Montana, So Far

So far from where I can buy a copy of the Times...

Also, here's some photos of our vacation so far, mostly involving a hike up around Jewel Basin and a visit to a cherry orchard:

All the really pretty shots of the flowers & the fruit? Those are Emily's. Nice job!

Sights

Well, we're about to hit the road for eastern Washington and then Montana--in fact, I should really be packing now: but before we leave, here's a brief look at some interesting and fun things we've seen lately.

(Also, I figure that if I do one giant post, that will cover for me in case I can't post from the road...)

We saw the movie Humpday on Emily's birthday. It also happened to be the Seattle premier, and since the director is from here, she was there for Q&A after:


Refreshments before the film:


It was a surprisingly fun and funny movie. Sort of like Old Joy, except funny (?).



Also saw a great view of Rainier from the UW campus on a recent bike ride/library visit:


Speaking of seeing, have you heard of this crazy story about doctors implanting a telescope in people's eyes to help them see past their macular degeneration?

Super cool and super crazy.


Also saw Little Darlings, a silly but pretty fun 80's movie.

And we saw it in a park! So that's cool. Three Dollar Bill Outdoor Cinema. Maybe see you for one of the August shows?


Saw some CHS friends at a wine tasting/party they held at Vino Verité. Good stuff.

Tasting menu from Small Lot Co-Op, which features tiny, limited-run Washington wines.

And seadevi, one of the more reliable CHS writers, got a few nice pictures:

Don't know all the names, but for those of you keeping score at home, the person on the right in the first shot is Uncle Vinny.

And the beautiful girl on the left in the second photo--well, you know her, right?

Cheers, reader! Hope we see you soon!

Victoria, BC

A few highlights from the set of pictures from our trip to Victoria last week:

We took the Victoria Clipper; the boat was pretty cool, and it had a deck that was pretty windy.


Had a nice tour of the Parliament building, seen here on the outside:

Who knew Victoria was the provincial capital? Educational and fun!

And it looks pretty at night:




I don't have any good pictures, but we saw an amazing exhibit at the Royal BC Museum, called Treasures of the British Museum.

Is there any museum in the world as impressive as the British Museum? Or that makes you as uncomfortable when you think about how they amassed their collection? I mean, it's pretty cool that they have five thousand year-old decorations from Egyptian tombs, but there's really only one way to get stuff like that...
And the mummy? Just weird to see a label that tells you that it contains various fabrics, along with "human remains"...

Meanwhile, since we're still alive, we enjoyed some delicious afternoon tea:



Just wish we'd realized how big the "light snack" plate was going to be before we ordered...


But maybe the most impressive thing was the Butchart Gardens.

Just to be clear: the following pictures are nice, but cannot come close to capturing how amazing it was. When we first came around the corner and stood looking down into the Sunken Garden, it literally took Emily's breath away.

Sunken Garden:


In the Rose Garden:


Had a delicious dinner there too, which of course included some edible flowers.


And when it got dark, it was amazing all over again.


Emily ended the night with this great shot:

Larry Hughes

Emily's grandfather, Larry Hughes, died on July 1st. He was, well--you know, I'm not great at this sort of thing. Let me just say that I will be forever grateful that I had the chance to know him, and to share a Glenlivet with him.

His obituary is in the St Louis Post-Dispatch.

Family, Flowers, Food, and, um, Filosophy (?)

Had fun showing mom around the Washington Park Arboretum today:



And last week I checked out some books and the cool reading room at the UW library:


Which is gloriously close to the delicious Thai Tom restaurant.

It was warm, crowded, and cash-only, but the food was tasty and spicy. Do give it a try!


Okay, as I said on Twitter like two hours ago-- :-/ --I really need to get to bed, since we're catching the early AM ferry to Victoria, BC tomorrow.

Goodnight, reader!

Chris & Carrie

Had the chance to show Chris & Carrie around on a beautiful afternoon earlier this week. They're on their way from Chicago to LA, and luckily for us* they're taking the long way.

Don't know if this link will work for you all, but Carrie's got this series of photos involving her jumping at various locations around the country, which is pretty fun:
www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?page=1&aid=58557&id=700106616

[Update 0:34 4 July:]
Looks like Carrie's putting a blog together of the jumping photos. Take a look at
jumpingacrossamerica.blogspot.com

Here are some recent ones (hope she doesn't mind my using them--maybe I'll ask once they're back out of the redwoods in northern CA...):

Yellowstone


Wyoming

Took a few tries here, but they finally came up with this one:


Meanwhile I tried to capture a meta version, and came pretty close, which I guess is good enough for me:





Great kids. So glad we were able to see them!

*You know, you're right, anonymous, we are pretty lucky! I promise to do my best at treasuring that fact.