Washington Trip Part 8

Alright, so the second to last day of the trip we decided to hike around Olympic National Park and it was incredible. Shockingly, this post will be picture-heavy, but it will worth it.

First, we did a short (a mile) hike to Marymere Falls. This hike starts right from the Lake Crescent Lodge, an amazing hotel/lodge right next to the lake and in Olympic National Park. We saw a deer on the way. A cute little Columbian Black Tail, not the Mule Deer we have here.

We have already decided to stay at the Lodge the next time we take a trip to Washington (and Friday Harbor, of course). Here's a view from right near the Lodge.

The hike was very easy and had some great scenery. Here are is one of the cool bridges and a shot of the falls.

That was just the start. Next, we decided to drive to the Hoh Valley Rainforest. It is way over on the other side of the peninsula, but it was well worth the drive. As soon as we got into the valley, it started raining (shocking, I know, but this was only the second time it rained the entire time we were there).

The first thing we see at the ranger station when we pull up?

Roosevelt Elk! I love Washington! These guys were just laying around chewing their cud. When we went in to pay for our visit, the ranger asked where we were off to. We wanted to try the Hoh Valley Trail, which is an 18 mile trail that goes all the way to some glaciers at the top of the Olympic peaks. He told us it was more or less flat for the first 13 miles, so it wasn't too bad. And truly, having lived our lives 6,000 feet higher than the valley, it wasn't difficult at all. We made it to the top in less than 3 hours. Okay, okay, I'm kidding, the hiking wasn't too hard besides the mud, but there is no way we could have made it 18 miles! He did say all this, but he also told us there was a waterfall 3 miles up the trail, so that was our goal. Here are some shots of the hike, culminating with the waterfall. We made it!

Wow! Right? Anyway, I also took a really short video while walking. I wasn't sure if the pictures would show the depth, so I thought I would try video. I loaded it to YouTube, my first video! Anyway, it is a little muddy (both literally and visually), but I filmed it, it is me hiking. Awesome!

So, the Olympic National Park is incredible. It rained on us about every half hour while we were in the rainforest, and that just made it that much more fun. If you ever get the chance, go there and go hiking. It's incredible!

Washington Trip Part 7

Alright, so we've made it to Port Angeles and we are getting ready to head to Victoria, BC on the ferry (that's in Canada for you slowpokes out there). Unfortunately we have to take the Coho, a ferry that transports vehicles instead of this boat the Victoria Express. We were just one week too early! This (and the lack of whales) may have been the only downside to traveling in the off season. Oh well, we had a nice relaxing trip and I got to read a lot, so it wasn't all bad.

Victoria is a beautiful place (I know, I'm shocked too). We didn't spend much time there, as we were in a hurry to get to Butchart Gardens, the whole reason for the boat ride. Check out the Empress Hotel. It's crazy!

So what is this Butchart Gardens that we have to make such a big deal about? I'll let their website explain:

As Mr. Butchart exhausted the limestone in the quarry near their house, his
enterprising wife, Jennie, conceived an unprecedented plan for refurbishing
the bleak pit. From farmland nearby she requisitioned tons of top soil, had
it brought to Tod Inlet by horse and cart, and used it to line the floor of
the abandoned quarry. Little by little, under Jennie Butchart's
supervision, the abandoned quarry blossomed into the spectacular Sunken
Garden.

This place is incredible, who knew such beauty could grow in Canada?! Wow! I have what seems like 1,500 pictures of the gardens because Mrs Titan is such a fan of flowers and all things that grow. Check it!

Ok, enough of that. We ate quick and had to rush back to town to catch the ferry back to the US, or we would have been stuck in Canada. There are usually a lot of street performers. Most of them are pretty talented. Then, there was this lady.

Now, some of my favorite comedians are Canadian, but this lady was just too wacky and weird. She was decked out all in Canada gear (as you can see) and she tried to tell jokes. Some of them weren't bad, but she apologized for EVERYTHING. It was so bizarre. She told a joke. "Sorry if that wasn't funny." She dropped the flaming stick. "Sorry." Someone started to walk away. "Sorry you have to go." I have never seen anything like it and I don't think it was part of her act. I think she just felt bad for everything. Aren't Canadians cute?

I just hope she appears on the upcoming season of Last Comic Standing. I would so root for her just so I could hear her apologize to everybody.

Washington Trip Part 6

We then traveled from Seattle to Port Angeles (Google map it!). But, instead of taking the direct route, or a ferry, we drove all the way to the Pacific and then around on the 101 until we reached the town of Port Angeles. This took about 8 hours are so with all the stops, but it was well worth it, we saw some beautiful sights along the way.

Then we got to the beach. Wow. It was incredible. Some of the sights there are jaw dropping, and there is beauty everywhere you look. It is also so absolutely empty that you are able to feel alone and peaceful. This was a great place to visit and if we were not getting really tired from the drive, I would have loved to stay longer.

Yeah, this just keeps going, the Olympic Peninsula was just amazing!

One of the weird things though, is that were grabbed lunch at a Quiznos in Aberdeen on the way, and the owner of the store, after asking us where we were headed, kept warning us over and over about not getting carried away by the riptide. I guess this must happen a lot, as he repeated the phrase "I don't want to read about you in the papers" at least four times. It was quite odd and kinda disturbing. It goes without saying that Mrs Titan and I survived the ordeal.

One other thing that I forgot to mention previously. When we were in Seattle, we checked out the Underground Tour, which is amazing and well worth seeing. They also pride themselves on humorous tours, which make them very fun and a few times even like standup, it was great. Anyway, as we were walking back to the hotel this guy walks up to us and just starts talking to us. Asking us what we thought of the tour, where we're from, etc. Anyway, this goes on for a while and it's obvious that he is there alone with no one else. This wouldn't have been that big of a deal to me until we got to Friday Harbor.

In Friday Harbor, as you recall, we went on a whale watching tour. Well, on the boat were two guys without anyone with them. They were not together and did not know anyone else on the tour. This just seemed weird to me. I can understand the lonely dude in Seattle (business travel, etc) but two more lonely, single, and frankly kinda creepy guys in a purely touristy area. This was odd. I have never seen single people traveling alone as tourists (not counting backpacking-across-the-country-types or homeless people), so I was a little surprised. So, just a question for all the readers out there. Have you ever gone on vacation alone? Why and did you have a good time?

I'll be back tomorrow with Victoria, BC.

Washington Trip Part 5

The next day started with a beautiful walk near the water on San Juan Island. Luckily, we had a great hostess at the Friday Harbor House who pointed us in the right direction (we were without car, which was wonderful for a short time). Along this walk we got to see some amazing waterfront property. If I could work there I think I would move to San Juan Island. This is not a park:Next we went on a kayaking trip. Our first one on the ocean! This was a half day trip led by our guide, Jesse, from Discovery Sea Kayaks. It was a little shorter than I would have liked. Next time I think we will go for a full day instead of half day. We were in a tandem kayak and I got to steer. Those things are complicated, as you steer with your feet! Here's Jesse:

Kayaking on the ocean was great and I would recommend it to anyone who has never tried it. It's pretty darn intimidating, what with the waves (they were small too) and the large open areas with deep deep water, but it is sure great!

I'm not even going to bother posting on Day 6, all we did was drive back to Seattle. It was sad leaving Friday Harbor. Here's our ride back to the mainland:

Washington Trip Part 4

The forth day was one of the coolest. We got up at 6 am to drive from Seattle to Anacortes, WA, where we hopped on a ferry to Friday Harbor, a small town on the San Juan Islands. The islands located on the northern end of Puget Sound and have some of the most beautiful scenery that I have ever seen. Here's a little view from the ferry.

The first thing we did when we got to the island was to hop on another boat for some whale watching. On the way to the boat we saw this little girl, Popeye. What a cutie!

Well, bad news about the whale watching. There were none. However, we did see some pretty amazing things. There's a privately owned island there called Spieden Island. Apparently in the early 1900s a rich guy bought the island and put a bunch of exotic animals on it so he could bring his buds for some hunting. These animals are still all over the island (which is now owned by the founder of Oakley's sunglasses). We also got to see some beautiful bald eagles.



We also got to see some Harbor Seals (cute like Popeye) and Harbor and Dall's Porpoises. They were pretty great.

The best part about the whole trip was the company, Western Prince Whale Watching and Wildlife Tours, a small locally owned joint that was very fun and personal. I would have linked to them, but their webpage is down right now.

Finally, the hotel there. Friday Harbor House. Awesome! The best hotel on the whole trip. Check out the view from our room.

Yeah, awesome, and the view of our room?
Jacuzzi tub, fireplace, and a flat screen TV (not pictured). Three nights were not enough. I never wanted to leave. The free breakfasts were great also, with fresh muffins and fruits. Mmm. It is a great place!

Washington Trip Part 3

Our third day in Washington was also spent in Seattle. We went on the Locks Cruise. This cruise starts at the Seattle waterfront and cruises around Elliott Bay before heading north through the Chittenden Locks and into Lake Union and Lake Washington. This was a great little cruise. It lasted three hours and gave us a nice amount of time on the water with a great unique view of Seattle.

The lock.

Here are some boats that were named after me.

I think living in Colorado makes me the Western Titan more that the Ocean or Alaska Titan.

On the way back to the hotel, next to the Space Needle, we see this.

The Science Fiction Museum! We were tired from walking around Seattle all day (minus the 3 hour boat ride) and only blocks away from the hotel, but I had to check it out. So, I drag Mrs Titan with me to pay $15 each to walk through the museum.

Wow, what a waste of money. I mean, I love SF as much as the next guy (obviously, have you read the blog?), but this was a pretty disappointing museum. It was sorta chronological, but not much. There were very few pieces besides some books and photos. Each section was in themes, but a lot of the themes make no sense, like Homeworld, Fantastic Voyages, Brave New Worlds, and Them. They attempted to pigeon hole different works of SF into one of these categories which really doesn't make sense when you consider the stories.

There were a couple of great things there. First, they had some great sections on Farscape, and even a little bit about Futurama, which was awesome. I did appreciate the emphasis on books, as that is where SF started and where it continues to thrive. My favorite part of the whole museum was a large screen and computer interface that allowed you to go through TV and film SF's famous space ships. There were many I loved, including Moya and the Planet Express Ship, and they were all animated along with detailed stats. No Star Trek ships though. So, while there were some things to get excited about, there wasn't enough to make it worth $15.

Washington Trip Part 2

Okay, so we just had our first night with a great view of the Space Needle, so where do you think we are going for our first full day in the Emerald City? Thats right!

The Space Needle is great! About two blocks from our hotel, we walked there in the morning and were some of the first people up the elevators.

The views from the top are pretty great and they have all kinds of different facts and pictures of when it was assembled to peruse while walking around the top with all the other tourists. We were conisdering staying for brunch at the famous restaurant, but when it turned out to be $44 per person we decided to take a pass.

It was a humid and hazy day, so the city looks smoggy (it's not) and there was no view of Mt Ranier, but it was pretty great any way.

After the Space Needle we rode the famous Monorail to downtown and then walked back to Pike Place to do a little shopping and the waterfront to do a little more touristy stuff.

While on the water front we saw a most curious family. They were a young white couple with a little girl. They were all dressed in green, shabby clothes and all had dreadlocks. The parents both had backpacks which appearred to carry everything they owned. They were also carrying a giant sign. "Legalize It." Ah, hippies! Great! I love the west coast! I think that was the first four year old hippy I have ever seen. I kinda feel sorry for a little girl raised like that. Oh well.

We had lunch at the Ivars on the waterfront. Apparantly they only have Ivar's in Washington and California. It's a good little place that sells all kinds of fried seafood. I had the clam strips and Mrs Titan had the halibut. It was yummy, but someone liked it even more.

Yes, that is a french fry in his mouth, and yes, he jumped to catch it. This sea gull had to work darn hard to get food as there were so many of them. They were something else.

Along with the seagulls came these signs:

There was also this guy:

I totally tried to feed him, but I almost had my fingers bitten off by the gulls and he was almost pecked to death. Terrifying!

We also hit the aquarium before heading back to the hotel. It was great. I love the otters there. I didn't get any good pictures, but those things are some of the cutest, most fun-loving animals I have ever seen.

Washington Trip Part 1

Well, as you know, Mrs Titan and I recently took time off of work to go to Washington and just have a great time. This is the first of many posts to show off some of the highlights.

We landed at SeaTac and headed straight to out hotel to check in and get our bearings. The first thing we see:

Cars! Traffic backed up all the way into dowtown Seattle. I still don't know why traffic was so bad on a Satuday afternoon, but we made it.

It was May 3rd, so I was anxious to see if I could find a comic book store to check out some of the free offerings of the day. Luckily, I was able to find one once we walked down to the famous Pike Place Market, where I found Golden Age Collectables. This is one of the biggest comic book stores I have ever been in (remember, I live in Colorado, not even in Denver). Anyway, Mrs Titan was very patient with me as I wandered around with my jaw dropped. They did have an odd Free Comic Book Day policy (at least I thought it was odd). You get one comic free and then if you buy something you get a second one free. That's it. As I understand it most stores will give people any number of comics to try to drum up some new business. Now, I kinda understand where they were coming from, as they are located in what is essentially a tourist mall, they may not be able to get any new lasting business from FCBD. Oh well, it was nice anyway. Luckily, Mike at my local comic shop set some aside for me so I could get some free comic goodness.

Pike Place is something different altogether. There are flowers everywhere. Mainly tulips (there will be more on tulips, don't you worry), but al kinds of bouquets. What was most amazing is that they are all so large, fresh and cheap. I saw great bouquets range from $5-$20. At that price I would actually buy flowers regularly. They were great!

Being from Colorado, seafood, expecially the fresh stuff, is not something we were entirely used to. There was fresh fish (and everything else) everywhere that the flowers weren't. We're talking crabs, clams, muscles, squid, and giant fish. The smells were pretty overwhelming, but they never got too bad.

That was about all we had time for the first day and it was back to the hotel to rest up for our next day in Seattle.

This was our view from our hotel room:

Seattle!

Bad News - Posting Delay

'Nuff Said.

There will be vacation posts this weekend. I'm on the mend!

*hack* Still Sick *snfff*

Well folks, the cold has hit much harder today. I had planned to start writing my welcome back posts today, but, after snot dribbled down my face during a presentation at work and I can't tell the difference between left and right (even worse than normal!!), I decided to just say hi to everybody real quick.

I did get to enjoy some pop culture on my trip. I found a comic book store in Seattle for Free Comic Day. I saw Iron Man, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanomo, Amelie, and Galaxy Quest. I also finished 1 and a half books and generally enjoyed everything we did. Also, when I got home the new Death Cab for Cutie Album was released. Hurray!



I will write new posts again soon. Promise.

PS. I also promise I didn't get GTA IV yet. I wouldn't even have done this if I was busy playing that sucker.

...And We're Back

We're back folks. It's Tuesday night and we just got in after a long (well, long enough) flight back from SeaTac to DIA. It was a great trip. I plan to update for the rest of the week with vacation photos and some commentary. It's not all pop culture related, but it should be fun anyway.

The trip was fantastic. Mrs Titan and I were going non-stop until today, so, I may actually be more tired now than before I left. Also, I caught some kind of bug yesterday, so I am feeling under the weather. I will do my best to bring the two of you readers (just one?) as much entertainment as I can. So, come back for more goodness.

PS. It's good to be back at an altitude where I am not smothered by air. Stupid sea level!

PPS. If I happen to purchase Grand Theft Auto IV I cannot guarantee regular updates. :)

Not Goodbye...Just See Ya Later!

Well everybody, it's time for a break. Not from you, but from work. Mrs Titan and I are getting the heck out of here and getting away from the work-a-day world of modern industry. We are going to the land of the space needles, coffee, and WTO protesters. That's right...Seattle! The northwest is a wonderful place and we are thrilled to go.

There will be no posts while we are gone because we will be too busy doing touristy things and eating way too much seafood. I will be back on the interwebs on Thursday, May 15th, when we return. You might even get a couple of Seattle related posts with pictures and everything! I regret that I will have a super late review of Iron Man and will miss Free Comic Book Day (be sure to check it out at your local comic shop tomorrow, May 3rd).

I hope you all have a great couple of weeks and miss me tons! See you on May 15th, unless I get eaten by an Orca or fall off the Space Needle.

Best Book of the Blog? Eifelheim!

Guess what?! I finished another book! It only took three weeks. That's not bad, right? Well, it's okay then. Anyway, this time I picked Eifelheim by Michael Flynn from the good ole giant bookshelf of unread books.

The first thing that I realized when I started reading this book was that it sure was a lot like the last book I read, Coalescent. Both books jump back in forth between two different characters, one in the past and another in modern times. However, the similarities were really only skin deep.

Eifelheim starts with a mystery. Tom, a modern historian with a great name, is researching the disappearance of a small German village in the Middle Ages. Turns out that the land was never resettled after the Black Plague, when all other abandoned towns were resettled shortly after the plague ended. So, what happened?

We then jump back to the time in question, 1348, and follow the character of Dietrich, a worldly and knowledgeable priest who leads the small town of Oberhochwald. This is where the book really starts to get good. Shortly after we first meet Dietrich, there is a loud boom and a shock of electricity. The next day he wanders into the forest and guess what? Aliens!

That's right, the main focus of this book is about aliens crash landing in medieval Germany! This, of course, has far-reaching results. The first thing the villagers assume is that these are demons. The priest, being worldly and knowledgeable, soon realizes that these are not demons, but men who did not descend from Adam. He has a difficult time convincing the villagers of this fact, but the Krenken (as he names them) eventually form an uneasy alliance the villagers and are partially accepted.

What really blew me away about this book (besides aliens in medieval Germany) was the level of intelligence it must have taken to write it. It's one thing to think about how cool it would be to see knights with swords fighting aliens with ray guns (this doesn't actually happen, sorry), but it's an entirely other thing to see it play out in a realistic way.

These medieval people have no concept, as we do now, of aliens, space, electricity, or any of the other science fiction tropes and cliches that we take for granted now. The way Flynn is able to show the interactions between the priest and the aliens is fantastic. They each do their best to explain their beliefs about their physical and spiritual worlds to each other, with many misunderstandings. These conversations are fascinating, even if at times difficult to understand, and were great fun to read.

Michael Flynn was able to weave in an amazing amount physics, history, theology, philosophy, and historical science and understanding. I wish I knew more than I do going into this book so I would be able to understand a little more of these sections. This is one of the best books I have read in a couple years and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to experience some really special science fiction.