WASHINGTON STATE

We walked in our door last night at 1:15 AM, after our last flight of the day from Seattle back home to Sacramento was delayed 1-1/2 hours.  Plus we were up at 2:30 AM five days prior for our ridiculously early outbound flight. I'm not sure about Lou but I'm getting too damn old for these kinds of crazy hours.  We were both wiped out by the time we reached the Grand Coulee Dam.

We drove 250 miles from SeaTac Airport to Grand Coulee Dam for a guided tour. We were switching drivers depending on who was the least tired. We've seen pretty much all of the big dams in the U.S. now.

On our way back to Everett we happened on a small town that had us thinking we took a wrong turn & ended up in Germany. The people of Leavenworth, Washington decided to make their town a replica of Bavaria back in the 1960s.....and they did a great job!

There were blocks & blocks of decorated buildings that looked more like Oberammergau than Oberammergau when we were there a few years ago. We spent about a half hour wandering around our Bavarian find taking it all in. 

Next it was on to the Flying Heritage Collection museum which houses Paul Allen's (from Microsoft) incredible toys, most of which are still airworthy. From there we headed north to Deception Pass State Park & south through Whidbey Island before returning to the mainland via ferry.

This is one of the few planes that doesn't fly because it is the only one remaining in the world. It is called a Focke-wulf 190. I was reminded of an old German friend of mine who used to tell a joke about a man relating a story to his friend about a Fokker flying all over & fighting the enemy when the friend comments, "That Fokker was a great plane." The punchline is, "Whaddya mean? Those fokkers were flying Messerschmitts." Maybe you had to be there.

The planes are restored to beautiful specimans but this is an example of the condition they are found in.

One part of the two part Deception Pass Bridge that joins the mainland to Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island.

Admiralty Head Lighthouse on Whidbey Island. Unfortunately, we were too late in the day to tour the interior.

Mukilteo Lighthouse at dusk. We had just driven off the ferry from Whidbey Island which is docked in the lower right. Since Seattle is further north, it stays light later - we estimated that the sun sets about 45 minutes later than Sacramento. 

Our next day was spent in downtown Seattle. I have to tell you that It is a beautiful state & the scenery is gorgeous BUT you couldn't pay me enough to live there & fight the unbelievable traffic everywhere! Honestly, it was worse than Los Angeles traffic. When I was there twenty years ago, the congestion was nothing like it is now.

Since we had both been up in the Space Needle previously, we skipped that & instead journeyed to the Observation Deck of the Columbia Tower. The view of downtown Seattle from above.

The Columbia Tower Observation Deck is on the 73rd floor of the 76 story tower - almost twice as tall as the Space Needle! It was a little unnerving since Seattle is in as much or more danger of a big earthquake than San Francisco.

Years ago the Kingdome was imploded & two new ball parks were built.  This photo of CenturyLink  Field in the foreground & Safeco Field behind it was taken from the Columbia Tower. 

The 76 story Columbia Tower looking up from the street.

One of the historic buildings in Pioneer Square, the oldest district in Seattle. The Underground Tour starts from this building.  In the early days, Seattle experienced bad flooding prompting the city officials to raise the streets & make the second floors of businesses the ground floors creating an extensive underground.

One of the corridors under the streets of Seattle. At times on the tour we could hear people walking above us on sidewalks.

The Smith Tower is a 38 story skyscraper built in 1914. Its claim to fame is being the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until 1931. Unfortunately, the observation deck was closed for renovation.

No visit to Seattle would be complete without a stop at Pike Place Market, famous for the fish market employees who throw whole fish back & forth to the delight of the crowds.

That evening we watched our Giants lose to the Mariners 2-0 in a good pitcher's duel with an unfortunate result. Lou captured this photo of the gorgeous sunset over the left field fence.

The next morning we made the short drive to Renton. Lou is a big Jimi Hendrix fan & since we seem to have a propensity for visiting cemeteries, we had to include the grave & memorial for the Purple Haze singer. This Seattle area native is widely considered the greatest rock guitarist ever. Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison of the Doors & Janis Joplin all died at age 27 from drug related issues. We've seen Morrison's grave in Paris & now Hendrix's. I just looked it up & Joplin was cremated - her ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean. Technically, we've been there, too.

The Memorial includes a few photos etched into the concrete gazebo along with several song lyrics. His parents & a grandmother are also buried there. It looks like there is room for another 20 or so family members to be interred. 

Olympia & Tacoma were our next destinations. The U.S. Open Golf Championship was being played just a few miles from Tacoma but luckily we stayed away & weren't affected by the crowds. The weather was really overcast but we only got a few sprinkles.

The Washington State Capitol in Olympia. 

This is the interior of the restored Union Station in Tacoma. It is currently a Federal Courthouse that displays several glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly. We discovered his work years ago in Omaha & have since seen it all over the country - even in one of our cruise ships. His unique glass blown creations are easily identifiable. We were surprised to learn that he is a Tacoma native & still has a studio in the Seattle area.

A pedestrian bridge between Union Station & the Glass Museum has literally hundreds of Chihuly sculptures encased along a wall & in the ceiling. Each in enclosed behind plexi-glass to protect it. This is only a small portion of it.

 A close up of one example of each unique work of art. If you ever get a chance to see some of  Dale Chihuly's work, it is amazing.

The exterior of the old Union Station taken from the Chihuly Pedestrian Bridge.

I'm not really sure how a woman who isn't big on flying & doesn't really get the lure of it ended up with an ex-husband, a son & a partner who all just seem to love airplanes! I have seen far more aircraft than I need to & know way more than I really care to about any & all airplanes. BUT we spent several hours at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field before our flight home.

This one was actually quite interesting since we were able to tour the inside of a Supersonic Concorde, a new Boeing 787 & the first Air Force One jet that Dwight D. Eisenhower used. It was also the plane that flew LBJ to Dallas after JFK was shot.

The Great Gallery in the Museum of Flight housed quite an eclectic array of aircraft - everything from an old biplane to the SR-71 Blackbird.

The "Red Barn" is the original Boeing Factory in Seattle. It is now part of the museum & tells the history of Boeing. The huge aircraft manufacturer currently builds planes in Everett, Washington.