Arrived in Seattle

Well, Paula and I arrived in Seattle yesterday, June 4...flights couldn't have gone smoother!  We stayed with a friend of ours, Sarah Urie at her parents home in Sammamish, Washington, about 45 minutes East of Seattle.  She introduced us to her next door neighbor's donkey, Gus...(pictured below).

Gus makes a lot of noise at all times of the day and night, very late at night, but he's cute so we didn't get too mad! We played board games with Sarah...Settlers of Catan and Dominion and of course, Nertz!  I dominated Thursday night...Friday morning, not so much...:(  But we had a great time!  Thanks Sarah!

We left Friday morning, June 5 for downtown Seattle, where we headed for the Space Needle...but we got distracted by this:

 

In World War II, they used Amphibious Assault vehicles for water to land attacks, like D-Day, they were called "Ducks" and they looked like this in those days:

After the war, they retired them and sold them off to private companies, like the one we took today...this is what they like today:

As you can see, Paula and I got fully into the experience!  We rode in our "duck" for about an hour and a half, touring downtown Seattle and then entering nearby Lake Union, one of the many bodies of water that are all connected in the Seattle area...so beautiful!  Our captain, Barry D. Treasure was our fearless skipper who narrated the whole experience...think 90 minute Jungle Cruise like at Disneyland...I think I have found what I want to do when I retire!:)  I think he was a Viking Fan, check out his hat!

Some pics from our trip:

 

After the "duck" experience, we went to the EMP Museum, or Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum...it started out as only a music museum but has morphed into music appreciation, and Science Fiction movie and a other things...really an eclectic mix of pop culture...but it featured a Star Wars exhibit that was amazing!  I was in heaven, it was really cool!  Here are some shots...

 

We set sail for Alaska tomorrow...can't wait!  Thanks for checking in!