Rewind, Fast Forward

I have a hard time looking at these pictures.  For the last two years I've halfheartedly taken cursory glances through pictures taken during Labor Day Weekend, 2011, but I haven't really been able to post them on here, even though I felt it was really important to do so.

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011, Hans and I went to Baltimore for the first time, mostly to meet up with my friend Amber and her fiance.  I hadn't seen Amber in about eight years, so it was a pretty emotional moment for me but also wonderful.  At the time the city was hosting the first Baltimore Grand Prix, so navigating the closed-of streets was a challenge, but we had a good time visiting a few of the historic ships at the harbor: USS Constellation and USS Torsk.

On September 4th, we got up early and drove to Williamsburg, VA, with the intention of staying the night and then spending Labor Day in Jamestown.  I remember that the drive was pleasant, but once we paid the admission to the historic district Hans was overcome with an awful headache because the daylight was unbelievably bright.  There was a mild haze in the air that intensified the sun and the gravelly roads were a light color, so there was no escape, even in the shade.  With my sunglasses on it was at times difficult to see.  I was able to keep up a good mood but Hans was uncharacteristically bothered all day.

 

Once we'd checked into our motel at the end of the day, I saw I had 4 missed text messages and phone calls from various family members and a dire voice message.  Hans was just exiting the room to find the ice machine as I was calling my sister back and I frantically told him that I thought I was about to get some very bad news.

That's when I found out my brother had died that morning.

So, here we are today.  When I look at the picture of myself being silly in Williamsburg I feel strange because while I was posing in Virginia the police in Alaska were on their way to my parent's house and I was hours away from receiving terrible news.

It took me two years to feel like going back to Baltimore again because of the cloud of negativity associated with that weekend.

Anyway.  

I felt like it was time to share these photos but with some perspective.

Last Day of Spring Break

This morning we drove into the nearby hills west of downtown to Washington Park, a meandering forested area that has the Oregon Zoo, Children’s museum, and several gardens and paths.

We arrived before the Japanese Garden opened, so we took the time to walk through the free International Rose Test Garden, established in 1917 when a local rose enthusiast petitioned to establish a garden dedicated to preserving European rose species that may had been blown to extinction during the bombing in World War I.

There were very few blooms to be seen.  Most of the roses had barely begun to grow new shoots from the previous season’s pruned canes.  Some garden workers were digging in the back of the property, getting ready to do some transplanting.  The array of species was impressive, so I am sure that in mid-July the garden is gorgeous.

We trekked up another hill path that took us to the gate of the Japanese Garden.  Again, since it is still early spring, there were very few blooming or budding plants.  The cherry trees in downtown Portland were blooming yesterday, but the cooler temperature in Washington Park was causing winter to hang on a little longer.  The garden was pretty empty.  There were a few other visitors but during the hour we spent walking slowly along the beautiful paths we were mostly alone.  The green moss and gray plants made everything look extra delicate, and the feebly-gurgling streams peacefully drowned out any city noise.

As we were leaving the park I stopped in the gift shop for the rose garden and was offered a delicious cup of rose tea, however the rest of the store was an annoying explosion of cheaply-scented products and overly-cute wooden birds and teacups.  Hans left quickly while I finished my tea.

After a wrong turn to Beaverton we drove the winding neighborhood roads to a trailhead into Forest Park, one of the largest urban green spaces in any major city in the country.

Our 2.5-mile hike took us on a short loop around the southernmost park of the park, tracing the main Wildwood Trail for a short while, then back via a fire road.  The thick and tall trees were covered in moss and in some cases, had ferns growing out of nooks and crannies in the bark of living trees.  The air was very damp and still.  We encountered a few runners and some of the weirdest-looking dogs I’ve ever seen.  It felt really refreshing to be out in the woods, even for an hour.  During the last quarter mile or so it began to rain.

We drove around other parts of the city and had lunch at the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company, a quiet place inside a warehouse crammed with large wooden tables and mismatched chairs.  Our sandwiches were pretty good and the beer was tasty too.

Hans wanted to go see the cabin Lewis and Clark built and stayed in for a few months near Vancouver, Washington, but we ended up at the site of Hudson Bay Company’s Fort Vancouver.  It was a British trading post from the 1830s to 1860.  Though the fort had generally peaceful relations with the Native Americans and American settlers, the workers eventually built a small bastion armed with small cannon, in case those pesky Americans decided to attack.  It was also built as the result of an embarrassing episode in 1844 when the HMS Modeste fired a 7-gun salute from the river.  As the fort had no working cannon to fire back and return the honor, the Company lamely flapped their arms in dismay as the following conversation happened:

            Hudson Bay Company: “Oh, I…..I guess I’d better leave….”

            HMS Modeste: “Yes, I think you’d better had.”

Not really, but that was the reenactment that Hans and I did at the fort.

We were getting hungry again so we picked up an excess of snacks and drinks at Fred Meyer to have back at our room later, then stopped for dinner at Bridgeport Brewery.  Hans had a really tasty bratwurst plate with homemade gnocchi noodles and red cabbage sauerkraut.  I had a very crisp duck leg served over spinach that was tossed in creamy goat cheese.  Their red ale was pretty good.  Hans had the pale ale and it was so-so, but then again most pale ales are.

As if we hadn’t had enough to eat already, back in our room we demolished a six pack of Alaskan Oatmeal Stout and ate a large quantity of fruit and sourdough bread.  We wisely decided not to open the bottle of Oregon wine, or the block of Tillamook cheese we’d purchased.  Those were left as souvenirs to take home.  We watched some TV and I passed out some time during the episode of Top Gear that Hans was watching.

 Japanese Garden

 

Forest Park

 

Fort Vancouver

Rose City

Did a lot of walking today.

This morning we went over to Voodoo Doughnut.  I got a maple-bacon bar (oh, yes) and Hans had a peach fritter (enormous).  I also ordered the C*ck and Ba!!s, thinking that each doughnut would be on the small size.  Oh, no.  This gigantic anatomically-shaped item filled the entire box our other doughnuts came in.  We're going to have to leave the gigantic chocolate-glazed and cream-filled tasty thang for breakfast tomorrow...

As we walked back to our hotel to drop off the leftovers, a bellhop on the street asked if we'd had the cocoa puff doughnut.  I replied by telling him what was in the box, but that it was "bigger than I thought it would be".  He began a reply but then stopped himself, blushing slightly, so I wished him a good morning and Hans and I walked away, giggling.

Our next stop was Powell's City of Books, a used and new book mecca that is like Tidalwave in Anchorage, but 10 times bigger!  Hans bought a Frank Herbert novel and I purchased an anthropological study on the Tlingit circa 1955 and their last copy of Wildwood by Colin Meloy of the Decemberists and illustrated by his talented wife, Carson Ellis.

We made a short pit stop back at the hotel to drop off the books and then went back out onto the streets and spent the rest of the day wandering all around downtown, along the waterfront, and through a couple of shops.  For the heck of it we went to the Ducks store for the University of Oregon.  There was a local news anchor and a camera guy, hoping to interview people about the upcoming basketball game.  They asked Hans for a few words but he declined.  I was hoping they'd approach me so I could reply "What's basketball?", but the opportunity never came.

We had drinks and lovely cheap Vietnamese appetizers at a new trendy bar downtown called Luc Lac.  The cocktails I had were pretty darn refreshing.  The first one had two kinds of tequila, tamarind juice, lime, and the tiniest hint of cinnamon.  Their food was excellent.  I'm still in disbelief over the $2 plates.

We went back to our room to give our feet a break....and then pretty much collapsed.

En-Route to Portland

This morning we slept in but then got rolling fairly quickly one we were awake.  We checked out of our hotel and did a short tour of some other Seattle neighborhoods before stopping at a small breakfast place called Chase's Pancake Corral, where I fell in love with lingonberries.  Seriously, I'm obsessed.

Next, we drove a short ways to Snoqualmie Falls, where the wind was really whipping the mists up into the cliffs.

We arrived in Portland just in time for the hotel's evening wine reception.  Hans had a really exceptional sauvingnon blanc, and my pinot noir was pretty good.  We immediately went from wine tasting to beer tasting at Deschute's brew pub a few blocks away and proceeded to get pretty blotto.  Hans' burger was pretty inventive, but kind of a "cacophony of flavors" (as Hans put it), my meat pizza was really great, but their PRETZEL.  Aw...it was good!

As for the beer, we tried the Black Butte Porter, Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Inversion IPA, Obsidian Stout, Chainbreaker IPA, Red Chair NWPA, Chainbreaker White IPA, Hop Henge, DB Hefewizen, Albedo Experimental IPA, Bachelor Bitter, Claddagh Nitro Stout, Biere de Garde, and the Double D Imperial Spelt Ale.

OK.  Most of these were 4-oz samplers....but we were still pretty hammered at the end of the night.

The Falls

 The Beer!

Sunshine and Seafeasts!

It was a slow morning....mostly my fault since I was working on this thing.

We took the monorail back downtown and went back to Pike's Place for a little shopping, and the Saturday crowds were there in full force.  We bought some delicious pastries (mine, a cardamom and cinnamon braid, Hans', a pastry-wrapped baked apple with cream cheese icing).  After buying a few gifts and expanding our art collection we drove to the neighborhood of Fremont for lunch with Molly, one of our friends from UAF.

It was really great seeing her, and I'm always appreciative that even though "the gang" has been spread all over the country we can still get together like no time has passed.  Molly showed us the Troll Under the Bridge, and we hung out for another couple of hours.

After parting ways I picked up a cup of coffee and we...erm...mostly got lost and confused by the one-way streets and no-left-turn intersections in Fremont and ended up back at the hotel for a short bit.  I changed clothes since the wind had picked up during the afternoon.  When we went back outside, the clouds had cleared over the city and there was brilliant sunshine on Lake Union.

We drove to Gas Works Park, which was formerly, just that.  The main gas works have been fenced off and the water isn't suitable for swimming or fishing, but the giant green hill made for excellent views of downtown Seattle and some of the charming waterfront neighborhoods.  There were also some smaller pipes that were brightly painted for children to run around.

The sun set over Queen Anne Hill, so we hopped back in the car and Hans took me to the Locks and Botanical Garden, where the spring flowers were blooming and we saw some beautiful examples of Alaskan yellow weeping cedar.  There was a large heron sitting on one of the lock gates but it flew away before I could get a very good picture in the low light.

We ended our evening at Waterfront Park, downtown, where we waited a full hour to enter The Crab Pot, a major crowd draw probably because it's been featured on Food Network.  But let me tell ya, it's worth the wait!

We started our meal with a plate of jalapeno cheddar hush puppies and a liter of beer apiece (why not?).  Then, our Sea Feast arrived.  A gigantic bowl of steamed clams, mussels, oysters, red potatoes, corn on the cob, spears of salmon, snow crab, and dungeness crab was dumped into the middle of our table.  Then, we began to demolish the pile of fresh and sweet sea critters before us.

As we were eating, I was reflecting on the fact that I was actually glad that we had to wait so long for a table: When we arrived the hallway outside the restaurant was packed and noisy.  By the time we were seated at 9 pm, the crowds had gone (and I think many had given up because we were originally told it was going to be a 90 minute wait).  Of course, we were slowing way down by the time we were cracking our way through the rich crab legs, but by then the staff were no longer seating people and it was much quieter.  In fact, even when we were first seated Hans and I never had to shout to hear one another.  The last bits of crab and beer were pretty difficult to get through, and I laughed loudly when our server asked if we wanted dessert.  Upon arriving back at the hotel, I barely had the energy to look at the day's pictures before passing out.

Said pictures:

 The Troll!

 Downtown from Lake Union, Gas Works

 

The Locks

Hans is feeling watched, Sea Feast!

 Waterfront Park

Our First Day in Seattle

This morning we were up early, and saw a few bits of blue sky poking through the clouds.  After being so cooped-up in planes, trains, and automobiles yesterday it felt good to stretch our legs.  We walked through Millennium Park and down to Olympic Sculpture park before meandering along the waterfront.

After making our way to Pike's Landing, we enjoyed a breakfast in one of the cafes that had a lovely view of Puget Sound, now sparkling under a few patches of sunshine.  We enjoyed the beautiful flower displays and wished we could take home some of the delicious-smelling sea fare on display (including some of the biggest lobster tails I've ever seen).

We continued our walk south through downtown, then made a loop back to our hotel for a small break and some lunch at the hotel's restaurant, where Hans experienced burger nirvana (grilled onions and cherry peppers!).

Since we were staying just a block from Millennium park and its museums, we decided to visit the EMP Museum and Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum.

At the EMP, a multi-interface music experience, there was a special exhibit about the band Nirvana, which featured rare demo songs that Kurt Cobain recorded as a young teenager.  I smiled as I listened to a track that was recorded when Cobain was 15, about "Spanking Thru" a bad romantic breakup.

In the basement of the museum was an exhibit about horror films and why they have so much cultural appeal.  There were creepy props like the face sucker from Alien, the axe from The Shining, and a mask from The Creature from the Black Lagoon.  There were little booths were you could watch commentaries about significant horror movies through the history of cinema, by the curators of the exhibit, Eli Roth, Roger Corman, and John Landis.

There was also an exhibit about cultural science fiction icons, and quite possibly the coolest interactive exhibit I've ever seen, the EMP's Sound Lab.  Inside, there were multiple drums, guitar, and keyboard instruments where people of all ages and ability could play music, sound rooms for mixing and recording, and a virtual percussion device where you pound your fists onto pictures of various objects to make sounds.  You could practically feel the excitement and eagerness oozing from the kids that were darting from instrument to instrument.

There was also a nostalgic exhibit about the art of video games.

The Chihuly museum was extremely impressive.  I was already familiar with some of Chihuly's work since he has many installments and the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis.  His organic glass sculptures are meant to be in natural settings, so gardens are the perfect place to find them.  I had no idea, however, about his fondness for glass houses, or green houses.  After seeing his large glass house sculpture today, it became obvious that such open and airy spaces are the perfect blank canvas for his art.  His glass baskets were interesting.  Chihuly emulated them in slightly fallen and misshapen bowls (as he noticed that Navajo grass baskets collapse over time) and painted (with molten glass, of course) beautiful patterns inspired by Navajo blankets onto their surface.

We were fairly exhausted at the end of the day, so we went to bed early.

Pictures!

 Millennium Park

 EMP Museum, and art installation by the Space Needle

 Downtown

 A train probably bound for Boeing Field, the Sound

 Olympic Park

 Typewriter Eraser (with sister sculptures in Washington DC and Las Vegas

 Pike's Place Market

 Guitar tower at EMP, Hendrix's guitar that he played at woodstock

 Zelda memories, conceptual art for Fallout III

 Hans' inner monster!

Sound Lab

 Chihuly Forest, baskets

The Persian Room

 Chihuly loves sealife