The Seattle Great Wheel

Last month Seattle got a new tourist attraction, "The Seattle Great Wheel" on the waterfront.  I love ferris wheels, so I went to take a ride. Nice but short ride, $15 for 12-15 minutes.  Beautiful views of Seattle, an awesome day and always lots to see and do downtown.

The famous "Ride the Ducks" Seattle city tour.

A waterfront institution, "Ye Olde Curiosity Shop"

Grayline's double decker city tour bus.

The Seattle Great Wheel behind the wharves.

The Seattle Great Wheel sits on the end of Miners Landing.

192 feet tall.

Seattle's Space Needle, 50 years old.

The waterfront, with the Seattle Aquarium in the foreground.

Outdoor dining on Miner's Landing below the wheel.

Seattle ferry with West Seattle in the background.

Last Weekend

Here are a some photos from a couple of weekend drives around western Washington.

Edmonds lighthouse and park.

Mt Rainer and an old house in a wheat field.

Mt Rainer and farm fields.

Seattle ferry and Mt Baker in the distant background.

Lake Cushman.

Lake Cushman (again).

Great Northern goat in Skykomish.

Skykomish River.

Swimming hole.

the Wenatchee River in the Tumwater canyon.

The blue sky reflected in a pond.

Mountains near Index along Route 2.

BNSF mainline bridge over the Skykomish River.

Apple Butter, 2012

On Saturday, August 11th, we had another fantastic day of making apple butter.  We started at 5:30am with 37 #10 cans of apple sauce, added sugar and spices and cooked it all in our 40 gallon copper kettle for 9 hours, stirring the whole time.  33 of us were on hand to stir, cook, clean and help out.  Lunchtime found an awesome variety for our potluck, sloppy joe's and an amazing variety of salads, side dishes, fresh fruit and& berries, and desserts.  We canned 108 pints of great tasting homemade apple butter!  Lots of time to relax, enjoy each other's company and visit.  We had fantastic warm, sunny weather.  A special thanks to my friends and family who make this all worthwhile.  A special shout out to the 11 first-timers, way to go! Can't wait until next time!

Start with 37 cans of apple sauce, sugar and secret spices.

Robin & Dave opening cans.

Robin stirring, showing us how it's done.

Alan's turn to stir, with Dave & Kelly looking on.

Rich, Diane & Kelly relaxing on the deck.

Robin & Clinton.

My buddy Kyle and his mom, Tamryn.

Getting the apple butter from the kettle to the canning table.

Apple Butter.

All hands on deck at the canning table.

The jars of apple butter lined up on a table.

The apple butter sign everyone is supposed to sign.

Cleaning the kettle.

Kyle trying to decide which toys to play with.

After the chores are done; Steve, Dave & Robin.

A very tired Henry with dad Matt and uncle Dave.

A great day and a lot of fun with friends.