October 2, 2009

Glacier and Seattle




We only stayed at Glacier for a couple of days.  Most things were closed, including the Going to the Sun Rd, which was kind of a bummer.  The park was beautiful, though, and we will have to go back some other time.  We saw a huge grizzly bear and a fat black bear.  We didn't get great pictures of these two; they weren't as cooperative as the last one.  We also wanted to move on before the winter weather took hold.





 
  




We have been hanging out in Seattle for the past few days.  This city is huge and awesome and interesting and different.  I could totally live here.  Plentiful shopping, a killer farmers market, everything is landscaped, views of mountains and ocean- awesome.  We have had some killer fresh sea food- clam chowder, crab legs, salmon, calamari, mmmmmmm.  The chowder came from a place called Ivar's, and it is world famous according to the sign.  Interesting side story:  Apparently Ivar was a visionary who thought in 1955 that people in the future would travel around the bay in submarines.  He installed several billboards on the ocean floor advertising his chowder.  Worth surfacing for!  We laughed.  Also, the hotel we are staying at is right on the bay; our room is literally hanging out over the water (50% off with Travelocity- that gnome is finally pulling his weight around here).  The Beatles stayed here in 1964 and were fishing off their balcony.  How cool.  Maybe they stayed in this very room.


 
 
 
 

 


Now we are heading to Olympic- lush rainforest, snow cappped mountains and rugged coastline.