Beginning with Seattle....

Another wonderful vacation...to a point.  We started our tour of the Road Scholar "Northwest Waterways:  Seattle to Victoria, B.C., to San Juan Islands" in Seattle.  For me especially, the trip started the day before when I finally got to meet a photography buddy I have known for about 20 years online.  Not only did she feed us a beautiful and delicious lunch, she drove us around to see the sights, hit a few little stores and then into Seattle's five o'clock traffic to drop us at the hotel.  Thank you, Carmie, you are loved! 

About to sit down to pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, chips, corn on the cob, and apple pie ala mode.  Oh my, was it yummers!!   We had stopped by Puget Sound on the way to her house and I found a nice little place overlooking the sound that Marti and I would be very happy living in...

After lunch we headed for the shops and heard the stories surrounding the spooky house that you can't see because of all the bushes....more to our liking was the changing leaves which we don't get much of in Texas.

Too soon it was time to head for the hotel and check-in, but not before a quick stop to quench our thirst at a nice little Italian place.

If you are wondering, Enoteca means Wine Repository.

A good night's sleep prepared us for a full day of seeing Seattle.  I did get a bit ahead of myself when I looked out the window after dark and saw circles of light above my head...I just knew we were under the Space Needle.  Not so, just a round building with lights on top, but it did get the blood flowing.

First on the list was a visit to the Ballard Locks, also known as the Hiram Chittenden Locks in Ballard, Washington.  Ballard is a Scandinavian community on the outskirts of Seattle.  In 1905 Seattle wanted to incorporate the town but the people of Ballard liked being independent.  Seattle reminded them that would probably like clean drinking water (the area was growing so fast the public utilities couldn't keep up and depended on Seattle).  To prove the point a dead horse was found in the public water supply and Ballard joined Seattle in 1906 after a vote of 996 to 874.  On May 29, 1907 Ballard ceased to exist.  The courthouse was draped in black and the flag was flown at half staff.  You can still see bumper stickers protesting the annexation today with a stick figure of a horse with X's for eyes.

The Ballard Locks is unique in that it not only changes the levels between Puget Sound and Lake Washington and Lake Union, but it also separates the fresh water and salt water.  If any salt water seeps into the fresh water, there is trough on the floor of the lakes to catch the heavier salt water that is then pumped back to Puget Sound.  In addition to the locks, the Charles S. English Jr. gardens are on the grounds and a salmon ladder built at the same time as the locks to help the little fishies get back to their spawning grounds. 

 By the way, the locks are free of charge for both pleasure craft and commercial craft. 

All normal

Going up!

Here comes the sailboat!

The boats need to be tied to the yellow cleats before they raise or lower the water.  This guy works with the boat personnel to get them tied them up and ready to go.

This guy was the skipper of the sailboat and quite interested in what was happening on the shore.  He was communicating with the ground crew and the boat came through without problems thanks to the cooperation between them.  (btw those are Vinny's cousins on shore).

The salmon ladder is beside the lock and while we were there the salmon (Coho in this case) were not climbing.  They were still adjusting to fresh water before continuing their journey to the spawning ground. 

Not much to show you but here is Mr. Coho himself who apparently needs a housekeeper.  The other salmon that come through the ladder are the sockeye, chinook, and steelhead.  These mature fish are returning to where they began their journeys to spawn and then die. 

Local Indian tribes fish in the vicinity of the locks.  They are members of the Muckleshoot or Suquamish Tribes and the right to fish in the area is part of a treaty with the United States.  In the mid-1850's Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens negotiated a number of treaties with the Indians of Washington Territory.  The tribes agreed to relinquish title to most of their land reserving small reservation homelands, as well as the right to continue to fish at usual and accustomed places, and to hunt and gather on open and unclaimed land.  When commercial fishing displaced Indians from their traditional fishing spots in the late 1800's legal challenges followed.  In 1970 the Supreme Court definitively clarified and affirmed the fishing rights of those tribes party to the Stevens Treaties.  Today the Indians and the Department of Fish and Wildlife jointly manage the salmon resources.

More to my liking as well as the camera's liking were the gardens.  I was amazed (and thankful) that so much was still in bloom.  Beautiful grounds.  So with no explanation ('cause I really can't give you any names or facts) here is what I saw.

Absolutely no category to put the following pictures in except drive by shootings while traveling on bus around Seattle.  Do wish the tour leaders would learn to give warning when we are about to approach something noteworthy instead of telling us as we are passing it - ok gripe over...maybe.

A couple of buildings (three is a couple) worth noting through the bus window.

The building above was the first Amazon office building after Jeff Bezos moved out of his garage.  Now only God knows how many giant buildings and warehouses Amazon has.  Amazon is currently building geodesic domes in downtown but (insert gripe above) I didn't get a picture of those. 

In 1964 The Beatles came to Seattle to play at the Seattle Coliseum.  There was a housing problem for them - mainly no hotel wanted them to stay because they couldn't contain the fans nor assure the safety of the group.  The Edgewater Hotel could and did. 

The iconic photo showing The Beatles fishing from their room, and the Edgewater today...

OK, now down to the nitty gritty whispers and giggles.  Have you ever heard of Fifty Shades of Gray?  Oh sure you have, and maybe even read it, but do you know which building in Seattle was the inspiration for the setting of the book?  Well here it is, supposedly, the green glass one.  Your curiosity has now been appeased.

Seattle is the home to the University of Washing or UDub as it is affectionately called.  We drove through the campus which was quite beautiful.  The fact our tour director graduated from UDub had nothing to do with the detour, right?

 The Huskies hasn't always been the mascot at the University of Washington, it was originally the Sun Dodgers, a weird reference to local weather.  Harry the Husky is the costumed mascot and Dub the real live Alaskan Malamute mascot.  Back in the Sun Dodger days the cheerleaders were men dressed in seersucker suits wearing straw boaters.  The first graduate of The University of Washington took 13 years to get a degree because of the lack of instructors. 

 The Giant Wheel at Pier 57

This is what I know thanks to Wikipedia 

"The Seattle Great Wheel is a giant Ferris wheel at Pier 57 on Elliott Bay in Seattle, Washington. With an overall height of 175 feet, it was the tallest Ferris wheel on the West Coast of the United States when it opened on June 29, 2012." 

Another interesting thing learned from our tour director, Carole, is that the glass bricks in the sidewalks have a purpose.  It lets sunlight through to the water underneath warming it and I assume making a good fertile bed for some edible treat for the young salmon that live under the piers.  The glass bricks are the little ones in the background.  Another gripe and snap moment. 

We all know anywhere there is water view or water frontage, the prices are going to sky rocket and taxes are going to be out of sight.  Houseboats in the harbors of Seattle were fairly cheap to own back in the day until someone came up with the grand idea that they were, in fact, water front property and then they were taxed accordingly and the prices hit the roof. If anyone cares, the houseboat used in Sleepless in Seattle is still in use but has been moved.

GOING UP!!!

In Seattle that means one thing, the Space Needle.  You can read all the fun facts at https://www.spaceneedle.com/fun-facts/ but to get you started here are a couple.

1.  The Space Needle was built for the 1961 World's Fair in 400 days.  The last elevator actually arrived the day before the World's Fair.

2.  The aircraft warning beacon is at 605 feet.  The observation deck at 520 feet and the restaurant at 500 feet.

3.  There are 848 steps from the basement to the top of the observation deck (this is hearsay, I did not personally count them)

4.  The elevators that travel 10 mph are equal to the speed in which a raindrop falls to earth. In fact, a snowflake falls at 3 mph, so in an elevator during a snowstorm, it appears to be snowing upwards.

The views, as you can see, are spectacular! 

One view from the Space Needle is down...and it can give you a bit of a start.

 

Panic not...they aren't real, and not sculptures.  They are 60 foot 3D paintings done by Marlin Peterson on the roof of the Armory in the Seattle Center.  WOW.

More at http://knkx.org/post/how-two-60-foot-arachnids-came-life-seattle-roof

Going Down!!!

At the base of the Space Needle is the EMP Museum dedicated to pop culture.  We didn't go in but the building itself is something to see.  The color in the photo is real, crazy but real.

Also at the base is the Chihuly Garden and Glass, but that is a whole separate posting because there are so many photos of the spectacular artwork, but here is a peek to whet your appetite.

Because of the nature of the beast, namely me, this trip might be a bit choppy jumping from one place to another not necessarily in order.  Since you weren't with me until now it shouldn't bother you too much just believe in the miracle of hopping from Victoria to the Seattle's Sculpture Garden in a single bound.

These weren't necessarily the backroads, but they have whispers of their own if you will only listen.