Visitors from Wyoming | Chihuly Glass Museum | Fremont | Vegan Iron Chef cookbook

It's been so sunny and pleasant here that I forgot to write a blog post — I just want to be outdoors enjoying the perfect weather. Most of the days have been  sunny and in the 70s, but we had a couple of very hot days, too, and on the hottest day so far, Laurie (otherwise known as Laloofa, author of Mehitable Days) and her husband BW breezed through town and spent some time with us. They had a list of places they wanted to see, so we worked through their list, and added a couple of things, and had a lovely time touring Seattle. There wasn't enough time to see much — you need more than part of a day to visit all the attractions in Seattle, but we managed a few.

We started with the Dale Chihuly Glass Museum down at the Seattle Center. Ken and I had never been to the museum, which opened in May 2012, so we were touring it for the first time, too. There were photographers wandering around offering to take our photo, and although I declined the first offer, I said OK to the second, and am glad I did, since I'm the one taking pictures and never usually appear in any of the photos.

I'm just going to post all my photos without much explanation so you can get an idea what the museum is like.

What you're seeing here and in the next two photos is the ceiling in what was my favorite room. It was gorgeous, with fantastic colors and shapes.

Even as I review my photos, I still love the ceiling images the best. I spent so much time looking up at the ceiling I started to get a stiff neck.

There are both indoor and outdoor components to the exhibit, and although there are many exciting aspects to the gardens, I preferred the indoor rooms. I've seen photographs of other spectacular outdoor installations, and was actually kind of disappointed with this one.

I really liked the glass 'shrub' that dominated the outdoor space, and I think it was my favorite garden piece. I wanted one for my garden at home.

Here it is from a different direction.

Here's a photo of Laurie blending in with the glass exhibit.

We were with a couple of tourists, one of whom just wouldn't stop taking pictures.

After we left the museum, we were walking through the Seattle Center complex when we came upon something that was almost better than the museum. At the fountain we viewed one of the most joyful sights I've seen in a long time. Dozens of small children cavorted around the huge water spewing mound as it went from almost no spray through a succession of intensifying fountains — all set to exciting music — culminating in an explosive blast that shot 120 feet in the air, sending the little ones running and screaming away from the water monster.

I'm sorry I didn't get a shot of the super tower of water, but I was laughing and shreiking along with the kids, some of whom got pounded by an incredible amount of liquid.

When we were finally able to tear ourselves away from the vicarious thrills provided by the fountain, we headed to nearby Kerry Park where Laurie and BW wanted to get photos of the Seattle skyline. Our access was a little limited as there was a wedding party having their photos taken, but we did our best to capture the view.

Next stop was lunch. From a long list of suitable dining spots I provided, our guests had chosen a vegan Thai restaurant because they don't have access to much Thai food in Wyoming. Arraya's has an all-you-can-eat vegan lunch buffet, and although they had planned to order from the menu, the buffet was too beguiling to pass up. Even though it wasn't the plan, we all ate a little more than perhaps we should have. Oh well.

We had originally planned to tour a fair trade chocolate factory in Fremont, but had to eliminate the tour due to time constraints, so we did a little jaunt through the Fremont neighborhood instead. (You may recall a recent post where I covered the Fremont Solstice Parade and the nude bicyclists.) No tour of Fremont would be complete without a photo with the controversial Lenin statue, and here's BW taking full advantage of the photo op. This is a genuine Soviet sculpture that was originally installed in Poprad, Slovakia in 1988. It was removed after the 1989 Velvet Revolution, and found lying face down in a scrapyard by a Washington resident named Lewis E. Carpenter. Carpenter financed the purchase and transport of the statue by mortgaging his house. You can read more details by following the link I've provided.

After viewing Lenin, one must also see the troll under the bridge. Although you can't see it behind the models, the troll holds a real Volkswagen beetle in its hand.

And there is also the Waiting for the Interurban statue to consider. Citizens are allowed to dress the statue for one week at a time, then must remove the statues' attire so the next outfits can be applied. I don't believe I've ever seen the statue naked, so to speak.

One last sight I'd like to leave you with is the sign that we found on a telephone pole not far from where we had lunch. All the little tear strips at the bottom were gone.

We had a lovely time with our visitors and hope they will consider staying a bit longer next time.

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Vegan Iron Chef e-cookbook - free download

If you've read this far, I've got a special treat for you — a link to the Vegan Iron Chef e-cookbook that you can download for free. And guess who has a recipe inside! (No, I'm not a vegan iron chef but yes, I do have a recipe in the collection!) It looks like a great little book. I just want to give you a heads-up that the page numbering is a bit off because in a PDF the automatic numbers start with the cover, and in this case the recipes start on page 4. So, if a recipe is supposed to be on page 18, it's really on page 22. Follow this link to the e-cookbook, and enjoy!