Hurrahing continues part 2

As I said, there are a lot of photos and really they do paint a picture of a truly varied place. Seattle has so much going on and so here are some more pictures....

This was a day trip to the Boeing Factory. They are based in Seattle and so you have to do this when there. Their factory is massive, like a town actually. 

This is a private plane you can order from them, it has a library on it!

And further up the road was a small museum with old planes fully restored that we 'had to go to'. The boys loved this

That's them loving it

This plane is one Isaac had to see....so he was pretty happy about that

But the views from the apartment kept calling us and seeing the ferries go back and forth all day..well we had to go on one, didn't we

But first look at these tugs....they are positioning this barge....now that's work!

But before we did the Islands...we had to go on the mono rail and to see the Chihuly Glass exhibition and along the way I saw wonderful detail on buildings

But Louie was all in for the Mono Rail

The space needle. I will admit I was snooty about it before I saw it. But this park and needle were built in the late 50's for a world fair and actually I loved it when I saw it! It's so cool...no! I didn't go up it

The mono rail was built to transport people from town to the fair and this is some of what they saw when they arrived. An amazing organic building...wow

Now there is Chihuly Glass there and it's stunning

That would be a car full of crazy people going up the needle...but cool or what, it's gold!

The exhibition let you take photos and although I've see this show before in Boston...it was definitely worth repeating in Chihuly home town

Influenced by native American basket work and needle work this part of the show reflects that in glass. The one in the middle is glass!

It's these patterns that he has admired and used. This is a wall of rugs and blankets

This is just amazing

That's what's going on close up

This is a ceiling with glass pieces above laid on and the colour streaming through....

Wow 

We love the boats and again influenced where he grew up on Puget Sound and the fishing boats and floats.

Chandeliers...

Colourful bowls

And the most amazing glass house

The gardens at the bottom of the needle have both glass and plants and they are stunning

I really liked the intensity of the colours

But this one is so subtle it is hard to spot the difference between the glass and the plants

Sublime.Favorite colour and favorite plant!

And all the while you're in the garden the lift keeps going

I saw this on the way back to the apartment. Now that's sweet. It is in the pavement

Again that paper cut out landscape and the water is definitely calling

So all aboard the ferry......Yes that's the life boat and we are on the ferry for the half hour crossing to Bainbridge Island (Damian took this photo)

Yes we're off....

This is the type of ferry we are on and this is the ferry coming back to Seattle passing us on the way and then it gives me the perfect opportunity to show you scale

It is passing in front of a cargo ship docked at Tacoma, which is at the top or bottom, how you see that, of Puget Sound. 

This is us looking back on board the Ferry towards Seattle and the block behind the wheel is where our apartment is

It was all kinds of breezy on the ferry

But we found a calm spot going into the Island we were visiting

As we approached we could see how beautiful it was

Really beautiful

Look at that. 

This is picture postcard

Some places I would like to live

Docking

and oh my they have to maneuver into a small place

We set off to explore the town of  Winslow. This is the town where they have the biggest main street (shops etc) and where the ferry docks. All in walking distance. But here we see Fozards in repose...I think it's funny, almost like three monkeys!

Cute street in Winslow

and down by the marina  there are these great stone sculptures

I really liked these ones

But wow...how did he get them to stay like that?

This is the marina

Where Isaac would dock his boat

Maybe this is his boat house?

More random fab art work

Wonderful old custom truck on the high street

Cormorants 

Bainbridge Island was really a logging Island and it's history is all focused on that. They were sending lumbar to help build San Francisco and so they were very much in demand. Some of the first immigrants were Japanese as well as Nordic, not to mention Scottish. The Island had many mills on it. As well as strawberry farms. The Japanese did a lot of the growing and picking of the soft fruit. But when WWII happened the Japanese that had settled throughout the North West were rounded up and moved to interment camps...This is a hard story to learn about. But seeing the small museum on Bainbridge it told the history of the Island and it was good to see them explain all of this and acknowledge this past. 

Bainbridge today is a pretty Island, lots of water front homes and also known for the commuters that live there. The ferries going back and forth to the Island transport 1000's to their city jobs daily. The ferries also bring tourists and many visit Bainbridge for the proximity to Seattle and the ease of being able to walk to the ferry at both ends. We loved the island and the setting. Like many before us, it took a little of our hearts when there and seeing in the fantastic supermarket on the Island that they sold Marmite! I mean even my local doesn't sell it. But having met one of the many Islanders that is English! it goes a long way in explaining the English goodies. I think that for us peeps from the UK, Bainbridge is a little like home and therefore affords us some degree of comfort there. 

and then back to Seattle on the Ferry

Pretty much know we will be back to Bainbridge. It is truly beautiful there.

As you can see they enjoyed the Island

But the ferry is breezy

I included this to show that the clouds are actually mountains

Mr Seagull flew with us

we got back to shore and walked back to apartment, past the Seattle Art Museum and this is there sculpture...pretty cool.

Had to include this...the cement mixer is like the ones in the UK ! The ones on the east coast are back to front and always incongruous to my eyes and then all that way and we see this. I can't explain this....

This is the next day and our trip was to a steam train, an old logging one that took us to the foot hills of Mount Rainier. So this is the views as we drove along 

Round bends on high up roads

Spectacular views

Vistas just appearing like postcards of something amazing, the landscape was just breathtaking

This lake has had the trees next to it removed and these are the stumps left behind

This lake really was this colour

The river beds were enormous

and here is our train

This is a very happy person

We all love trains and this is one that was out of commission next to ours

Louie totally captured

and we past a logging truck without logs. They have these trailers! amazing

The views along the way from the train

More river beds and glacial melt from the mountains,

Mount Rainier...it truly is majestic and I've not done it the justice here. But simply put you can't, it's so big

The smaller hills where the trees are

and this one shows the evidence of logging

Finally we arrive at Paradise (yes it really is called that)

and there museum of the logging trains and equipment used

This is one of them

and this is an older one

They are simply enormous

I loved this funny little boat. He has a claw at the front for grappling logs. I thought the motor in his middle underneath made him look very funny...

and look at this !!! This is for grabbing logs and stacking them!

Crystal clear rivers flowing by the side of the train tracks

Mount Rainier ever present sentinel

That's what they are looking at....you simply can't take it all in

On the way up through the state park to the mountain you get close to see the varied landscape that makes a mountain like this.

Meadows and forest and glaciers

Pretty high up now!

and I find a friend

Posing for a picture

But there is more to see and on we climb

OMG that's a glacier!!!!!!! and it's on Mount Rainier..don't really need to say anymore about that

we stopped at this waterfall on the way up to the base camp area and this was so beautiful

as I reached my hands out into the warm air it was met by cold air pushing off from the water...this is glacial water....

The forests smelled amazing...pure pine mountain air

Speechless at this point

some alpine flowers at the base area

a chipmonk! he was pretty tame and base camp gives him lots of chances of food

This is base camp and in winter it gets several feet of snow! Hence the roof shapes me thinks

More glorious vistas

More scree and this is us on a bridge, coming down the mountain from base camp, with ears popping like mad

and that my friends is Mount Rainier in the sunset....truly beautiful. I realize that I was lucky to see it so clearly for the time we were there. Lucy said she saw it once on a crystal clear day and she flew there often in those Pan Am days. Lucky indeed.

But for me this was the beginning and I had to go back to Bainbridge Island and this time we took the car! Oh so exciting and we passed this yacht doing yachting things !!!! Isaac was envious of them. Me not so much!

But it was smiles all round

receding Seattle 

and this is inside the car deck. It brought back memories for Damian and I. Ferry journeys of our youth...

So the car in the picture is our hire car and the netting is the safety feature that will stop it from going into the Sound! That's water!!!!WE managed to literally be the last car onto the ferry and lucky for us, we had a mini to squeeze behind. Otherwise we would have been waiting for the next one. But check out the other safety feature of the wooden chock behind the wheel. Yes definately safe now...hope Damian remembered the hand brake!

again...note to all...breezy on the ferry

Yes Louie be afraid !

Oh well maybe you do love the evil genius, suppose that's ok..

We are sailing along the side of Bainbridge and getting ready to dock. I mean he's practically in the water, Louie, that is...he's standing behind the car!

This is what you see when you look up

and some more ferry indoor shots of the car decks

there's the Island. We drove all over and found it's hills, forested and fab!

and this is the other view we get....Mt Rainier in all it's splendor...as we return on the ferry

Seattle as the cloud settles and the light is fading

The light play is wonderful

I loved this, the sun in the clouds

Great mustache

I love this picture

The wharf and splendid huge red sculpture prizes fore guessing what it is....(just kidding)

The tower, sorry needle

It is literally a postcard

ah....can't buy that moment

I loved seeing the working port

and yes this is a selfie fozard cubed!

I'm not done yet....think there are another two in there.....blogs that is. So the story will continue. And finally Mum has a picture of me!