Seattle Finale

My last two days I got to work from our Seattle office and Margot graciously let me crash at her place. It was a fun treat to walk past the Space Needle on our way to the office downtown, a space living up to hipster cliches and filled with some awesome colleagues from our Arlington office who’d decided to move west.

 

Their location meant I could grab lunch at Pike’s Place market, and take mini walking tours of the architecture downtown. My last night I even caught up with an old friend and his family and got a quick tour of the Amazon spheres--a breath of tropical air that seems to defy its surroundings.

In the nest of the Amazon sphere

My trip was a bit of a whirlwind, but as a final treat on the departure flight I was treated to a window seat with a window and a stunning view of Mount Rainier in the morning light. It definitely gave me pause to realize that behemoth had been so close most of my trip by always just out of sight due to low cloud cover. Love the change a different perspective can bring!

Olympic Peninsula Day 2

Sunday morning, I was able to attend church at a small ward in the nearby town of Forks before we commenced our drive back to Seattle. The rest of the drive was lovely, with a stop at Lake Crescent to admire the scenery. And just when I thought it couldn’t be any lovelier, there was a rainbow!

Lake Crescent

We also paused briefly in Port Angeles for a parking lot picnic and a glimpse of Canada before taking the Kingston ferry back to Seattle.

Map on the Kingston Ferry--note the unique orientation

These ferries are considered public transportation, but the snack berry and jigsaw puzzles made them seem far superior to any bus or subway ride I’ve had back in DC. We spent most of the ride on the upper deck trying to see wildlife, and while the captain announced he’d spotted whales, he was too vague on the details for us to figure out where he was looking.

Olympic Peninsula Day 1: Hoh Rainforest

Tacoma was still as we left it for a place on my US bucket list: the Olympic Peninsula. I’d seen pictures once and was fascinated by the verdant green, temperate rainforest. I’d hoped to visit on my last visit to Seattle but was unsuccessful; thanks to awesome coworkers this was becoming a reality. Margot picked me up and we drove straight to the Hoh Rainforest, where we met up with Adrienne for our hike after putting on more rain gear. We hiked the Hall of Mosses, stopping to admire the variety of mushrooms and the “mossy beards” on the trees (NPS sign, not our words). It wasn’t grand vistas, but the whole place had an enchanted feel to it.

Hall of Mosses trail, Hoh Rainforest NP

Hoh Rainforest National Park

old-growth trees in Hoh Rainforest National Park

Standing next to a tree trunk for scale in Hoh Rainforest National Park

Hoh Rainforest National Park

Hall of Mosses trail

We continued on to a waterfall, hiking along the Hoh River for much of it. The whole trail was mostly squishy with some good-sized puddles, and I was grateful for the rocks and logs that poked above them. And while it did live up to its reputation as a rainforest, that hike was also (ironically) the first time I’d seen the sun on this trip! The afternoon sun made the wet forest sparkle. The waterfall was lovely, and the hike back didn’t feel as long.

some of the fungi in the Hoh Rainforest

Hoh River

Waterfall in Hoh Rainforest National Park

My hiking buddies Adrienne and Margot

The trail in Hoh Rainforest National Park

We drove to La Push, where Adrienne had found us cabins on the Quileute Reservation just off the beach. The cabin was a true tiny house, and once we and all our gear were inside we walked to the beach to watch the sunset. It was far too cold and windy for me to even stick my toe in the water, but just the sound and smell of the beach felt good. Not to mention some of the most impressive driftwood I’ve ever seen!

Sunset at La Push

This trunk was so cool to climb on! Some parts were worn smooth; other areas had dimples. No idea where it came from or how big of a storm it took to wash it up there.

The food and the company were both excellent, and the wood burning stove made me grateful for our collective fire building skills. The storm overnight also made me grateful we’d abandoned any thought of camping.

Tacoma Days 2-3: NACIS

NACIS (North American Cartographic Information Society) conference program

The cartography conference was excellent and inspiring, and while catching up with fellow cartographers is always a highlight, apparently I only managed to take pictures of their presentations. Here are a few:

The same data using different classification schemes.

Before and after tsunami evacuation route maps

Coincidentally, Tacoma’s museums are free every 3rd Thursday of the month, so I spent an evening visiting their art museum and their glass museum. The art museum was small but had its own glass exhibit, an impressionist exhibit including some regional artists, and an exhibit on the art of the Simpsons--the volume of animated cells for the series made for quite a contrast to the oil paintings.

I hadn't heard that quote before.

Just down the block, the glass museum’s highlight was the live demonstration in their glassblowing studio. In honor of Halloween, they had a team working to create a glass Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.

Bird display at the glass museum

Live demonstration at the Glass Museum

I’ve always been an admirer of Chihuly’s work, so it was surprising to see how little was inside his hometown’s glass museum. I later realized it’s because they wanted it to be as accessible as possible, so the best pieces were actually on the bridge to the museum, as well as inside the historic train station next door that people can go inside for free.

Chihuly display on the bridge to the Glass Museum

Chihuly display on the bridge to the Glass Museum

This train station is now a courthouse.

Some of the Chihuly pieces inside the old train station. No light could do justice to all the pieces at once!

It’s a short conference but packs a lot in, and I hope to make it to next year’s.

Tacoma skyline (not pictured: Mount Rainier)

Tacoma Day 1

There’s one thing about cartographers and flying: we always want the window seat. And flying into Sea-Tac for the cartography conference, I had visions of seeing Mount Rainier. So when I learned that work had booked me a non-window seat, I changed it. Little did I know, on that style of plane, seat 11A had no window! What are the odds that I’d manage to book the one window seat...without a window? Had to laugh, but since I hadn’t slept much the night before it helped me catch up on sleep during the flight.

I arrived the day before the conference and checked into an Air bnb that was a charming Victorian home just a short bus ride from the conference, and spent the afternoon wandering a nearby park. Wright Park is an arboretum with some lovely trees over 100 years old, many of which were starting to show off for fall, and complete with a glass Victorian conservatory that was like a jewelry box of plants and had a cute display for fall. 

Fall color in Wright Park

Fall display in the conservatory

A fun evening was spent with my coworker Shelly and her family, who moved to Tacoma several years ago.

Versailles Finale

The whole trip had been amazing, and for my "grand finale" I opted to stay in Versailles for a trip to the temple and the (of course) the palace. My Airbnb was a room in a charming historic home in a neighborhood close to both, which was fortunate. I was enjoying a leisurely breakfast of decadent hot chocolate and toast when my host explained that their house was too close to the temple for Ubers to bother coming into the neighborhood to transport me to the temple (which had been my plan). I had just enough time to jog/walk to the temple, and the workers were kind enough to stall long enough for me to get ready. This temple was only dedicated a few years ago and the architecture was simple, but the stained glass windows were gorgeous! Each room's windows depicted different flowers, and later I realized that the first floor windows were the same flowers but as buds. While this could simply be that the windows were a two story design, I like the imagery of us coming into full bloom as we draw closer to Christ.

In the courtyard of the temple's gardens.

The temple's gardens.

The front of the temple.

Afterward I walked back to my Airbnb to change, and got a recommendation from my host on a nearby pastry shop for both sweet and savory pastries for lunch. All were amazing!

My dessert pastry with its take-out box.

I arrived at the Palace before my timed ticket, which meant I had plenty of time to explore the gardens before going in. I'd heard the gardens were extensive, but the sheer scale of it didn't sink in until I heard it was several times the size of New York's Central Park. This was one of the first days of the season the fountains and music were turned on so it was fun hiking out to explore them and try to envision what court life was like here.

Side facing the gardens

Those canals in the distance are part of the gardens.

Latona Fountain (mother of Apollo and Diana), depicting the bad guys getting turned into (gilded) turtles and frogs.

strolling the grounds

the Mirror Fountain was my favorite

 

Topiary trees

Bronze statues flanking the reflecting pond.

More topiary trees and statues

Buying a timed ticket easily saved me an hour in line, but did not save me dealing with hoards of tourists in every room. The over-the-top gilding and ornamentation, combined with Louis' making himself into a godlike figure to be worshiped, and the jostling of the tourists, was such a stark contrast to the temple. Pretty in its own way and historic, but by the end a bit much for me.

Known for his dancing skills and sense of fashion.

The Hall of Mirrors—among other things, the treaty ending WW1 was signed here.

The king's bed where lucky people could watch him wake up (part of his branding to convey he's more powerful than the sun).

This room was decorated to show France defeating its neighboring kingdoms.

Another wing of the palace showed where the daughters of the king lived; this was one of their bedrooms.

The weather had started to turn by the time I left the "chateau", but there was one more area I was determined to see. Wrapping my scarf around my head and hiking out there in the rain, Marie Antoinette had commissioned a rustic-looking hamlet to escape palace life with the grounds around it in an "English style" to look more natural. It reminded me a little of Disneyland, especially since everything was on a diminutive scale.

A few of the buildings in Marie Antoinette's hamlet

The queen's small house

I was exhausted by the time I left the gardens, but still a little surprised to see this Fitbit notification:

My last night consisted of a stroll through the town where I saw this street art:

...and enjoying a good meal before packing. I was exhausted from the pace of travel and looking forward to just sitting on the long flights back, but overwhelmingly grateful for everything I'd experienced over the past week.