Seattle :: Day 4 AND 5 :: Because It's Taken Me Longer To Re-Cap The Vacation Than Actually Take The Vacation...

You've been so good.

Hanging in there with me, as I recap this vacation (to be truthful, I've lost a bit of interest myself, but I'm not sleeping well lately so that could be contributing to my sudden apathy...)  At any rate, I thought I'd reward you with this double rainbow.

We happened to see it when we went to the waterfall on our fourth trip day, who's name escapes me at the moment.

Isn't that horrible?

(the fact I can't remember the name, not the falls...they're quite lovely)

It was very misty from all the falling water, so we got wet...which made me wonder why I'd taken so long to do my hair.  Only it takes me about 10 minutes to do my hair, so I wasn't that put out.

There's a very cool lodge up on the left side of the falls that's been there since the 30's or 40's or something like that.  I couldn't get as good of shot with the Elph that Claudine got with her Droid...go figure, but I think it's the lodge in Twin Peaks.  There was going to be a wedding there that day, which made me a bit jealous because we don't have any waterfalls in Prescott to get married next to.

Then again, I think I read somewhere that Washington has more waterfalls than any other state.

I have no idea if this is true or not...

If I sound a bit confused it sets us up perfectly for what happened next on our trip.

We got lost.

We were trying to get to the Japanese Gardens and we ended up in the most lovely residential neighborhood on the water instead...which is exactly where I posted on facebook that I was looking for my new dream house and scared a few people.

Looking.

I can't imagine I could afford to buy, much less rent something in this zip-code.

And if I did, I would most likely get lost...because our GPS told us our destination was 100 feet on the right and Claudine grabbed my arm as I lept out to knock on the big mansions door and ask if we could see their backyard.

What?

They may have Japanese plants.

We lucked out though because not only was I not arrested for trespassing, but the neighborhood mail carrier was out and he pointed over our heads towards the right direction.

We took the scenic route back by the water and passed the place where Niles moved out when he divorced his wife on Frasier.

I know.

The GPS wanted us to see that so much more than the Japanese Gardens.

Which we found eventually after only getting lost once more.

They are lovely gardens...built around a large center pond, in which lives a whole lot of Koi, and a turtle.  In fact, there was a little boy shrieking at the top of his lungs "Turtle!!" the entire time he was there.  He's lucky he didn't get pushed in by anyone.

What?

There was no railing on the little bridges.  That could be dangerous.

There was also a very cool Heron.

Who was very itchy.

He actually stood there most of the time itching himself.

Poor guy.

All in all it was mostly serene when I couldn't hear the constant shrieking or worry about the poor itchy bird, because I'm not sure how stressed out I was supposed to be walking around this property.

The bird did stop itching about the time we decided to meander on our way.

Thank heavens.

That was one less thing I needed to worry about as we kept getting lost all day.

It was then off to The Smith Tower for a little tour and quick zip up to the top of the tower, and the observation deck.

We've already covered my fear of heights, I know...but there was something special I was after at the top floor of this building.

The Wishing Chair.

After boarding the Otis elevator (and only a few of those are in operation anymore) complete with an elevator operator...and a totally see through door (behind the ornate brass designs) which meant you could see all the office floors we were passing...we were at the top in a very Oriental decorated room.

We spied the chair first thing...

The lore of the chair is that it's a wishing chair...so your wishes come true if you sit in it, and if you're single and you sit in it, you should be married within the year.  So we both plunked down in the chair and sat there wondering if there was any sort of chanting or sayings we were supposed to repeat.

Mostly I just sat there and drank my coffee.

And I wished.

You'll be happy to know that I walked along the entire observation sidewalk on the outside of the building, which Claudine informed me was much scarier than the Space Needle.

Oh well.

Maybe it's the age of the building I was in?  I just happen to feel a lot more comfortable in old buildings.

And then it was on to Theo Chocolate for a tour I'd set up.  They are a very popular place and tours need to be booked in advance.  Luckily I scored the last two openings on Saturday the week before and we jumped in for our tour.

(after missing our turn on the freeway and almost making us late)

It was awesome.

(the tour, not the 9 point turn that would take us down the shady alley to get onto the freeway...that was just confusing)

They talk to you all about their Organic Fair Trade beans and let you sample chocolate.

For an entire hour.

They are also certified as Fair Trade, so their business practices are watched carefully too.

We toured their whole facility...

I know...it would be more interesting if I remembered what everything did.

I had eaten a whole lot of chocolate by that point.

Those are large bins of chocolate hulls, or nibs, or seeds...

Whatever.

It smelled divine!

It was somewhat hard to concentrate because there was this German guy who kept asking the most detailed and scientific questions of our tour guide.  She did a lovely job answering him, even though it must have been hard because we were all rolling our eyes at this point.

That's him on the right side of the frame.

We also got to sample some confections...which they don't usually ship too far from their factory as they only have a 2.5 week shelf life.

(I brought some home for my mother:  Green Tea and Ginger, Chai and Pumpkin Spice, A Salted Lavender Caramel, and my favorite...Dark chocolate with a Chocolate and Basil Ganache.  Which I have vowed to recreate because it was so of the hook delicious.)

Also?

I think that was a chocolate Buddha head, but Mr. German Guy had taken up all of our question time, so I didn't get to ask.

In their front room, they have all their chocolates out for sale and sample.

We won't go into the specific amount I spent, but let's just say...

I have some great chocolate at home.

That night we went to the Microsoft building in Bellevue and went bowling.  I know...I'm a horrible bowler, but the whole place mostly up and turned into a dance club, so I was pretty much in heaven after that.

And I've decided to wind it up and let you know that we went out to the wine country before leaving on the plane the next day.

To go on the Red Hook Brewery Tour.

$1, 1 hour, 8 beers.

In a small tasting glass, but still...

Very good.

And oddly enough, the original Red Hook Brewery is now the Theo Chocolate building.

It is indeed a very small world.

 After all.

And people are seriously in to riding their bikes all around, which made me panic about not being able to ride a bike.  I mean, if I moved there I would obviously have to learn how to ride a bike.

Not that I have any plans to move, but I had to feel panicked nonetheless.

(it could have been all the beer I had just recently drank as well)

Then I noticed all these bikers were sitting around drinking pitchers of beer.

Ok.

Now there's something I can get behind.

Drunk people on bikes.

That way no one would notice if I couldn't ride or not, they'd just think I was pushing my bike because I was too tipsy to ride.

One of the great things about eating at the brewery was not only did they hand pull from the kegs before the beer was bottled, but they had organic locally raised pumpkin seeds on the appetizer menu.

Which were lovely.

OK.

That's pretty much it and I would think it's going to be back to mostly normal around here now.

Phew, eh?