Janet in the North End

While waiting for our cappuccino and tiramisu. She is thrilled with me taking her picture. She is even more thrilled with the idea of this picture being posted on the internet.

I am evil.

The Last Day

So naturally after we return from Seattle I don't blog. I am a lazy bastard.

The last day was "My Geek Day" which meant that I could plan anything I wanted. I considered a movie at Paul Allen's Cinerama, but The Dark Knight was playing and we've already seen that. Alex said that it was the best movie theater in Seattle and I would've liked to see a movie there, but no joy was to be had.

So I opted for Seattle's Underground Tour, which Elizabeth had expressed an interest in. I didn't want to totally alienate her on the last day. It's an interesting story of a big fire that had city planners wanting to raise the level of the city by 10 feet or more vs. property owners who just wanted to rebuild and get back to business as quickly as possible. What you end up with is blocks of the city where the streets are 10 feet above the front doors of the businesses.

I didn't take any pictures, because it basically all looks like a dilapidated basement. I would give it a "Meh" on the excitement meter.

There is a cool toy store there with Bacon flavored dental floss. Yes, bacon flavored:


Then off to Pink Godzilla Games. This is a small store in the international district (because Seattle is too cosmopolitan just to have Chinatown, they have a large Japanese population too) that specializes in import games. I picked up Dragonquest Monsters: Joker for a lot more than Amazon is selling it, but hey, I like the idea of the store, and there are rumors that they're going to open a Boston store. Fingers crossed!

We picked up a late lunch a a little hole in the wall hot-pot place, then went over to Uwajimaya Market, where we should have eaten. This place was like an Asian version of Whole Foods, only cheap. As it was, I picked up some manga called iDeNTITY. If it's good I can pick up the rest online, and if it's bad, I've tried to expand my horizons a bit.

Then we had an argument about whether to go to the hotel during rush hour or just go to Safeco Field. Safeco Field won, since we were right there anyway. Y'know, once you get to a ballpark, everyone is great. You're there to watch baseball and have a good time, and even the parking attendants were nice.

Safeco Field is gorgeous, and they have a much bigger selection of foods than Fenway. On the other hand, Fenway has that moment, where you've been walking around underneath and it's cool and a little damp, with all the food smells. It really feels like you're in an alley or something, then you walk up the ramp and out into the stadium where it's green and bright and magical. Safeco didn't have that magical moment, but it did have some damn fine sushi. And kettle corn. And bratwurst. And ice cream.

The panorama:


We had tickets right at third base. You can't buy these tickets at Fenway. Also, they have booths around that you can take your DS to, and Nintendo will load up a suite of baseball applications. You can follow the game and get the jumbotron feed on your DS, you can order food (at hugely inflated prices) delivered right to your seats, or you can follow another game being played that night. I ended up following the Red Sox game in Kansas City while watching the Mariners get pasted by the Minnesota Twins.

Because everyone sitting around me told me that the Mariners suck this year. Who am I to argue? I said what I always say, "I root for the Mariners whenever they play the Yankees."


At least until the seventh inning, when, after being behind 6-zip, they scored 10 runs and took the game.

Here is Elizabeth getting excited during the amazing rally:

Oh, and they gave us hats too, but they were in Japanese because it was Japanese Baseball Appreciation Night. Notice the kid behind Elizabeth with the Twins jersey and the Mariners cap. He was a winner that night.

Though now that I've unpacked, I think I lost my hat. Oh well. Easy come, easy go.

Then it was off to the crappy airport hotel for our last night, and the day of flying.

We are now back in Watertown, and expecting Elizabeth's parents anytime. More touristy crap around Boston to come!!

Whidbey Island and surroundings

Today was a day of scenery, but at least it wasn't raining.

It started with yet another ferry ride to Whidbey Island.


Then a quaint artists' colony, where overpriced art in small galleries captured the adults' attention. Personally, I was happy there were lots of dogs. One of the galleries even had a cat.

Second quaint village of the day. Lots of dogs out on this pier. We had already eaten at a pizza place in the last town, but this town apparently produced the best mussels of anywhere, and we were standing right in front of the tavern where they serve a pound of the best mussels anywhere for $11, and it was killing Alex that we didn't have the wish or desire to partake. I am not a mussel man, but I'll eat them. Since lunch was a recent memory, everyone was already full. Alex couldn't eat a pound of them by himself, so we traveled on.

To Deception Pass. The first captain to explore the area thought it was a peninsula, when he found this inlet, he sent a team, including his navigation master to explore it, and found that it was an island. He named the island after the master, Whidbey, and the pass, Deception Pass, because he felt he had been deceived. Darn you, nature!

The currents get very strong in the pass, and we watched a couple of boats labor through it. It's also a very high bridge that afforded the fun of scaring Elizabeth. All you have to do is say, "It's a long way down, my god, can you feel it shaking?" She gets all freaked out.


We went to Eerie peak and saw other great vistas of the islands, but I grew bored of vistas. After that it was home to Alex and Beth's for fabulous steaks cooked on the grill, and the wine we bought the other day at the winery.

So ends this leg of our trip. Tomorrow is our final day in Seattle, and a Mariners game.

Drinking the Falls

I have given in to the considerable pressure and last night I didn't record the day. I hang my head in shame.

So we decided to to go Squolnamie Falls, where Twin Peaks was set. They lured me with the promise of damn fine pie.

We got about 8 miles from Alex and Beth's house and decided to stop into one of the many wineries for a wine tasting.


Had a great time tasting various wines and I went gaga over the Otis Vineyard 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon. Pictured is a dry rose' that was actually quite good.

Then it was time for lunch, and the Red Hook Brewery was just a short walk away. Had a decent lunch (bad service) and finished just as they were calling for a tour of the brewery to start. We jumped on it, and it turned out to be standing in a room drinking beer while a slightly inebriated blonde explained the history of the company. Between the wine, the beer with lunch, and now about two pints of "samples" the Falls now seemed a distant and silly idea.


We headed back to Alex and Beth's where I surfed the net, Elizabeth napped, and A&B went on a brisk walk.

Then off to a party for one of Alex's co-workers. It was Hawaiian themed, and mai-tai's were in evidence.

We also had an incredible view of the bay, and Elizabeth won the prize for knowing what happened in 1968.

Then back to the house for Euchre. Alex and I lost.

They're calling me to go shower in preparation for today's hike. Hopefully there will be more alcohol producing buildings on the way.

Wet Vampires and Lichens

Woke up to more rain in beautiful Forks, WA.

Apparently there are big things going on in Forks. Twilight is some young adult book about a high school girl in Forks who falls in love with a vampire. Since Forks has the most rainfall of anywhere in the continental U.S., it's a pretty good bet that vampires won't be caught in the sun. The final book in the series is due to be published tomorrow, and all the tweenage girls will finally know if Bella has chosen Edward the vampire or Jacob the werewolf.

I don't care. It's wet and rainy.

The series was written by a Mormon mother, for her daughter(s) (I don't even know if she has more than one) who wanted something to read now that Harry Potter is over. So vampires. The subtext is that you should wait until you're married to have sex, especially with vampires. Especially with sexy teenage vampire virgins (who knows what he's been waiting for). In the last book Bella is going to finally have sex with her vampire. Or her werewolf. Or both.

Then they can talk about abortion.

Yippee.

We went to the rainforest. It's called the Hoh. Yeah, I thought it was funny too.

There are gnomes there.

And giant trees.


And everything is covered with lichens.

I did not poop in the park, but apparently someone does. I guessed about a million chipmunks.


And that's it for today. We finally made it to Alex and Beth's (as evidenced below), and now everyone is in bed while I wrestle with this. I'm exhausted.

Oh yeah, the fabulous breakfast at the B&B-- Elizabeth got French Toast, and they made it by taking the inside of french bread and soaking it into an egg mixture. It was more a bready omelette than eggy bread. It wasn't good.

My waffles were fine. I shared them with her.

Off to bed.

The Olympic Peninsula

So it begins.

We are in nature.

It is raining.

Nature is wet. Wet and cold.

We are wet and cold.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The day started clear and sunny, a fine day to head into nature. We checked out of the hotel, and while we waited for our car to come out, the doorman told us all that Boston was really flat. It had no mountains. He had an uncle who lived in Boston and never left the city. This doorman didn't understand why someone would never want to leave the city and go hike on a mountain.

I wanted to tell him to stick his mountain up his butt. Instead I smiled and said, "I don't think of Boston as flat, and how about those Red Sox? They really plastered the Mariners last week, huh?"

Thankfully, the car arrived before it got ugly.

We drove up to Edmonds and took the Kingston ferry across to the Olympic peninsula. Those guys on the ferry are amazing. We were out on the water before Elizabeth and I were organized enough to leave the car.


It was cold and breezy up on deck, but they had some sheltered benches that were perfectly comfortable and out of the wind. Before we knew it we were on the Olympic Peninsula.

We start heading across the northern section where it's still sunny and temperate. We stop in Sequim, WA and head to Purple Haze Lavender Farm. Yes, a lavender farm where they grow pretty purple flowers to make soap that smells like your grandmother.

Elizabeth loved it.



She could've stayed there taking pictures for hours. /////

--I am now typing this in the bathroom of the Bed and Breakfast where we're staying. Every night Elizabeth has bitched that my typing this keeps her awake. It's a battle. There's no desk in this place (I would be nuts if there was no wifi) and I started out typing this on the bed, but apparently this was too much vibration, then I moved to the floor, but the sound of it was too much, so now I'm sitting on the toilet typing.

I love my wife.

Back to the story-- I have lots of pictures of this lavender farm because really the only thing to do there is take pictures. It's smelly. They sell lavender soap, lavender salad dressing, and lavender ice cream. We had a choice of lavender peppermint, lavender lemon, or lavender white chocolate ice cream. We went for the lavender white chocolate ice cream.

It tasted like vanilla with pieces of white chocolate in it.

I tried the lavender salad dressing. It tasted like Italian.

The shop has lavender drying all over the ceiling, and on the way back we're probably going to stop again and pick some of our own to take home.


I did drink the kool-aid a bit and got edible lavender (seeds? buds?) for cooking. There was another mix there with basil, oregano, fennel, and thyme, but I figure I can add those things myself later. I'm not sure lavender will taste like anything unless you steam whatever food you're cooking with it (since it's so aromatic). The place said it went well with citrus flavors. I'll experiment with it.

And onward to Forks, WA, which is currently famous because some author set her young-adult vampire novels there. These novels are currently being turned into a movie called Twilight, and this year's San Diego Comic Con was overwhelmed with teenage girls desperate to find out about it and its hunky, male, vampire stars. That's just wrong. Teenage girls don't go to Comic Con, it's for overweight geeks and other social misfits. But I digress.

Forks is pretty much a hole in the wall (actually some buildings in the middle of a forest), but that's were our rustic B&B is.

This is the view out our window:

We're told we'll see elk down there among the trees, but nothing so far.

As soon as we got on this side of the peninsula, the rain really started. When they say rain forest, that's not just about what kind of trees are there. It's pouring. It's raining in the picture above-- see how wet the banister is?

There's really nothing to do here unless you want to get wet. People apparently hike in the rain. I've done this, but usually when you start hiking it's not raining, and then it starts to rain so in order to get back to civilization you have to hike in the rain. I'm told that people start hiking in the rain around here, because if you don't, there are only about two days of the year that you'd go hiking.

We went to La Push, WA for dinner. This is a Native American community, and the restaurant is run by the tribe, apparently. Good fish, but the salad bar was a nightmare. The restaurant was called River's End, because, you guessed it, it's where the river meets the sea.

The beaches there are full of nasty wood, that comes down from Alaska. The sea just sweeps this stuff in.



It's a desolate place. If I ever meet a kid from La Push, I will congratulate him for being able to get out of there.

There's no nightlife to speak of around here. We came back to the B&B where there are amazing homemade desserts. The price of the desserts is sitting and listening to the innkeeper go on and on about her kids, how college athletes make the best workers (HA!), the trials of running a B&B, maverick ranchers she has known, zoning problems, reforestation, strange guests she's had in the past, and horrible diseases I might have. Again, Elizabeth loved it.

I just wanted to go back to the room and type this up. Elizabeth should have stayed out there, at least then I wouldn't have to sit in the bathroom while I type.

Tomorrow: more nature, and finally arriving at Alex and Beth's.

Pike Place Market

We arrived.

So the plan was to do touristy things today, since we got here around 11am. This left the afternoon open for whatever we wanted. What I wanted was a nap. In order to catch our 6:20am flight we had to get up at 3:30am. I catnapped for a total of about 30 minutes on the flight.

I could go on a rant about how the TSA isn't really keeping us safe by making us take our shoes off and denying us liquids when we go through security. All they're really doing is instilling fear and reminding everyone that the government is in charge of our lives. I could probably write three paragraphs about all that, but I'm too tired.

So it's the afternoon, and I'm pretty much wrecked. Elizabeth is bouncing off the walls with the excitement of being on vacation in Seattle. Hey, isn't Seattle famous for coffee? As we leave the hotel I fortify myself with a nice cuppa joe and at least I'm not falling asleep while waiting for the walk signal.

Off to Pike Place Market, a tourist destination and fish throwing extravaganza.



It's an odd place. Yes, you can sit and watch the water, but there's a highway in between the market and the waterfront. In fact, it seems to me that the entire waterfront is denied any real kind of existence because of this highway. I'm sure Dick will have something to say about why Seattle developed that way, and it's only from listening to him that I even noticed this.

But really, the sights of the market are not looking away from it. This place is full of sound, and smell, and incredible visuals.


Yes, those are crabs. I have a movie of the guys throwing the fish around. When you buy a fish, the guy in front picks it up and throws it to the guys behind the counter, who then clean and filet it however you want. There's a whole bunch of theater involved too.

And all this did for me was wish that I had a kitchen nearby so I could buy some of this fabulous food and go home and cook it. It's not just seafood in evidence, either.


Gorgeous produce was everywhere. There are people standing nearby cutting up a peach or a nectarine and just handing out exquisite slices of fruit. We finally broke down and bought a giant peach, a nectarine, and some cherries. That's breakfast tomorrow.

There was also pasta, all sorts of meat, and even fresh made doughnuts. Mmmm, doughnuts.

It was really an exercise in frustration. We could look, but didn't have the means to keep or cook any of it.

I started fading again, so we went downstairs to perhaps find a scenic lookout on the bay. Instead we found this:


Total geek out. This was like every other magic shop I've ever been in. You've got your joy buzzers, and your disappearing ink on racks and all sorts of tricks for sale at the counter. One guy manned the cash register while the other guy did tricks for anyone who walked in. And guess what? If you wanted to know how the trick was done, you could buy it.

I ended up with a Svengali deck and a DVD on the many tricks I can do with it. I've read about this kind of deck before, during my magician years. Every boy goes through the magic years starting at the age of 11, and usually ending by the age 14 or 15, otherwise he becomes a magician, juggler, or just carny trash. I have probably more detailed instructions on its use in my Amateur Magician's Handbook back home on my bookshelf.

I will amaze my friends with fabulous card tricks. Or, more likely, it will go in a drawer and be forgotten.