Miami, Seattle and Family

We made plans last October to check a big item off our to do list, a cruise through the Panama Canal. The one we booked was from Miami to Seattle so we decided we would spend extra time at the end visiting our Washington state family. As our departure date neared, we realized that the Bob Dylan , Retrospectrum Exhibit was closing soon so we drove to Miami a day early to see this one time event. I will be writing about our fantastic cruise in the next couple post.

The show at the Patrica and Phillip Frost Art Museum was a collection of sketches, paintings and sculptures Bob Dylan produced over the last six decades. This was the first time many of the works had been shared with the public. 

A collage of magazine covers and Dylan works over the years was a good introduction while watching a video and listening to clips of his music.

There were several works that connected the handwritten words of his songs along with a sketch of his visual ideas about the tune. I found Highway 61 Revisited connected Dylan's birthplace in Hibbing, Minnesota, the Blues of Memphis, the Mississippi Delta and New Orleans, all places along Highway 61. 

Blowin' in the Wind takes on a different meaning with this sketch. Dylan was known for often refining and changing the lyrics of his songs over the years.

This painting, Elevated Train, was done in 2020, but looks back at his time in the city when he was a young struggling musician trying to make it. 

He seems to have a real connection to the rails, as he grew up in Hibbing a big ore mining community. Some times the tracks lead to sunshine and others to dark skies.

A lot of his work has a Impressionist look to it. 

If you are a fan you will recognize these word cards. The video of "Subterranean Homesick Blues" was part a documentary shot in an alley behind the Savoy Hotel in London. 

Most of his iron works have been done in the last ten years. Once again they tie is hometown mining with the things made with the ore mined there. These works recycle old tools into new works of art and often have symbols and allusions.

Words from Dylan's Mood Swing 2013 about gates.

"Gates appeal to me because of the negative space they allow. They can be closed but at the same time they allow the seasons and breezes to enter and flow. They can shut you out or shut you in. And in some ways there is no difference." 

Another part of the exhibit, The Beaten Road, featured paintings of scenes Dylan encountered while traveling. Some are iconic, like the road to Monument Valley. These three painting are 108 x 49 inches in a size that helps capture how immense the scene is in real life. 

Joshua Tree, Sunrise Triptych II, is a rare work as most of his painting include some man made feature. These last two painting really amazed us as they are places we have visited. 

More of his Beaten Path paintings. He has a knack for turning the ordinary into beautiful works of art. 

Another section is the New Orleans Series. This Dylan quote sure captures the city, "There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better. There's a thousand different angles at any moment ... No action seems inappropriate here. The city is one long poem."

Many of his paintings in this series are very "dark," just like many places in New Orleans.

These are all paintings of scenes from movies that he has done recently. We really enjoyed this exhibit. I don't know if it is going to be traveling to other cities, but if it does it is well worth a visit.

The next day, Easter, we boarded the Norwegian Encore for a three weeks cruise that ended in Seattle on Mother's Day. 

Nanc's sister Judy flew in from West Virginia and our nephew Joe came from Tennessee. It had been several years since we have seen Braedon, Kazuko and Joe so it was great getting caught up with them exploring Seattle. Here we are at Old Stove Brewery at the Market in Seattle. 

While we have been to the Market before, we had never seen the gum wall. The story goes that this was once a street that led to a movie theater.  Before going into the theater movie goers would stick their chewing gum to the wall and it just evolved from there.  It really is quite disgusting!

Something I never noticed before is a long line at this particular Starbucks. Even though Seattle has 133 Starbucks, most with very short lines, people wait to go to this one because it is the original Starbucks.

We are always willing to try new foods and the Uwajimaya Asian store in Seattle had something we have never had. The Bean Fish has hot, fresh and yummy Japanese fish-shaped waffles. Mine was stuffed with Mexican sausage, cheese and chips and Nanc got one with shrimp and curry.

Here is the finished waffle. It was delicious. They have 25 plus different fillings including some desserts. If you get to Seattle check it out.

Our number one reason for our visit was to visit the burial site of Nanc and Judy's brother Dave who passed away in December 2020. Dave was in the US Army for 27 years, retiring in 1994 with the rank of Sergeant Major.

Sergeant Major Scott.

Dave's grave at Tahoma National Cemetery. He is always in our hearts with love.

Nanc, Kazuko and Judy.

We were happy we were able to pay our respects with Kazuko and her family. 

Jim, Nanc, Judy, Jonathon, Braedon, Joe, Kazuko and Allen after a wonderful meal at Fujiyama. Anytime we are with Kazuko we can count on great Japanese food.

Of course a meal at Fujiyama is about more than a great meal. Our cook kept us on our toes tossing rice balls and setting things on fire. 

Our flight to Miami was at 10:30 PM so we had another full day in Seattle. We dropped Judy at the airport and drove into the city. On the left are the baseball and football stadiums with the Space Needle behind them. It's hard to believe the Space Needle was the tallest building west of the Mississippi when it was built in 1962 for a World's Fair.

We have been to Seattle a number of times, but never went up to the observation deck of the needle that is 518 feet high. It is 605 feet to the top of the spire.

Our plan was to go to the Space Needle and then the Museum of Pop Culture. Unfortunately, the MoPOP was closed that day.

On the lower observation level there is a glass floor that rotates. It was amazing how many people would not step on the glass. The cog is attached to a one horsepower motor and makes one full revolution an hour. 

It is a wonderful 360° view. Looking west across Puget Sound is the busy harbor with the Olympic Mountains in the distance.

Looking south is the downtown, with many buildings now taller than the needle. In the background is 14,411' Mount Rainier. One reason we stayed so long was we wanted to see if the clouds would clear enough that we could see the top.

Looking northeast is the Cascade Range and 10,786' Mount Baker over 100 miles away. In the foreground is Elliot Bay. The spire on top of the Space Needle is reflecting on the glass.

It looks like our patience paid off as we could just see the top of Rainier above the clouds. We were not sure if it was real until Judy sent us the next picture she took as her flight went over the mountains. 

Yes, as they say here in Seattle, The mountain was out.

Since the MoPOP was closed we had time to walk to see this statue of Seattle born Jimi Hendrix. He was one of my favorite rock and blues artists who I was fortunate enough to see live in Atlanta back in the 60's.

The Space Needle and the Museum of Pop Culture. The MoPOP was designed by architect Frank Gehry who also did the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angles.

 We had a great time in Seattle getting caught up with Kazuko and her family and were happy to be able to finally pay our respects to Dave.  

Last Stay in Washington

Nanc and Dave catching up on the last forty years.
The Scott family
An example of Preston Singletary's work.

The Chihuly Bridge

Glass sculpture in the plaza.

John de Wit and an assistant work the glass.

We are now at the Olympia Campground in Olympia, Washington. This park is owned by the same people who own the American Heritage Campground where we stayed five weeks ago on our way north. This one is supposed to be a couple dollars a day cheaper but turned out being a little more expensive because they gave us the FMCA discount on the weekly rate at the other place. The pricing systems used by parks is always a mystery. Both parks are pretty nice with this one being easier to navigate with the big rig and the other one having bigger sites that are divided by vegetation. AFTER I WROTE THE ABOVE IT STARTED TO RAIN AND WE AWOKE TO A LAKE AROUND THE RIG BECAUSE A DRAIN WAS PLUGGED. I COMPLAINED BUT IT DID NO GOOD. DON'T STAY HERE IF THERE IS A CHANCE OF RAIN!!!!!!!!

We are staying a week here so we can spend some more time with Dave, Kazuko and their family. This is the fourth time Nanc has seen her brother in four years after not seeing him four times in the previous ten when we were working. Most of those times were related to funerals or other family events so this has been great. One evening after dinner we just sat on a bench overlooking the water in Olympia and told stories about what we have been doing the last forty years. It is fantastic to now have the time to do this.

One day we visited the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. They have a great permanent collection where they contrast the use of glass using such categories as transparent/translucent/opaque, hot/warm/cold, factory/studio, vessel/sculpture and several others. This gave a number of different perspectives and was a unique way of looking at a material we take so for granted. A temporary exhibit Echoes, Fire and Shadows by Preston Singletary, a Tlingit Indian, had items made of glass that were based on the woodcarvings of the native people of Alaska. He has produced everything from mythical creatures to bentwood boxes in glass. We found this very interesting since we have seen so many examples of these native works at the museums in Vancouver and the Makah Nation. The Tlingit Indians were also the visiting tribe we watched perform at the Makah Days Festival we attended. Outside the museum the plazas have many glass sculptures and the Chihuly Bridge of Glass that contains the work of world famous Tacoma native Dale Chihuly. We had seen many examples of his wonderful work in the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The museum has a large hotshop where you can get up close and personal with the museum's team of artists and visiting artists. We watched the team blowing martini glasses for a fundraiser they are having next week. John de Wit, a Whidbey Island artist, was working on glass sculptures that he would later paint. Everyone was willing to take time to explain what they were doing and answer questions.

This is our last stop in Washington and we have really enjoyed the things we have seen and done while here. The pace of our travel has been just about right with stays of a week at most places which gave us time to explore the area. As usual we did not do everything we planned and we will be back here in the future. Nanc's brother Dave said we should tell people the weather here is not the best but we can not tell a lie, for the most part it has been fantastic with cool nights and warm sunny days. That said it has rained a lot the last two days and they are reporting sn_w above 6000 feet in the mountains so we will be heading to the lower latitudes very soon.

West End Highlights

Makah Days Festival
Hoh Rain Forest
Sorry it is so SUNNY!!

Everything is covered with epiphytes.

The Hoh River with the Olympic Mountains.

Some colorful fun-gis we saw along the trail.

Scenes from Forks

The tidal pool and along the beach.

This fog bank burned off to reveal the blue sky below.

Mount Olympus on the drive from the beach.

We have moved to the west side of Olympic National Park and are staying at the Hard Rain Cafe, Mercantile and RV Park just outside the entrance of the park. As if to live up to its name it began to rain shortly after we arrived but it rained so little that there is still a burn ban in the back country of the rain forest. The campground is near the town of Forks that is "famous" for being the home of the Twilight series of vampire and werewolf books. We can't honestly say we had ever heard of them before we came here and we have not seen any of those bloodsuckers though Nanc has been attacked by a couple mosquitoes.

Our first day here we drove back to Neah Bay in the Makah Nation to attend the Makah Days Festival. The day started over 80 years ago when an American flag was raised over the reservation to show their loyalty to the government. We learned about the tradition and festival from Edward, the tribal elder, we met when we visited the museum. Over 5000 native people from as far away as Alaska were there to participate in the event. In many ways it was a typical festival with artisans selling everything from handmade crafts and jewelry to others selling authentic Chinese imported Indian knockoffs. One of the highlights was the food that also ranged from your usual festival fried fare to a meal of salmon they were cooking in the old style on an open fire. We had the salmon dinner that included potatoes, corn, beans, bread and cantaloupe. It was wonderful!! For entertainment, native dances were performed by Makah children and a group from Alaska. An unusual event was a group of Japanese citizens who had traveled here to perform as a way of thanking the Makah ancestors for saving the lives of three sailors who were from their village 175 years ago. The sailors then made it across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Victoria, BC where they learned English and upon their return to Japan wrote the first Japanese translation of the Bible. It was interesting hearing the story of how these two distant peoples were linked. Another big event was the canoe races that were a way to celebrate the Makah whale hunting tradition. They are the only tribe still allowed by treaty to hunt gray whales. The races started with singles, then doubles, then mixed doubles and ended with a very long race in eleven man boats. In every race at least one canoe overturned dumping the paddlers into the chilly ocean water. Each tribe was represented by a team and you could tell there were intense inter tribal rivalries. All in all it was a great day and we would highly recommend it if you are in the area near the end of August. Be warned, if you want the salmon dinner get in line early as they sold out.

On Sunday we visited the third distinct environment in Olympic National Park, the Hoh Rain Forest. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your expectations, it was a beautiful bright sunny day without a cloud in the sky. We had mixed feelings about that since it was lacking the total effect of the rain forest. That said it was better getting dusty rather than muddy on the hike we took. We started through the Hall of Mosses where the 12 to 14 feet of rain they get here each year has resulted in huge conifers and big leaf maples that are draped in an otherworldly covering of epiphytes. The trees are some of the tallest in the world and it is hard to capture the ghoulish look of this place. We then hiked along part of the Hoh River, a fifty mile long glacial fed stream that is the color of milk from the glacial silt. While August is the driest month here and the river was not at its maximum flow, its power is still evident by the number of large trees and the wide gravel beds it has left behind as it recedes after the winter rains and the spring melt.

On our last day here we drove to Forks to tour the Timber Museum and, as with the best laid plans, we discovered it was closed on Monday. We did cruise through the visitors center and took a pic of a truck that has something to do with Twilight, but we don't know what. There is also more evidence of this throughout the town. I guess we are just not into vampires. We then decided we would visit another Olympic National Parks coastal area and drove to Rialto Beach where we enjoyed a 3.5 mile hike along the Pacific. The tide was going out and we were able to explore the tidal pool and collect a couple interesting small objects along the shore. This ends our stay on the peninsula and we have had a great time checking out the many different areas. The weather for the most part has been great and even when it was overcast in the AM it often burned off creating bright sunny afternoons. The temperatures have been perfect and we have not used either the AC or the furnace. Our next stop is back in Olympia to spend another week with Dave and Kazuko before heading south.