natural seattle

I spent the last day in Seattle developing sort of a green thumb - or at least pretending I did. My aunt knows almost all there is to know about plants and has been helping my dad with the landscaping at his house, so for some inspiration we visited the Bloedel Reserve near their house on Bainbridge Island. It's a gorgeous mansion surrounded by acres of lush gardens and vegetation, and it was so neat to meander through it and learn about all the different types of plants. Including one that is a stinking plant and smells disgusting when the flower blooms. Gross. Then we visited the local nursery that had a lovely cafe where you could sit amongst the plants and flowers and have a coffee. And it was a beautiful day which hasn't been a common occurrence up here, so we soaked it up happily.

A few more things I was exposed to while up in the northwest:

A restaurant that my dad has nicknamed the "Triple Wide" which is this food joint in a trailer that serves all sorts of deep fried fish, where he is a regular visitor at least once a month. Nice people (including an early bird group where one of the grandpas was, I swear, on death's door and was rolled in in his wheel chair), good food, big portions, and best of all - great chocolate milkshakes. Yum.

Alpacas. They are the craziest looking animals (there are a few pics on my flickr page) and since the group we saw were recently sheared, they looked even cookier since they leave fur in specific places, where it looks like they are wearing leg warmers and have a huge flop of bangs over their eyes. And they are curious guys who just kind of walk up and stare at you when you approach them. Like WE are the weird-looking ones. Charlotte obviously loved them.

Anyways, the area is absolutely beautiful, with rugged coastlines and calm waters, and the folks up there are really quiet and calm so you definitely get the feeling of relaxation and peacefulness when you're up there. I love it. And now that my dad's up there I can go back again soon! I can always think of an excuse to travel.

Tonight we're in a lovely Motel 6 in Medford, OR, stopped halfway between Seattle and the Bay Area, on our way down to get Kelley and Wayne who are returning from Thailand, then we'll be staying down there a few days and FINALLY heading to Telluride next week. And I got a bike! It's beautiful! It's green and yellow! (I got it when we stopped in Eugene so it's the Ducks colors and it's very fancy) I can't wait to be riding it. Soon!