Roadtrip to Seattle - Day 4

Day 3:

We had so much to do on our final day of our trip!  Finally, a day where we didn't have to clear out of a hotel room and drive somewhere!

So, quick, when you think of Seattle, what do you think of?

1.)  Pike's Market!
2.)  The Space Needle!
3.)  The wharf!

Yes, correct!

We started out our day going to Pike's Market to find something for breakfast.  Now, I'm used to going early to farmer's market.  So I was surprised that getting there at 8AM there were still stalls setting up.

*note:  click on any picture to make it bigger...*

Tina especially loved all the flowers.  So many flower vendors, no way to take them home...

yep, fish.  nope, we didn't see any flying fish.

From there we had to run the ultimate errand of delivering the car for transport to Alaska.  Once that was over, we were back downtown!

We decided to go down to the wharf to find something to eat.  It's very touristy down there, and, unfortunately, also a lot of homeless people.  Sad.

We had an amazing view from lunch.

How could we NOT go on the wheel?  It really was amazing!  Slow enough to allow for looking around and taking photos.

a couple of professional sports stadiums....

a view of the Space Needle!

panoramic!

sister selfie!

So awesome!  We went around quite a while.  And as each enclosed car was being unloaded/loaded, we were able to get more pictures.  It got pretty warm in there, even though there was "air conditioning", and it looked like it was getting pretty steamy in the next car!  Those two must have been on a date...  Sorry, no pictures... it's not that kind of blog!

After some ice cream, we walked down to the ferry.  We took the Washington State Ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island.

This is the ferry:

panoramic from the ferry terminal

yep, another panoramic

another sister selfie!  Oh, look, the Space Needle is photo-bombing us!  I didn't notice that before!

Mt. Rainer.  Do you see the airplane in front of it?

 Probably the best thing we did all day was to take that ferry ride.  It was great.  And way more economical than one of those "tours".

By this time it felt like we'd already had multiple days in one.

And we weren't done!

Next we were off to catch the monorail to the Space Needle!

Seattle has really good public transportation.  We used the light rail to get from our hotel by the airport to downtown.  Very handy.  But the light rail only goes so far.  And then you have to catch the monorail to the Space Needle.  I figure that the only reason the light rail ends where it does is so people take the monorail...

The Space Needle is really very impressive

There was a football game going on while we were there!

It was a very long, very fun day.  It really felt like 3 days in one, with all the stuff we did.  I wouldn't trade that day for anything!  Thanks for sharing that day with me, Tina!

Road Trip to Seattle - Day 3

Day 3:

We woke up in the butt - er, Butte, Montana - and headed west into the mountains.  And after we stopped to get some 5-Hour Energy, we were really off.  It was the only time on the trip I had any, but it was so necessary that morning!

I figured that since we were driving through the Rockies, we would see snow.  Nope.  Only snow was at Mount Rushmore.

We both really enjoyed seeing landscape so unlike the flat that is home.

downhill, on the side of a mountain

*note:  click on any picture to make it bigger...*

And we made it into IDAHO!

State stereotype of Idaho:  Potato fields.  I was disappointed to not see any fields.  Where do they grow all the potatoes???  The entire 78 miles of Idaho we drove through was mountains.  I believe it was somewhere in Idaho we crossed the Continental Divide, but there was just a small road sign.  I was really hoping for a nice photo op, but no.

We stopped at a restaurant that had been on +Guy Fieri's  Diners, Drive-In, & Dives:

Capone's inn Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and we had Idaho nachos (nachos on waffle fries!).  So so yummy!  Good call Guy!  I've now been to three places featured on Triple D, and all were great!

From there we drove to Washington.

Here's the deal:  I'm disappointed in you, Washington.

• First of all, you put your state sign on the left side of the road, instead of the right, which resulted in a lost photo op!   
• Secondly, once we got out of Spokane metro area, the state was all flat-ish and brown.  My state stereotype of Washington was lush, fertile, green, with rolling hills and lots of apple trees.  I am so incredibly disappointed for much of the afternoon that we spent driving west through Washington.  Oh, and guess what state produces the most potatoes in the US.  Not Idaho.  It's Washington.

not what I expected, Washington...

• Thirdly, and probably the most egregious error on your part, Washington...  There is a stretch of interstate, out in farm country, where the name of the crop in the field is marked on the fence.  "Cool!" we thought.  We were wrong.  Why were we wrong?  Because on more than one occasion, a corn field was marked "PEAS".  Peas?  Please!  We are farmers' daughters and we know better!  But all those other people who only get into the country when driving the interstate, now they think that peas grow on corn stalks.  You had one job!

But I digress...

Once we got to the Columbia River, we were definitely impressed.

panoramic shot

sister selfie with the river!  maybe I should dial down the "softness" filter on my cell phone...

Tina showing Mendota pride at the Columbia River.

once again, a plant growing out of a rock...

By the time we made it to Seattle, it was time to get some dinner (at the hotel restaurant) and look at the computer so we knew what we really wanted to do the final full day of our trip.  Day 4 = Seattle Tourists!  Stay tuned...

What I've been up to...

Sorry I haven't been in the blogging world for a while now.  Things have been a bit, oh, hectic lately...  You know, sending my husband on a 3200 mile road trip with all of our stuff, selling a condo and a car, quitting my job of 13 1/2 years, and then road-tripping 2400 miles in order to get on a plane, and what-not.

I don't have things all set in place at this time, so please enjoy these few words with multiple photos...

My life the past couple of weeks:

• Wed. Sept 10 - my last day of work

• Fri. Sept 11 - closed the sale of the condo at 9AM; drove to Illinois (side note, leave more than a day to finish up unloading your house before a sale, no matter how empty you think it is...)

• Tues. Sept 16 - Tina and I left on our road trip.  Made it to Keystone, the town outside of Mt. Rushmore.

• Wed.  Sept 17 - Saw Mt. Rushmore!  Drove on to Butte, MT ("I touched the butt!")

• Thurs. Sept 18 - drove the rest of the way to Seattle.

• Fri.  Sept 19 - delivered the Subaru to the transit company that will transport the car up to Alaska.  Had the best day ever being a tourist in Seattle!

• Sat.  Sept 20 - sent Tina on a flight home; saw Jeff for the first time since July 10; flew up to Anchorage on the same flight as him*.

• Sun.  Sept 21 - did some shopping, which was hard since I didn't know what Jeff did and did not have in the kitchen.  Finally stepped foot into the house that we live in.

• Mon.  Sept 22 - started my new career as a house-wife.  The commute is wonderful!

*Jeff spent the week of Sept 15-19 in Boca Raton FL at training.  It was lucky that he was in training the week that Tina and I were traveling, and were able to meet up in Seattle to fly to Alaska together!

Photos from Alaska

Jeff put some good photos on his Instagram today.

First, the mountains...

Jeff said that the mountains are not "out" much - usually behind clouds.  Looks like he got lucky this time.  Can you imagine - this is his view from near his office!!!!

just in case you were wondering the names of the mountains.

Did you read that?  If not, go back and read it.

Really, largest active volcano in Alaska?!?!?!  I did not read that sign before I agreed to this!  Luckily, Mt. Wrangell is fairly far away, which is why, although it's so tall, it looks small in the first photo.  Mt. Drum is the mountain that looks so big, because it's so much closer than the others.

What's more - I noticed those flowers in that picture.  Aren't they pretty?


And here's one for all you Deadliest Catch and Captain Phil fans...

Jeff took Rhyanne to Valdez a couple weeks ago, and saw the Cornelia Marie at the dock.  I'm looking forward to more "close encounters" with Alaskan TV celebrities up here...

Until next time...