North West Trip 2016

Seattle and Southward

After our visit to the Olympic National Park and Port Angeles, we took Maarten and Ineke to the ferry headed for Victoria, while we spent an evening with our friends, Tom and Dianna, in Port Townsend.

After our brief visit with Tom and Diana, we drove back to Port Angeles, picked up Maarten and Ineke and drove to Bainbridge Island to take the ferry to Seattle.

In Seattle, For the first time ever, we had poor commutation with our Airbnb hostess where we were staying. We ended up not hearing from her, resulting in no access to our house. We had to find a hotel room on the spot.

The next morning, Pikes Market in Seattle was our first stop. Touristy but fun. We lunched at Turkish Delight and walked past the original Starbucks.

Afterwards, we heard from our hostess and we were able to get into our house for the rest of our stay. 

Our favorite visit was to the Chihuly Gardens and Glass, near the Space Needle. 

Works by American artist, Dale Chihuly, are whimsical and fascinating. 

In the evening we went to the Columbia Building in downtown Seattle and took the elevator up to the 78th floor where the observation deck is to be found. The views were spectacular. 

You can see how much taller this building is in comparison to the Space Needle in the distance.

The following day, we met our old friend, Bob Riddle (from our days living and working in Iran (1977-78)). He drove us to Issaqua, where they were celebrating Salmon Days. 

Perhaps hard to see, but salmon are in the photo (below) of the river. The salmon are here to spawn. Afterwards, sadly, they decompose and die.

After having a salmon lunch, Bob took us to the Snoqualmie Falls - this is where the David Lynch television series "Twin Peaks" was filmed. It was difficult to not continually hum the theme song.

We visited a few more spots in the Seattle area including the museum of industry/history, and a cider house for a cider tasting.

        While leaving Seattle, we spotted female rowing crews getting ready to race.      

As we made our way southward from Seattle to Portland we made a brief stop in Tacoma to visit the Museum of Glass. Here, the glass works for several artists were displayed.

        This one was made by a ten year old child.

                     Glass blowers at work.

We then headed to Portland.