Wordless Wednesday...

Sights and sounds...

Some cities have great buildings.

Seattle is full of them.

You know you're Stateside when you find Macy's!

I wasn't so much impressed with shopping there as I was with the carvings on the building...

Whereas the lads were QUITE impressed with the shopping possibilities at 'Leroys'...

(they don'y call my brother 'Dapper Dan' for nothing!)

Then there's the main Post Office ...

Very Art Deco.

Some buildings are famous landmarks...

Some have historic signs...

First automatic car wash in the country...still in operation!

Some have strange titles...

...I guess this as opposed to the "vintage burning Bush Hotel" !

Some buildings have incredible gates...

Even fire escapes can be somewhat of an architectural marvel when viewed in the right light...

Light fixtures anyone?

Some buildings host their own musical guests right out front...

Some have obvious signs of their cultural heritage...

But there is one building in Seattle which is probably the most intriguing and striking...

One, for its colours...

Two, for it's bizarre shapes...

Welcome to the Experience Music Project!

A gallery dedicated to the art of Rock and Roll.

It houses an incredible collection of famous guitars, memorabilia, and this

sculpture...

Of course you can't go anywhere in Seattle without being reminded

of one of it's most famous sons...

Front row seats for this dude...

And a quote for my friend Regina who's just learning to play guitar...

So if you get a chance...have a look inside.



Come fly with me!

The bad news about our departure was that Tom left reservations too

late to get a seat on the Clipper ferry from Victoria to Seattle...

The good news was that we had to go by float plane instead!!

I've been in a few small planes but never a seaplane and what an experience it was!

Lucky for us the weather was calm and the visibility was great.

Now, lets see how the pilot does...

Hey, wait a minute! Tom what are you doing in the cockpit?!

You don't know how to fly a plane!

Oh, I see, it's just for balance in the front of the plane!

We taxied out of Victoria's inner harbour.

This little harbour is so busy in the summer with ferries big and small,

float planes from Seattle and Vancouver, rowers from the Gorge Rowing Club

and just lot's of water traffic ALL the time...

up, up and away!...

...and within a matter of minutes we can already see the mainland of Washington State...

The tide was out so it gave some beautiful textures to the shoreline...

I love the minuscule toothpick logs on the beach and the view from up here

creates a toy land of the world below...

These massive freighters could be picked up and played with, by me, as a giant...

The city skyline comes into view within 45 minutes of takeoff...

I'm telling you, if you can do it, take a float plane ride...

It's the only way to go!



Everybodies talkin'....

I have so many adventures to tell you about. We just came home from

Seattle and my head is full with tales of our Stateside neighbouring city.

Before I sort the stories out let me go back 2 weeks ago...

Seems this time of year, everyone is talking berries.

So for now I will start simple with something I did before we left.

Something I had never done before.

I made a huckleberry pie!

Usually the berries are so small and not really abundant and

are mostly eaten 'at the bush'.

Because of our rather wet summer so far, there were more than enough.

I took Griff out early one morning down the road by the creek.

I have never seen so many huckleberries so big!

I have never even had huckleberry pie.
 I also loved saying it...

"I'm going to make a huckleberry pie!"

Such a fun word, huckleberry.

Just rolls off your tongue like a little song...

huckleberry pie

huckleberry pie

goin' to make me one of those

huckleberry pies!

I stood at the edge of the woods, serenaded by

early morning birdsong.

Raked my fingers through the tiny leaves and dropped

the small red morsels into my bucket.

When I got home, I had to clean the berries of tiny twigs

and leaves and bugs and rinse them and drain them.

Quite a labour of love but OH! That pie was

DELICIOUS!

So if you can, go out and get yerself some of that huckleberry pie!