The Frumps Go To Seattle

Somehow, in all their lives (much of which has been spent in Washington) our nieces had never been on a Washington State Ferry.

We simply had to remedy that situation for them.

Here we are in Bremerton in a parking garage that had this funky blue window (that came out more aqua) that looked like a blue screen. They were making fish faces since it looked like they were underwater.



Because we still had some time to kill before the next ferry, we went to the nearby Naval museum.

This picture of early ship-building in Bremerton showed the rich diversity among the oringinal Rosie the Riveters during the First World War. While the men were off to war, the women handled as many jobs as they could. Several of these women went on to become influential members of Bremerton society up through the 2nd World War.



I loved that they had this hands-on room for the kids to play in. There were helmets and hats and other equipment that were used by the U.S. Navy, which the kids could try on and play in to their hearts content.









Here was a beautiful large-scale model of a boat. As I understood it, these were often built in advance of the full-size boat to show the 'client' what their completed ship would look like. The attention to detail was amazing.



Just around the corner from the museum was this cute little place, Bremerton's Harborside Park.



Loved these fountains. They look like they might be representative of submarines or something, but the water that would explode out of the top every couple of minutes made a really cool Jellyfish shape.



Finally, we headed for the ferry terminal to wait for our departure.



Judah kept asking questions about the ferrys, and the puzzled look on his face told me that he was a little unclear that the ferry was a large boat that you ride in.

I think he may have been thinking that 'catching a ferry' involved these:



Here are the boys and their cousins aboard the ferry at last.



I went to the upper deck to get this picture.



And this of the Seattle skyline on our approach.



The kids with another portion of the skyline in the background.



Would you believe we even saw Spiderman aboard this particular ferry?



When we arrived at the pier, we browsed through Ye Old Curiosity Shop, where they have an odd collection of real mummies, real shrunken heads, a Jackalope and other taxidermal marvels. I get easily grossed out, because the shop smells really musty, and I could hardly bear to think about breathing the same air that passed around those yucky, dusty shrunken heads and such. Eww!

Then I turned around and saw this!

It doesn't look a thing like her, but it was my niece L, scaring a few minute off my life.



Who would have thought that a mere $5 per kid for souvenier money would result in hours spent going in and out of thsoe shops trying to find just the thing to spend their money on?

Here they were outside a candy shop on the waterfront which had a large stuffed bear as mascot.



I loved this cool sign for all the elements of design that went into it.



Here we saw a bum with a rather bizarre gimmick to get money (click to enlarge).



There were a lot of panhandlers in this particular area, many already a few shades to the wind.

Big sister protectively took hold of little sister's hand.



Finally, we headed for the Pike Place Market. Having been unsuccessful in the previous shops, the kids were hoping to find something better to spend their money on there.

Mind you, we had heavy backpacks on filled with bottled waters because it was so hot, so the prospect of the thousands of steps up wasn't exactly thrilling...but it was nice to know that it'd be all downhill on the way back.



Here is the backside of Pike Place Market, which I understand has looked mostly the same for decades.



This is the back view of the infamous Public Market sign.



Here is the fish market where they toss the fish around, finally landing the wrapped fish in the customers hands.

There are usually oddities spread out on the ice here. Last time we were in Seattle, Jericho was startled by a Monkfish whose mouth had been rigged with fishing line and would be pulled open by one of the employees whenever a child got close, much to their surprise.

This time, Judah was fascinated by the 'opticus' (meaning octopus, but never quite getting it right because he also calls a character in the Transformers movie 'Opticus' Prime. In Judah's mind, Octopus + Optimus = Opticus. Who am I to argue with his logic?

Interestingly, the suckers on this specimen looked like white lifesaver candies. Mmmm.



It's a toss-up to me, which says "Seattle" more...the Space Needle, or this particular corner of the market.



Whew! It was hot! We were all dripping with perspiration about this time...the heat radiating up off the sidewalks was a force to be reckoned with.

Here is the brass piggy bank at the entrance to the market.



Here is another piggy. There are several scattered around Seattle.



One of the colorful produce stalls in the market. I love how this corridor is lit. It looks so retro.



Not finding anything for the kids to spend their money on, we headed back for the cool of the waterfront. The kids wanted to go back to the Pirate store and that gross Mummy place again.

We spotted this way-cool rooftop garden atop one of the buildings. Full out trees on that roof. (Click to enlarge)



This is an old-folks home highrise on the way back to the waterfront. I loved that someone had taken the time to put up windowboxes and fill them with flowers. It totally cheered up the whole place.



Oh, we also found this cute spot. Everywhere you go along the waterfront around the Puget Sound, it seems that folks have large displays of petunias in hanging baskets. I love it best when they are mostly the same color.



Yet another pig, with a sign pointing folks to the Market. The kids couldn't resist posing.



Almost back to the waterfront, we passed a big planter with some interesting occupants. Yes, two guys were taking a nap in the ivy.



Then, it was back to the Pirate's Plunder store to try and find a way to spend that cash burning a hole in the kids pockets.



The hat was a bit out of his price range.



The kids finally all found some dumb trinkets or toys and we stopped off for lunch.

That was when we learned what our son had wasted spent his money on. Yippee.



No sooner had the waiter delivered our food, then this guy swooped in.



He was a very patient seagull, but alas he flew away when nobody took pity on him.



We had to race to catch our ferry, but made it.

On board, we saw that a local Yacht club was having some sort of regatta. There were 88 sailboats within sight of the ferry.



Loved that evening lighting.



It was a little tricker to get view shots with the setting sun in the background. Loved that the sailboat was in the golden sun path on the water.



Looking back the other direction, we got another sailboat with the skyline behind it.



And a self portrait of ourselves in that golden hour lighting.



Here we were inside the ferry...and this is my favorite photo of the cousins from the entire trip. Not posed...it just happened. Love that.



Here was a sign I spotted outside, and realized there HAD to be a reason behind why it was there.



And yep...there's one good reason.



This was a beautiful view of Bremerton, Washington on our return.

The camera didn't quite do the brilliant pinks and golds justice...but it was beautiful nonetheless.



Last, but certainly not least, we arrived home that evening utterly and completely spent.

Cousin E immediately flopped onto her bed and fell right to sleep.

Incidentally, that's not blue kryptonite beside her...just some plastic things that you put on your hands to give great back massages.



As I was taking this photo, Fredo the Chihuahua looked up as though to say, "Did you need something?"

Fredo joined my mom's household while we were there...a shivery, rib-baring little stray with long toe nails, which was found in a parking lot far from civilization one day by my youngest sister and was obviously in need of some TLC.

He came to the right place! He was taken to the doggie spa vet, and is now well on the road to recovery.

Though there was much protesting at first, he wormed his way into everyone's hearts in no time, and is now happily ensconced as the reigning prince of the animals in their household, much to the chagrin of their tomcat Stewart.

And that concludes another wonderful day of vacation.