Trips We've Taken: June 2007 Archives

Saturday, June 16 – drive to Lake Crescent Lodge

We left Seattle today for Lake Crescent Lodge, located just on the north edge of Olympic National Park. What a beautiful setting. It reminded me somewhat of our visit to Redfish Lake in Idaho (although for you reading this who are politically aware, Washington State is a BLUE state!). That means they don’t beat or behead heretics like me at sunrise!

We settled into our room, a room that had a nice view of Lake Crescent.

Here are a few photos of the lake.

View entire Lake Crescent album

View entire Lake Crescent album

Sunday, June 17 – hikes to Marymere Falls and Sol Duc Falls

Today we took two hikes. One to Marymere Falls, and then to Sol Duc Falls.

The hike to the Marymere Falls started from the lodge. We hiked ¾ of a mile in through densely but beautiful forests. We had to cross two bridges, and towards the end of the hike had to climb a fairly steep climb to see the falls. It was well worth it. The falls was 90 feet high, and a very simple veil of water falling over the rocks. Simple, and beautiful.

View entire Marymere Falls album

The Sol Duc Falls were also ¾ miles in, after a short drive from the lodge. The level of intensity for the hike was about the same as that of the Marymere Falls, but the falls themselves were much more powerful. Just before the falls, the river splits into three sections, and then plummets to the rocks below. The falls are powerful and very impressive (photos). It was also quite wet because the water was falling with such force that it was spraying up on the plants, soil, and trail.

View entire Sol Duc Falls album

Friday, June 15 – Tillicum Village, salmon roast

Today, I’m taking a 45 minute boat ride (one way) to Tillicum Village on Blake Island. There, I had time to wonder around the village a bit before going inside for the salmon feast. They roast salmon around large hot fires. They stack the wood up evenly, then lay the salmon out flat where it is quickly roasted with the open fire.

This is all served, along with many other dishes, in a big hall. During lunch, a performance is given of the different dances of the Tillicum Indian heritage. It was simply amazing and was probably one of the most outstanding moments in my life that I will remember.

After the lunch and performance, I was able to talk to one of the Indians who routinely roasts the fish. I also had time to stroll along the trails of the island before leaving for Seattle. I wanted to miss the boat and get the next one at 7:30, but Kent was expecting me for dinner.

Here are a few photos from that day.

View entire Tillicum Village album

View entire Tillicum Village album

Thursday, June 14 – Seattle Center

My day started out with two objectives; to see Seattle Center, where the world renowned Space Needle is located, and to go to Discovery Park, which is located out on the far point of Seattle. It’s a bit more complicated to get to Discovery Park from Seattle Center, because I hadn’t really figured out the metro system there, but as luck would have it, I decided to spend my day at Seattle Center. There was much more going on there than the Space Needle. Don’t get me wrong. The Space Needle was great, and the sights were awesome, but some of the rest of the park had it’s own moments as well. Discovery Park will have to wait for another vacation. I did manage to see a bit of the park on the Locks Cruise the day before – from a distance. That will have to do for now.

I got back to the hotel just in time for the afternoon wine tasting, which took place Monday through Friday from 5:00p.m. to 9:00p.m. in the hotel restaurant. Before long, Kent arrived to pick me up for dinner with a couple of friends from the conference.

Here are a few of the photos from Seattle Center.

View entire Seattle Center album

From the observation tower of the Seattle Space Needle

I loved this fountain. It would randomly jet out water and the kids would try to avoid being sprayed

The reflections were wild

View entire Seattle Center album

We had a great time on vacation. I’m getting some of the photos online now, and thought I’d start sharing a few. Here’s a run down. As I get more done, I’ll post them. We did so many things, that I think the best way is just to walk through everything we did. Here’s a run down for now.

View full album of Pike Place Market
View full album of the Locks Cruise

Tuesday, June 12 – Dinner at Etta’s, Pike Place Market

We arrived in Seattle around 1:30p.m. We ventured down to the waterfront and found Pike Place Market, an open air market that sells a variety of things, not the least of which, is great seafood. We ate dinner at Etta’s Seafood. This was the inside of their restaurant, which had wonderful write-ups from various people who had eaten there.

And my martini that I enjoyed here... :)

They were right, it was wonderful. I had the salmon dinner, which the restaurant was excels in. It’s a spice-rubbed, pit-roasted Alaskan King Salmon, served with shiitakes and custardy corn bread pudding. The salmon was wonderful, but I can’t even find the words to describe the corn bread pudding. You will just have to go there yourself and experience it.

A few other photos of Pike Place Market...

We did this together. For the next few days, Kent was in conferences, and I was on my own.

Wednesday, June 13 – Locks Cruise

I took what they call the “Locks Cruise”. It’s called this because during the course of this two hour cruise, we pass through a lock system that ends up on Lake Union. From there, we took a ten minute bus trip back to where the cruise started. I was a beautiful cruise – just getting out on Puget Sound with all the sea air with breath taking views looking back towards Seattle.

My cousin, who lives in Idaho was vacationing in the area, and we made arrangements to meet at my hotel for a couple of hours of visiting before dinner. It was the first time I had met her new husband.

Here are a few photos from that day.

View full album of Pike Place Market
View full album of the Locks Cruise

We are having a great time in Seattle. It's such a beautiful and wonderfully tolerant city. The last few days have been kind of surreal for me. Last weekend I was in Boston for Boston Pride, and now I'm in Seattle. And on Saturday, we leave for Olympic National Park. A lot of traveling and a LOT of photos over a short period of time.

What really made my day was a call from Kent that I received while at the top of the Seattle Space Needle. It was so beautiful up their and the views are great (photos to follow later). But what really made it special was the announcement that the legislature in Massachusetts has voted not to allow an amendment to ban marriage for gay couples to proceed to the November ballot, where it would have been voted on by the voters.

By voting down this amendment, the legislators have recognized that you don't put civil liberties up to a popular vote.

BOSTON — Massachusetts lawmakers threw out a proposed constitutional amendment Thursday that would have let voters decide whether to ban gay marriage in the only state that allows it.

The vote — which came amid heavy pressure to kill the measure from Gov. Deval Patrick and legislative leaders — was a devastating blow to efforts to reverse a historic 2003 court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

"Today's vote is not just a victory for marriage equality. It was a victory for equality itself," said Patrick, who had lobbied lawmakers up until the final hours to kill the measure.

As the tally was announced, the halls of the Statehouse erupted in applause.

The ban needed 50 votes in consecutive sessions of the 200-seat Legislature to secure a place on the 2008 statewide ballot. At the end of the last session in January it passed with 62 votes, but this time it garnered just 45. (source)

Rather scary if you think about it... the thing was only 5 votes short of passing! That is how fragile freedom and equality can be.