Scenes From A Vacation

So, here's a quick photo-tour of our time in the Northwest. 

As always, you can click 'em to emBIGGERate 'em.

My father lives very near, very near, the Canadian border, in a small farming community.  I mean, it's so close that one wrong turn and the Mounties demand to see your passport. This is a view of Mount Baker rising behind one of the farms.

Speaking of Canada, with their gay marriage and health care, this is the Freedom Arch at the border, and a view of the Canadian flag, done flower style.

In the harbor of Bellingham, I found the name of this boat particularly suited to me, as I often don't give a Flying F. After spotting this, I went in search of the Asshat and the Fucktard, to no avail.

This is the City Center of Tacoma, right across the street from a delicious Mediterranean restaurant we enjoyed. Tacoma is very reminiscent of San Francisco, so it holds a special place in my heart. Old buildings, streetcars--albeit new ones--and a waterfront.

In Tacoma, we saw an exhibit of Chihuly glass--if you've never seen a Chihuly exhibit, what are you waiting for?? But I was stunned that so much of his gorgeous glass pieces could be found on the streets and on freeway overpasses.

A piece of Chihuly glass. I love the reflection  of the overhead lights and how it looks like stars.

Another Chihuly. Many of his pieces are inspired by the handwoven blankets of Native Americans.

 The Tacoma Union Station, now a US Courthouse with a lobby filled with Chihuly glass pieces.

 Mount Rainer, as seen from the Chihuly bridge overpass.

 The street art. Row upon row of Chihuly artwork on a pedestrian bridge from the City Center to the waterfront.

 These are some of the fabrics created by Chihuly and then used as inspiration for his glass pieces.

 And what's a visit to Seattle without braving the crowds, sights and smells of the Public Market.....

....or getting all touristy and going to the Space Needle.

 I loved the views from the top of the Space Needle, looking out at Seattle. I was not so fond of looking down.

 The beautiful Snoqualmie Falls are just about 45 minutes from the craziness and traffic and noise and fun of downtown Seattle.

 The town of Snoqualmie had a railroad museum. Carlos loves railroad cars and railroad travel. I, however, was more taken by the rust and decay of the rail cars and found many--and I mean many--shots I had to take of rust and ladders and numbers.

So, there's a brief tour of some of what we did and saw and smelled and tasted and touched. farmland to city, waterfalls to trains. A little bit of everything, I guess!

Home Is Where The Dirty Laundry Is

Home.

At last.

As always, the vacation is fabulous, but coming home is just as nice.

Especially, it seems, after running around Northwest Washington for over a week, and seeing just about everything.

Let's start with air travel. Hate it/Love it. I love the actually flying part--except for the feeling of being cattle in a  boxcar--but I hate the waiting and the delays, which began instantly. Our flight out was due to leave at 10:15 AM and didn't depart until 12:45 PM. That was sort of okay, because we have a layover in DC of some three-and-a-half hours which was cut to about thirty minutes. Except that our flight out of DC was delayed 90 minutes.

Flying. Pfffft.

On the way back, our flight to Houston was delayed because that plane was coming from Newark, and some hurricane or something was causing all sorts of havoc, and we would have missed our connection in Houston. So, the ticket agent rebooked us on another flight from Seattle to Charlotte, and then from Charlotte to Columbia. Nice. Except it didn't leave for five hours.

I know.

Sad to say, the only flight arc that was on time and the least bit enjoyable was the flight from Charlotte to Columbia because it was, literally, a sixteen minute flight from, as the captain said, "wheels up to wheels down."

The poor flight attendant offered beverages as soon as we were airborne and as soon as she served them she came around to collect, them and we were down.

Headed home.

To pets who went nuts and suitcases of trinkets and dirty clothes. But I've got one more day till back to work, so that's my task.
Laundry. And making up our absence to Tuxedo.

I'll have some photos to share as the week goes on--I took about 300......Oy!--but these few are some of the high points.

High points! Get it?!?

My new favorite drink, The Lychee Cooler:
Yazi Ginger Vodka, Soho Lychee liqueur, muddled mint, fresh lime, ginger beer, ice.
Hea-ven!

Mad About Town

Well, since I'm away, I thought I'd offer up a little tour of Smallville [real name: Camden} for those of you--and I'm assuming that's all of you, who've never been here.

The Kershaw-Cornwallis House,
just south of town.

Camden is the fourth oldest city in of South Carolina, and is actually the oldest inland city, with a population of roughly 8,000. In total area, Camden is 9.8 square miles, of which 9.6 is land, and 0.2 is water.

Like I said, Smallville.

The Robert Mills-designed Courthouse is now
Camden's Visitors Center. Mills is most famous
for designing the Washington Monument.

In 1730--yes, almost three hundred years ago-- Camden became part of a township plan ordered by King George II, and was laid out in 1732 as the town of Fredericksburg in the Wateree River swamp--just south of present-day Camden.

Beautiful downtown Camden.

When King George III ordered eleven inland townships established along South Carolina's rivers, few of the area settlers chose to take lots surveyed in the town, choosing the higher ground to the north, and the Fredericksburg township soon disappeared.

In 1758, Joseph Kershaw, from Yorkshire, England came into the township, established a store and renamed the town Pine Tree Hill. Camden became the inland trade center in the colony, and Kershaw suggested that the town be renamed Camden, in honor of Lord Camden, the champion of colonial rights.

One of my favorite buildiungs in town,
it's now a music store.

In May 1780 the American Revolution came to Charleston, and that town was captured. Afterwards, Lord Charles Cornwallis and 2,500 of his troops marched into Camden and established it as the main British supply post for the Southern campaign.

The Battle of Camden, the worst American defeat of the Revolution, was fought on August 16, 1780 in Camden, and the Battle of Hobkirk Hill was fought by 1,400 American troops led by General Nathanael Greene and 950 British soldiers led by Lord Francis Rawdon on April 25, 1781. The latter battle was a costly win for the British, and forced them to leave Camden.

Camden City Hall.

Camden, though not involved directly with the Civil War, did send a few generals into battle, most notably a Hero of the American Civil War, Richard Rowland Kirkland, who is interred in the Old Quaker Cemetery.

After the war, in 1885, Camden became a place where rich Northern families would spend the winter. The town became associated with many equestrian activities, and is now the home of the third oldest active polo field in America. In the winter, more than 1,500 thoroughbreds call the field home. For that reason, Camden is known as the ‘Steeplechase Capital of the World’.”



The Main Post Office.

 The Carolina Cup is an annual event held on either the final Saturday in March or the first Saturday of April, with the first race held on March 22, 1930; the Cup has been held every year since, with the exception of 1943 and 1945 when a little old thing called World War Two got in the way--why we had the Cup in '44 is not known.

The races have become a South Carolina tradition, and normally draw crowds of over 70,000 spectators to Camden. as we live on the rod to the racecourse, we see most of these people driving, and walking, to the Cup.

The Cup has become a premier social sporting event at Springdale Race Course, which is also home to the Marion du Pont Scott Colonial Cup held on the third Sunday in November.

It's a big deal in Smallville.

And so, y'all, there's a little history, and a few pictures of Small.....er, Camden.


Springdale Race Course, a 500-acre venue for racing and training.



The Cup.