First Days in Seattle

Welcome to Pikes Place Market! 

 One of Seattle's main attractions is the open air market at Pike's Place, offering artisans goods from jewelry and scarfs to spicy jam and chocolate pasta! 

 This is the outside entrance with outdoor vendors and to the left along this street are small restaurants and the original Starbucks! 

One of my favorite parts is the never ending flowers! The entire left side, for most of the indoor market is every kind of flower you could imagine! The most beautiful and brightly colored arrangements, it made me want to buy some, but I had no vase and no table to put them on :( Mom you would have been in heaven here!!! 

Next was the fish market, there is one in the middle (pictured here) and one at the end, it was definitely  a main attraction for tourists and people would gather around and listen to the men shout out the fish they had that day and toss them around.  The best part is when a crowd gathers and one of the guys tosses a fish out into the crowd, the women scream in terror and jump back only to realize that the giant fish is harmless and stuffed! But what a thrill!! :)

During the summer the tourists come in droves, especially off the cruise ships! So the market tends to be rather crowded, but still worth the visit!

 

Ambryn making me laugh next to the famous 'Market' sign.

On our way out we couldn't resist a quick stop at the 'Lusty Lady' nearby...

 

What! It was the cheapest porn in town!! :) 

After a lunch of peaches and raspberries Ambryn and I hiked to the Library. I use the word 'hiked' because much like San Francisco, Seattle is a very hilly city! The library is a beautiful and amazing sight right in downtown! It had something like 10 stories each with their own unique design and architecture.  I should have taken more pictures but this is all I have...

The grid structure you see surrounds the entire building. This is the highest level we were allowed to visit and it offers a great view of the city! There was the 'red room' designed for conferences and lectures where the halls and walls are a reflective red, it feels like you are in a spaceship.  The furniture is very modern and unique, my favorite being the pod-like seats in the children's library, circular and squishy!! My favorite feature of all would have to be the return bin, it was encased in glass so you could see the book get dropped in and then watch it go up the conveyor belt along the ceiling and filed high up onto the second floor somewhere.  The Library was well worth the visit, I only wish we had gotten there early enough for the tour! :) 

We ended the day with a much needed stop at the car wash.  Fit-Fit was still covered in bugs from her journey from Boise and desperately needed some love...

The wash 

The wax

 

The Rinse

Thank you to Ambryn for the company and the pictures! Thank you to Tracy and Chris for housing me in beautiful Ballard! :) 

On the road, yet again!

So its time for the coast...the Pacific Ocean awaits me!! I will have made it across the country!!

  It worked out great that I met Ambryn because now the two of us can travel together and the best news of all is that all of her stuff fit in the car! Amazing!! So once we were all packed up its off to Washington! 

Goodbye Idaho!

Welcome to Washington! 

Eastern Washington (the cascade mountains divide the state and I have been told to the east lies the type you should leave alone (kinda like northern and southern NH or ME) just a different breed of people than in western WA)

Western Washington!! Seattle here we come!!! 

    Ambryn is going to let me stay with her for two nights when we get to Seattle in exchange for the ride! I think that is a fabulous trade! 

Off to the theatre

Well after that great rafting adventure its good to be on dry land!  I figured that now was as good a time as any to find myself a new bike. I was in the land of outdoorsy people (isn't that true of everywhere I have been?) So off I went in search of the perfect used bike.  Who could ask for more?? :)

 

   So I found it, Bikes 2 Boards, they had a full selection of used, rusted pieces out back. Excellent!! I looked around and didn't see what I wanted, then the guy helping me offered me this red trek frame that he could fix up.  I said yes and came back in a few hours to try it out. It was pretty good, considering what it has been through. So I purchased some items to spiff it up a bit and would return the next day to pick it up. 

   Of course a day later was a little soon for the laid back bicycle men, but we worked it out! So in the end, I have a bike again! of course I made sure to shop around and find a few locks to help me keep it a little more secure (thank you to Walmart and Home Depot) now I think I am ready for the road! What do you all think????

Yeah I think that the orange 7ft chain ought to cover it!

    The following evening was a little going away party for one of Shana's friends.  I was able to hang with some local 'outdoorsy' folk and learn about corn shucking races and feverishly collecting earwigs in a cup! (courtesy of the corn shucking!) The cake was delicious! I also met someone in need of a ride to Seattle, so who knows maybe we will work something out...I'm sure her stuff would fit?!

    It was also the night I would be moving locations to stay with Niffer and Luke, my new newly wed Jews!! Everyone should have some, they are too much fun! They were wonderful hosts complete with bedding (goodbye sleeping bag!) and black out shades...I could sleep all day!! :) 

     My last night there we all went to volunteer at the Shakespeare theatre so we could picnic at the theatre and see a play. It was tons of fun being a bouncer getting to hang with Niffer and stop anyone from 'rushing' the stage. We were also in charge of making sure no one took any pictures of the stage, the setup was basically copyrighted. So the only pictures allowed were those facing away from the stage. Ha! I chatted up the locals around us who paid an ungodly amount to have a front row seat, not to mention the folks who dropped $360 for a table of 5 to watch the show. The people came with wine, glasses (no plastic here!), sushi, brownies, salads, steak and chicken! It was impressive! 

The play was alright, I preferred the part where I enjoyed french bread, goat cheese, grapes and wine....ahhh the good life! Oh yeah and the part at the end where we picked up trash and i socialized with the people as they left, it was a lot of fun! So here are some pictures of us all, of course all pictures are facing AWAY from the stage! :) 

Niffer and Shana  Shana and I

 The gang afterwards, grabbing a few beers in the parking lot. 

Boise was a blast! I will miss everyone! Thank you to Shana, Niffer, and Luke!! 

Boise Oise

Welcome to Idaho! 

  

In every state I have driven through the scenery changes! Idaho was drier in spots but the mountains started to flatten at the top, while Utah was full of folded mountains.

8th street was the main attraction in downtown. A street full of shopping, great restaurants and of course local boise folk!

      

this is just some great art on the corner of a street. It looks like an earthquake dividing and then just underneath it the water is flowing into the ground. 

    Shana was able to house me for a few days in an adorable house right near Hyde park.  Like most cities, Boise is formed by neighborhoods.  Hyde Park is a small cluster of your bare essentials in Idaho: a coffee shop, an ice cream/candy store,  a place to drink beer, a place to eat burgers, a place to eat shotty mexican, a place to buy outdoor clothes, a bicycle store, and 'A Thousand Villages' a store that sells art and such from people in developing countries.  See like I said everything you would need! 

   We grabbed burgers the first night, thank god I didnt stick with that vegan diet! We reminisced about family vacations, practical jokes, and that one whitewater rafting trip no one could forget, how could you forget a trip with no guide, two father daughter teams, and men who live and breath competing with each other? Short of spinning in circles down the river, there was the everlasting "Man overboard!" to be called as each "accidently" fell out of the raft. Meanwhile Shana and I just sat puzzled, wondering how our mothers would have permitted such a thing. :) 

After a few days of exploring Shana and I decided some outdoor activities were in order. It was Boise for heaven's sake, its just what you do! So before the cold set in too much we planned a raft down the river.  What better a way to enjoy the country and bring two former rafters back together?? So we borrowed a nice small inflatable raft from a friend and headed out when Shana got off of work. We arrived around 6 to inflate the boat and launch it in.  Shana explained the float would be 2 hours, and i assured her the dark was no problem because we would paddle in parts to increase our speed and thus our arrival time.  So we inflated the raft...

       

We each took turns, no not by mouth, that orange thing is a pump that plugs into the car. The raft had three different compartments, but it took no time at all. So then we set it in the water to test it out.

Aaaaa...comfy! "But Shana doesnt it feel a little squishy?" I asked.

"Yeah Nikki it kinda does, lets add more air."

"ok then"

So we returned to pump more air.  Once satisfied we headed out on our now only semi-squishy raft. Class one rapids here we come!!! 

    Now if you know me and you know how my vacations run of course you can forsee the rest...Yup thats right the raft began to deflate, ever so slowly of course, but deflate none the less. It was gradual, first I noticed it when I would go to move in the back of the raft Shana, sitting on the side in the front, would kinda bouce up. Now at first we laughed it off, Im the bigger of the two, hahaha. Then it became clearer as we entered the second rapid and I was sitting on the back again, steering us through, and as we came out water was pooled under my legs.  Funny, how did that get in there? It seems that the more I sat on the back bumper the more creases and folds would begin to form as the raft lost air.  The more creases and folds meant the more valleys for water to seep into from the river beneath me. So I had to resort to sitting in the bottom of the raft.  There it became more clear that the raft was  losing it.  Shana meanwhile laughed it off with "Wouldn't it be funny if...." and "Don't worry we can always pull over on the side and just walk the last mile or so." 

 "No" I said. "We will do this Blumenthal/Freedman style and we will make it down this river even if we are lying on raft skin to do it!" 

   And by God that is what we did. Raft skin and all. 

     Now its too bad there are no pictures of this great adventure, but we couldn't sacrifice either digital camera to the raging rapids nor to the rocky river bottom we trudged through on foot and with our own bottoms (through raft skin of course:).

   A super special thank you to Shana for taking us out even when it was getting too cold, too dark and the raft wasn't filling right! I had a GREAT time:)  

On to Boise

I left at noon on Sunday to head to Boise, ID to see Shana and catch up on old times....Idaho and potatoes here i come! (Thank god its only 5 hours away!)

The Family

I love my 'new' cousins!! I am so glad we were able to all see each other and hang out in UT. I learned a lot about all of them, Tia is one of 6! Coming from an only child family its nice to know I'm not alone:) We had a great time going to concerts, shopping (of course!), visiting friends and taking care of Rifkas brand new baby boy! We had a great dinner at P.F. Changs in Salt Lake with Tia and her friend Glen.  

I learned a lot about the Mormon life, beliefs and missions and of course about Rockband..thanks to Jessica it is my new found obsession! I am all about Bass and singing...."raaaappppeeee -- muuurrrddeerrrr!" Need i say more Jess??

-but i think the highlight would have to be attending the Church dance at BYU (Brigham Young University). The dance felt like a junior high school dance for college kids...crazy but fun! There were cookies and rice krispie treats and lemonade, how could you go wrong?! I even signed a 'dance card' pledging to dance appropriately and not wear clothing that was too short or showed my mid drift! HA! can you imagine a dance like this in Boston? what would the guys do with themselves?? No bump and grind, no freak dancing, they would have to be polite and respectful! That would be the day!

 

~ The whole gang!

Course the slow songs were the best part to me, complete with the clearing of the dance floor and men asking us ladies to dance! Of course in appropriate fashion. But don't worry not all the boys were perfect angels, but adult patrol was out to make sure they stayed in line! Overall it was a great time and definitely a good cultural experience for me:) I met a ton of wonderful people and had a great time! Thank you to Gail, Bud, Tia, Rifka, and Jess for taking me in and showing me such a fun time! Ill miss you all! love ya!

  The ladies getting down!

   Andrew, Tia and I

Glorious Salt Lake

 

So much of it evaporates and leaves salty, crusty beaches

  

Sailing on the lake looked so peaceful

then i approached the water

I went in for the dip...closer and closer until...

I did it! 

Blach! it looks harmless but the smell is hard to bear.  Mmmmm what an aroma! Its hard to really describe the smell in a few words...

Sea lion poop, with a little dead seagull, rotting eggs and a side of decaying fish, yum! Definitely a place I would want to take a dip! Too bad I forgot my suit! Darn. 

The salt flats were another 2 hour drive out, but the smaller versions along the lake were beautiful-

      

The white at the base of the poles is all salt