Seattle - Northwest Trek Wildlife Park

Ever want to frustrate yourself and your wife, buy a garmin GPS in Australia, load maps for the USA over the internet and then try and use it when you get to the USA....... Needless to say we hired a car for a drive out to the Northwest Trek Wildlife Park and then Mount Rainier and lets just say it took us a little longer than planned to get out of Seattle.......

 

Once we found the Northwest Trek all was good. We started with an open mini-bus tour through the 'free range' area of the park. The animals are pretty free to roam where ever they choose. So it really was a case of keeping your eyes open and getting lucky.

Bighorn sheep: not much explaining needed.

 Bison. Pretty impression animals.

 

 A young bull bison. He was massive and we were glad he didn't come too much closer to the bus.

 

 Apparently none of the parks three moose had been spotted for about five days, so we got lucky.

 The animals definately aren't phased by the vehicles, with the bus having stop several times to let them cross over the path.

 

 National Geographic sort of stuff.

Reindeer. No signs of the fat man in the red suit though.

 

After the bus ride we strolled through the area with the smaller enclosures. This is about the closest we got to an american eagle. Magnificent bird. 

Nothing like being a bear here. Sleeping most of the day and somebody brings your food to you.

 

 

 Not quite buddy.

 

 'Please God - get the keeper over here with some chow'.

 

 The 'honey badger'. The toughest critter on earth. 

 Indi needed a little convincing at times to keep walking.

 

The mandatory bear photo at the end.

 

The Northwest Trek was definately worth the frustration getting out of Seattle.

King Tut Exhibition

We enjoyed a few hours at the Pacific Science Museum, spending some of that time at the King Tut Exhibition. Being a Wilbur Smith fan Scott loved it. It was truly amazing to see artifacts from Tutankhamun's tomb and other era's from the pharohs. Most of it well inexcess of 2000 years old.

 

Howard Carter found Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Must have been a very happy man that day.

 

 Over 3000 years old and still in pretty good knick.

 

 Over 8 million people world wide have seen the exhibition, and I'm betting none of them were dissapointed.

 

 Large or small, the detail was amazing.

 A necklace worn by one of the pharohs wives.

 

 Pretty cool mask.

 

A story telling tablet.

 It's very hard for the photos to do it justice. You'll have to believe us.

 King Tut's goblets and his death mask.

 

A very cool way to spend a couple of hours in Seattle.

Seattle - Ballard Locks

One morning we caught a cab to Ballard Locks. Believe it or not, it was Nic's idea.

 

Ballard Locks provides a link for boats between the salt water of Puget Sound and the fresh water of the Ship Canal, which connects eastward to Lake Union and Lake Washington.

 

 

A pretty amazing set up, especially since it is 101 years old. These boats are waiting for the water to be artificially raised to match that on the other side of the locks.

 

 

 

 Another popular spot is the fish ladder, built to allow salmon to pass between fresh and salt water, and to navigate the locks. Glass panels below the water line make it possible to watch the fish as they swim through the ladder.

Oh if only I had a fishing rod.......

 Tasty salmon steaks by the hundreds.

 

 

Even Indi was facinated by the fish in the fish ladder, for a little while anyway.

 Free polarised glasses to see the fishes.

 

 Get used to the 'family holiday photo', there's heaps of em.

 

 Just in case you wanted to know......

Out and About in Seattle

Seattle has loads of history and loads to do, especially when you are still a little weary from a  long flight. We barely scratched the surface and we were on the go for four days.

 

 Seattle wouldn't be complete without a visit to Pike's Market. Fresh fish by the truck load, knick-knack shops, pubs, vegetable vendors. Everything you don't see often in Pohnpei.

A photo opportunity everywhere you looked.

 

 The Space Needle, built for the 1962 World Fair, is another 'must do'. Awesome view from the top, especially the day we went. A nice clear day in Seattle - very rare.

 The Seattle Children's Museum filled in more than a couple of hours.

 

 Dress up time.

 See they can play together - spits and spurts of brotherly/sisterly love.

 

 A visit to Pier 57 saw in yet another 'money pit', but ended well with a great dinner at the Crab Pot.

 

 A visit to the Pacific Science Centre (primarly to see the King Tut Exhibition) saw us mucking around a bit. Apparently I am in in the top 15% flexibility range of adult males. There must be some pretty unhealthy people out there somewhere.

 More goofing around. Like I said more than enough to do.

We knew the US economy was struggling but this is taking things a little too far.

The Last Holiday begins - Seattle - Ride the Ducks

After nearly 24 hours door to door with flights from Pohnpei via Hawaii and then San Francisco we finally arrived in Seattle. This holiday has pretty much been three years in the making, the one thing we have talked about, even before coming to Pohnpei. We had 30 days to make the most of the places we visited. Nic spent hours researching, booking and generally putting a pretty solid plan together. It was a great trip, very busy but well worth it. Strap yourself in, grab a coffee or a red wine because if you are going to do the entire holiday in one blog visit, you're going to need a little help.

 

 After a much needed sleep in we walked from our hotel up to the Space Needle and caught the monorail to downtown Seattle. A two hour 'Ride the Seattle Ducks' had been prebooked from Pohnpei. Nothing helps fighting tiredness like having already spent the money. The 'Ducks' were an amphibious landing craft developed by the United States Army during World War II. It was designed to deliver cargo from ships at sea directly to the shore. Now they are spread out through USA coastal cities doing tours like this one.



 Well that one didn't sink. Now it's our turn..... 

 Jaxon was happy, Indi was a little unsure at first.

 

 Our driver was quite the character, with a different story. He had quite a few hats....

 

 The most impressive house boats we've ever seen.

 

 The sea on one side of the city and a huge lake on the other.

 

 The house in the middle is the one out of 'Sleepless in Seattle'. So they tell me.

I'm pretty sure that the boat is worth at least as much as the houseboat. There's lots of money in Seattle, just ask Bill Gates.