Didn’t get to upload all of them yet, but here are some photos of the show we did in June 2011. Including my new, fabulous red dress. Probably the most expensive piece of clothing I own, together with my corset.

Said red dress:

And some shots in the tribal costume, including an action shot of the stage fight:

STAGE FIGHT with which we had too much fun altogether:

Day 12; September 12, 2011 – Leavenworth… with the Bavarian Village

Since we did the Northern part of the Cascade Loop, it was only natural to also do the Southern part. Which took us to Leavenworth – which apparently isn’t too far from where my friend Linda lives.

So we met up there! “We” being me, my parents, Linda, and her husband. They were both very lovable and nice! Linda brought some great engraving work – that being the TARDIS glasses I posted about way back then and a granite thingy *G* with a wedding picture of my parents’.

Great work, all of it! This is her Etsy Store!

Now, Leavenworth has this “Bavarian Village” and, well, it did look a bit like little Bavaria. If you only take the touristy parts and add a zillion cars to it.

Some impressions:

Now that’s a Christmas tree to my liking!

A maypole! Which turned out to be the ideal meeting place.

Linda took us to some wine tasting shop where she knows the owner and we tasted a *lot* of wines. And ended up buying two delicious bottles.

We had food at a Bavarian restaurant, which wasn’t too bad! And this is where I also finally found a Reuben sandwich. Huzzah! Coffee was had at the Mozart café which has the most delicious marzipan cake I ever had. Well, I didn’t really have it – my dad did. But I tried a bite.

We also had fun in some shops that had, among other things, a R2D2 nutcracker. No, I didn’t buy it. Just in case you were wondering.

The way home took us through the South Cascades… which wasn’t really worth it. Do the Northern part of the loop if you’re ever so inclined. Much prettier!

Day 13; September 13, 2011 – Bellevue & Issaquah

We spent a quiet time around the place where my sister lives. In the morning, we went to Bellevue. Which seems to consist mainly of Microsoft buildings. And lamp-posts with guerilla knitting. I went to the Disney store there… where I found a really cute Nightmare before Christmas shirt. No pictures yet, because my sister got it for my bday/christmas

We also bought cupcakes at Cupcakes Royale. I got a lavender and a Red Velvet one. Yum!

In the afternoon we went to the “old town” of Issaquah. Which has a lot of gorgeous art galleries, with lots of items made of glass (including one shop that offered glass blowing lessons!) and really really gorgeous paintings.

And an old train depot that looked fascinating.

Dinner was had in the evening at Field of Champions with a very good burger.

Day 14; September 14, 2011 – Snoqalmie Falls

By now, we were all tired of driving, so we looked for something close by to do on my parents’ last day. We picked the Snoqalmie Falls, which were really worth it as they’re really beautiful. And very informative too! Well, not the Falls themselves, but the visitor centre.

Some impressions:

Afterwards, we went back to my sister’s place so my parents could pack.

In the evening, my sister and my dad went to a baseball game while my mum and I went to Fado’s Irish pub for a pub quiz that we totally flunked. A LOT of these questions were only made for Americans. For the record, our pub quizzes in Irish pubs? A lot of them are about the British Isles, Brit/Irish culture, etc. Only a few of them are about German-specific things.

They had some good live music by “Justin + Robin”.

Oh! And they had BROWN BREAD ICE CREAM. I LOVE BROWN BREAD ICE CREAM. Just saying.

Needless to say, we went home rather late.

Day 15; September 15, 2011 – Seattle and Hairdresser

In the morning, we saw our parents off at the airport.

Then I got my short haircut by Jake Gravbrot at Mars Hair in Seattle. I HIGHLY recommend this saloon! Excellent hairstylist, great atmosphere… you can read books on music and tattoos while waiting!

In the evening, my sister and I wanted to see Fright Night, but Fandango lied about it showing at the time we wanted to see it! So we went to the Cheesecake Factory instead where we shared: fresh, raw salmon and shrimp summer rolls. Dessert was Key Lime Cheesecake for me and Tiramisu Cheesecake for my sister. It was all very good!

In the evening, we watched more Dr. Who Season 6 until I fell asleep.

Day 16; September 16, 2011 – Leaving

There’s not much left to say here. In the morning, I packed all my stuff. We watched more Dr. Who and cooked pasta for lunch before I had to leave for the airport with a really heavy suitcase.

My “leaving dinner” consisted of a Pumpkin Creme Latte from Seattle’s Best Coffee and an Apple Fritter. *G*

Day 9; September 9, 2011 – North Cascade Loop and Winthrop

As my mum wanted to see “Western City”, we added that one to the North Cascade Loop that we wanted to do anyway. The Loop features some beautiful landscape – our stops were at the Washington Pass Overlook and the Diablo lake dam.

That’s the Diablo Lake. Look at the colour of that water!

Some more pictures of the lake and the surroundings:

Next stop: Washington Pass Overlook!

It was a hot day already… and as we got closer to Winthrop, it only got hotter! We reached the 100°F, but what was even worse were the hot winds. Winds are supposed to bring a little chill – not make it even hotter.

Winthrop itself was quite fascinating and fun. Like a bit of the old Western times got preserved…

We had out lunch at the “Three Finger’s Jack” saloon.

There were oldtimer cars all around. Must’ve been some kind of meeting near by.

Desert… on the way back to Seattle and the other side of the Cascade Mountains!

Day 10; September 10, 2011 – Crystal Mountain and the Silver Falls; Ashford, WA

We wanted to see more of Mt. Rainier, but we didn’t want to join all the crowds… so we took a gondola up Crystal Mountain instead. Which offered a great view of Mt. Rainier and all the surrounding mountains. Even though it was a little bit hazy due to the forest fires on the Olympic Island.

Gondolas!

The Mountain.

Surrounding landscape.

Afterwards, we made our way to Silver Falls in the Mt. Rainier national park. Not to be confused with the Silver Falls in Oregon!

It involved a 1 mile “hike” through the forest, but that wasn’t too bad. It was just too bloody hot! Still, we made it… and it was worth it. Again with the turquoise water! And little rainbows.

Pretty!

Day 11; September 11, 2011 – Ocean Shores; Pacific Ocean

Originally, the plan was to drive all the way to the Olympic Island. But we postponed that to the next time when can stay there overnight. The drive would’ve been too long for a day trip to make sense.

Instead, we went to Ocean Shores, because we all still wanted to see a beach and the Pacific Ocean. The first beach we got to was pretty awful – it was full of cars parked all the way up to the shore:

WHY????????????????????

Which also resulted in dirty water. We first thought the dirt was just sand and/or the ash from the forest fires. But later, when we saw a natural beach, the water was crystal clear. So I guess all the cars contributed to the dirty water.

See:

Is that really what people think of as an ideal beach?!

We drove onwards to an Interpretive Centre, which was just some miles down the road. It was awesome, very informative and very hands on. And staffed with very nice and friendly people, who were willing to answer any question we had.

It’s a little gem! And it’s free! We did leave a tip. If you ever find yourself in Ocean Shores, WA – go there.

Nearby, were some natural beaches. We had a temperature drop from the 90s to the 60s, with some very chilly winds. We only drove 4 miles! Still, it was beautiful as ever and we found a lot of sea shells and even more crab shells! One of the crab shells still had an eye in it. Ew.

Again, if you ever find yourself at Ocean Shores, WA – don’t bother with the “touristy beaches” that are right in town. Go those extra few miles to the Interpretive Centre and the really beautiful, car-free beaches. Just don’t forget to bring a jacket with you!

This is Michelle and me dancing to Xandria’s “Snow White”.

Day 6; September 6, 2011 – Boeing, Outlet Mall

No pictures for this day. We first went to the Boeing manufacture where we were visitors thanks to my sister having an employee pass. Naturally, we could not take any pictures, so I didn’t even try to bring my camera.

We were given a very interesting tour by one of her colleagues and were able to see the inside of Lufthansa’s new Boeing 747-8, as well as planes in various stages of assembly.

After the Boeing tour, we spent the rest of the day at the outlet mall. My haul: A pair of Hilfiger jeans, Adidas track pants, a shirt and a pair of lovely Skechers. All that for ~$100. Go me.

I went to be early that night because I had to get up at something like 4am for…

Day 7; September 7, 2011 – San Francisco!

My flight to San Francisco left at 7:33am, so I got a shuttle to pick me up at 4:45am. The flight was thankfully on time – usually, I don’t worry much about that, but when you only got a day in a city and want to fly back on the very same day… the flight better is on time.

I got into SF downtown by 10:30am where I waited 30 minutes to catch one of these:

And it was definitely worth the money and the wait! I took a ride from Powell Street down to Fisherman’s Wharf. By the way, few days before my flight to SF, we watched Wheel of Fortune. The solution for an “event” was “Riding the cable car to Fisherman’s wharf. I was very much amused by that.

Here are some pictures I took during the ride:

Steeeeeep streets. Wouldn’t want to hike up those!

The brake/go mechanism. Pretty cool!

Drying laundry – the oldfashioned way!

Once I was down at Fisherman’s Wharf, I went in search of food. I had a delicious crab cocktail. And a very lovely view.

Always foggy…

Looking back… this is where I came from.

Alcatraz!

The actual purpose of going down to the bay, however, was to take a one-hour bay cruise with the Red & White Fleet that would take me underneath the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz.

Also very much worth the money.

Still foggy! Just different, this time.

The San Francisco skyline.

Under the Bridge…

Alcatraz… and the skyline.

And Alcatraz again.

After the cruise, the battery of my camera died. I really need to get a replacement battery! Because this won’t do. So I took the next picture with my phone.

The bay bridge… so it won’t have to feel all neglected.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting sun-burnt. I rode a historic street car back to downtown. Which was also a lot of fun. Visited Union Square and the Westfield Center, where I had a break with a bottle of water and a cookie from the Nordstrom espresso bar.

I also know now where all the German tourists go to – San Francisco! Seems like every second tourist spoke German.

The flight back was, again, uneventful and I as it was late, I went pretty much straight to bed.

Day 8; September 8, 2011 – Space Needle, Science Center, Gum Wall

In the morning we went to the Pacific Science Center. It was included in the City Pass – including an Imax 3D film. I don’t think it would’ve been worth it otherwise, as it was very much aimed at children. Interesting… but not worth the full price of admission. Unless you have children, of course.

I’ve always wondered what these strange arches are that you could see on panorama images of Seattle. Now I know!

My favourite part of the Science Center was, however, the butterfly house!

Pretty.

Pretty Strange.

Next, we went up the Space Needle. Again with the City Pass which allowed for one admission during daylight, and one at night/dusk.

Space Needle in the morning.

Skyline from up above. Where the cheated! No Space Needle!

And the gasworks park again – this time looking at it from the Space Needle. I’m amusing myself with the thought that someone there might’ve been taken pictures of the Space Needle at the same time.

Once mother earth had us back again, we took the monorail back to downtown and went to the harbour. And the gum wall!

Ew

Of course, I had to contribute as well:

Mine! Hah!

Mounted police officer who happily posed for pictures.

We met up with my sister for dinner at Duke’s Chowder House. Which was very delicious. I had the 3-Dhingy-Sampler, because I couldn’t decide! We could sit outside, with a good view of Lake Union and the water planes taking off and landing.

Once we were all fed, we went back to the Space Needle (by car this time) for our night trip up the tower.

Sun is slowly setting…

Playing around with the miniature effect of my camera! I think it’s pretty cool, actually.

Illuminated.

More of the gorgeous sunset.

Seattle at night…

…is pretty colourful!

Looking back. Good night!

An otter, I believe?

A flamengo. Apparently a shy one.

A Pelican rather close up.

A green prickly… something spotted at an exhibition about fall decoration / flowers.

The Fernmeldeturm near the Luisenpark.

The third day was reserved for the Bremerton Blackberry Festival. Which involved… blackberries. And your normal street fair/market things. I bought really good blackberry wine, had gorgeous blackberry shortcake and we even saw some random planes flying in formation!

And, of course, in order to get to Bremerton we took a ferry so now I’ve been on one of the infamous Washington ferries. Bloody expensive it was, too!

In Bremerton, there’s also the USS Turner Joy – a former military ship that you can go on. We didn’t, but here, have a picture.

On our way back we stopped at a mall where I got some really lovely and warm cardigan from Abercrombie and Fitch and glorious eyeshadow from Urban Decay.

Day 4; September 4, 2011 – Mt St Helens, Mt Rainier

The drive to Mt. St. Helens seemed to take forever, but it was certainly worth it. I’m not a fan of volcanoes and mountains, but this was impressive, still. The video in their visitor centre, however, needs improving. The CGI was a bit too hilarious for my taste.

Here… have some pictures of the mountain that blew off his own head.

The only downthing about that gorgeous weather was that the sun was glaring and since all the trees got burnt away, there’s no shade whatsoever to be had.

So instead of taking a walk, we went back to my sister’s car and drove to Mt. Rainier. Again, a loooong drive and my sister had to do all the driving since we didn’t have our rental car yet. She managed great, though.

We couldn’t stop where we wanted to stop (all the parking spaces were full), so we basically just drove around the national park. Again… I’ll leave you with some picture impressions.

It’s a river!

A volcano with his head still on.

And again.

A random bird! Anybody knows what this is?

Day 5; September 5, 2011 – Museum of Flight, Gasworks Park, Kerry Park

The museum of flight is another museum that’s included in the Seattle City Pass thingy. So we visited it. It’s very interesting! And since it’s right next to an airport, you get to see actual planes leaving and coming and you get to listen in to the tower communication.

Pretty cool, actually!

This is a shot of the inside of the museum.

And that’s the first ever Air Force One!

After the museum, we drove to a little park where you were supposed to have access to the beach. However, said beach was quite a bit away and since we had other plans, we just went for short walk before turning back.

We did see the bay, though!

We had dinner at Ivar’s Salmon restaurant. I had salmon carpaccio and it was gorgeous. I’m not a fan of cooked/backed salmon, but even I have to admit that the salmon I tasted was really, really good. Still got the texture issues that I have with cooked salmon, though.

For our evening entertainment, we went to two parks that offer great viewpoints of the Seattle Skyline: Kerry Park and Gasworks Park.

This was taken from Kerry Park.

This is at the Gasworks Park. Love the colours!

And the remains of the same gasworks station (I guess), this time not painted.

Seattle in the dusk!

Gradually getting darker…

And good night, Seattle!

The result:

For these, I did the short-row heel. For my next pair of socks, I will try out the other kind of heel. And then I’ll see which one I like better when it comes to knitting. They both feel okay on my feet – my mum makes the other kind of heel, so I already own quite a few pairs with that one.

They were done by the fantastic Linda from Etched in Time, LLC.

She did two sets, one for my sister and one for me. And they look like this:

Then on the other side of each, there’s this:

Aren’t they just great!

She also engraved my parents’ wedding photo on a granite thingy (as I like to call it). Which turned out just fabulous! They love it.

I highly recommend this business! She also does other stuff – even wood! Check out her etsy store for inspiration.

Next parts to follow during the next few weeks, as I get them done.

Day 1; September 1, 2011 – Arrival

Let me tell you, getting up at 2:30am for the airport shuttle at 3:30 am is painful. But that’s the price for catching a plane at 7am. However, I made it, and of course I also was full of glee because hey! Holiday! In Seattle! Visiting my sister !

I had a six hour layover at Amsterdam Schiphol, but before I got there, I boarded a tiny plane and happened to sit next to a girl who was flying for the first time. I think I managed to explain all the noises and sensations sufficiently and in the end, she enjoyed the flight. And I wasn’t even wrong about some of the explanations that I was sure I’d just made up.

Here, have some artsy picture taken at Schiphol. I was bored and playing with my new camera.

Oh! And I encountered my first body scanner in Amsterdam. Which was rather uneventful, given all that fuss about it.

When I finally got on the plane (Delta, btw. Almost as sucky as United Airlines), I found that all that internet information was right and I didn’t have personal Video on Demand entertainment. I ended up watching Arthur, which was quite enjoyable, and some episode of How I Met Your Mother. I can’t remember what else was showing – I wasn’t paying attention.

Ten hours later, we finally had touchdown in Seattle! My family was already there waiting for me. It was already pretty late, so we got some groceries, got "home" and pretty much to bed. At this point, I’d been awake for something like 26 hours.

Day 2; September 2, 2011 – Seattle Aquarium, Harbour Cruise. HERE BE LIONS.

My second day, and technically my first proper day in Seattle, started out with the Pike Place Market. Where there was flying fish.

This is the entrance to the Market:

And here’s the flying fish. You can’t really see… but it’s the blurry thing in the red circle. Basically, the sellers were tossing the fish to each other. To the delight of all the tourists.

We walked a bit around the harbour – yay, water! And, well, almost sea-air. Not quite, it’s just a bay, so it’s not the proper ocean, but getting there.

Since we’d planned to get the Seattle Pass – which allows you to see several attractions for reduced prices – we went to the aquarium to purchase said Pass. And to see the aquarium. Which is a lot bigger than it seems to be when you first go in – but not too big. Just right, actually. It features only fish etc that can be found in and around the Seattle bay, so it was quite interesting and informative. And a pool where you can touch starfish! Eeeee.

Jellyfish!

Otter!

And the view from the aquarium:

After aquarium and before the cruise, we decided to grab something to eat at the food court. Where there was a carousel!

The cruise itself was also very informative and offered some gorgeous views.

Part of the Seattle skyline:

The Space Needle:

More of the skyline:

Mt. Rainier with one of the famous Seattle ferries in front:

SEA LIONS!!! I’d told you there’d be lions:

A typical harbour view:

And I’m gonna stop here now. The second day was one of the picture-heaviest, thanks to the cruise. Day 3-6 coming up later, featuring Mt. St. Helens, more of Mt. Rainier and planes.