NO Sissies allowed!

We got to Seattle, but not before we took a detour to the Mt. St. Helen's Visitor Center.  If you look WAY off into the far distant center of the pic, squint and tilt your head slightly to the left and use lots of imagination...that's Mt. St. Helen.  ANYWAY, the very nice people in the center assured us we had nothing to worry about as far as the volcano belching any unpleasantness during our stay in Washington.  We had to check first, of course, just to be safe.



Mom at the top of the Space Needle



Back on the road.  As soon as we checked into our hotel in Seattle, we decided to walk down to the Space Needle, (check at least one of the "to dos" off of the list). Note to any of you future Seattle visitors, especially visitors to the Space Needle...go on a Tuesday evening!  No lines, no tour buses, easy, easy easy.  The views from the top are spectacular, as you might guess.  However, take it from me, feed your companions before you take them up, apparently the altitude makes them hungry and a little cranky...or maybe the hours on end in the car did that.

The next morning, we finally went to see King Tut, the Boy King.  The Exhibit was at the Pacific Science Center which was very near the Space Needle and just a short walk from our hotel.  The exhibit was educational as far as the overview of the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs and their customs, culture, etc.  The artifacts, jewelry and some examples of furniture etc that were found in the tomb are very interesting. 

 

 However, one thing that we were all disappointed in, was the fact that the actual sarcophagus was not included in the exhibit. There was probably some sort of disclaimer, (written in invisible ink that was only detectable with a special decoder ring that had to be ordered from the museum in Cairo).

Mom and I finished our tour of the exhibit faster than did my sister and neice.  I think they read every word on every plaque next to every item.  Anyway, for those of you who know me best, you know I tend to get in trouble when I get bored...well, I didn't get into a lot of trouble this time.  Mostly because it was the Pacific SCIENCE Center.  They have a lot of other interesting stuff there.  I mean, everywhere you looked, there was an exhibit designed to ignite the imagination, spark curiosity and impart valuable information.  Even the bathrooms were full of useful information like...

Well, no trip to Seattle would be complete without venturing to Pike's Market, so we did.  OK, so you might not know it by name, but you all have seen the commercials or television specials or some video reference to the place where the fish mongers shout out orders to each other then throw fish around and sometimes throw a "fake fish" to someone in the audience of onlookers...yep, that's at Pike's Market.  What a cool place!  There are vendors for nearly everything imaginable, from fresh-fresh-fresh fruits and veggies, flowers, and-yes fish to restaurants and clothing stores, and cheap souvenir shops.  Pike's has it all.  It is located right on the waterfront so the surroundings are awesome.  We could have stayed for hours but...the road to Colorado called.

We "made the turn" in our trip and headed toward home. Obviously, as should be clear from the photo above, signs crack me up.  As we were leaving Washington, we passed one on the road that read "Now leaving Apple Maggot Quarantee Area."  As much as I enjoy visiting the Great Northwest, I was happy to be leaving the Apple Maggots. 

We drove through Washington, Oregon and made it south of Boise, Idaho before we stopped for the night...road trips with this group of women are not for sissies!