The Twinkie Adventures: August 2010

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Seattle, WA

We took a boat tour on Lake Union/Lake Washington. There are houseboat communities everywhere in Lake Union. They are really more barges than boats. They don't move anywhere

House used in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle"

They are doing a little work on Bill Gates house.. You can really see the house through all the trees but its big! What kind of work do you need that kind of crane for?

Mount Rainier from Lake Washington

Trip to and up the top of the Space Needle. There are three elevators that take you to the top in 45 seconds and have a glass wall to look out while on the trip up. On top the observation deck you can see everything. We lucked out with a beautiful sunny clear day.

Mount Rainier can be seen over the city skyline

There is this fountain in Seattle Center that all the kids play in, the water jets are synchronized with music. Just sitting around the edges of it was lots cooler on a warm day.

Views of Puget Sound

Olympic National Park, WA

View from Hurricane Ridge Road of the snowcapped Olympic Mountains. The views up here are just unbelievable. We are on the "dry" side of the mountains or "the rain shadow" on the north- northeast side. The rainfall on this side is about 20" a year and on the south-southwest side of the park is the rain forest side with over 140"-180" a year. The explaination or the Rainshadow I will quote directly off the sign we saw. "Mountains cast the shadow. Saturated Pacific winds rise steeply up the coastal slopes. As sudden altitude cools and condenses the air, most of the moisture is wrung out by the time the clouds reach this corner of the peninsula."

This happens with Cascades too which we never realized. East of the Cascades is very dry and most is high plains desert and west of the Cascades is overcast and have the reputation of being wet. Although in Seattle they are quick to point out that they get less than 36" of rain a year, much less than you would think but they have many overcast days. We had it explained as "It rains a little a lot".

Walking trails around are filled with wildlife. The deer just walk around you with no real fear of Elmer Fudd...

Glacier see from Hurricane Ridge

Hiker Debbie on her next big adventure!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Seattle, WA

The Seattle skyline from the ferry from Bainbridge Island. For $6.90 per person you get a round trip "walk on" the Washington State ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle and back. The ferries are huge, have WIFI, food, beer etc. Its by far the most comfortable mode of public transportation we have ever been on. They have seating that reminds me of movie theaters that face forward up at the front or the boat with a nice view or long bench seats along the sides with large tables or have lots of legroom. Some people were stretched out and sleeping!
We purposely stayed on the other side from Seattle to avoid driving in the traffic and just take the ferry over and either walk around or get on any of the buses that run all over the city. Many people commute this way everyday to work.

Famous Pikes Place Fish Market. Pikes Place market is this huge outdoor/indoor marketplace near the waterfront where people sell all kinds of crafts, food and just about anything you could imagine. The fish market is famous for their employees putting on a show for everyone by throwing the seafood to another employee when someone buys something. They yell something and a fish or crab goes flying through the air! I took the picture below just as the guy threw a fish but I guess my shutter speed wasn't fast enough ;-) still learning this camera!