This last weekend Karen, previously my chemistry professor, and I made a trip to Seattle and the surrounding area to relax before school started up again. The initial reason for the trip was to attend a gallery show of Joan Tennenbaum's jewelry, one piece of which Karen had purchased. She was excited to meet the artist, and to look at other artists being featured. We traveled over Snoqualmie pass Thursday morning, stopping at the Salish Lodge for lunch, and arrived in Seattle around 3pm. We unpacked and got ready, and then took a 20 minute cab ride (for about 8 blocks!!!) that cost a small fortune to get to the gallery.
The gallery features native american artists, and art done in a native american style. Karen wore a peice of Joan Tennenbaum's to the event, and the artist stopped her almost as soon as she walked in the door. Karen really enjoyed talking to her, especially as she is an anthropologist that has taken her experiences and translated them into jewelry. She was selling a book about her Ph D. work that she did in Alaska which involved writing down a tribal language that only had a few native speakers remaining. She actually lived with the tribe for about a year and recorded not only the language, but their oral history and traditional stories. The piece Karen bought featured the caribou and the raven, and discussed how the raven helped the caribou get his stamina and strength. She actually found several other pieces she liked, and I found one too! I got a pendant of a thunderbird that is simple, but very neat. I also noticed an artists work that I absolutely love. She uses seed beads and some type of colored grout to make beatiful designs on a silver background. My favorite piece was an orange starfish bracelet, and I really would like a ring in the same style. They actually asked the artist if she would do a commissioned piece, and she said she would! So, after I budget for it, I plan to have her make one for me.
After the show, we went to a good Mediterranean restaurant, and then turned in. The next day we drove up Chuckanut drive. We were headed for the Oyster Creek Inn, but happened to pass an alpaca farm that had an open sign up, and, well, we had to stop. We enjoyed the gift shop (found a cool wrap, and a beautiful jacket), but then the owner came in and offered to show us the alpaca's up close and personal. He had several pens, one of which had the moms and new babies, and the others had various groups of adults. 
Then he offered to show us the two day old baby in the 
barn. We jumped at the chance, and he was SOOOO cute! Mom seemed a little stand offish, but he held the baby up for us to pet, and he was very curious. They are so soft, and the they have the most beautiful eyes. 
Someday I can see us with some (have to have at least two..); I think they would suit our zoo mentality well!
After the farm, we continued up the coast and enjoyed the food at the Oyster Creek Inn (four stars in my humble opinion) and then stopped at a turnout to enjoy the sunset over the water. That evening we headed to Port Angeles and stayed at the Red Lion there on the water.
In the morning, we looked out on our balcony and noticed that there were loons, so we put up the scope and enjoyed checking out the birds. We ended up seeing a red-necked grebe, several common loons, and a couple of pigeon guillemonts. Then, out of the blue, six sea otters popped up and swam and played for a good fifteen minutes really close to shore! It was the first time I have ever seen them in the wild, and they were just as care free and fun-loving as the ones we like to observe at the aquarium in Newport. After a breakfast of waffles with whipped cream and strawberries (yum!!), we headed for Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics.
I enjoyed taking the ferry to Kingston (to avoid the drive around), and the drive up to Hurricane Ridge was breathtaking.At the top we enjoyed the beautiful white capped mountains, the treed valleys, and the blue grouse (dusky version) life bird!!!!!
What a surprise! We stopped at the creek to look for an american dipper, but the water was pretty low, but I had never expected to see something new. So that was fun. We also had a doe and fawn grazing right by the road that let me snap a few pics.
That evening we headed back to the tri-cities, and, after dinner at Salish again, we arrived (about 2am!!) at home. I was exhausted, but the weather was pristine, and a road trip to the coast is always refreshing. I ended up doing about five hours of GC/MS work in the lab for a couple of lavender farms that were referred to us by Purple Haze that I did some work for three years ago, and then headed home!
When I arrived home, Matt had things very clean and organized, and the house really looked good. We are really looking forward to living in the same house!!! Earlier in the week we took Tills to Riverside State Park and hiked for a couple of miles along the river. We are looking forward to more relaxing evening enjoying the beautiful Spokane area. We think our next trip will be to Fish Lake State Park to give the kayak a whirl, and see if we can get close to any birds. School starts the 26th, so I need to cram in the relaxing (along with the unpacking and landscaping) now!
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