Vacation, Day... erm... something.
Jul. 6th, 2004 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bodldopsBusssy day today. I think I've officially fallen in love with Seattle. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
This hotel seriously rocks. Not to mention the huge wonderful room (with a fireplace! Squee!) they make a very nice breakfast. With real food, not fluff food. So we had breakfast in the hotel to save time hunting for a good breakfast place in the city.
We were going to take the Metro to the art museum, but the rain changed our minds. A eight-block hike in the rain wasn't very appealing. Seattle traffic is much better than SF's... even during rush hour. How nice is that? There seems to be a coffee shop on every corner... these people seriously love their coffee. It took us a while, and a few wrong turns, but we finally found a good parking lot near Pike's Market.
Pike's Market is a very cool place - it reminds me of a hobbit's home. Lots of tunnels and lots of food. *grin* The market has been going for over a century, started when farmers got tired of middle men making an obscene profit off of their produce. Not only are there farmers there, but bakeries, ethnic food, clothing, flowers, random!stuff... there's a cool music shop that has pretty much any type of musical instrument you could ever imagine. There's even a musical saw. *grin* There was a huge collection of flutes, and I know Dad was tempted, but he didn't get one. At least I still know what to get him for Christmas.
After scouting out the market, we headed over to the art museum (SAM - they love acronyms here). It took us a bit to figure out how to get to the exhibit, but it was clear sailing after we figured it out. Up a long staircase with cool ming-dynasty statues from tombs (two camels, two rams, and a soldier), and past the overly-uniformed museum workers, and we were in.
Technically, it wasn't a Van Gogh exhibit. It was Van-Gogh-and-a-few-dozen-other-artists-sorta-related-to-Van-Gogh-artistically exhibit. It was still cool though. There was a gorgeous painting of a french lady that I wish I had been able to find a copy of, and some gorgeous examples of pointalism (using discrete dots of paint to create a picture), as well as some cubist stuff, and some abstract stuff, and a few pieces that were a little bit of random schools of art. There were a lot of Van Goghs though. There were both some of his painted pieces and some of his drawings, which were wonderful. We spent a long time in that gallery. The lady was my favorite though, even though it wasn't a Van Gogh.
After we had wandered around there long enough, we went to the other exhibit floor. There was a cool collection of Egyptian art, and some stuff from the Renissance. I'm afraid I got a bit absorbed, and took way longer than the rest of my family to wander through the different rooms. Oh well... I had fun. *grin* They watched strange people wander down the street below. Oh, speaking of the street below, there was a statue out front that looked like the worker's symbol in Communist Russia. It was... very unusual, but pretty neat. I think it was supposed to be an artist working on a piece of art, but that wasn't quite what it looked like.
After I got done being a slowcoach and we managed to free ourselves from the museum store, we went back to Pike's Market. That's the place that launched a thousand shops - Starbucks. We didn't go inside (have Starbucks at home!), but we did find Chinese steamed BBQ'ed pork buns. Oh Lordy, those things are tasty. We also got a whole bunch of fruit for tomorrow's breakfast. We wandered for a long time, window-shopping and taking the free samples that can be found at Farmer's Market. *grin* We found some pastries for tomorrow's breakfast as well. After finishing our breakfast shopping, we stopped at a coffee shop called 'Seattle's Best Coffee'. No joke. Coffee's pretty good, best I've had in a while, anyway. Their caramel lattes are yummy.
We wandered around in the car once we got back to the parking garage (no need for stair-masters in this town - there are some steep stairwells!) and I saw the place I'd love to work - the Seattle Shelter. It is so cute! There are some ideas from there I'm definitely taking home. We didn't have time to go inside, which was a pity. I want to huggle a kitten.
We had dinner at Ray's Boathouse (after passing the shelter a few more times *grin*). Verrrry tasty food. More calamari, crab cakes and.... *sigh* Chocolate diet took a small break. They had a chocolate-covered macaroon with strawberries. I couldn 't say no, but I didn't eat the whole thing either. So it wasn't too bad. Just so long as I don't go back to chocolate-after-every-meal, I'll be fine. No more chocolate on this trip, anyway. The dessert was delicious. *grin*
My fav reality show was on tonight. Amazing Race! My favorite team just avoided being eliminated - I'm rooting for the father/daughter team. I keep telling dad that we could go on that show, but I think I'm going to have to wait until my sister is old enough to play. I really want to try that zip line into the pool. How great is that?
We're leaving Seattle tomorrow, on to... somewhere on the Oregon coast, I think. Ah well, it doesn't matter, we're on vacation!
Later, Gators.
This hotel seriously rocks. Not to mention the huge wonderful room (with a fireplace! Squee!) they make a very nice breakfast. With real food, not fluff food. So we had breakfast in the hotel to save time hunting for a good breakfast place in the city.
We were going to take the Metro to the art museum, but the rain changed our minds. A eight-block hike in the rain wasn't very appealing. Seattle traffic is much better than SF's... even during rush hour. How nice is that? There seems to be a coffee shop on every corner... these people seriously love their coffee. It took us a while, and a few wrong turns, but we finally found a good parking lot near Pike's Market.
Pike's Market is a very cool place - it reminds me of a hobbit's home. Lots of tunnels and lots of food. *grin* The market has been going for over a century, started when farmers got tired of middle men making an obscene profit off of their produce. Not only are there farmers there, but bakeries, ethnic food, clothing, flowers, random!stuff... there's a cool music shop that has pretty much any type of musical instrument you could ever imagine. There's even a musical saw. *grin* There was a huge collection of flutes, and I know Dad was tempted, but he didn't get one. At least I still know what to get him for Christmas.
After scouting out the market, we headed over to the art museum (SAM - they love acronyms here). It took us a bit to figure out how to get to the exhibit, but it was clear sailing after we figured it out. Up a long staircase with cool ming-dynasty statues from tombs (two camels, two rams, and a soldier), and past the overly-uniformed museum workers, and we were in.
Technically, it wasn't a Van Gogh exhibit. It was Van-Gogh-and-a-few-dozen-other-artists-sorta-related-to-Van-Gogh-artistically exhibit. It was still cool though. There was a gorgeous painting of a french lady that I wish I had been able to find a copy of, and some gorgeous examples of pointalism (using discrete dots of paint to create a picture), as well as some cubist stuff, and some abstract stuff, and a few pieces that were a little bit of random schools of art. There were a lot of Van Goghs though. There were both some of his painted pieces and some of his drawings, which were wonderful. We spent a long time in that gallery. The lady was my favorite though, even though it wasn't a Van Gogh.
After we had wandered around there long enough, we went to the other exhibit floor. There was a cool collection of Egyptian art, and some stuff from the Renissance. I'm afraid I got a bit absorbed, and took way longer than the rest of my family to wander through the different rooms. Oh well... I had fun. *grin* They watched strange people wander down the street below. Oh, speaking of the street below, there was a statue out front that looked like the worker's symbol in Communist Russia. It was... very unusual, but pretty neat. I think it was supposed to be an artist working on a piece of art, but that wasn't quite what it looked like.
After I got done being a slowcoach and we managed to free ourselves from the museum store, we went back to Pike's Market. That's the place that launched a thousand shops - Starbucks. We didn't go inside (have Starbucks at home!), but we did find Chinese steamed BBQ'ed pork buns. Oh Lordy, those things are tasty. We also got a whole bunch of fruit for tomorrow's breakfast. We wandered for a long time, window-shopping and taking the free samples that can be found at Farmer's Market. *grin* We found some pastries for tomorrow's breakfast as well. After finishing our breakfast shopping, we stopped at a coffee shop called 'Seattle's Best Coffee'. No joke. Coffee's pretty good, best I've had in a while, anyway. Their caramel lattes are yummy.
We wandered around in the car once we got back to the parking garage (no need for stair-masters in this town - there are some steep stairwells!) and I saw the place I'd love to work - the Seattle Shelter. It is so cute! There are some ideas from there I'm definitely taking home. We didn't have time to go inside, which was a pity. I want to huggle a kitten.
We had dinner at Ray's Boathouse (after passing the shelter a few more times *grin*). Verrrry tasty food. More calamari, crab cakes and.... *sigh* Chocolate diet took a small break. They had a chocolate-covered macaroon with strawberries. I couldn 't say no, but I didn't eat the whole thing either. So it wasn't too bad. Just so long as I don't go back to chocolate-after-every-meal, I'll be fine. No more chocolate on this trip, anyway. The dessert was delicious. *grin*
My fav reality show was on tonight. Amazing Race! My favorite team just avoided being eliminated - I'm rooting for the father/daughter team. I keep telling dad that we could go on that show, but I think I'm going to have to wait until my sister is old enough to play. I really want to try that zip line into the pool. How great is that?
We're leaving Seattle tomorrow, on to... somewhere on the Oregon coast, I think. Ah well, it doesn't matter, we're on vacation!
Later, Gators.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-07 09:56 am (UTC)And would you believe that I lived for the better part of two years in Victoria, Vanc. Island, just across the bay, and never made it to Seattle? (That's what comes of not having one's own vehicle and/or ferry money.) Must try again come this fall....
You have an awesome rest of your trip! Love your reports!
--Nenya, who is going from northern British Columbia to Tulsa, OK, to Thunder Bay, Ontario, in three weeks this August!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-07 02:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-07 03:18 pm (UTC)Where do you actually make your home base, when not on vacation? I keep forgetting, but think it Eastern US?
--Nenya, of various BC locales
(no subject)
Date: 2004-07-07 04:07 pm (UTC)