Baseball Folk Art

Nice little exhibition at the Chrysler. A baseball umpire started drawing his encounters with enraged baseball managers. Then progressed to drawing famous players and significant events.

Alaska Trip: Politically incorrect signs.

Signs

We were impressed with the sense of humour in Alaska, I suppose if you can live in minus forty and dark for months at a time you need one.  Here are some we found particularly good:

 The following is my favourite.

NOW CLOSED.

Alaska Trip: Chicago. Day 18

Chicago

We stayed at the Palmer hotel; one of the oldest and architecturally most interesting.  We knew we were back in the big city by the signs everywhere telling you what you couldn't do in the hotel such as don't put your own water and snacks in the fridge in your room, instead you are expected to pay three times the price for the hotels own stuff.  We were back in hard sell land, where you have the distinct impression that you are there to grease every palm that's outstretched.

The ceiling in the entrance hall of the Palmer.

The city of Chicago was quite a surprise when you get down to the front as there are wide parks, beautiful fountains and interesting statues.  

The Bean

The best thing we did was a boat tour into the city to see the buildings.  Most of the famous architects have had a go at one building or other here.  The only building that announced who owned it was Trumps, the rest were obviously content with not having to blow their own trumpets.

You would not want to get the gears wrong in this car park.

Alaska Trip, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois. Day 17

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois.

Not too much sleep as the engine driver really loved to use the horn of the train, for a minute I thought I was back in Norfolk as we have the same disturbance there.

As we came to Minnesota we noticed that trees started to appear in abundance once again.  Nice to see, but made photography from the train very difficult.

Buildings get bigger and bigger, and more numerous as we came into Chicago.

Alaska Trip: Amtrack. Idaho, Montana, North Dakota. Day 16

Amtrack. Idaho, Montana, North Dakota.

We slept through Idaho, and picked up more carriages which had come from Portland.  We were soon in Glacier National Park and admiring the tree covered mountains.  A wild looking place of Scots pines and glades cone shaped wild flowers (probably bear grass)

White tailed and Mule deer grazed in the clearings oblivious to the train going past.

 It looked a good place for fishing!

Our sleeper cabin was small but comfortable, with a loo at the end of the carriage and a dinner car where we had all our meals.  On the whole the food was good.  We we sat with other travellers and on the second night we sat with a retired banker who was from a village 20 miles away from Nicola's home. No coke just Pepsi. Travelling is hard.

As we travelled through Montana the land got flatter and more open, they call it the land of big sky and you can see why.  We passed small communities that looked like they were struggling to survive.

Into North Dakota where we started to see oil wells and the farms which looked prosperous.

Alaska Trip: Empire Builder Day 15

Seattle / Empire Builder

Stopped at a great hat shop before collecting luggage and taking a taxi to the station. Amtrack have impressive stations but very little information available.

We managed to book in two big cases. One we had gained during the trip, to accommodate what we had bought.  Including a hat.

All packed and waiting

Union station is, architecturally impressive, but no cafe!  good job we had brought bottles of water with us.

Alaska Trip: Seattle. Day 14

Seattle

We flew in from Fairbanks, landing at 0500! We took the light railway from the airport to our hotel down town and dropped our bags off, before going in search of Breakfast.  Thankfully we found a small place open at 0700 and settled in there.  Rain had started and would continue for most of the day, so we planned accordingly.

First stop after breakfast, the Space Needle.

After the needle we went to the Aquarium, which was full of over excited children but roomy enough for everyone.

Wierd Jellyfish in the light

Sea Otters, which we had seen so many of from the cruise ship, but not this close.