Rainy Day in Seattle at Pike Place Market

I’m sure the title comes as no surprise to anyone who has been to Seattle before.  It rains all the time.  Okay, not all the time.  But most of the time!  And this isn’t just from visiting once or twice and having bad weather luck – I lived there for almost a decade! 

That being said I do think Seattle has some really fun and cool things to do.  Recently I went back after having not gone for many years and spent a day downtown.  I’ll have to admit that while I lived in Seattle I only went downtown a handful of times.  Between parking issues and traffic congestion it wasn’t high on anyone’s list very often! 

Rainy day in Seattle (I know - its really just a mist but this is actually a good viewing day!)

So, on a rainy afternoon it’s always fun to walk Pike Place Market.  Its covered so you are out of the elements but it is has a liveliness about it– of course this liveliness doesn’t start until about 10am and ends by 5pm so be aware.

You can't miss taking a picture of this neon sign!

The top floor has the iconic flower stalls, produce stalls and fish markets.  You can literally eat your way through the market by tasting all the samples the market has to offer.  Some of my favorites are the chucker cherries or the fresh apples and grapes from Washington.  You can also taste flavored olive oils or jams and everything in between.  While some things are on the “wild” side like some super-hot pepper jellies there isn’t anything like a Chinese food market with their bugs and stinky tofu (see post Taiwan - Part 2:  Top 10 of Taipei).  These foods are all safe to eat and won’t make you grimace even!  While the seafood certainly has a distinct smell it’s nothing like stinky tofu.

Yes, this does smell a bit!

This however does NOT - yum!

The next levels contain the fun "stuff".  There are old book stores, curious shops from way back when and nothing more than I can describe them as junk stores.  All these stores have been there for as long as I can remember.  As a result, when you drop to the lower levels you get a very distinct smell I call Pike Place market smell.  It is a cross of humidity laden books with inches of dust and a bit of staleness thrown into it.  That really makes you want to go doesn’t it?  It actually isn’t horrible but you are certainly aware of it as you play inside the magic shop or comb through old newspapers and magazines from the early 1900’s for sale.  It certainly creates a sense of authenticity to some of the shops!

While snacking is always fun you can’t leave Pike Place market without a couple of items.

1.        A pastry of some sort.  There are several little shops with breads, donuts and other goodies that make you salivate.  In fact, if you are there right at 10am you can get day old goodies for a steal of deal.
2.       Fish-n-chips.  There are several restaurants which have fish-n-chips and they are all good.  Not only are they fresh but most of the restaurants have a great view out across the sound.  If you are blessed enough to have the clouds lift you can watch ferries go back and forth across the Puget Sound and even look into the distance and see the Olympic mountain range.

Fish-n-chips. Hmmmmm!

So, if by chance you are in Seattle and it is raining then still run down and enjoy your day at Pike Place Market.

You can look at other pictures in the Photo Gallery By Location.  You can also view all my pictures in my Public Gallery.

Raptors Up Close - Winterfest Falconry

I really enjoy nature and am always marveled by the intricacies and beauty that God created for us to enjoy.  I had the chance to get up close and personal with raptors.  I didn't know until just the other day that in Sandy, Utah there is a winter festival where individuals who own raptors come and display their birds for the public to see.  It's amazing what you can find on Facebook, and apparently this is the 14th year of this event.  I'm glad I heard about it!

While the day of the event there was a huge winter snow storm which came through the area it was still really neat to see the birds.  Many of the owners would let you come within feet of their raptors and answer questions that you may have.  It was informative and fun to have time to just study the birds.  They also flew the birds in some timed trials for fun but it didn't last long as the weather was so bad (okay, I have no idea how long it lasted...I didn't last very long though).

There were golden eagle, harriers, red tail hawks, falcons, and owls there.  Of particular interest to me were the owls.  I hadn't thought of owning an owl, not even when watching Harry Potter films, but there were people with owls.  Now, I'm not expecting that these owls deliver mail or even want to cuddle with you but people had them!  I figured it was like people who have pet tigers or something crazy. While you can't technically "own" an owl in the US you can "possess" an owl.  It seems like semantics to me as you still have to do the same things: license them, take care of them, feed them, clean them and even clean up after them.  Of course, I'm a concept person and not so much a details person.  But, I'll tell you that the "possessors" of owls really harp on you when you talk to them about their pets.  I'm just saying...don't call them pets!  (again, let's face it - they are!)

Below are a few pictures of some of the "possessed" Great Horned Owls.

Check out the size of those eyes!  They are twice the size of a humans!

The Great Horned Owl

Okay, if this doesn't say Crazy Eyes I don't know what does!

You can look at other pictures from around Utah in the Photo Gallery By Location.  You can also view all my pictures in my Public Gallery.

Ice Ice Baby...Midway Ice Castles

Utah has the greatest snow on earth (and we are getting lots this year).  And as such, we tend to be on the cold side of things for a few months.  This makes for a great environment for ice.  As Vanilla Ice use to sing "Ice Ice Baby."  You can do some really amazing things with ice.  You can eat ice, you can slip on ice (that's not so fun), you can cool down drinking ice and you can sculpture with ice.  Some guy (Brent Christensen to be exact) right here in Utah started creating massive ice castles for people to go see during the winter months after making an ice cave for his daughter.  I've been wanting to go see it for a couple of years now and it just hadn't worked out until this year.  My longtime friend Alice and I ventured out recently to explore this unique site.  Why we had to pick one of the colder nights I'm not sure (17F) but the stars were beautiful above the ice features. 

My friend Alice and I wandering the Ice Castle

 

After you save a few bucks by buying  your tickets online (http://icecastles.com/midway/) for a specific entry timeslot you can go enjoy the castle for as long as you like.  I'd suggest going mid-week as weekends tend to get really crazy.  Some week nights they have an ice princess which looks suspiciously like Elsa from Frozen which also draws lots of families. 

The castle appears pretty small when you first enter into the courtyard and you wonder if it was worth it.  But then you start walking around the walls and you see that not only are there lots of various tunnels (slot canyons) but there is also a walkway to a much larger inner courtyard with fountains and even a big ice slide!  There are tons of little nooks and crannies to explore.  It took us an hour, but again, it wasn't packed on the night we went and we would have stayed longer had it not been so cold.  Notice I say packed because even though it wasn't packed there were still significant crowds so don't expect to have a quiet serene time here.  That being said it is really neat to see the various ice formations up close and personal along with the different lighted areas which give fun hues to the ice.  Enjoy the pictures. 

Massive walls 10' thick and probably 20-30' high.

Really interesting ice formations

The lighting makes for some really cool colors

Looking straight up in one of the many tunnels

This slot canyon isn't as warm as my other adventure (http://trekkingtrego.blogspot.com/2014_08_01_archive.html) but it was just as narrow and fun!

 

Ice and blue light are crazy interesting right?

Various lighting displays on the castle walls.

 

You can look at other pictures from around Utah in the Photo Gallery By Location.  You can also view all my pictures in my Public Gallery.

Umm Qais - Jordan is twice as nice the second time!

If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I would ever go to Jordan I would have said no.  It just wasn't on my radar.  Now, I've been blessed to have been able to go 2 times in the past 2 years and I love Jordan.  I can't believe it wasn't on my list of places to see and I'm so glad I've gotten the chance to explore the country and meet some new friends. 

This trip was a work related trip so there wasn't a ton of time to explore but our hosts were so gracious to spend time, share their culture, heritage and open their hearts to us as visitors.  Yes, I had a ton of hummus and falafel.  I love the food from that region.  My co-workers even nicknamed me the Falafel Queen.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing!  And of course, I rode a camel in Petra again.  It's such a novel thing to do!

One of my unique experiences this time was to travel to the northwestern corner of Jordan to a little, but very significant ancient ruins site called Umm Qais.  Umm Qais was anciently called Gadara and one of the Greco-Roman Decapolis cities.  In fact this is the supposed city where Jesus cast the demons out of the swine (Matthew 8:28-34).  While it only takes an hour or so to tour this area there are some really cool things to see detailed below:

1.  The View - Golan Heights & Sea of Galilee

From one area you can stand and look out across the Sea of Galilee and realize how massive of a lake it is. You can also see the rolling hills of the Golan Heights.  Looking across to Israel (Palestine) and Syria is kind of a neat thing - especially as you image the history that has taken place in that area. And no, I saw no war activity - that's really far away.

What a view into Lake Tiberius (Sea of Galilee)

2.  The Restaurant

It's no secret that I love Jordanian food so it is not surprising one made the list.  The restaurant at the ancient dwelling is really cool in that it has an amazing vista (see #1 above) and also some pretty decent Jordanian food.  Its fun to be able to sit and soak in the view and history while eating tabbouleh, hummus, salads and the like.  My only mistake was that the first table full of food was only the appetizers and not the full meal.  After I had seconds of all the appetizers they then brought out the main course and I knew I was in trouble.  Eeeck!  I was glad my hotel had a nice workout room after that (and all the other) meals.

The restaurant is up there!

3.  The Decumanus Maximus - main road

The ancient ruins are quite impressive as they are mostly basalt.  The main road travels for 1.7 kilometers with sweeping views of the area, ancient store fronts and a nymphaeum.

The store fronts along the road

 

That's a long road!  And you can still see wheel ruts in the rock as well.

4.  The Theatre

As an engineer I love that acoustics were built into the system!

The Theatre

I'm glad I don't have to sit in those seats!

 

You can find these pictures and more from my trip posted in the NEW gallery until my next post.  After that, you can find them under their respective "location" or "type" gallery.  If you are interested in ordering prints then please go to the tab "Ordering Information."

The People of Abraham

One of the things which fascinates me when travelling around the world is that the pulse of the country is in the people.  I love meeting and interacting with "the locals."  It allows me to more truly experience the culture.  In many regards we are all very similar.  We love, we laugh, we play, we work, we struggle, we fight, we succeed - and the cycle continues. 

I'm reminded of the Depeche Mode song from the 80's (yes, I'm an 80's child) which goes:
People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
So we're different colours
And we're different creeds
And different people have different needs

I don't have any solutions to any of the world's problems but I can certainly say that everyone and every culture has redeeming qualities that I hope to incorporate into my own life.  As I've visited Jordan and Israel I realize that we are different...and yet the same.  We are young:

We are workers:

We are old (okay, I'm not old - but others are!):

And really, while we are all different, people are people!: