Well, the last leg of the armadillo split off this morning saying “See you later” to Phil and Dianne. P and D or PhiDi as I like to call them moved on to the Seattle Arboretum, a must see on their list while Carla and I planned to retrace our steps a little as we head back to Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Victoria tomorrow. We are routing ourselves via the Bainbridge Ferry and Port Townsend. Port Townsend we visited a few days ago and so liked the place we thought we should return to finish off some unseen items like the antique nautical store and stained glass museum/store.
But first it was a delicious Days Inn breakfast (OK, not so much but sort of free) before hugs from our BRT folks (Jane and Ike are now well ahead in Alaska and July will be the next time we see them, but we hope to catch up with Phil and Diane again in a few days after they see Erin in Vancouver and then head over to Vancouver Island to catch up with us in Tofino).
But first, it was off to the Space Needle (big 500+ feet tower made famous for many reasons and always featured in the opening credits of the Fraser TV sitcom).
The Space Needle
And next door to the Space Needle is the excellent Chihuly art exhibit. Massive chandeliers, plants, pots, trees, etc. all made from colourful blown-glass that pushed the envelope of technology when first developed. The designer has installed these massive glass displays all over the world from the canals of Venice to the citadel in Jerusalem. The theme seems to be various floras but also native art influences. Truly remarkable!
Glass Flowers & Trees
Chihuly Glass Tree and the Needle
But first it was up the Space Needle for some fantastic views of Seattle, the many surrounding bays, harbours and inlets and in the distance, crystal clear vistas of the mountains that dominate the skyline.
Seattle Skyline with Mt. Ranier in the distance
Seattle Waterfront (nice city)
We left the Space Needle Park and headed back to the Pike Street Market, famous in Seattle for most of the past 100 years and made some purchases based on browsing the previous day. No doubt Phil will cover this in detail but suffice to say the choice in fresh everything was amazing. Huge floral bouquets that cost $70 at Janet’s Flowers in Dartmouth were 15$ here and just prior to closing at 5PM they dropped to 5$, not that much was left as Seattleites like their fresh flowers. One very large vendor was busy throwing fish about with much cheering from onlookers. One monger would shout something about the fish they were about to move, then the other several mongers in the same stall would sing back and then the fish, sometimes 15-20lb salmon went airborne, were caught adeptly and placed on a fresh pile of ice for the next buyer to consider. All street theater and quite fun to watch…
For Carla and I, it was a few purchases and then focusing on fresh seafood as we picked up smoked and peppered salmon, 4 very large sea scallops, a massive ‘fancy’ lobster tail and 2 cobs of excellent yellow corn. Our 95$ meal will be prepared when we eventually reach the Port Angeles area National Park later this evening. The motto, as we all know, is never shop when hungry.
We stayed at the KOA which had rated 2 of 5 on TripAdvisor, not encouraging but it turned out OK. A final fire with wine (had to get rid of some wine for the return to Canada), boiled corn and BBQ scallops and lobster worked great. We split the shell of the tail and filled it with butter as it cooked on top of tinfoil. A success!
That’s some lobstah!
Tomorrow, the return to Canada, haven’t spent much time these past several months. For Carla and I it marks the 47th day of being in the states since we left. And Casey arrives in Victoria tomorrow to start work with her Alex teaching sailing at Royal Vic for the summer so all smiles here in the LRT 🙂