Mommy and Me

My wonderful Mother visited me from March 16th - 21st.  We had such a blast together.  It was really nice because this was also the week that the new Whole Foods - Lynnwood opened and Matt started working crazy amounts of hours in order to get the store up and running (for more details...see next post!)

Mom's trip started...like most of our visitors trips...with a walk around downtown Seattle!

We saw the Gum Wall...

We visited Pike Market, of course.  Did you know that most people refer to this famous market as "Pike's Market", when, in fact, the name is "Pike Market".  The locals like to make fun of tourists for this mistake.

We took the scenic route back to Lynnwood through Fremont, a very hip part of town that houses the Fremont Troll.  Mom and I drove around blindly trying to find this troll, but to no avail.  (See very end of post...I finally found the troll!!)

Just beautiful...

Check out those wicked clouds!

The next day we will refer to as "touristy day."  This was probably the most fun and most tiring day of Mom's trip.  We saw the Space Needle, EMP Museum, rode the downtown Monorail, went to the Seattle Aquarium and took a Seattle Duck Tour!  WHEW!

EMP is the Experience Music Project.  This is a museum like no other.  You get to see loads of music memorabilia, special one time exhibits and your can play instruments and compose your own music.  My favorite was when Mom tried the two turn tables and a microphone.  Damn!  I don't have a picture to share...well...you can all use your imaginations...

As you can see the EMP is a close neighbor
to the Space Needle

It is quite a funky looking building

Inside the EMP we went to the Can't Look Away exhibit which was all about the history of Horror Movies...It was frightening!

Look!

See how frightened were were...

Inside we got to see lots of Horror movie memorabilia including the axe from The Shining.

This Stephen King fan was happy enough to slice some
heads open....Heeeeeeerrrrre's Katie!!


One of the coolest parts of this exhibit was a shadow machine that would make dangerous objects start to morph out of your body.

Me with a spinning propeller in one hand
and a blade starting to come out of the other

Mom with Pinhead-like spikes, a crazy double first finger and
whatever the hell kind of spider-legged thing coming out of her other hand

Just some of the cool iconic music stuff they have there:

Jimi Hendrix outfit

A glove worn by who else but the late King of Pop

The original Nevermind picture

Then we headed out on the Seattle Duck Tour.  It was awesome!  I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to learn a little more about this great city.  The tour guide was very entertaining and it was really cool to be able to tour the city on both land and sea...well, lake in this case.  We drove all around the city and spent a lot of time in Lake Union.  We got some great pics here!  BTW...I can't vouch for any other city's Duck Tour because of that one YouTube video.  It's awful and gruesome...I recommend you check it out!!

I love this city shot with the sail boat

Seattle Skyline

You might recognize the little gray houseboat in front.
This is the Sleepless in Seattle house.  It last sold for $3.5 million!!
Yes, it is as small as it seems in this picture...

The Fremont bridge

We were both bundled for the chilly ride

Another Duck Tour is starting!

At this point we decided to take the Monorail into Westlake Center down on 4th Avenue.  Outside of Westlake Center is the second busiest Starbucks in the nation, second only to the Starbucks in Times Square.

It was just like the olden days when we would jump on the Monorail at
the Magic Kingdom when we stayed with my friend Cinderella
...oh the Disney memories

We were SO thankful to find a Starbucks to give us that caffeine boost we needed
to continue on with touristy day!  (Please know that the last statement
was FULL of sarcasm -- There really is a Starbucks on every corner out here)

After a mandatory Seattle coffee break we went to the Seattle Aquarium, which sits in Elliott Bay, a part of the Puget Sound.

Got to love that moss on the roof!

WOW...that really was a packed touristy-kind of day!


After a good night's sleep we were ready for more exploring!  We headed about 10 miles North to a little town on the Puget Sound called Mukilteo.  We took a ferry here over to Whidbey Island.  I had never been over to the island, so this was a true advenchaa!

Pics from the ferry ride:

Isn't she cute in that little hat?!?!

The Cascades....beautiful!

We stopped in a few little towns over on Whidbey and had a delicious breakfast at this little coffee shop!

I love the name - Useless Bay Coffee Co.

Then we stumbled upon this gorgeous beach with the Cascades Mountain Range in the background.

I am just crazy for those clouds!!

A few more treasures on Whidbey Island...

You can find totem poles EVERYWHERE in this state!

Very cool lion carved from wood

No idea what this is...but it was def photo-worthy

Ditto

Salmon chair...awesome!

Mukilteo Light House

I had so much fun with Mom when she was here!  I can't wait for her next visit...next time she'll be coming with Dad.  I can't wait until Dad can experience Washington too!!  I already have a new list of adventures planned and ready!


As promised, here are Fremont troll pictures.  He is so cool!  Our friend Brian and his son Walker finally led me to him.  Now that I know where he is, any future visitors are welcome to climb all over him!!

That's Walker, up on his head!