8/14/04 Seattle

We spent this past week in Seattle, WA, attending the national nurse anesthetist conference. In between going to meetings, we had plenty of time to do the touristy things go sightseeing in the area.

We went up in the space needle, of course, and had a wonderfully clear day to get a great view of the city and of Mt. Hood and Mt. Baker. We also went to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and Museum, which I found fascinating. We got to see a lot of items from Star Trek, such as phasers, models of the Enterprise used on the show, and Captain Kirk’s command chair. We also saw the original Superman costume worn by George Reeves for the TV show.

In the same area, we went to a music museum, which also had a lot of original items, including an entire wing devoted to Jimi Hendrix, who grew up in Seattle. It had a lot of his costumes and instruments, including the Fender guitar he played at Woodstock.

We went shopping at the Pike Place Market, which has to be seen to be believed. Fish stalls, flower stalls where you could get a huge bouquet of flowers for $5 to $10, little specialty shops by the dozens. Needless to say, we came home with a few souvenirs!

The conference ended on Wednesday night with a huge formal banquet, so Cecelia and I got to prove that we still clean up pretty good. We spent the next day cruising Puget Sound on a high-speed catamaran. During the trip we went whale watching, and got into a pod of Orcas, or Killer Whales. Definitely not a good time to fall overboard, as one swam right underneath the boat!

We’re back home in Alaska now, and are really starting to notice the decrease in sunlight. We’re at 15 ½ hours now, down from 19 hours. We’re also getting a lot of smoke from the fires in the interior. Not much smell, but it sure has cut visibility down.

Enjoy the pictures!