Seattle

Last week was another adventure. This time, in Seattle. This shot overlooks the Seattle bay, I've heard people complain about rain...but I don't know what they're talking about.



This was a nice little park right on the water.



This must be where Seattlians run when the rain starts. Biggest awning ever.



We don't know what these pigeons were trying to get. But I'm pretty sure it must have been awesome, whatever it was.



These next few pictures are of Pikes place market. The market goes on every day of the week and is packed with people selling fresh fruit, fish and pretty much anything else you can think of.




Some of the vendors are set up outside, but there are 4 or 5 floors of vendors inside in case of rain.



Doesn't get much fresher than this.



Renee had to go back to this place a few times. We had some amazing plums from there.



And last but not least...Portland might have big pizza, but Seattle has them beat with their texas donuts.

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER DAY FROM THE TRANSPLANTS!

Bend

We took a trip to Bend last week and one of our many stops included the Smith Rock State Park. The path in that bluff is apparently the original Oregon trail.



Renee holds up the fence.



There ate lots of rock climbers who fly in word wide to climb smith rock. If you look closely you can see some of them in this picture.



This guy was doing alright, but Renee and I decided we'd give him a run for his money.



Here is Renee climbing up and over the rock face. The going was a little rough. See the people at the right and the hand at the left to compare the scale. Only wimps use ropes.



We climbed to the top of one of the ranges.



We were here.



As hard as we thought climbing up the front of the cliff was, coming down was at least twice as hard. We only stopped for pictures after we were over the roughest section. There were definitely no rails though.



This is one of the most famous rocks, called "Monkey-face". I think you can see why.



Just so you can tell how big it is, zoom in on this one and see the fearless hikers pointing to monkey-face. I think they just didn't want us to miss it.



Here is a longer shot from the tippy top. Truly stunning, it is impossible to capture on film.

Sushi Heaven

Todai we ventured downtown to try out an upscale sushi buffet we've been waiting to test out. They had plates and plates of food as you can see in this illegally taken picture (no cameras allowed). They also had a huge range of other Asian cuisine, including fried calamari.



We made it our goal to try at least one of every kind of sushi they had. Here is birthday Bri working on his first of three plates of food. That's not counting dessert.



Later, a cake was brought out courtesy of Renee and Dr. Seuss (?).

Dancin' fools

Today we happened by the public square downtown and there were hundreds of people swing dancing.



It's so fun to be in a city where stuff like this is always going on.



The Saturday chess regulars were not phased by the dancing however. The remained pretty serious.