Pike Place Markets

On our last in Seattle we took a trip to the Pike Place markets, which didn't disappoint. They're part of the trendy and socially integrated culture of this liberal corner of the US, where people come together and interact in friendly ways. The stalls are mostly indoors, which is hardly surprising given the region's chilly and often wet winters, and many sold the usual kinds of food-stuffs, but with an occasional interesting twist.

For example, this emporium sold fish. No big deal, except that periodically the stall-holders engaged in the uncommon 'sport' of fish throwing, which attracted a large crowd!

There were some interesting art-works, including this metal representation of a squid / octopus and the bear hewn from a tree-trunk, which Ella and Flynn adored after initial reservations.

There was a craft brewery onsite, not to mention an alley with a chewing-gum wall and various forms of poster art.

 These exhibits were admired by Emily, Ella and Flynn.

They also liked the metal pig, which served as a money box and into which they shovelled contributions from this writer!

Outside it was one of the nicest days  of our visit, which provided an opportunity to nip across the road and photograph an historic landmark, namely the world's first Starbucks cafe.

AS

Bridle Trails State Park

Emily and her family have really landed on their feet with their migration to Seattle or, more specifically, Kirkland. The district has some lovely amenities such as the nearby Bridle Trails State Park, which has a variety of trails running through a beautiful forest setting. See: http://alltrails.com/trail/us/washington/bridle-trails-state-park. Yesterday Emily, Dot and I walked around one of the major trails for a couple of hours and saw some great scenery. The images selected here portray some of the visual splendour of this setting.

 A selfie!

 A self-bonzaied tree and local wildflowers

Strawberries that aren't strawberries at all! This local berry looks like the real thing, but tastes different and is sometimes yellow. We tried a few as we walked along.

 Another picture of me and also Emily.

Elderberries were also growing wild, and possibly food for this little fellow who crossed our path -  a millipede.

AS

Crystal Mountain

The final major destination for our weekend out of town was Crystal Mountain, a skiing resort near Mt Rainier in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, which has all the usual chairlifts, chalets and cable cars. It was a ride on the last named that really attracted us because the views from the top, at an altitude of  2137 m (7012 feet) were supposed to be fabulous and the journey up starting at 1192 m  (3192 feet) meant a massive increase in height (of almost 1000 m) during the ride. Everything lived up to expectations. This is, by the way, my nine hundred and first post to my blog.

You can probably just make out the cable car's route up the mountain-side, now almost bare of snow after some very hot weather, and the view of distant snow-capped mountains from the car park was alluring.

We met a couple in the car-park who had their cute little dog with them wearing sun-glasses to avoid the glare! They kindly agreed to my taking this amusing picture.

Here we are awaiting our carriage or gondola, which nicely seated the six of us and Emily and her family clearly enjoyed the 10 minute ride.

As we rose higher the local snow-capped mountains became more prominent.

And the views from the summit were breath-taking. In the distance in the photo below is the cone of Mt Adams, a potentially active stratovolcano 3,743 m high (12,280 feet). And of course Mt Rainier itself was highly visible, this time showing its southern face to us. The first image was taken without any telephoto enlargement, and the second magnifies its size

The main range of the Cascades in the far distance.

Emily, her family, and Dot relaxing and even tossing the odd snowball.

And talking of active volcanoes, here in the distance is the shattered summit of Mt St. Helens, which erupted causing huge damage in 1980 - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_St._Helens.

And so to base!

 AS