Snow!

Snow? Not here in Honolulu, but up in the Pacific Northwest. Mom was very excited with the first snowfall this week and I got many updates, so I'm sharing them with you.
The first is after one hour, the second was taken on the next day.

Stay warm everyone. Or hop on a plane and come visit me!

The last stop...

One last post of the trip...
The day before we left, we made a trip to the Issaquah Farmers Market at Pickering Barn. Don't you just love the colors of the market? I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

more tourist-y things

We did some hit up some the visitor attractions in Seattle. This time it was the Seattle Aquarium, The Museum of Flight and our usual stop to the Salmon Hatchery. Not all on the same day, of course...

The aquarium is nicely done. They even had a section on marine life found in Hawaii. The otters were having a blast swimming around in their space. Lots of room in the touch pool too!

I must say that I didn't really know what to expect when we visited the Musuem of Flight. I really enjoyed it. A little too much, I think, as we spent half a day there. We took the short walk across the street to walk through Air Force One. I spent a lot of time in the WWI and WWII exhibits. We even got to see a 787 take off for a test flight.

And lastly, we're here during the salmon run, so a stop at the Issaquah Hatchery is in order.

The root beer place...

We always pass it on the way to Boehms candy, but this is the first time we stopped to eat at Triple XXX Rootbeer. How can you resist a place that actually tells you:

 You know it's gotta be good!

It is a little overwhelming when your first walk in, every inch of the walls and ceiling is covered with stuff... Cool stuff...

The menu is just as overwhelming... lots of choices and they all sound good! Dessert first - a Root Beer Float!

The Rocket Super 88 (the Classic Cheeseburger with Chili Fries)

 

The Chevelle SS 396 (Mushroom and Swiss Burger with Curly Fries and 2 Onion Rings

And the Bumper (fried prawns)...

Another recommendation found us walking to The Sticky Wicket Pub and Restaurant at the Strathcona Hotel for lunch.

 The sandwich of the day was a Grilled Prime Rib Steak Sandwich. Perfectly cooked open-faced sandwich.

This is a Stickey Wicket Burger (bacon and cheddar) with a cup of Salmon Chowder. The best burger on the trip! Definitely not counting calories or cholesterol on this trip!

And you gotta love the sign - " No rotten looking jeans"!

On to the gardens!

You know that you are going to see the sunken garden, when you plan a trip to Butchart Gardens. You've seen pictures of it, but when you get there and see it in person it is very impressive. You could hear it from everyone around you... "WOW", "Oh my, how beautiful"... all the ooohs and aaahs are well deserved.



We visted in mid-September, luckily the late summer flowers were all in bloom. Only a few places were being changed out for the fall. The weather cooperated and we enjoyed a beautiful day at the garden..
As I mentioned before, we took the express shuttle, so we were able to walk around at our leisure. If you decide to take the shuttle, be sure to get your hand stamped before you leave the garden. If the bus is full, you will be asked to wait for the next one.

See the butterflies...

When you go to Butchart Gardens, don't forget to make a stop at the Butterfly Gardens. We took the Grayline West Express Shuttle to the Gardens and they make a stop at the Butterfly Gardens on the way to Butchart. You can stay as long as you like and catch the next shuttle to get to Butchart. It was a great tip that we learned on TripAdvisor.

Once inside, we stepped into a tropical garden. Quite different from the cool weather outside. But you soon forgot about the humidity as the butterflies flitted around you. Lots of photo opportunities... Just watch where you step!

Pike's Place Public Market

You know you are in Pike's Market when you see the flowers. Since we were there in September, the bouquets were full of fall colors.

And I have to make time to see the fish. The last time we were there, they had a rock fish (?) on display. This time there is a "Giant Pacific Octopus".

I enjoy walking around when the vendors are setting up their stands. But most of all, I love the variety of food that you can find. I usually make a stop at Three Girls Bakery to get a variety of pastries and the Mr.

insists that we make time for a Smoked Salmon Pate piroshky at Piroshky Bakery.

 

My new favorite is the Farm Fresh Potato Chips. You get a small paper bag of freshly fried chips made from some of the potatos that you see here. I got a mixed bag of purple and gold chips that just came out of the fryer. They were gone in a flash, so once again, no picture...  You should try a bag if you are there!

 

Lowell's

Thought I would start posting some pics from our trip. Of course, the first would be about food! We arrive in the morning and I am starving. This time we chose to eat at Lowell's in Pike's Place Market.

Don't you just love it... "Almost classy since 1957"?! There are three floors. You can order on the first floor and your meal is delivered to your table on the first and third floors. Or you can choose a sit down service on the 2nd floor. The line was short, so we choose to be served.

We had smoked salmon benedict and the corned beef hash special. Both were incredibly delicious. The right way to start the day and our vacation! Oh, yeah, the view is spectacular, but I didn't get a photo, because I was too busy admiring it!

More yarn!

While on vacation, I like to visit craft stores, if there is a yarn or needlework store nearby, all the better! You can be sure that I will be leaving with something. Here's my haul from this trip!

I picked up some Ella Rae for another soft hat and found some hand dyed sock yarn in Victoria. I also picked up my first skeins of Malabrigo. To round it all out, I added more yarn for hats that was on sale at Michaels.

Long time to see...

It's been awhile since I've posted. We jumped on a plane for a vacation to Seattle with a side trip to Victoria. This is the rising sun from the plane as we reached the mainland.

Since we've been back I've been trying to upload and organize the hundreds of photos that I took. I placed an order for prints, but learned that the Mister took almost 200 photos on his phone. He has a good eye and I hope to get some prints out of those, too. Hopefully I'll be back to posting regularly sometime soon...