we stopped once outside the park had some tacky souvenirs and some sad looking pie, but down the road we hit pay dirt. Home made raspberry cobbler and blackberry pie with some more of that great brew. Another night at the motel and then off to eat dim sum in Seattle's Chinatown. A little shopping there and then we moved on to the infamous historic Pike Place Market. I had forgotten how cool the place was. There were some amusing street performers. One in particular involving a few enormous hula hoops, a harmonica, and the balancing of a guitar on the guys chin. Really. From the market we went back to Charlie's sister for a little rest up. Laurel had been craving the tasty Dungeness crab since his sisters last visit when she showed up at our place with a bunch of the stuff, so we soon left for some serious seafood eatin at the Crab Pot..on the water of course. They covered our outdoor table with butcher paper and threw down a mess o seafood... Corn, sausage, Alaskan crab, Dungeness, mussels,red potatos, clams, shrimp. and the best ever sourdough bread...nothing was safe from our tiny forks and hammers. For once we were too full for dessert. The last full day we made our way to the aquarium to be awed and amazed by the colorful and weird creatures. I can now cross "petting a starfish" off my bucket list. Illegally crouching behind a bunch of children, I was a few feet away from the color- changing octopus at mealtime. Sadly, things went downhill on the way home. We were seated on the 5 hour flight in the last row by the bathroom. Everyone on the flight "went" at least twice, slamming the door as they left. I couldn't turn my little overhead air nozzle quite high enough to cover the fact that it was "number 2 " again! Panic at the long term parking lot when we couldn't find the ticket, only to eventually realize that the credit card we had inserted 8 days previous told them everything they wanted to know about us. We re-inserted it, it spit out our receipt and we were on our way home.
Although Seattle's not really rainy in the summer, I'm adding my illustration entitled "Raining Cats and Dogs".
