Around Seattle: Carkeek Park

This park was another one on my Seattle list so one morning this week I took the twins there. I didn't really know what to expect and as usual it was such a lovely surprise. As I pulled into the parking lot beside the playground I spotted this massive salmon slide - it's like the kids actually slide through the belly of the fish!
The weather was a little wild so we didn't stay for as long as I would've liked, but we had so much fun anyway!

Amazing giant Salmon!

The salmon claims another victim

Surely the best slide ever!

Happy Campers!

Around Seattle: Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Fish Ladder

It always interests me to see locks and any activity in the water, there's always something interesting happening and always something to learn!

It was great to go and see the locks, it was in Ballard, a short distance from my church, and there was a quaint English garden to see as well!

My favourite part was the fish ladder where they had installed windows beneath the water level so you could see the fish as they went through the lock fish ladder system upsteam or downstream. Apparently later in the season there are lots of salmon that travel down there. The day that I was there I only saw two fish but that was thrilling enough for me, perhaps I will return later in the season and see the large numbers of salmon.

I saw a squirrel close up for once!

Oooh golden castle on the gate!

Fishing boat waiting for the lock to fill

Lock opening!

A reminder of home!

Solitary fish at the fish ladder 

The fish ladder viewing windows

Around Seattle: Tillicum Village Cultural Experience

Tillicum Village is a Native Indian cultural learning experience. The village itself is set on beautiful Blake Island, which also has some interesting history of its own! The tour I took included a traditional meal, and a performance from some of the Native American Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest, including the Salish and Haida tribes.All the tribes from this area are particularly interesting because a plentiful food source of Salmon in the region meant they had a lot of free time to make beautiful artwork and carvings! 

I had read some reviews about this tour: some loved it, some hated it but everyone agreed it was one of those things you just have to do! I was lucky enough to get a discounted ticket, and I travelled on a beautiful day. On the cruise to Blake Island there was a tour guide narrating some history of the waterways surrounding Seattle. I found it so interesting. I learnt that Seattle was named after a local tribal chief who was a great help to the settlers when they first arrived. The settlers landed on (what is now known as) Alki beach and had plans of turning the area into a new version of New York city. The beach and surrounding area was great in the summer and spring but absolutely brutal in winter - the settlers nearly didn't make it! The Indian chief Si'ahl (sometimes known as Sealth) made sure the settlers were looked after and suggested that they set up their new city over a little bit further (the current location of Seattle Downtown and Pioneer Square area). In gratitude to the chief the settlers named the city after him, unfortunately they couldn't pronounce his name properly so it became "Seattle". 

Alki Beach - the new New York? I guess not!

Something interesting to me was the story of the name 'Alki' Beach - it actually came about as a bit of a joke the Indians had about the settlers wanting to set up a new New York - Alki means 'by and by' - kind of like 'one day' - the Indians had heard of the great city in the east and they were wise enough to know that Alki beach would never become that so they would say New York Alki 'one day'.


Anyway, I digress, so we arrived on Blake Island and were greeted by a man in traditional tribal regalia and a warm cup full of freshly steamed clams! I have never eaten clams before and I'm not hugely into shellfish but I wanted to get my money's worth so I ate them, they were actually pretty tasty and I ate them all. We then made our way into the longhouse where we could see the salmon cooking by the fire! I had a little look around then went and got my lunch - it was a buffet and was sooooo delicious! They had rice and a special Pacific Northwest stew, beans, salads, fruits, a special bread and of course the salmon. It was all cooked to perfection and absolutely beautiful. They also brought around cute little apple pies for dessert. I managed to have a conversation with one of the performers and he told me a bit about his tribe and their history. It was interesting because I could see similarities with the Maori culture. 

Entering Blake Island to the Tillicum Village

Clams in a cup!

Salmon cooking away on the fire!

So delicious!

Carved totem poles in the foyer 

The performance was interesting, they had some amazing cedar masks with huge beaks that could move and made a great clapping noise! They told stories as well. It's always a strange experience to try to bottle somebody's culture and package it into a commodity, but I think in general it was pretty tastefully done and not tacky. 

Performers and their masks

After the performance we were able to walk around the island by ourselves for a bit. I really made the most of it and went as far as I could in the time we had. It was well worth it, I saw two deer wandering across the forest track, and I also saw a small garter snake darting around in front of me, it was so special! There were also three bald eagles around the beach treetops, I saw them but it was hard to see much when they were so high up. 

What a treat to see these two deer!

Some other hats worn in the tribe

This is the hat worn by the chief

This hat is a rain hat, it also has a cool story- if you want status in the tribe you would redistribute your wealth around the tribe and you would earn a little ring which you would add to the top of your hat, so if you saw someone with many rings that meant they had a very high status because they had redistributed their wealth many times.

A thunderbird hat with orcas on the top, a reference to the power and size of the thunderbird

On the way back to Seattle the guide gave a commentary about the different buildings in Seattle and the different types of boats and tugs that work in the docks of the harbour. I even saw the cruise ship dock that I will depart from! One of the interesting stories he told was of the Edgewater Hotel - it is a Hotel actually built right on the pier - literally right on the water. When it was opened they didn't think anyone would come to it so they advertised it in fishing magazines and said that you could go fishing right out the window, it proved to be a very popular tagline and fisherman would travel from all over to try it out. What the hotel hadn't counted on was how many and how big the fish would be! As the guests reeled their bounty in often windows were broken and the exterior battered from all the large fish! Also, once the fish were in the room the guests would often try to keep the fish in the bath or leave them in odd places like the toilet or behind the beds, in closets etc. Led Zeppelin and the Beatles and other famous bands stayed here - Led Zeppelin were famously banned after an incident with a groupie and a fish, and after they threw furnishings and linens out the window into the bay. The hotel eventually stopped people fishing from the windows! 

The infamous Edgewater Hotel!

 

Roadtrip down the West Coast!

This weekend just gone one of my good friends (and fellow au pair) and I went on a roadtrip down the west coast of  Washington to Oregon where we visited stopped at Olympia, Astoria, Cannon Beach, and Portland. We also stopped at Raymond, WA for lunch at a classic American diner. The trip was over 500 miles of driving and took from early in the morning until 2am when we came home. It was a fantastic trip and such great weather which really added to the experience! Here is a map of our journey.

Olympia, Washington

The first place we stopped at along the way in Olympia. Olympia is the state capital of Washington and has some fantastic legislative buildings. The buildings were so grand, they were built in a Greek style and had large steps and big Corinthian columns. It was really special to drive into town and see these classic buildings appear as we drove down the street! Also in Olympia was a fantastic port, there were so many boats to look at, and interesting surrounds. We had a hot chocolate and a snack at a funky little coffee shop at the port in Olympia, it was perfect!

Astoria, Oregon

Astoria is this gorgeous little historic Victorian style town named after the prominent 1800's millionaire fur trader John Jacob Astor, who I know about because his great-grandson John Jacob Astor IV died on the Titanic. Astoria is also the hometown of one of my American friends here and I wanted to visit it to see where she grew up! It is just across the state border into Oregon and to get there we crossed over this incredible 4.1 mile bridge, apparently it is the world's longest continuous truss bridge. It was such a thrill! 

The amazing bridge (view from Astoria)

The bridge as we approached it from the Washington side

 Astoria was the perfect place for me to visit because I love historic houses. I had heard about a huge mansion called Flavel House that was open for visitors. We were lucky to get there before it closed and it was well worth the trip, the house was beautiful and it was sitting pretty in the warm afternoon sun. We had a tricky time to get there because the GPS led us to this disused road that looked like it had been destroyed by earthquake, the trees had really taken over! We parked and decided to walk through the remains of this road. I was so curious to know what had happened to that road so I later asked a shop keeper and she gave me a bit of history. Turns out that Astoria is similar to Seattle - it was built right on the water and then a huge fire razed the whole town to the ground. They rebuilt it up on the hills and filled in the sidewalks the same way they did in Seattle and filled the roads in with sand and dirt. Over time the roads have shifted and tree roots have pushed away at the asphalt, some roads have simply fallen away, like this road that we had discovered. Apparently they still have the underground sidewalks under the shops and you can go up and down them, much like Seattle except on a smaller scale. So interesting!

Disused road all broken up and taken over by trees

At first we wondered what on earth had happened to the road!

Flavel House: The Grand old lady of Astoria!

Playing with Victorian dress ups!

My favourite room in the house

Ready for high tea!

Around town: The old jail!

Picture Theatre

 Cannon Beach, Oregon

 Cannon Beach was recommended to me by my Lonely Planet guide and also my host mother who said it is one of her favourite places. Lonely Planet said to get there around sunset, which we did. It is this quaint little coastal tourist town filled with small boutique shops all built in an old fashioned way with wooden shingles. There were lots of places to eat and little curiosity shops to look at. When we arrived there was still a bit of time before sunset so we drove around a little bit and drove over a little hill which led to another beach and the hub for all the hotels. We were not expecting what we saw: as we came over the hill the landscape opened out and we saw this incredible coastline with these huge rocks jutting high into the sky from the shoreline! It was breathtaking. We both started squealing with delight when we saw them because it was like nothing we had ever seen. We just couldn't stop smiling, we were so happy. It was very cold and windy on the beach so we stayed for as long as we could then we headed back to the main town and had some yummy pizza for dinner.

The incredible vista that took our breath away

We caught the sunset on the beach, but unfortunately it had clouded over a little bit

 We had some ice cream for dessert from one of the town's cute little ice creameries and then headed on in the night towards Portland. We got there just after 10.30pm but by that time it was so cold outside and we were both feeling tired so we just drove around a bit and then headed back home, we will have to come back to Portland another time and see it properly. We had a great drive home, stopping once so I could have a powernap. We got home and crashed, absolutely exhausted but so joyful from the things we had seen and experienced, sun on our faces, salt in our hair, fresh air in out lungs. It was one of the best days ever. :)

Proof we went to Portland!