The last three days Lindsey and Damion visited we
ventured to Seattle and took in a bit of sight seeing and tourist fun. We took
the ferry over there so they could experience that, and so we could get Maddy
out of the car for a bit. Our first venture in Seattle was to check out the
infamous Troll Under the Bridge. Ever since we saw the movie
10 Things I Hate About You, we both
wanted to see this Troll, so that was our first stop. Damion will be sure to
let you know that “he climbed on him and sat on his arm”. Cool, quirky tourist
stop.
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| Fremont Troll |
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| City Skyline from ferry |
We then ventured to Renton to see the Jimi Hendrix
Memorial, which was a nice tribute from his family and for his fans. It had
lyrics and quotes transcribed in his handwriting. His families tombs and
gravestones circled the main memorial. Very neat.
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After that, we toured the EMP Museum to the best of our
ability with two restless little ones. Want to get back there sometime and
enjoy it a bit more, as we missed a whole section due to time constraints. But
it was really cool. Lindsey wanted to spend the entire time in the Nirvana
section, as she is a huge fan. I loved the guitar section, looking at how music
from a simple stringed instrument became what it is today in the world of rock
and roll. It was fascinating.
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Then we ventured up the Space Needle, which was pretty
impressive. There were, of course, way too many people, but the day was clear
and the views were priceless.
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| Elliott Bay/Puget Sound |
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| Seattle |
Day 2 started promptly at 4am….well, at least for Lindsey
and I. She woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep and then asked me if I was
still up, and I said if she had laid still, I would have fallen back asleep,
but admitted I was up, too, so we decided, screw it, we will just get up. Once
we were up, Madelynne woke up, so we showered, dressed, and ate, and then left
the hotel around 7am to venture to a few other off-the-beaten-path tourist
destinations. The first stop was Lake Washington neighborhood to look at Kurt
Cobain’s old house. I ended up dropping Lindsey off so she could run and get
pictures. Next to his old home is a vacant park, with a lone park bench which
is a makeshift memorial to Kurt. It contains memos and notes, coins,
cigarettes, and other markers of memorobilla in honor of the fallen Nirvana
frontman. When I went back to pick her up, I slowed the car down ride alongside
a jogger, who thought I was there to abduct her. It was hysterical to see the
look on her face, and my sister, who was walking toward my car, laughing. The
jogger must have thought we were nuts.
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| Cobain's former home |
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| Bench in park next to it |
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| Make shift memorial for Kurt |
We then went to the cemetery where Brandon Lee and Bruce
Lee were buried. This was pretty close to Cobain’s old house, so it wasn’t that
big of a deal, but we drove around that entire cemetery for 30 minutes, looking
at old stones and gravesites, in search of theirs. Finally, we broke down and
asked for directions from a maintence worker, who kindly obliged, and we paid
our respects to the deceased martial artists and actors that were the
visionaries for martial arts represented in film.
We spent the rest of the day at the Aquarium, a harbor
tour, and then walked twelve million blocks to the Pacific Science Center. We
did stop to look around Pike’s Place Market, where Lindsey found Joe some
awesome cityscape photographs by a local photographer: “Reflecting on Seattle”.
Very unique and diverse perspective, all through a simple lens. We went to the
infamous “gum wall” where Damion announced to everyone that we were at “the gum
wall” and a woman turned to him and said, “Yes, WE ARE! So cool, isn’t it!?” “Yes
it is!”, was his reply. It was gross, but didn’t smell that bad. Lol. I really love
Pike’s Market. It is so full of culture and reasonable prices…Seriously,
beautiful, fresh bouquets of flowers for $10. Yeah, and not just small dinky
boquets either. What a bargain!
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| Bear hug |
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| Cousin Love |
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| Infamous Gum wall |
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| Gum Wall |
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| Pikes Market |
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| Affordable flowers |
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| At the Pacific Science Center |
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| Putting together a "bug" |
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| Touching a starfish at the Aquarium |
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| Looking at the fish in the aquarium |
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| Seattle Waterfront |
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| Looking out the window on harbor cruise |
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| Being a researcher at the aquarium |
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| Watching the staff feed a seal |
However, here is where our trip became “chaotic”, or at
least the start of the chaos. We were scheduled to meet our cousin for dinner
in Tacoma, so we trekked back the 12 million miles to our car and then got
stuck on I-5 traffic jam, which was backed up for 40 minutes. We hardly moved.
It was hell. I think the guy in the car next to us saw our emotions change like
a dramatic plot outline…from fine, to annoyed, angry, sad, laughing, and normal….oh
my gosh…Let’s put it this way, Madelynne screamed holy terror because she A)
had a dirty diaper, B) was starving, and C) was sick of being buckled down all
day and Damion was screaming back at her saying he could scream louder than
her, which was a chain reaction from me losing my cool and breaking down and
crying, and then Lindsey, laughing, mocking the GPS by saying, “make a U-Turn,
if possible”. It was just awful. We cancelled our dinner and retreated to the
first exit we could get to after putzing along, ate at a disgusting Taco Bell,
and received awful glares from several customers. BLAH. By the time we got BACK
to the hotel, Madelynne and D were wound up again, and it was difficult getting
them to sleep, as D cried he was thirsty and Maddy just cried because.
Tuesday was better, because we were able to sleep in and
we ventured to the Wooland Park Zoo. We enjoyed it and were really impressed
with the enclosures and the cleanliness of the zoo. However, we got stuck in
Seattle traffic, again, and Lindsey and D ended up missing their flight. Their
rescheduled flight was for the next morning and we had run out of funds, so we
called out to our cousin in Lacey, who kindly put us up for the night. Bright
and early the next morning, we were off to the airport and dropped D and
Lindsey off only to get a phone call about five minutes later, where she
informed me she had lost her wallet. Unbelievable….We searched the car, her
bags, my bag, D’s backpack, and no such luck in locating the lost wallet. But
luckily, the airline said she could probably fly, just not bring her luggage,
and sure enough, after dropping her off and hanging out in the cell phone lot
until she had made it through security, she was able to fly home.
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| Chatting with cousin Jimmy |
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| Watching the penguins |
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| Being silly |
WHAT a crazy couple days! Maddy and I basically got home
yesterday morning at 9am, unpacked, and then went back to bad for a few hours.
It was just nuts. But, it was fun.
The best part of the trip was being with my sister and my
nephew. And my nephew making Madelynne laugh was one of the best sounds in the
world. I have never heard this specific laugh before, but it was great. I am so
thankful for my relationship with my sister and despite the craziness, it makes
for great stories to be shared for years to come. J
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