TACOMA MUSEUMS and GIG HARBOR

20 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by jeannieadams in Uncategorized Tags:

Dscf3342

April 20, 2012

My last day in the Northwest, I took a quick road trip south  from Seattle to Tacoma to see the Museum of Glass, the Tacoma Art Museum and Union Station.  Tacoma is the home town of  Dale Chihuly, famous artist of beautiful glass creations, thus….I was on a mission to see Chihuly works. I was not disappointed.  As always, Chihuly’s creations were beautiful.

Next stop was Gig Harbor, a charming little town on the Puget Sound with a picture postcard harbor, friendly people walking their dogs, a Harbor History Museum,  interesting shops and galleries. My favorite shop was Reverence Jewelry Store were I found a shiny  little souvenir to take home and I also enjoyed a tasty lunch at Kelly’s. What a perfect corner of the USA for me to spend the last day of this trip.

Dscf3266
Dscf3249

Chihuly’s glass creations.

Dscf3329

Peaceful Gig Harbor

Dscf3337

Historic Net Shed on the left of this photo.

Dscf3343

I REALLY WANT THIS.

PIKE PLACE MARKET and SEATTLE’S WATERFRONT

19 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by jeannieadams in Uncategorized Tags:

Dscf3179

April 19, 2012

Downtown Seattle has  historic neighborhoods,  high end shopping,  ferries  with which to venture across the  Sound, coffee,and food  everywhere you turn, just to start.  I began my touristy day at the  Pike Place Market full of  vendors  that sell just about anything you can imagine.  The most colorful vendors sell  beautiful and affordable  bunches of  fresh flowers, fresh  fruits and vegetables, fresh (raw) fish that one vendor in particular likes to throw from one sales person to the other to entertain everyone. Bakeries are also popular vendors at the Market. One vendor has a machine working non stop so you can have the freshest donuts of them all.  The Pike Market is a wonderfully serious wake up call for  all the senses.

Before wondering off  to the waterfront , I walked by the Art Museum to get a shot of the Huge Hammering Man. Then a quick walk down some very steep streets took me to  beautiful views across the Sound andmore shops and food, all with something  catchy to get my attention. Today was fun and accompanied with some serious walking !

Dscf3193
Dscf3187

Market smells range from flowers to fish.

Dscf3164

The Original Starbucks started at the Pike Market with this logo.

Dscf3174Dscf3176

Hammering Man at Seattle Art Museum (click to see him hammer)

Dscf3220

Ye Olde Curiosity Shop at the Waterfront

Dscf3214

McDreamy Sighting on the Waterfront

Dscf3226

Fish and Crowder restaurants on the Waterfront

RIDING THE DUCK IN SEATTLE

18 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by jeannieadams in Uncategorized Tags: , ,

Dscf3077

April 18, 2012

In my family, a vacation isn’t a vacation unless you Ride the Ducks. : )  Thus, I was introduced to downtown Seattle today, via Duck. Our  Duck zipped by the busy waterfront, Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, then onto the Fremont District ( where a troll lives under the Aurora Bridge), and  dipped into Lake Union toshow off the ships from the “Deadliest Catch”,   the houseboat used in “Sleepless in Seattle” (which recently sold for over two million dollars), many other houseboats and yachts that line Lake Union and we even saw a couple of float planes come in.  It was a fun day ! Quack, Quack!

Dscf3105

Seattle’s Downtown Warerfront Skyline

Dscf3110

Sleepless in Seattle Houseboat

Dscf3142Dscf3096Dscf3123

Misc. Attractive Houseboats on Lake Union.

Dscf3050

The Fremont Troll

Dscf3152

Chihuly Garden near the Space Needle

Dscf3148

Space Needle

Dscf3125

Floatplane coming home to  million dollar houseboat.

SKAGIT VALLEY TULIP FESTIVAL, WASINGTON

16 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by jeannieadams in Uncategorized Tags: ,

Dscf2815

April 16 and 17, 2012

Welcome to Skagit Valley !  It’s a piece of Holland  and thousands of beautiful tulips in the state of Washington, about one hour north of Seattle.  I  spent the last two days enjoying the area, soaking up  the huge fields of blooming tulips and daffodils and  quaint little towns. One town in particular, La Conner, sits on the waterfront , home of functional fishing boats and a tug that was for sale ( in case anyone is in the market). La Conner  has many art galleries, and interesting shops so it was a nice place to have lunch and walk around a bit.  The town of Mt. Vernon, is the home of two gardens, Tulip Town and Rozengarden. These gardens,  for a small admission fee, welcome people to come in and enjoy their gorgeous fields of  rainbow colored tulips and numerous tulips displays , all planted with your camera in mind.  Yesterday, I also took a “Shutter Tour” which was wonderful!.  The owner of the company was our guide, friendly, personable and he drove us in a small van to  the gardens, fields, and various  places of interest in the area.  It was a great way to see Skagit Valley without driving and his tour is also designed  with your camera in mind and he gives many tips for getting great shots.   I highly recommend Shutter Tours and Skagit Valley’s Tulips !!

Dscf2784
Dscf2913
Dscf2983

Tulip Town had tulips displays set up with murals.

Dscf2894
P4160005
Dscf2818Dscf2730Dscf2837Dscf2824
Dscf2871

Red, white and blue!

THE CASCADES and LEAVENWORTH

15 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by jeannieadams in Uncategorized Tags: , ,

Dscf2588

Today’s post is like a version of  Where’s Waldo except its Where’s Jeannie?  I had the car windows down when I started my journey, turned the car heater  off and on throughout and visited a little German town without leaving the USA.  Where was I?  I took a drive into the beautiful Cascade Mountains , where there was still snow ( lots of it in places) to visit a cute little touristy town called Leavenworth.

The drive was beautiful with the huge mountains in front of me, babbling moutain streams cutting in and out  along side  the road, sometimes calm and sometimes looking like white water rafting waters, huge, huge evergreen trees and the smell of crisp fresh air.  At some places of the road the mountain would be straight up on the one side, either a mass of rock or evergreen trees and straight down on the other side, aside from the safety rail that was supposed to make you feel better. Then there were also some wierd looking trees  covered with a thick hairy green moss and with their branches reaching out, and my wild imagination, they reminded me of a large family of Mean Mr. Ginches.  : )

Leavenwoth was cute, full of shops and places to eat and  German replica buildings to photograph and pretend I was in that wonderful country of Germany. It was a great day!

Dscf2627
Dscf2605
Dscf2590

Leavenworth in the mountains.

Dscf2691

Neatly plowed snow on the sides of the road.

Dscf2696

Mean Mr Ginch Look a Likes.

Dscf2680
Dscf2685

When I pulled over to rest my hands from the death like grip I had on the steering wheel, this is how tall the snow was on the side of my passenger side window, actually it was taller than the compact car I was driving.

Edmonds, WA, Europe, and a Puget Sound Backdrop

14 Apr 2012 Leave a comment

by jeannieadams in Uncategorized Tags: , ,

Dscf2533

 April 14, 2012

Where did I see many sights of France, Ireland and Italy all in one day for free  ?

At the Rick Steves’ European Travel Festival in Edmonds, Washington.  Rick (we are on first name basis now) was in Europe but the co-authors of his guide books gave the presentations. It was wonderful – entertaining, interesting, informative and packed with fellow travel lovers.  Edmonds is a charming community about 30 minutes north of Seattle. I also enjoyed walking around town in today’s sunshine to see the  tulip and crab apple trees  blooming, plus the daffodils, tulips and lavender, to name a few.  Rick Steves’ Travel Store is a four block walk to the banks of  Puget Sound, where I vegged  afterwards to soak up the atmosphere. What beautiful country and a great day!

  I’m in Seattle and the surrounding area for  the next week for various fun  outings……  but you’ll have to tune in  to find out just what I am up to – there is so much to do here that its difficult to decide!

Dscf2532

My first whale sighting!

Dscf2544

Fancy roundabout in the middle of town.

Dscf2545

Beautiful murals in Edmonds.

Dscf2506

Rick’s travel store.

Dscf2561

Ferries are everywhere.