Inferno

Ask me how hot it has been in Rome. 

Don't ask. 

So naturally we opted to spend high noon in the nearly shadeless Roman Forum. 

Surrender Dorothy. 

We had a lovely Greco-Roman tour guide who spoke just a tad too softly to make out all she said through her accent and the heatstroke. 

The tour included the colosseum, where the shade of the arches offered a more pleasant atmosphere to hear her tales of hippopotamus vs lion battles to the death. Also gladiators and whatnot. You've seen the movies. It was incredibly cool. But hot. 

Blog spot is being a total pain again, so just the bare minimum:

Museo Borghese. Fantastic Bernini. 

I like the guy looking at me so I let him stay. 

This is the piece de resistance. I was going to say the "money shot," but that's unnecessarily crude. 

"No no, nothing fancy. We'll take a Standard room."

Extremely photogenic cappuccino in the Borghese gardens. 

Concluded delicious dinner with this uncannily potent tablespoon of espresso. 

I was awake until 2:45 a.m. 

Oh--did I mention who else was on our tour?

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes

The title refers to areas of the body that may or may not require covering during a tour of the Vatican. Hint: one of the required areas was on blatant display by many visitors we saw today despite WRITTEN WARNINGS. Pagans. 

They were probably being granted a papal dispensation, though, because it was so hot. Mother of God, it was hot. (That isn't blasphemous because I was at the Vatican today so I'm allowed.)  

This blogging app is being damnably uncooperative (again, not blasphemous), so I am aborting (now I'm pushing my luck) the rest of my planned text and just gonna try to post more pics. 

"Retirees in Hats"

Now you're talking. 

Perfetto!

Challenges

Physical:

Hills!  Did you know Seattle is super-hilly?I didn't know. It is. It is super, super-hilly. 

Everything is steeply uphill, and then everything is downhill, and now repeat. As the concluding event of a two week hiking-heavy trip, this has been a challenge (for me). 

Non-physical:

There is a very visible, very large presence of homeless people in the downtown part of Seattle. Homeless, near homeless, mentally ill--desperate or otherwise wretched in one way or another. 

It's a challenge to one's sense of humanity to walk past so many who need so much, or maybe who need so little. I know this is too serious a topic for this site, but it contributed a lot to my experience here. 

Ok, moving on. 

Today was the first day that was completely clear--no overcast, no haze, no clouds--and what do you know, Mt. Rainier exists! We could see it from the hotel, but we got a really good view from the observation deck of the 75-story Columbia Center (because ONE of us preferred seeing the city from the structure that didn't have the word "needle" in its name.)

There's that other, more famous observation tower. 

A few more architectural highlights from today's walking:

This is the new Seattle public library, designed by Rem Koolhaas. Very kool-looking, inside and out. 

 

This guy outside the Seattle Art Museum:

A crowd taking pictures and standing in a long line to order at the ORIGINAL Starbucks (when there are ten other Starbucks within spitting distance).

We ended the day at a place called Von's 1000 Spirits. I think that's literal. Here's part of the bar: 

When in Rome, right?, so I had a Ricochet Rabbit (no idea why that name) and my Sherpa had tequila:

and we shared this delicious sourdough crust pizza:

And tomorrow we get up very early and head home. Hopefully it will not take 23 hours. 

So ends our Northwest Passage. Thanks for coming along. 

(My Fitbit says I walked 271,388 steps in the last two weeks.)

I'm tired

We're in Seattle. 

I'm tired. 

Amazon biodome alternate universe thingy, under construction. 

Sleeping with the fishes in Seattle. (Movie meme mash-up.)

It's. 

This should've been in yesterday's post--a town we passed through on our drive from ONP to Seattle. Humptulips. Humptulips, Washington. 

But that wasn't funny enough for somebody with a sharpie:

 

ONP > RNC

An added benefit of this trip is that it was essentially impossible to watch any of the RNC. Sure, I checked my phone for headlines multiple times a day, but as far as being subjected to speeches or the reactions of pundits to speeches, we were able to stay blissfully ignorant. 

I could make a case that that is the preferred state of the electorate on the whole, but at least I have a temporary excuse: vacation mind. 

Too political!  Let's get back to trees. 

If you are a fan of toothpicks or pencils, not to mention paper, give thanks to the great state of Washington and to all the trucks that look like this, of which there are plenty:

Realization of the day (yesterday):

We are smack-dab in "Twilight" country!

Of course this is totally lost on me, just like last year when I was in PEI without having read "Anne of G.G." But I googled and found that "Twilight" takes place in Forks, La Push (great names), and Port Angeles, all of which we have been in!!!

We stopped for breakfast at Granny's Cafe:

Neither the coffee, nor the hot cakes, nor the service were too great, but the waitress was right out of "Waitress"; look:

Two main locales of the day were a beach and a rain forest. And here you go:

Rialto Beach--massive driftwood. Massive. 

Toes in the Pacific. 

(Make your own joke; I'm in a hurry.)

Rain forest. 

Additional serendipitous beach photo opp at Ruby Beach. 

Our home for last night, Lake Quinault Lodge. 

Where I am now using their wifi to post all these photos. 

While my Sherpa takes a solo hike and I soak up this scene on an Adirondack chair. 

XO

Mrs. Jack Sprat