Seattle

We had an excellent time in Oregon. There was nothing to grouse about:


but it was time to head up to Seattle and spend the weekend with Rick and Toni.

You could not possibly have found two more congenial hosts. They were very generous with their time, food, and wine. And they weather turned absolutely perfect just as we were rolling into town:


You can seem some snow peaked mountains from very nearby their house.

We went down to the harbor where they keep their boat, a Najad from Sweden. A Viking boat!

It was very nice:

but we didn't go out in it. I am not much of a sailor and was probably not too encouraging. C'est la vie!

We had a good time sitting around the boat, though:


Doreen liked to play the part of rail candy:


while I was still being amazed that you could find snow capped peaks in July:


After the boat, we headed over to Seattle's beautiful Japanese Garden:

It was very big, and had great vistas, complete with different colors and textures.

After that, we headed over to the Volunteer Park Conservatory. This is a statue of William Seward. He is sort of a hero in Seattle:

Look at that sky! The bluest skies you ever see, are in Seattle!

The Aurora Bridge Troll was on the way home:

To give you a sense of scale, that is a real Volkswagen  Beetle in his left hand.

This is Rick and Toni's house:

It is very near Green Lake - that is a landmark you can always find on a Seattle map.

The next day we took a Ferry:


That is Mount Rainier in the background


and that is Mount Baker:


Nice view of the Seattle Skyline:



Here we are, having fun:


Then we took it back. This is a totem pole that a fellow build to honor his dead brother. The brother was killed by a cop:


That actually reminds me of something that I wanted to put in my post about the Columbia River Gorge.

While driving on scenic route 30, I wanted to sing Roll On Columbia by Woody Guthrie (and who wouldn't?) so I asked Doreen to Google the words.

It was mostly the way you remember it as a kid:


Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Roll on, Columbia, roll on.
Your power is turning our darkness to dawn,
So, Roll on, Columbia, roll on

 except for the last verse:

Remember the trial when the battle was won,
The wild Indian warriors to the tall timber run,
We hung every Indian with smoke in his gun;
Roll on, Columbia, Roll on!

 Yipes!