Vacation Catch Up: Ocean Shores, Washington

We took a couple of days on our visit out west to drive from Seattle to the Washington and Oregon coast.  Our first stop was in Ocean Shores, Washington.  It's not too remarkable a town, and was mainly a convenient place to stop on our way to Astoria, Oregon.

We did take a nice walk along the beach.  It was quite cool and misty, an amazing difference from Seattle where it had been sunny and pretty warm.  But we enjoyed walking along the surf, and watching the birds.




A line of pelicans flying near the shore.



 




Just being a little silly :)

Summer Catch up - Graffiti outside of Pike's Place Market in Seattle

There is one very long, very large wall in an alleyway just outside of Pike's Place Market (Post Alley).  And this wall is covered with some very interesting, very artistic graffiti.  I snapped a few shots of some of the graffiti, some pieces better than others, but overall pretty awesome!













The Gum Wall



The gum wall will soon be celebrating it's 20th birthday - which means there could be as much as twenty years worth of chewed gum hanging on to those bricks!  It's pretty gross when you are up close to it, but apparently quite an attraction - I was not the only one getting photographs!


Think of it like a disorganized Seurat - lots of tiny dots of color, only they don't make any complete picture when you step back!

And then there was this!




I swear it wasn't me!  but how funny to come across that on the wall!  Surely it must have been someone with the last name Silva, but none-the-less a bit of a gem among the other "pieces" of art :)

The Most Enjoyable Commute in the World

Strolling through the park in the early evening.

What can I say, I just cannot stay away from Central Park at this time of year.  So many subtle, yet colorful changes. And the way the dusk sets in, the atmosphere is indescribable...maybe if I were a more eloquent person, a poet perhaps I could write something that would do it justice.  The best I can do is offer you snapshots of the beauty I get to see on my "commute" home.

Felipe and I had an opera to go to last night (Il Trovatore - an excellent MET production), and walked to the opera house through the park.  This is one of the best advantages of working on the East Side.




I love this particular path, in the early evening when the lights just come on.  it's just below 59th street, but seems like such a quiet, peaceful and inviting place to sit on a bench.


And then there was this little guy.  Of course we did not pause too long to say hello to him, given the history of rabid racoons in the park...but just a little peak of his face gave us a bit of a smile.

It's autumn in New York - It's good to live it again

Sunny blue skies, and a crisp 55 degrees - it was a beautiful afternoon, a proper autumn afternoon in NYC.  Felipe and I took a wonderful stroll through Central Park.  The tourists and locals were all out in full, stollers and dogs, saxophonists, bucket drummers, bubble makers and runners.  The whole gamut was out today, and I can't blame them!  The weather is the kind of perfect fall afternoon that everyone hopes for.

Summer Evening in Riverside Park South

Riverside Park, New York City

Felipe and I had a lovely sunset walk in the park tonight.  The weather was perfect and the sunset everything you could want to look at over the river.  It was nice to sit and listen to the crickets while watching the light breeze rustle the branches of the weeping willow.  I wanted to share it with you, so I made this gif...the only thing it's missing is the sound of the crickets...

Riverside Park, New York City

Seattle Must-Stop: Pike Place Market

Mariam and Felipe and I took a morning to explore and enjoy Pike Place Market, which is of course is a must visit place when spending time in Seattle.  We got some breakfast from Piroshky-Piroshky - which was AMAZING.  It's a Russian bakery, and I thoroughly enjoyed my onion, potato and mushroom piroshky, which is best described as a pastry full of savory yumness.  From there we had a nice to walk around the market, with all of it's produce stands, fish mongers, and arts an other goods stands with so many amazing items for sale.  I did not buy much while we were there - as I knew we'd be walking around all day - and fresh fruit and produce wouldn't last.  But I did get some Habanero pasta that I can't wait to try!  The market really reminded me a lot of La Boqueria in Barcelona, which I've had the fortune to visit a couple of times while traveling there with Felipe.  I can't understand why New York City doesn't have a dedicated covered market like that, people would LOVE IT.



Beautiful bouquets of flowers!




Produce stands with some of the most amazing fresh fruits and vegetables you could find.








Sweets too!


And of course the fish!






After walking around the food market a bit, and stopping for a quick bite to eat, we went downstairs to some of the lower levels and walked around the various shops there.  They have so many amazing little shops, selling everything from spices to used books and magazines, gifts, and even a magic shop, which caught Felipe's attention right away.



Felipe bought a copy of this Kellar poster on the right.





It was such a great place to spend some time and peek around at all the different things that the market had to offer.  I can see why it's such a big tourist draw.  On the flip side, I can also see why the crowds might make you want to do your daily produce shopping elsewhere!

http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/

Seattle Washington's Pinball Museum! (What a Blast!)

Mariam suggested we go to the Seattle Pinball Museum, and I never knew how much I would enjoy it!  Essentially it is a one room arcade, set up with a variety of Pinball machines in order of the year they were manufactured.  You pay $10 and you get to play as much as you like, and play we did!


Mariam and Felipe at the helm.

I loved a lot of the older games, they had such a great feel to the movement of the pieces of each game.









Felipe trying his skill at "King Pin" (circa 1973)


Circus circa 1974.


I think this game, "Mystic" (circa 1980), was probably my favorite, as I got a super high score on my first play.  I like to think that it's some innate skill that I have for playing pinball (I'm not going to say pinball wizard was written preciently about me, but...), but in reality it was massive beginners luck.  You can see the registered high score is 986,390 - recorded by Cindy, the woman who co-owns the joint... see below for my high score!


Woo hoo!  Over 600,000!


Felipe at "Strikes and Spares"....apparently loving the bowling themed games.

There were many amazing things that we did in Seattle.  So many beautiful places with natural landscapes.  But out of all things that we did indoors, this was SO MUCH FUN!  The owners were there (Charlie and Cindy) and they were super nice, the games were great, and nobody hogged any of the machines.  I think if there were a place like this in NYC, I would love to go (maybe there is...), but I don't think it could ever match this joint.  It would inevitably be overcrowded and overpriced.  This place was great, and I recommend it to anyone who stops in Seattle.

Seattle Pinball Museum
508 Maynard Ave. S
Seattle  Washington