What's Up with Michael

I recently bought a GoPro camera, one of those little cameras all the extreme sports guys use to show themselves on YouTube riding bikes down stair rails and across building roofs in Italy or flying through mountain passes at 110 miles per hour with nothing but gravity and a wingsuit to keep them from splatting on the rocks. The only problem is that I don't have a wingsuit, and although I do have a bike, I prefer to keep the wheels as much on the ground as possible. But I do have RC cars. So I stuck the camera on my electric RC10 VW Bug (because I couldn't get my gas car started) and took it out to Stansbury Island, where I discovered that roads that are rough for a full-size SUV are even rougher for a 1/10th-scale buggy.

Watch for the field of red shotgun shells, and see the car smash through a clay pigeon. That's what this part of the country is good for. I also saw a couple of jack rabbits, but didn't see them to chase with the car. Maybe next time. You may not be able to tell in the video, but the car does get airborne two or three times. I also discovered it's quite difficult to steer when the front wheels won't stick to the ground. This car is more of a smooth-dirt racer. One of these days I'll try this spot with the 4WD gas car.

Anyway, here's about six and a half minutes of car sick.

I attended a seminar in Seattle (Tukwila, actually) on Friday morning, March 14, so I flew in Thursday, and rather than leave right after the seminar I decided to stay until Saturday and visit one of my favorite cities. Chieko decided not to go this time, because she wants to save pennies to buy stuff in Japan later this year.

These pictures are not in chronological order. I took them Thursday evening through Saturday morning.

Avis almost always gives me a car that I don't expect. In San Francisco it was a Mini Cooper. In Dallas it was a Ford F-150 pickup truck. In Seattle I get a tiny Mazda minivan. I suppose this is meant to be a customer benefit, but I really prefer a sedan with a locking trunk. The minivan does get 23 mpg, which isn't bad.

I took pictures of this dock the last time we were in Seattle, when workers were just starting to build this ferris wheel in May 2012.

Here's the picture from May 2012.

The Great Wheel.

Puget Sound from the eight-person enclosed and air-conditioned gondola. This was fun for $13, but I was expecting a little scary.

Seattle from the gondola.

Each spoke on this wheel is held in place by two large pins, which are each held by a smaller pin, which is held by a tiny cotter pin you could buy at Home Depot.

The Space Needle was built for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, which we attended when I was about 10 years old.

A small tug is pulling a large barge.

The Washington State Ferry Tacoma could use a little paint.

Outside the Seattle Aquarium is a great place for lovers take a selfie.

Another ferry with the Olympic Mountains in the background.

The Museum of Glass is in Tacoma, about 20 miles south of the Tukwila Extended Stay America hotel, where I stayed. I stayed there, because I had to pay my own bill for Friday night, and I'm too cheap to pay for a corporate-approved hotel. The hotel was okay, but it was on the same street with a large windowless store called "Lovers." And when I turned the heat on in the room, the blower would blow air-conditioned air for about 10 minutes before blowing warm air for 10 minutes. All night long. Friday night I shut it off altogether.

These tubes are outside the Museum of Glass.

Blown-glass rocks.

A poem written on parchment hung from the ceiling. I'm not sure how this relates to glass, but I didn't read all the plaques. I'm sure there's a connection.

Glass bubbles on the wall.

The center bubble is mirrored, and if you look closely you can see me. Reminds me of the picture I took at The Bean in Chicago, only much smaller.

A couple under an umbrella in glass.

This glass was cast in sand, and the cat was carved and polished.

I'm not sure what this is, an Irish horn or something.

This looks like a Navaho dream catcher.

I think this is a glass blower in glass.

This is a real glass blower. He's helping the visiting artisan make stemware for a charity auction.

The artisan cuts a bulb the helper blew and attaches it to the stem he's been working on for some time.

The goblet is nearly finished.

And these are the finished product.

A glass whale.

A glass crab.

A glass fish that looks like the funny real horselike fish in the tank at the La Cai Noodle House in Salt Lake City.

A glass monster. Maybe an alligator.

Truk Number 1.

Front of a ship.

I don't know.

Now we move back to Seattle. This is Post Street, really an alley. And this is Gum Wall.

Yep, that's all gum.

Sticking gum to the wall.

Same alley, opposite wall is cluttered with handbills.

Just above Post Street is Pike's Place Market. This guy is selling clocks he made from bicycle crank gears.

A bakery vendor.

Selling fish.

Selling crabs.

Today's special is king salmon. We clean crabs at no cost and pack to ship within 48 hours.

Lots and lots of beautiful, inexpensive fresh flower arrangements.

Most of the flower vendors are Asian.

The fruit girl.

The lavender lady.

"Look, lady, buy this beauty cream or things are going to get ugly. Know what I mean?"

A painter lady.

Pasta boy.

Pasta girl.

Handmade dog treat guy.

Next to the brass pig and next to the famous fish shop (featured in Levi''s ads in the 1990s) is the prized street performer spot.

Across the street from the Saturday madhouse of Pike's Place Market are a bunch of shops and restaurants crammed into buildings and alleys. And not nearly as many people. Except at the Pike Place Chowder house, where a line formed down two sides of the building 10 minutes before the restaurant opened at 11 a.m. More on this in a minute.

These shops are colorful if nothing else.

Stop in.

Get a $35 Christmas ornament.

Or some fresh goose, duck, quail or chicken eggs. Or farm-fresh milk.

This guy's mouth is going like he's eating a large meal, which seems ironic.

You can get just about anything to eat in these shops, from Italian, to smoked ham to bakery goods and handmade cheese.

This is not the restaurant where I will get my to-go lunch, but I supposed I could have gotten it here.

The tables in the restaurant fill fast with the first 15 or so people in line, so I take my lunch across the street to the deck overlooking the waterfront (as well as some shorter buildings and a highway). The soup is the chowder of the day, which today is crab and oyster. It is very yum. The sandwich is crab. The Pepsi is behind the brown paper bag.

Wedding photos. The lady with the flowers (in the black dress in the center of the picture) just about didn't show up. And the rain is starting to fall.

A view of an incoming ferry from Pike's Place.

These cherry blossom trees were given to the City of Seattle to commemorate 100 years since the Japanese steamship Miike Maru first visited on August 31, 1896.

Jogging and biking are very popular along the waterfront.

So is touristing.

A view of the Space Needle from West Seattle's Alki Beach.

A Crowley tug.

Another view of the sun setting on the Space Needle from West Seattle. I come here for dinner, because I had read that Spud's has the best chowder. It looks good, but I am not impressed. I like thick fish and thin, not too oily batter. I should have eaten at Duke's Chowder House, which I later realize is only a block away. Duke's sends me discounts regularly and free birthday coupons. And I've never yet eaten there.