Fogbow

northland10 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 2:20 pm I'm really good at bending nails with a hammer, and I'm confident I could bend them with a nailer. I'm special.

When my father-in-law passed many years ago, I was appointed to go through his tools and so forth. What I found was that he saved every nail he ever bent. Several hundred of them, I think he planned to eventually straighten them out, but he never got to it. My own dad died with unfinished electronics projects and books he planned to read, but ... no bent nails. I went through his tools and so forth in 2006, after my mom was gone and before he moved into the retirement community.

Yeah, the whirlwind begins...

This morning we're racing (at 6 am) so we can be on the ferry at 7:55. We're going to the Achooey (gesundheit) Museum, whatever that is. We have to make it back for the 12:55 ferry, or we'll have to wait in line for the next one, could be a three hour wait in the afternoon.

An emergency trip to a museum, with a lot of time pressure. What fun!

Travels with ol' Wifehorn are not vacations, don't let her fool you.

Because of all the metals in my knees and shoulders, I had to go through the super screening at the airport. Didn't see anyone from the American Revolution. Took a Trazodone and slept through the flight. Everyone else watched video the whole time.

I have been working on strength and conditioning, and it paid off. I have a carryon and a backpack, and ol' Wifehorn had to stop three times while we were climbing the hill after getting off the ferry. I could have walked five miles. But after we strolled half a mile into downtown Bainbridge, we found a great little teriyaki joint right next to a foofy ice cream shop that used fresh raspberries in my cone. Shortly after that, our niece picked us up and took us to the house.

I got up at 12:30 a.m. Seattle time yesterday. I was in bed by 7:30. Long day, photos later. Can't transfer from my GoPro to my tablet, gotta use my phone today.

Chihuly Garden and Glass?

Totally cool and worth it!

My son used to live on Bainbridge. He'd joke about how he lived on an island but downtown Seattle was within walking distance. Beautiful part of the world.

MN-Skeptic wrote: ↑Fri Jul 26, 2024 12:04 pm Chihuly Garden and Glass?

Totally cool and worth it!

Yes, and yes. I got a lot of photos, but it's way more work to post them from here, I'll show them when I get home.

And we also did the Seattle Aquarium and Ivar's seafood restaurant, some sorta Seattle icon. We actually got in line for the ferry and then left the car sitting there for an hour while we walked over to Ivar's. No, we ate outside but I didn't share any of my lunch with the seagulls, which were plenty fat enough already. We ate by the fireboats, and yes, photos later.

Whirlwind day, I forget what's next. Ol' Wifehorn and her niece giving updates about Harris all morning long.

Oh, one photo. This is the Space Needle from inside the Chihuly exhibit, the decorations are all super amazing glass creations.

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Ivar's! Glad to know it's still there.

In 2021 I rode with my Seattle sister in her pickup from Minnesota to Seattle, then stayed with her for three weeks. We went to the Chihuly exhibit, Seattle’s aquarium, and - several times - to Ivar’s. I’ve been back there twice since then and Ivar’s is definitely one restaurant we eat at.

By the way, I’ve noticed Ivar’s clam chowder at the local Costco. I don’t know if they always have it on hand; I’m not a clam chowder person.

Yeah, it was just a quick lunch, we had fish and chips, but the fish was outstanding.

And we love riding the ferry, but I'd probably get jaded if'n I lived here. It's nice to visit.

Note: the ferry is not cheap at all in a car. If you commute to Seattle and back every day, good grief. It's cheaper on foot, and even cheaper for seniors. But it's $44 round trip in a vehicle, and more than that if you have more than one Earthling in your car.

For us, that's okay, we're on vacation and we expect to spend some money. But if we lived here ...

I'm no help. Been there many times, but always for work. My days there were drive, work, hotel, drive, work, hotel, rinse - repeat until Friday when it was just drive home. I've been to the air base, sub base, and the multinational software company that we are not allowed to speak anything about except we use their products like most of the rest of the world. Almost zero tourist time in Seattle. My brother wants to move there. I have a married granddaughter in the area, and some cousins. I should put it on my bucket list.

When I was here in 2021, the waterfront area around the ferry terminals was kind of messed up with construction, and of course it was the second year of the pandemic, so not as much public activity. This time you can see the construction is mostly coming to an end, and they've put a ton of new stuff in the waterfront area, and it's very nice. Still some traffic disruption with a lot of orange cones, but you can see the end of that in a month or two.

It actually got up to 75° today! Sunny! Nice!

OK, we decided to visit the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium down in Tacoma, instead of the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, which I've already seen (with jcolvin2) in 2021.

So off we go. On the bright side, Ms. Harris seems to be handling things most effectively. I feel safe leaving the American political chaos behind for a few more days.

Ivar's is great. The best view of the city is not the Space Needle, but from the top of the Columbia Center.

The Great Goog says I'm here (blue dot). We're going to tour the Bloedel Reserve today, just for starters (see the map). It's a long walk through a very manicured collection of beautiful trees and bushes.
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Yesterday at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium was great, we got there early enough to avoid the crowds, and it was a perfect Southern California day here in the Pacific Northwest, blue skies and 75° temps. I was very impressed by the zoo and aquarium, they're both very high quality. Awesomeness.

Then we went to lunch at Stack 571 Burger and Whiskey Bar at Point Ruston, followed by Ice Cream Social, and letting the rugrats run wild at the park. By the time we got home we were all exhausted, but today is a new day. Ol' Wifehorn says she's getting a cold, but she doesn't sound bad and we haven't been sick since 2020, so we'll have to see. Oh wait, that sounds like a dry cough. Hmmm.

It was Saturday, he was off duty.

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For you Ivar's fans, here's the outdoor deck, with fat seagulls loitering on the railing and down in the water, waiting for a treat.

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My phone is a crappy telephoto ...

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I really think I captured the personality of this ne'er-do-well.

Oh man, ol' Wifehorn really is sick, for the first time in years. And the weather has been wonderful all the time we've been here! How the heck did she get sick, and am I next? I hope not, I gotta take care of her, we're flying home tomorrow!

Inconceivable!

Wear masks on the plane.

Yes'm.

An airplane is a great place to pick up a cold or virus. I know. I do it all the time.

And do a Covid test NOW.

In Dec 2022 I caught a cold. Or so I thought. I was fully vaccinated and it sure seemed like a cold. It wasn’t until I realized that I couldn’t smell the alcohol when I wiped off my thermometer that I realized it was probably Covid. It was. So it ended up being like a one week intense cold.