Visiting The Ballard Locks...Very Interesting

Sunday morning we had time to go see the incredible city of Seattle and the surrounding areas. 

What to do?

The city is amazing with so many things to see, but when we asked my brother-in-law/tour guide, he brought up the Ballard Locks. I remember visiting the locks more than a decade ago on my first ever trip to Seattle. I thought it was interesting, but would the kids like it? Turns out it was very interesting. 

I wanted to take them to see something special since we didn't have a lot of time to see the sights. And to answer the question of whether or not the kids liked it, the answer is yes. Living inland as we do, we're not used to seeing boats used for more than just recreation. Luckily, we were able to see the locks in operation. It was cool to watch them all lower and leave on the way to the ocean. One boat in particular even sported a very attractive flag.

Another cool thing to see at the locks was the Fish Ladder. We were able to go inside and watch huge salmon swim--something that wasn't open when we visited years ago. The fish were cool to watch and looked delicious.

We also visited the small museum that's there. If you're interested in locks and the Corp of Army Engineers, there's lots to see in a limited space. The kids found the story of a moving a ship through the locks that was wider than the locks themselves fascinating. So did I.

To finish out the morning in style, my brother-in-law treated us to a delicious brunch. It was the perfect way to enjoy a wonderful relaxing morning with family. I'd like to think if we lived in the area we'd visit the Ballard Locks often. I'm sure when we return we'll visit them again.

We Are Home...

Four Days...

Four States...

Two Hotels...

One Wedding...

One Incredible Morning in Seattle...

One Family Reunion...

One Rock-N-Roll Legend...

Tons of Pictures...

Four Tired People...

We Are Home.

Troll Under The Bridge...

Children hear of trolls living under bridges. Today I saw one.

This morning my brother-in-law Mike was kind enough to take us on a tour of Seattle. I'll hopefully include more of our trip experiences on this blog later, but I wanted to introduce you to the Fremont Troll, a huge work of art currently living under the George Washington Memorial Bridge (a.k.a. the Aurora Bridge).

When we visited Seattle back in the mid-2000s, Mike thought he showed us the Fremont Troll before.  I don't think he did--I'm pretty sure I would have remembered it, especially a huge creature clutching in his enormous claw a real VW Beetle. Poor beetle--what did it ever do to anyone (except never adequately warming them in the cold...)?

I did a little checking. The city wanted to change the area under the bridge since it had become a dumping ground, among other things. They had a contest to see who could improve the area. The makers of the Fremont Troll won.

There's other art around, statues of people waiting for public transportation, a stature of Lenin (yes, Lenin...), and I'm sure I didn't see close to all of it, but for me, the Troll wins, hands down.

We saw a LOT of amazing things today. The Troll was one of my favorites.

The Road Less...Driven

I should trust technology more.

I know many people say they trust technology too much, and that's probably true for me as well, but this morning as I traveled with some of my family along I-90 heading to Seattle, Washington, my phone's GPS said we needed to exit because cars were backing up ahead. The phone calculated an alternate route that would save us time.

We got off the road and began driving through some of the most amazing scenery I've ever seen. About a mile into our five-mile detour, the calm, tempting voice of SIRI told us to turn around.

And for a moment, I almost did.

I don't have a lot of experience with GPS systems. We hardly ever leave our own state and I'm pretty familiar with my own state. Plus, in Utah you just look up--once you find the mountains and/or the lake, you know where you are. But go to someplace new while driving through literal canyons of trees, I'm as lost as a new politician.

The warning came again and again. "Make a U-turn and head to _____" (insert name of road I'm not familiar with). And I considered doing just that, but then I said to myself, "Self--the GPS directed you here. It must have known the road was open and didn't need us to turn around." So we stayed the alternate course.

We ended up pushing on and we drove on the most amazing side road. My son snapped some pictures and took a video, but it hardly does it justice. The drive just got better and better.

Eventually, we got back onto westbound I-90 and made it into town. I need to remember where that exit is and drive it next time we're in town.z On my own, I might not find it. Of course, I could just let my GPS find it.

No Pony In This Race...

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When it comes to sports, I usually root for the underdog. But since my favorite sports team (my alma mater...) is no longer considered an underdog most of the time in both football and basketball, I still root for the boys in crimson and white. As of late, I really don't have a favorite NFL team.

That's why I'm not too thrilled about this year's potential Superbowl teams, from a "root for the underdog" standpoint. Last weekend there were four games and even though I didn't have a favorite team for which I rooted, I basically went 0-4 on the teams I wanted to win. Personally, I would like to see a team win the whole thing that has never won a Superbowl before.

In many ways, the results of last week can be a good thing for me. Since I'm not really a fan of any of the remaining four teams, I don't have to get emotionally involved in the games. And, since the remaining teams are arguably four the of the best teams in the entire league, these should be good games.

I guess we'll find out this weekend.

Yes, whoever wins will be able to add to their trophy room collection of Superbowl wins. I just hope when it's all said and done, the best thing about the big game won't be the advertisements.

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* Photos used without permission from: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/