Trains and Thai.

After work today we headed down to Seattle to do some shopping. There were also trains.

These guys are sharing ice cream. Or is that a microphone?

This is what a typical “Seattle” day looks like. It was grey and misting. But there were lots of trains so we braved the mist!

Eric was taking some photos with a film camera while I stuck to digital. I did take two film cameras with me, but I never took them out of the car. Bad me!

Driving in the city today reminded me of how bad a good portion of the drivers in Seattle are. It was really frustrating and annoying. And not to sound like the mother hen…people drive way too fast in the city and don’t obey traffic laws. Use your turn signal! To finish up our shopping/train adventure day on a good note we went to Araya’s for some vegan Thai food! Eric had some spicy noodles with tofu and I had red curry with brown rice. There were spring rolls too!

The trip that wasn’t.

Yesterday after work Eric and I planned on going camping for the night in central WA. We waved bye to Juniper in the window of the door and hit the road!

The sky around Everett seemed cloudy the past few days, but it wasn’t cloudy. And it wasn’t foggy. It was smoke that was rolling through from some wildfires.

We thought it would be ok to camp where we were going so we just kept on truckin’.

The smoke was noticeably thicker as we neared the Cascade mountains.

Smoke!

This was around 3pm. It was rather freaky to think that it was smoke and not fog as one may assume.

In the town on Wenatchee we did spot this fun restaurant.

I rolled down the windows a few times and it smelled like one giant campfire. I guess that’s what wildfires are really?

We decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea to camp in the smoke, so we would drive a little closer to where we planned on camping. If the smoke was still really thick we would turn around and go camping next weekend.

The smoke did make for some interesting shot with the Polaroid Land camera, which I will share with you in a future post!

The smoke DID clear a little bit, but you still couldn’t see long distances like you usually can in this area of Washington.

Someone has a teepee!

This is a fun old road Eric and I drive on when we’re in this part of WA. We never see other cars on it…which is a good thing because I don’t know if two cars would fit on it at this point!

Long and twisty road.

There’s an old car wreck on this road too. It’s interesting that the car has stayed there all this time!

We made the decision to turn around and head for home. The smoke would still be there the next day and it just wouldn’t be as enjoyable as camping on a day without smoke.

200 miles there…

and 200 miles back! What a day! We worked for 8 hours and then drove for 8 hours! I guess that’s how we like to travel though.

After the defeat of yesterday, we thought we should go to Seattle for some sun and vegan Thai food at Araya’s!

We also bought some goods from Wild Prairie Bakery in Ballard! Chocolate cupcake with coconut frosting!

And since my ass isn’t big enough I came home with this!  Happy Saturday indeed!

King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center.

Today we went to the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. The PSC is on the grounds where the 1962 World’s Fair took place. You can still see some pieces and buildings from the fair!

Orcas!

Yamasaki’s Arches.

Dinos!

Welcome!

The King Tut exhibit had artifacts from King Tut’s tomb as well as assorted sculptures from other Pharaohs.

The carvings were wonderfully intricate!

That’s a fantastic shade of blue!

Sarcophagus for a cat.

Colossal Statue of Tutankhamun.

Colossal Statue of Amenhotep IV.

Intricate necklace.

Funerary Mask of Psusennes I.

This poster showed what King Tut’s tomb looked like when it was first opened.

Oil vase.

This small boat was also in King Tut’s tomb. In the after life this would transform into a large and usable boat.

Canopic Coffinette. This held Tut’s stomach after his death and was with him in the tomb.

These gold sandals were on King Tut’s feet when he was discovered. It’s a shame they took them off of his feet though. I bet he misses them.

Welcome to Seattle where we sell soymilk and organic snacks in our vending machines.

Hey Space Needle!

So much architecture! This is a really fun part of Seattle!

There were these odd machines around the Sciece Center where you could make different wax molds.

Oh and I made one!

There was a butterfly exhibit at the Science Center as well.

These guys were hungry.

We were hungry too so we hopped over to Araya’s for some vegan Thai food!

Beach day and Olympia, WA!

Eric and I took a day trip to the beach today! It was super foggy when we drove through Seattle this morning. You can’t even see the top of the Space Needle!

You see some oddities when you’re on back roads.

There’s a power plant near Aberdeen, WA that was never a functioning power plant…but the towers, or whatever they may be called, are still there. This was our second time visiting them.

Power plant!

Our beach destination was Ocean Shores, WA. You can drive on the beach here! It was cloudy and foggy during the entire drive to the beach. You can’t even see the water!

Drivin’ on the sand!

Move it.

You could just see a few little waves rolling in. What a bad beach day! It wasn’t even windy! We only saw one kite.

Shark attack!

We saw this fun sign in Aberdeen, WA.

I took this photo with my Polaroid Land 210 camera. I’m loving the camera and the film immensely!

Kim call Tony.

Aberdeen, WA is the hometown of Kurt Cobain, the late front man of Nirvana. There’s a park near a bridge that Kurt used to hang out under. It’s called the Kurt Cobain Memorial Park. This is a concrete replica of Kurt’s guitar. When you drive into Aberdeen there’s a sign that says “Welcome to Aberdeen. Come as you are.” Get it?

K. C. park.

If you live in the Northwest I think you’re now morally obligated to like Nirvana.

Sweet air guitar!

The park is on a back street out of the way of everything. I thought it was an odd place for a park, but then Eric told me that this is where Kurt used to hang out.

There are some song lyrics on this monument. They censored a word. F***. I wonder what it says? You know…when you censor something like that it just makes it more obvious that there’s a naughty word on the monument.

Under Kurt’s bridge.

Fun Nirvana graffiti.

This is the back of the concrete guitar monument.

Just one more special message to go. And then I’m done and I can go home.

The house Kurt grew up in used to be in that empty lot.

I took a photo under Kurt’s bridge with the Land camera. It’s rather dark, eh?

Since the beach was a bust we decided to spend some time in Olympia, WA. Of course we found a record store.

And right next door was the Oly Vegan shop.

We found a vegan friendly Thai restaurant and nommed some food. Yellow curry!

Rad Nah.

Star Wars graffiti!

Thanks for the fun today Olympia!

The Monday menu!

I'm still figuring lighting and such things with my camera. Juniper tolerates my photo taking though.

 

I tried a recipe today for mushroom hot pot.

Click here to make mushroom hot pot!

 

I followed the recipe for the most part. I never seem to follow a recipe completely though. I didn't add tomatoes, onions or garlic. And I added more crushed pepper. The recipe is fantastic though! Too much salt. That's my only complaint. And I forgot to buy fresh basil today. Darn!

 

I purchased this yellow Samsonite bag from Etsy to transport my camera. I used to just throw my point and shoot in my bag, but that's not going to happen now. I plan on sewing some padding in the bag to cushion the camera and lenses.

 

She's yellow.

 

Junie thought the bag was hers.

 

Such a cute little face!

 

That whisker always curls up. It's kind of adorable.

 

Bag kitten!

 

I made some lovely red rice to go with the mushroom hot pot.

 

Mushroom hot pot with red rice! This smelled like the food I buy at Araya's Vegetarian Thai in Seattle. If I had fresh basil...and less salt I think it would be spot on. The recipe called for star anise and I think that's what did the trick!

 

Eric made tofu stir fry with soy curls, broccoli and rice noodles tonight for supper! Nothing but magic in the kitchen tonight!

 

 

Fremont Friday!

After work today we drove down to Seattle for some food and shopping! I wore my new shoes!

I had some Thai iced tea. And I think Eric was saying a prayer in the background.

Spring rolls too!

I ate red curry with bean composition.

We stopped at Sidecar for some cat food and tofu. I also found this.

This was inside!

I found these two horses at a vintage store in Fremont. My aunt Betty has the horse on the right. She has 3 or 4 of them actually. I have one similar to that, but it has brown and white stripes. Exciting, no?

After the week I just had at work…this was needed.

Last night we went out to eat at Araya's! They have the best vegan Thai food ever!

 

I had a Thai iced tea with coconut milk. It's huge!

 

Spring rolls.

Eric had spicy noodle with wide noodles and no onions. Three out of five on the spicy chart.

 

Red curry with veggie meat and brown rice. Four out of five stars on the spicy scale. It was hot. My face was warm to the touch and pink. It also felt like I had a fire in my tummy. That was the hottest thing I've had in a super long time!