Pike Place Market

When you search Seattle, Pike Place Market is one of the first places that pops up.  It has taken us quite a few months to get there though.The boys weren’t interested in going with, which was just as well.  It is really crowded. 

It is very colourful, with tons of flower stalls and beautiful clothes and crafts.  It was very tempting.  (I have a weak spot for glass!)

  

There is a section for produce and fish, as well as quite a few delis with some very interesting foods from all over the world.

 

 

 

Discovered a tea shop that sold normal rooibos tea for about $23 a pound.  (I can find the vanilla rooibos in the local supermarkets, but it is not one of my favourites.) Also discovered a butcher with a variety of international sausages.  I think it will be quite a while before I buy boerewors again.  I guess we will have to make do with the minimum in South African staples.

We had lunch at one of the fish vendor stalls.  Even the cheap fish here is very tasty!

It isn’t nearly the same size as Victoria Market in Melbourne, but it is fun to go, at least once. All the products seem to be of good quality.  Great place to find a souvenir!

 

And don’t forget to check out the guys throwing the fish…

PAX Prime 2014

We got tickets to go to the local Penny Arcade Expo, though unfortunately not together.  It was such fun to see all the cosplayers and all the new games coming out.

First it was the big queue for the loot bag. It moved really fast and everyone behaved very well, no pushing or shoving or queue-jumping.

 

The events were held in other buildings. Lots of banners and stalls.

 

Some awesome statues to advertise the games.

 

You could even take a “bull-ride” on one!

 

There was a section where you could paint figurines.  They were very cool!

 

Awesome artwork everywhere!

 

 

There were a variety of board and card games as well.  Everyone seemed to be having great fun playing.  Lots of new console and pc games around, a lot playing demos on giant screens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cosplay outfits were phenomenal.  The amount of work people put into the costumes is immense.  The details are amazing!

 

 

Middle of the night crisis

Hubby woke up in the middle of the night to an unusual noise.  Ran outside and came back yelling to call 911.  The neighbour’s house was on fire.  Long story short, the fire ran along the fence and ours’ caught fire too. (never realised how loud a fire could be!)

We got the kids and puppy out to our other neighbours’ place, then hubby and I grabbed our documents and pcs and hard drives.  I dumped all my gear back into my camera bag (thank goodness it is quick and easy to pack!) and moved it all outside, away from the house.

 

Really grateful to the Redmond Fire Department and all the other surrounding departments who also arrived.  They arrived within minutes and quickly got things under control.  (Two-house fire so they brought a whole team for each house.)  Our wonderful neighbours all came out to help and support us too.  They really all made life easier, the neighbours taking the kids in to sleep since we spent the rest of the night waiting for the all clear and filling in witness statements.

It is shocking to see how fast a fire grows, doubles in size every minute in a normal fire.  This one started in a shed, so plenty of fuel (including an exploding propane tank).  It moved really fast.  When we were all safe and the fire department had arrived, I got my camera out, to keep my hands busy and snapped a few shots.

A miracle no-one was hurt and nothing sentimental was lost in either house.