Capitals Win The Cup

We recently enjoyed Deb's niece and family visiting and got up to some fun adventures while they were here. Most notable (for me) was the Washington Capitals ice hockey team won the Stanley Cup final for the first time. DC was absolutely right behind the Caps and even the buses had 'Go Caps' scrolling on their number boards up top. The hockey finals are played the best of seven games. The other team was Las Vegas Golden Knights so the games were played in both DC and Vegas. When in Vegas, the stadium here opened for free so fans could watch the game on the big screen inside. Well the caps were on a winning streak and the 5th game saw the caps up 3-1. So if they won this game, they win the Cup. It was being played in Vegas but DC went all out and again opened the stadium and also had big screens outside the stadium and at several city street locations.

So me and hubby D left the girls at home and went into the city to watch the game in the street amongst the hoards. OMG - it was 3 hours of people crush and absolute excitement. The game was a nail biter and the crowd got tighter in the last half hour. Everyone was your friend. Team spirit brings fans together better than anything. Well the Caps won as you probably know by now. There were people going crazy with cheering and hugging and chanting like I've never heard. We took the metro train home and it was a rockin' ride of fun. You couldn't hear anything but banter and cheering.

It was a fantastic night and I'm so glad I went. I would not have gone if not for hubby D being here so very grateful he went with me. We both bought our t-shirts and were proudly telling people that 'WE were THERE!!'.

Hubby D was also brave and came flying with me. It was probably the windiest landings ever, so windy that the instructor had to land the plane, not me. But we flew over the Chesapeake Bridge and Annapolis so it was a scenic flight and I enjoyed the view too.

Here's me checking on him in the back seat during the flight - ha ha !!

No sick bag needed.

An update to my flying....I've got about 35 hours now and while my friend AH has passed his solo flight, I am yet to get there. I've got a hiccup with my medical so, it will be another 2 months before I can attempt my solo as I need my medical pass to go solo. However, I will progress with training and do the solo blocks at the end, all going well. So it's navigation and cross country ahead for me.

Another great find in DC was Duck Donuts. An interesting name but the donuts are fresh hot, and covered with any topping you want. 

They have good traditional Aussie hot cinnamon donuts too which were fantastic. Me thinks I'll be visiting Duck Donuts a bit more before heading home.

Speaking of home, the dogs had their first blood test - rabies test. The next step is paperwork in a month or so.

We have more visitors soon so stay tuned for more updates.

Kids train ride with the family visitors

Another Georgetown cupcake...

That Caps Crowd !!

It's a dogs life

Play time

Mummy's Boy

Vancouver and Seattle

  It’s been a long time since I last updated my blog. I’ve been busy with visitors and work. So here we go, all the way back to Seattle which we did after Alaska. The cruise docked in Vancouver and we spend the day exploring. We took a trolley ride around and spent some time at the food markets – as you do.

Vancouver, Canada was pretty to drive around and the city was like most others. The one photo I did take was of the Gastown Steam Clock. Courtesy of wiki…..

Underneath Vancouver, there runs a series of steam pipes connected to a generating plant at Georgia and Beatty Streets. The system provides heat to most of the downtown core, and provides the steam for the whistles of the Gastown steam clock – it blows it’s steam whistle every 15 minutes. Despite seeming like a remnant of the Victorian era and being located in Vancouver’s “Gastown” (which was the original townsite from which Vancouver grew in the 1870s), the Steam Clock is actually from a hundred years later, built in 1977 by horologist Raymond Saunders and metalwork specialist Doug Smith. Saunders was hired by Gastown’s local merchants to build the clock as a monument. It also had an alternative purpose: Placed over a steam grate above one of the aforementioned pipes, it kept local homeless from sleeping on the warm spot. The clock is likely only the second steam clock ever constructed, the first having been built by Englishman John Inshaw in 1859, to draw customers to his tavern.

I’ve seen my sister’s photos of Vancouver and there are beautiful gardens and a suspension bridge that we could have seen but with only the half day, we just trolley’d around and took in the views.

Seattle. Seattle is in Washington State and is often confused with Washington DC. Thus why people often say DC and not Washington. We were both excited to see Seattle for several reasons. It was the home of Grey’s Anatomy (not that we are big fans but just that it’s home to that show), it’s also the home of Starbucks coffee, the Boeing factory and that big space needle tower. And of course, who could forget Sleepless in Seattle. It was a short flight from Vancouver to Seattle, less than an hour. In hindsight, we should have hired a car and drove there. Seattle is also home to a huge tech industry including Microsoft and Amazon. We met a friend for coffee who had recently moved from DC to Seattle to work with Amazon. She told us there were 20+ offices in Seattle for Amazon. Amazing.

We took a tour of the underground which we found really interesting and informative. It set the scene for our understanding of Seattle. To put this in a nutshell, there is a network of underground tunnels and basements in the old downtown area. The city used to be at this lower level back in the 1800’s. Like most earlier old cities, buildings were constructed of wood and fire was a common problem. Seattle suffered several bad fires. The city also flooded badly because it was built on tidal lands too close to the water edge and sewage backups were a problem when flooding occurred - I won't go into more detail on that.  So, after a destructive fire the city leaders decided to rebuild with stone or brick and the streets would be built 1-2 stories higher than the current street level. This helped with the new gravity flush toilet system and avoided the high tides flooding the streets. However, the old streets and city remained below but were used less over time. They remain today and have become a tourist attraction.

We could look above to see sections of street pavement made from thick skylight glass. It was a little eerie being below but I found it fascinating how this was all constructed. It was pretty rundown but quite safe to tour around. If you’re going to Seattle, it’s well worth taking the tour with Bill Speidel - check out the website.

Bill Speidel Underground Tour

We were up early the following day to do the Pikes Place food market tour. Again we thoroughly enjoyed this as it provided more history on Seattle. In hindsight, we get the feeling everything revolves around these markets. Most people think of the Space Needle Tower and markets when you mention Seattle. Our guide was excellent. We had unknowingly bought a coffee at the ‘original’ Starbucks on our way to start the tour. This was a great idea as later in the day the line was down the street. The coffee was still Starbucks but, it’s about saying you went to the original joint. We enjoyed samples around the markets from some food stalls and saw the famous fish mongers throwing the fish. They throw the fish because it’s quicker to get it weighed and priced rather than walk it around to behind the counter.

 

There was a donut vendor on the sample list. Very exciting as it was the traditional way we Aussies are used to donuts. But, to our horror, the free sample was bacon maple donuts !! Deb has become a non-pork eating person and my mouth does not water for such a clash of tastes. BUT, in good spirit, I gave it a go. Yep, my mouth still does not water for it. What the hell were people thinking when they created this combination.

We also found The Crumpet Shop. Yes, it was good old fashioned crumpets. Despite busting at the sides, we bought a hot crumpet with jam and it was good – real good. I also tried a cupcake at Cupcake Royal and no, it’s got nothing on Georgetown Cupcakes. And I found a place called Biscuit Bitch. What a classic name. It specialises in good southern comfort food. The website is worth reading as it explains the shop and namesake. We didn’t eat here but I had to check it out.

Biscuit Bitch

 

We did start a free walking tour but ditched it about half hour in because it was not giving us anything of interest despite walking and walking and walking. Given the other two tours were great, we decided to leave and explore on our own.

 

Rachel the Piggy Bank (on the left) is the mascot of Pike Place Market and is a huge fundraiser. She has been raising money for The Market Foundation since 1986, raising more than $200,000 and counting. The money supports social services of the market. As always, story goes that if you rub Rachel’s snout and make a donation, you’ll have good luck! Her cousin Billy the Piggy Bank (on the right) arrived to the market in 2011 and is around the back near the Hillclimb.

And a trip to Seattle must include a ride up the Space Needle. It gives a great view of Seattle of course. The restaurant at the top was being renovated so our views were a little interrupted but we got the general picture. The Space Needle was built in 1962 for the World Fair and is 184m high. Some interesting facts off wiki tell me that the 6.8 Mw Nisqually earthquake jolted the Needle enough in 2001 for water to slosh out of the toilets in the restrooms. The Space Needle will not sustain serious structural damage during earthquakes of magnitudes below 9.1. Also made to withstand Category 5 hurricane-force winds, the Space Needle sways only 1 inch per 10 mph (16 mm per 10 km/h) of wind speed.

And just to shatter any Grey’s Anatomy fans, the show is actually filmed mostly in Los Angeles. The hospital is based on a Seattle medical center, but it’s not used in the show.

Overall, I liked Seattle but Deb is on the fence. It seemed the markets were the talking attraction and while the Boeing factory is a favourite to visitors, I didn’t get to go there as time was short and tours didn’t align with our plans. I was disappointed but, I’ll just have to go back I guess.

We flew home to DC which took all day as the flight is 5 hours and we jump ahead 3 hours. The plane was also diverted to Baltimore (45mins away) due to a bad storm in DC. So we landed, refueled and took off after an hour. So we finally got home about 3 hours later than scheduled. I managed to chat with the pilots while on the ground in Baltimore and the first officer was a lovely lady, ex C-17 USAF pilot. Me being a nerdy student pilot enjoyed the exchange of career information and was both inspired and in awe of her achievements.

So that’s another 2 states ticked off our quest to get 50 states. There are some more random extra pics below from our Seattle adventures.

 

 

Alaska - Cruise Diary Juneau and Ketchikan

Wednesday. It was a shorter day in port today at Juneau which is the capital of Alaska. I always thought Anchorage was the capital but nope, it’s Juneau. Deb and I found ourselves saying Juneau, you know, who know, Juneau, for the first five minutes until we realized we were not 10 anymore. We docked early (before 8 which you know is outrageous to me) and pretty much had breakfast and met our tour for the morning around 9.30am. Today, we took a helicopter flight up to Mendenhall Glacier and walked around with some guides who were up there for the day. We scored it lucky and got front seats in the helicopter and I was pretty thrilled to be up there amongst the dials and gauges like the nerdy student pilot I am.

There were three helicopters that flew us all out to the glacier all flying in single file. It reminded us of a scene from the beginning of a MASH episode but in a much different scenario. It was nothing short of amazing to fly over the mountains and glacier and then land on it. The ground was icy despite looking like powder from above. We were issued special spikey boots that slipped over our shoes so we wouldn’t slip over. The weather was brilliant – cool of course but the sun was shining which is the best for glaciers to show their colour better. The guides have a hardened tent up there in which they shelter for the day in between the constant flow of ‘ice hunters’ flying in. They are up there for about 12 hours a day and many were native Alaskans and as we have found, they were super friendly and great to chat with.

 

They had a big Alaskan flag in the ice and it felt like we were doing a moon landing. There were small rivers of glacier water flowing and I braved the cold water to have a mouthful. Deb kept asking me to keep doing it so she could get a better photo – I don’t think she clicked that it was freezing bloody cold water and my hand was going numb by the second. We could see where the glacier used to be many years ago before it receded to its current position. Glaciers are very interesting natural features and I knew nothing about them before we came here. But, I have to say that seeing these massive ice structures is magic and well worth the visit to Alaska.

 

Deb’s cold has taken hold pretty hard and she is battling it with some cold/flu tablets and rest as much as possible. It’s so typical to get sick on holidays – the body just collapses with rest and falls vulnerable to every bug in the air. Fingers crossed I don’t get it next. I am writing this as we sail out of Juneau, you know, who know, Juneau (couldn’t resist) and the weather is warm. So warm in fact that people are in their shorts and shirts and dare I say ‘bikinis’ – is there no age limit for those things? The people below me are sharing a bottle of red and I finally got to see the ‘elephant’ above me. Wish I could say something about their stomping and running !!

Tomorrow is our last port stop and we have another tour booked. Now it’s onto dinner, more food and more food and more food. I don’t know how people do this for weeks and weeks. I took my dessert outside to the big screen to catch the last hour of Star Wars The Last Jedi. I wrapped myself in blankets but it was great to watch the big screen in the open air. 

We met some lovely people tonight from Melbourne (S&T). We had a good chat and a laugh and it made us miss Australia even more. We were discussing our thoughts about cruising and they said that there are 3 types of people on cruises -  newly weds, over feds and the almost dead !!  This is so bloody true. Whilst I think we fall into the over feds, I think the way Deb is battling this cold I’d say she could well be in the almost dead category.

Thursday. We were late into Ketchikan as we left Juneau last night late – not sure why though. It was a very long line that snaked along Deck 6 in and out of the dining rooms as people queued to get off the ship. We were only a little late for our tour but everyone was in the same boat (pardon the pun). Today’s tour was a wildlife fast boat cruise for a few hours. We saw a whale breaching and got to see it put it’s tail up before a deep dive – totally awesome to see but not quick enough with the camera. We trawled along the water’s edge to look for black bears and just when it seemed like it was not our day, the captain spotted a black bear laying on the grass. Wow, no way would I have seen that. The boat slowly floated towards the shore and even though we could watch it for a few minutes, it got up and walked around a bit before heading into the forest. It was better to have seen one bear than no bear. We also saw several bald eagles which are quite majestic birds. We’ve seen quite a lot up here in Alaska.

Ketchikan is Alaska’s first city with a population around 8,000. It was the first major community travelers come to as they journey north. This place is known for salmon, salmon and salmon. Five different species of Pacific salmon are found around these waters. But it also known for the largest collection of totem poles in the world. After the cruise we had a quick bite for lunch and then Deb headed back to the ship to bed. She is pretty snowed under with this cold and I managed to get her some strong cold/flu tablets today that should help her a bit more. I headed into the town to check out the sights and grab some last minute Alaskan gifts. Like all the Alaskan ports, there are more jewellery shops than New York 5^th Avenue and I still don’t know why. I found it hard to buy an Alaskan made gift as most things were cheap trash or made in China. I ended up with a cheeseboard made of Alaskan Birch and a little bear eating salmon made of Jade which is the State gem (it's State mineral is Gold).

 

This is our last Alaskan port and we sail now direct to Vancouver and our cruise ends. I still haven't found a bingo game yet so I"m going to see if there's any action tomorrow. I've heard it is on but I'm just not on the grapevine apparently !! Let's hope Deb recovers a bit more before Canada.