Seattle Library and Art Museum

My hotel happened to be next to the Seattle Central Library. The Evergreen tour guide told me it was unique. I took a walk around and it was by far the coolest modern library I've seen. It opened in 2004. I desperately miss the library system in Denver (it misses me too, I got an email a month ago from them saying they haven't seen me in awhile), so I was happy to see this library with tons of people using it just like in Denver. They had the 'red room' and this escalator in yellow leading to the next level.



Next stop was the Seattle Art Museum which was conveniently across the street from Fran's Chocolates. I don't understand modern art but enjoy viewing it. I found this huge mouse on top of someone sleeping particularly disturbing. Next was this robe made out of dog tags. That was just impressive; I can't imagine how many hours it took to assemble.

Sights around Seattle

I took a tour of Seattle with Evergreen Escapes (they were great). This picture is from Kerry Park in Queen Anne overlooking downtown Seattle.
I took an afternoon gourmet tour with Savor Seattle. I would highly recommend it; the food was delicious. The tour encouraged taking pictures of the food, hence all the cameras out at this one. The pic is from Serious Pie (the chanterelle and crimini mushroom, truffle cheese pizza was amazing). This stop in Pike Market was fun for tasting truffle salt and balsamic vinegar.

Olympic Peninsula

Unfortunately a storm rolled through on my day on the Olympic Peninsula. I did see a beautiful rainbow on Lake Crescent and took a misty hike nearby to a waterfall.

It was pouring in the Hoh Rain Forest, unusual since it hadn't rained the past 60 days.

Seattle - Cruise

The weather was beautiful in Seattle, and I took an Argosy sunset cruise through the locks to Lake Union. We passed a band taking photographs under a bridge...and a card game on the water.

Painting do-over

Back in August 2009, I visited Canvas & Cocktails in Denver and created this. I wasn't a big fan of the pic and figured I'd paint over it some day. There are so many versions of the 'Canvas and Cocktails' idea. Pinot's Palette, Corks N Canvas, Sipping N' Painting, Paint & Sip, Sips & Strokes, Painting with a Twist, Visions and Vino, Vino & Vango, seriously...whoever came up with the idea first really got ripped off by copy-cats. They all post calendars though, so it's easy to copy the paintings. This was from Pinot's Palette; they take pics of the class throughout, so you can easily see the stages of the painting. I'm sure I'll paint over this one again sometime soon.

Seasons 52

Megan and I had dinner at Seasons 52 where the menu changes based on what food is in season and all dishes are 475 calories or less. It was excellent. Later we met up with her fam at Noche; this pic is from there.

Chelsea Handler

I went to see the comedians of Chelsea Handler and Chelsea herself at Chastain Park Amphitheatre on her "Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me" tour. I got the book signed by everyone (pic of Heather signing). During the book signing I told Chelsea although she makes fun of her E! show all the time and calls it studpid that I enjoy it. She replied that she really enjoys it too and only makes fun of stuff she likes.

Turtle says Turtle

Lake Wylie

Took a morning trip on Lake Wylie with Dean. Dean tried driving the boat and honking the horn as well as seeing what it feels like to hold on to the rope.

Charleston

I took my first trip to Charleston this weekend with Megan.
Dining: 39 Rue de Jean, Tristan, Bubba Syles Deli - the Med Wrap was excellent
Sites outside of Charleston: Middleton Place - the gardens were pretty and would be best seen in March/April in full bloom, it was a rice plantation back in the day, the main house was burned down at the end of the Civil War but the side house can be toured as well as the stables with 2 friendly goats; we took a Sunday morning walk on Folly Beach.
Sites in downtown historic Charleston: Calhoun Mansion - the current owner, lawyer in DC, lives there and has filled the house with his own victorian antiques and then some, pretty soon he might need to be on a fancy version of Hoarders, the house was also used for interior shots of Allie's house in The Notebook; the Pink House - built in the mid 1690s as a tavern and brothel, it just has 1 tiny room on each floor and currently is a small art store; the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon - pirates were held there, 3 signers of the Declaration of Independence were imprisoned there during the American Revolution 1780 including Arthur Middleton (owner of Middleton Place), George Washington visited it in 1791, while there we also learned about the Swamp Fox. I've never been a history buff, but this trip made history fascinating.
Pictures from Middleton Place:
The house on the lake is where they kept the dairy products cool.







The statue was buried in the swamp during the Civil War and recovered when it ended.

The Battery.

Hang gliding

Lookout mountain just past Chattanooga.

Dean in Atlanta

Brooke's Wedding

Brooke and Joel got married at Frogtown Cellers in Dahlonega, GA.

Zac Brown Band

Saw the Zac Brown Band at the Verizon Amphitheatre in Alpharetta. It was a cool venue but definitely the high-school hangout of the suburbs.

Zip-lining

Tried zip-lining in west Georgia. It was a great place to try it. Most of the zips were through trees, at least 15 of them.

Chattahoochee Nature Center

Went canoeing through a program at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. It was after work as the sun was setting with guides from the center. Who knew there were cliffs on the Chattahoochee? Wish I had a camera but didn't want to bring anything not waterproof.

Joy's Bday

For Joy's birthday, went out to Tin Lizzy's and Ri Ra's. Joy's friend is a drummer in Sam Thacker's Band, and they were playing at Ri Ra's. They did a great mix of a couple of opening bars from everything from Nirvana to Fresh Prince to Dave Matthews. This video is from 2009.

Frisco

Snow-shoeing in Frisco with Aunt Joan, Aunt Ellen and Tigger. Made the mandatory trip to the Butterhorn Bakery and had an awesome dinner at a new place, 5th Avenue Grille.

Copper Mountain

Couldn't have asked for better conditions - not a cloud in the ski. Great day of snowboarding.

Dean

Spent the weekend visiting Dean and the fam. Dean had a friend's 1st birthday to attend at Gymboree. Tried to get a picture of Dean furrowing his brow exactly as Eileen does, but I couldn't catch it. Instead I got a video of his random laughs and 'talking' to himself.

Dean Laugh 2