Seattle- 15th till 19th February 2012

The Space Needle

We flew up to Seattle to spend five far too short days with my cousin Kiri, her lovely husband Glen and their adorable button of a daughter Holly.  Coming from New York and San Francisco, Seattle felt quite small and approachable.  It had a really lovely feeling to it, kind of a like a big Ponsonby, with lots of hills, lots of trees, nice houses and lovely shops and restaurants.

While we were there we saw a little bit of Seattle and evidently spent a lot of time taking self portraits of Kiri and I, if my camera is anything to go by!  We had some fabulous meals, a hell of a lot of good wine and a whole lot of fun!

Kiri and Glen live right near to the famous Pike Place Markets.  The seafood was incredible. 

Remember those battery powered singing fish? What happened to those? Anyway, I like to imagine this one singing 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'.

Glen, Morgan, Kiri and I at a fabulous wine store/bar which I forget the name of. The lady serving us was boozed.

Holly-chops in a rare moment of stillness!

Kiri and I- how we thought we looked in all of our photos.....

....and how we actually looked in most of our photos!  And you know this isn't the worst either!

The original Starbucks store is opposite the markets - note the original logo where the mermaid has boobs out for the lads.  This groups of singers outside were amazing- we even bought the CD.

At Uneeda burger.  Anyone who puts truffle salt on a burger is ok with me!  Nom, nom and nom.  Those gigantic things at the front are onion rings!

Water Buffalo Burger!!!!!!

Seattle by night.

Morgan braved the cold to take photos of the EMP building (a Frank Geary design)....

(whereas this one we stole from the internet- thanks!)

...and the space needle....

....while the rest of us stayed warm in the car. 

Kiri teaches me how its done.

We had dinner out at Lola, a fabulous modern Mediterranean restaurant.  The food was superb.

We did a bit of "divide and conquer" during our stay.  The boys went to Boeing factory and to the Air Museum, the girls had massages, did pilates (it hurts, it hurts) and rode the duck!  The "duck" is one of those amphibious tours.  I've never done one before and it was absolutely hilarious.  The drivers are total comedians and our tour was complete with music, chants and props!

On the monorail

The "Duck"

On the duck- Holly is trying to take her hat off again because children are impervious to the cold....

...unlike me- it was freezing!

The gum wall.  Yes, it's exactly what you think it is!

A new wall is born.. 

According to Morgan the Boeing Factory tour was ace. It is the main plant where they build the 747, 767, 777 and build/assemble the new 787 Dreamliner.  Some facts
 - It is the biggest building by volume in the world.
 - How big you say? It could fit the whole of Disneyland under the roof, including the Matterhorn roller coaster, as the building is 11 stories tall - AND have 4 acres left over for car parking. it is 1km long on one side and almost the same on the other.
- The tail plane on the 747 has the same surface area as the wings on a 737 - and a 737 fuselage is the same circumference as the engine on a 777.
 - A 747 will set you back a bit over 300 million US, NOT including the engines. You have to source those yourself, and they cost between 13 million and 18 million EACH. They put them on for free.
 - The planes are covered in a green vinyl protective coating, and only painted in the airlines colours when they final check has gone through. You pay in three instalments, and yes, they accept cheques.
  - During the airshow where they showed off the first wide body jet (the precursor to the 747), the test pilot decided to do 2 barrel rolls above the crowd, at 500 feet.

Of course - you can't take any photos inside the factory, so here are some unsatisfactory (ha!) ones from  outside.

Not so impressive - until you ponder that you can wheel out a 747 from any of those blue doors on the left.

A 747 in its fetching green vinyl wrap.

Morgan and Glen also went to the 'Future of Flight Aviation Centre'. Here is an illustration of how thick the fuselage of the new Dreamliner is - less then Morgan's fingernail.

The future - biofuel from algae.

18million dollars worth of engine.

The boys also went to the Flight Musuem.

The world's first fighter plane. They only built two, and here is one - in completely original condition.

There have been several 'space tourists'. One of them spent 20 million to go up in space with the Russkies, and come back down in this thing. Which he then bought. This holds three people and is probably about 3m tall. That big round window would actually have been a solid door.

Inside a Concorde. Glen is pretty tall, but the inside is still very cramped.

Inside an old 'Air Force One'. Morgan says he really, really wanted to sit on the seat.

The President's stateroom - no signs of Harrison Ford.

The safes that would have held the nuclear codes.

The Albatross - a pedal powered glider. This successfully made it over the English channel.

Another SR-71 Blackbird. They built 2 of these for the CIA - that thing on the tail is a drone. On trialling the other plane, the drone launched, then crashed into it, thus demonstrating that it perhaps was not such a good idea.

I want one #1. A flying car - the wings have little wheels on the bottom and can be towed thusly, or detached and form their own trailler. They then snap into place with a few pins at the airfield, and off you go. The inventor modelled the car on a Jaguar E-Type - kind of.

I want one #2. This is basically a flying chair. It has a turbofan engine pointing straight down, and it comes up pretty much to groin level. 

We had an absolutely fabulous stay- there's just nothing like time with family!  Thank you so much to Kiri and Glen for having us and showing us such a great time. xxxxxxxxxxxxx