Sound Adventures
Have had a lovely family reunion time. We lucked out with a streak of clear, sunny days. It would have been a great vacation just staying in the rental home, with its redwood deck and hot tub, fireplaces, large comfy sectionals, big screen TVs, and 3 block walk to the Puget Sound. But we also took the ferry to Kingston and back, strolled through the Edmonds farmer's market filled with fresh peaches and berries, candied nuts, artwork and crafts, smoked salmon, etc., visited Pike Place Market in Seattle, and drove up Whidbey Island. We also ate a lot.
At the farmer's market, I put my little toe into modern fashion and got a henna tattoo on my wrist and hand. Ah, the freedom of unemployment!
The Pike Place Market in Seattle is near the harbor and is a huge covered structure filled with shops of produce, fish, flowers, etc. For those of you who know Eastern Market in DC -- it's like that but much larger. The original Starbucks is there, with the original Starbucks logo in which you can tell it's a mermaid (well, actually, a mesuline, with two tails). There were a number of quite good street musicians, and seas of tourists so that simply walking in a straight line was a challenge. We had lunch at a Bolivian restaurant. Mark and I had the halibut, which, as Mark said, was how fish should taste -- it was the best fish I've eaten since a visit to Boston in the '80's. The harbor was sparkling blue and busy with container ships, ferries, sailboats, motorboats, a parasailer, etc. There were baskets of brightly colored flowers everywhere, and a joyful interplay between hot sun and cool breezes.
I had gone to Edmonds driving down Whidbey Island under clouds, but with the family drove back up the island in sunshine. We stumbled into Coupeville, an adorable historic waterfront town within Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve. We got ice cream cones at Kapow Iskreme (the chocolate mousse ice cream is to die for) and wandered around the boutiques and galleries in the perfect weather. Then we drove on, stopping for a look at the absolutely quaint Captain Whidbey lodge, made of madrona logs, pine paneling, and rustic charm. Another stop at Deception Pass, which separates Whidbey and Fildago Islands and is traversed by an impressive cantilever bridge, and then we joined the heavy traffic on I-5 to return to Edmonds.
Tuesday morning the more typical clouds were back. We drove under them to Tacoma and got a tour of the University of Puget Sound where my niece is tanking up on Knowledge. It is just what a college campus should be -- dignified brick buildings, a large field suitable for frisbee, ivy-covered walls, arches, pine groves, a compact student center with book store, dining hall, pizza cellar, cafe, and cozy lounge, a handsome library with a studious hush, and a collection of theme houses for students who want to try on an identity.
I then joined my parents in a tour of Union Station in Tacoma -- formerly the grand train station and now the grand U.S. courthouse -- and the Museum of Glass. The courthouse and museum are joined by the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, a pedestrian bridge over the freeway that has a pavilion with a Chihuly glass ceiling, a wall of Chihuly vases and sculptures, and two towers of Chihuly blue polyvitro crystals looking somewhat like huge strings of blue rock candy. There also are several Chihuly pieces in the atrium of the courthouse. The museum has a several-story-high steel cone that houses the Hot Shop, where you can spend all day, if you wish, watching glass being blown or sculpted. My favorite exhibit in the museum was Absence Adorned, life-size diaphanous dresses by Karen LaMonte, made of frosted glass and sculpted into the form they would have if someone were wearing them, except there is only air where the body would be.
Then it was time to say good bye and go our separate ways. I had to take I-5 to get to Olympia, then exited for a drive around the state capitol grounds before heading north on 101. I ate dinner at a roadside crabshack, watching the sun on the water as I sipped clam chowder and munched onion rings. Then I stopped for the night in Brinnon, at the Bay View Motel, at which I in fact had a bay view, as well as a huge room from which to watch the sunset light on the pines and water.
The clouds were all back for the morning. I took my time departing, and then, almost immediately after leaving the motel, pulled into Seal Rock campground. It had a boardwalk nature trail through the pine and madrona forest at the edge of the bluff above Dabob Bay (a fjord off of Hood Canal), and then stairs to the rocky beach. The tide was out, and about a 20-foot depth of the beach rocks were coated with oysters. Some rocks had a cluster of oyster shells, with one half of the shell glued to the rock and the other fallen or torn away, revealing the white mother of pearl -- the effect was of a flowering rock. At one point I walked to the water's edge and discovered a colony of large, fat, purplish starfish clinging to the bases of rocks. At another point I came across a jellyfish the size of a dinner plate stranded on the beach, looking as though a ball of red wax or plastic had melted at that spot. Oh, and there were some blackberries hanging down from the bluff. There also had been a wall of blackberry bushes next to the railroad tracks in Edmonds. You could wade in only a little way before you were in danger of slipping and falling into a thorny mess. Dozens of deep purple berries dangled tantalizingly just out of reach. But just one of the reachable berries -- if you picked the ones that essentially fell into your hand when touched -- had more flavor than a Safeway-full of fruit. And to think they are considered a weed here!
I am now a few miles north of Seal Rock, at the attractive campus of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, next to Dungeness Bay. It looks like the sun is about to come out, so I'm ready for more of Route 101 and the Olympic Peninsula.
At the farmer's market, I put my little toe into modern fashion and got a henna tattoo on my wrist and hand. Ah, the freedom of unemployment!
The Pike Place Market in Seattle is near the harbor and is a huge covered structure filled with shops of produce, fish, flowers, etc. For those of you who know Eastern Market in DC -- it's like that but much larger. The original Starbucks is there, with the original Starbucks logo in which you can tell it's a mermaid (well, actually, a mesuline, with two tails). There were a number of quite good street musicians, and seas of tourists so that simply walking in a straight line was a challenge. We had lunch at a Bolivian restaurant. Mark and I had the halibut, which, as Mark said, was how fish should taste -- it was the best fish I've eaten since a visit to Boston in the '80's. The harbor was sparkling blue and busy with container ships, ferries, sailboats, motorboats, a parasailer, etc. There were baskets of brightly colored flowers everywhere, and a joyful interplay between hot sun and cool breezes.
I had gone to Edmonds driving down Whidbey Island under clouds, but with the family drove back up the island in sunshine. We stumbled into Coupeville, an adorable historic waterfront town within Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve. We got ice cream cones at Kapow Iskreme (the chocolate mousse ice cream is to die for) and wandered around the boutiques and galleries in the perfect weather. Then we drove on, stopping for a look at the absolutely quaint Captain Whidbey lodge, made of madrona logs, pine paneling, and rustic charm. Another stop at Deception Pass, which separates Whidbey and Fildago Islands and is traversed by an impressive cantilever bridge, and then we joined the heavy traffic on I-5 to return to Edmonds.
Tuesday morning the more typical clouds were back. We drove under them to Tacoma and got a tour of the University of Puget Sound where my niece is tanking up on Knowledge. It is just what a college campus should be -- dignified brick buildings, a large field suitable for frisbee, ivy-covered walls, arches, pine groves, a compact student center with book store, dining hall, pizza cellar, cafe, and cozy lounge, a handsome library with a studious hush, and a collection of theme houses for students who want to try on an identity.
I then joined my parents in a tour of Union Station in Tacoma -- formerly the grand train station and now the grand U.S. courthouse -- and the Museum of Glass. The courthouse and museum are joined by the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, a pedestrian bridge over the freeway that has a pavilion with a Chihuly glass ceiling, a wall of Chihuly vases and sculptures, and two towers of Chihuly blue polyvitro crystals looking somewhat like huge strings of blue rock candy. There also are several Chihuly pieces in the atrium of the courthouse. The museum has a several-story-high steel cone that houses the Hot Shop, where you can spend all day, if you wish, watching glass being blown or sculpted. My favorite exhibit in the museum was Absence Adorned, life-size diaphanous dresses by Karen LaMonte, made of frosted glass and sculpted into the form they would have if someone were wearing them, except there is only air where the body would be.
Then it was time to say good bye and go our separate ways. I had to take I-5 to get to Olympia, then exited for a drive around the state capitol grounds before heading north on 101. I ate dinner at a roadside crabshack, watching the sun on the water as I sipped clam chowder and munched onion rings. Then I stopped for the night in Brinnon, at the Bay View Motel, at which I in fact had a bay view, as well as a huge room from which to watch the sunset light on the pines and water.
The clouds were all back for the morning. I took my time departing, and then, almost immediately after leaving the motel, pulled into Seal Rock campground. It had a boardwalk nature trail through the pine and madrona forest at the edge of the bluff above Dabob Bay (a fjord off of Hood Canal), and then stairs to the rocky beach. The tide was out, and about a 20-foot depth of the beach rocks were coated with oysters. Some rocks had a cluster of oyster shells, with one half of the shell glued to the rock and the other fallen or torn away, revealing the white mother of pearl -- the effect was of a flowering rock. At one point I walked to the water's edge and discovered a colony of large, fat, purplish starfish clinging to the bases of rocks. At another point I came across a jellyfish the size of a dinner plate stranded on the beach, looking as though a ball of red wax or plastic had melted at that spot. Oh, and there were some blackberries hanging down from the bluff. There also had been a wall of blackberry bushes next to the railroad tracks in Edmonds. You could wade in only a little way before you were in danger of slipping and falling into a thorny mess. Dozens of deep purple berries dangled tantalizingly just out of reach. But just one of the reachable berries -- if you picked the ones that essentially fell into your hand when touched -- had more flavor than a Safeway-full of fruit. And to think they are considered a weed here!
I am now a few miles north of Seal Rock, at the attractive campus of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, next to Dungeness Bay. It looks like the sun is about to come out, so I'm ready for more of Route 101 and the Olympic Peninsula.
posted by Annventurer | 2:47 PM
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