Gooey.

Our first stop on the West of the States was the funky, bustling little city of Seattle! We had three days and nights to explore- and I think we did a pretty good job.

We were staying on the west side of downtown, close to the famous space needle, which we wandered over to and took some very (not-so) serious photos with, then proceeded to the funky and rather odd looking EMP museum of music, sci-fi and pop-culture (above is a photo from outside it!).

They had some great music exhibitions on- I particularly loved the Jimi Hendrix one, which had displays of all his funky velvet, plaid and psychedelic costumes, crazy guitars and some very interesting interviews. The Nirvana and Seattle grunge scene exhibition was fascinating too- it was fun to see just how many great bands emerged from that era, how quickly it escalated, and how much the scene has changed since.

Then we moved on to the horror and sci-fi exhibits- here's a shot from the 'horror booth'- I was the poor victim and Tim was the scary villain. ;)

Here is Tim fighting off some mutant evil monkey space invaders in his cape and goggles- such a valiant superhero!

We also formed our own band, made a shadow-puppet show(with our own bodies) and learnt about the history of guitars. A pretty damn great museum, if you ask me!

We of course had to explore the famous Pike Place Market- one of the oldest public markets in the US, and a great place for trinkets, pastries, seafood and people watching!

Now this, my friends, is gross. And tacky. And kind of awesome. But, mostly gross. Haha- this is the gum wall at the Market Theatre in Seattle, completely covered in millions of brightly coloured, bacteria-crawling pieces of formerly-sticky chewy. Apparently theatre employees attempted to scrape all the gum off a few times, but eventually gave up and embraced it for what it became- a both 'ew' and awe inducing tourist attraction!

 We met up with the wonderful Penelope, my Mum's good friend's daughter, who I've known forever but not seen for a long time. It was great to get an inside scoop into what to do in Seattle, and see a long lost friend all in one- so lovely to see you, Pen!!

We also explored Capitol Hill- a more residential and rather awesome suburb overlooking downtown. Lots of markets, cute coffee shops, book stores and thrift shops- my kinda place!

We met my Dad's wonderful cousin, Ros and her lovely daughter Allie for a great lunch in a cute little place with awesome sandwiches, coffee and conversation! I'd never met Ros before, but heard a lot about her and it was great to see her in person! We even made spontaneous plans to visit her and her husband John in their coast house in Anacortes on our way back to Vancouver a few days later (I'll write about that next time)!

THEN WE MADE A VERY IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. Allie mentioned her school mascot, one which we had never heard of before; the Geo Duck (PRONOUNCED: GOOEY DUCK). This turned out to be one of the grossest, most pathetic looking creatures ever to grace the world with it's presence, so of course we had to go see one for ourselves when she mentioned the local fish shop would have them...

GIGANTIC CLAMS WITH MUTANT SLUG-LIKE THINGS PROTRUDING FROM THEM. Haha sooo gross/pathetic.. great discovery for the afternoon, in my opinion. Who would want a tough tiger or shark as a school mascot when you can have a mutant slug-clam??!?

For our last night we decided to go on a tour my Mumma recommended; of the historic, burnt down Seattle to be found underground! It was such an awesome tour- really interesting historically, and really different to most other walking tours we've been on. Our guide was really knowledgable and funny, and we had a great time exploring the tunnels that used to be the main streets of the city before the great fires.

We were told the place was very haunted. Judging by the scary man I found in my pictures.. I don't doubt it. ;)

P.S.. ABOUT TO FLY HOME AHH. I hope the storms subside enough to let us in!! x