Our Trip! (part II)

While the majority of our trip was spent on mountains and in forests, we were able to see a bit of great civilization as well.  With stops in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, it was my goal to visit several of the fabulous shops I had heard about (some of which carried my work), including Lucca Great Finds, Castle in the Air, Tale of the Yak, Bell'Occhio, Nest, and a few others, and see as many neato things as possible!

 An octopus bike rack in Seattle was the first photo I snapped.  So cute!

 This vintage ceramics shop was a real eye catcher.  My dad likes to get an early start and this shop was closed when we strolled through, but I made sure to find my way back a little later and snatched up several nifty things...including some additions to my Wade England collection.

 Cool graffiti.  Graffiti was everywhere when I went to Germany, but US cities tend to keep their buildings pretty free of the colorful stuff.  Most is ugly...but some is quite creative.

 The wall of gum in Seattle...cool and icky...and sticky. 

 We picked a random pizza place in Seattle for lunch and wound up with an unexpectedly oversized pie.  Holy cow this things was huge!!   And delish...  We were stunned when we saw the guy carrying it over to us!

After Seattle we spent some time in tiny little Washington towns while exploring the great outdoor...including the town of Forks, the town where the Twilight books and movies take place.  We had dinner here and spent the night.  This was the best "antiques" shop I could find there...it was dreadful and scary, but I managed to find a cool old cat pin there.  I'll admit that I'm a bit of a Twilight fan, so it was interesting seeing the town where these characters "lived", but ew...it was an icky little town and I had a crazy sudden craving for ice cream that wasn't easy to satisfy (there were no ice cream shops!). 

 I can't remember which city this building was in...but I liked it.

 Random wheelchair...

 

 Ben picked out this restaurant in Seattle for dinner (he saw it on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives) and it was so cool!  The decorations were very interesting and it almost didn't matter if the food was good, which it was.

This was outside the restaurant...the guts of an old piano never looked so good!

Bell-Occhio in San Fran had a cool collection of all sort of things...

 The most beautiful mushrooms I've ever seen at an open air market in Seattle.

 Seeing old friends at Nest in San Fran (we visited the Berkley store too by accident...it's just down the block from Castle in the Air!).  Nest by the way...one of the most beautiful two shops I've ever seen...so inspiring!!

 We drove by a Salvage yard in Berkley and had to stop. 

 Ben found something he wanted...

 And I found something I wanted....  I would have bought it too if I could have checked it on the plane....sigh...

Chandeliers at Bell'Occhio and Tale of Yak...wow!!!  I'm not sure which one I like better!!  I can imagine them both in different parts of the house though...

 And lastly...on our last day, shortly before heading back to the hotel for one more night, Suzy found a tiny goth girl squatting on the sidewalk making jewelry.  Her stuff was incredible and made with lots of natural materials, like crystals, bone and teeth.  Suzy and I both got a necklace...and for cheap too!

So many cool things to see in all three of those cities!  I want to go back already!!