We didn't have enough time to work through all the suggestions from Howie Schargel, so we boarded Finn for the day and headed out to Seattle for Day 2. We boarded the ferry, lo and behold, the mountains had come out of the overcast to play. These are the heart of Olympic National Park - rarely seen...at least while we were there.
We began chatting with Sam and Andy and found that we had loads in common. The 30 minute ferry ride flew by. They were on their way into Seattle for their anniversary and Andy had planned a special surprise for his wife - tickets to Les Miserables! We actually ran into them again on the return ride and I learned that Sam's business is long arm quilting. They also RV and travel the same kinds of sites we do. The sharing and suggestions lasted both rides together. What fun we had with them.
The Seattle Art Museum was our first stop. They have a special exhibit of aboriginal art from Australia as well as a permanent collection.
There were a few pieces that spoke to us.
This beautiful silver bowl was created by a man by the name of Myer Meyers. What made it unusual was the Meyers was a trained silversmith at a time when Jews were not allowed to work with
precious metals.
Ed loves the totem poles. There are several there and he wanted this photo to emphasize how large they are. And beautiful.
The dress is woven out of bark.
The museum has both historical pieces and modern pieces by the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. We both loved this carving in many woods.
Bark warrior shields from Africa.
Art is supposed to make us ponder...I'm pondering this pair of wood carvings from the Easter Islands.
Why are these two figure circumcised???
The coat of 40,000 dog tags is amazing. They aren't real tags, but have whimsical things written on them. It's just a very powerful piece.
I've titled this work RV Nightmare. Ours! Couldn't help myself when I saw the mouse.
Next stop was a hop on the monorail to the Space Needle and the new Chihuly exhibit.
These pieces were inspired by the Indian design blankets. Chihuly used molten glass fibers laid on top of blown shapes. There is a small native object of clay or straw and a Chihuly glass piece it inspired.
Not what we think of as Chihuly glass...but it is.
Of course there are many of this series in all colors.
The Millefiori Room. There's no way to capture it, but it is incredible.
Hands down, my favorite thing was being able to look at his sketches of the design and see the design in the room. His creativity knows no bounds.
The Maccahi Forest"
Outside is the garden.
The pieces blend with the natural plants but in a super spectacular way. Each section is a little
vingette of its own and the colors lead the eye through the experience.
There's even a little mocking of our desert plants - in glass, of course.
I loved the bird forms.
Had to play with the street art - just a little.
Ed made a solo trip to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Here's a photo of the naval yard.
They build and refurbish navy ships here.
The Navy Museum is on the same site. It's a private museum telling the history of the shipyard.
The U.S.S. Turner Joy is a Vietnam era destroyer. It was built in 1958. It's career spanned 1960 to 1982. It's claim to fame is that it participated in the Tonkin Bay incidents in 1967. She fired hundreds of shells into North Vietnamese shore batteries and was hit in return.
The destroyer is a floating museum. Only the engine room is not open to the public.
Here's the detail of that episode:
And a map of the incidents:
The wet weather bridge. There's also another bridge for times when the weather was good.
The floating museum is an excellent example of the last generation of WWII destroyer development.
The ship has about 4000 tons of displacement fully loaded, a crew of 350 officers and men
and a speed of 32.5 knots, a main armament of three dual purpose 5 inch guns, and six type 24 torpedo
launchers. It was capable of doing a lot of damage!
We decided to hang around a few more days. Lisa and David Holloway were headed up to their house in Port Ludlow and asked us to spend a day with them. We headed up the peninsula and our GPS found the house just fine. What a wonderful house!!
Right on the water. That's Lisa and me on the back deck.
Here's a photo of the view because there's no way I could describe it. That would be Seattle off in the distance in the middle.
We began in Port Ludlow at their house, went to the Saturday Farmer's Market in Port Townsend where we bought some local honey, had lunch at a delightful little restaurant, and then David took Ed to a boat building school.
Ed made friends with this man, another David, who was busy working on his boat.
Dig those suspenders!
Quite a project he's taken on:
Then we were off to visit and taste hard cider. Here I am getting tipsy, as usual. 8% only and
I'm getting higher than a kite. We bought some to bring home and share.
The owner of the place and Ed even spoke a little Hebrew with each other. Go figure we'd find a
Jewish couple making hard cider in a little farm in Washington...
The Port towns are all quite charming and each a little different. Lots of
Victorian flavor and restored buildings - especially in Port Gamble.
Here's the story about this gorgeous tree: It's a State Champion Camperdown Elm. In 1640 the Earl of Caamperdown grafted a branch to a Scotch Elm. The tree is a mutant and cannot self produce. When the graft begins to grow, the Scotch Elm branches are cut off. It relies on humankind to keep it alive.
We ended our tour of the Ports with a stop to buy delicious fresh peanut butter. The Holloways know where to get the good stuff. The day ended with Lisa and David preparing a delicious dinner for us all. .
We so loved our time spent with them.
As is our custom, we never say goodbye. We know we'll meet again.
So, we prepare to take our soggy selves off the Olympic Peninsula. We've loved everything we've seen and done and the people we visited and ran into, The weather...not so much...but the locals are
complaining too, so it must be really bad.
Next stop - Rainier National Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment