Living Our Dream

Seattle, WA Part II: Boeing

The Boeing Company is the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world in terms of revenue. The plant that manufactures the line of wide-body commercial aircraft is located in Everett, WA, where about 29,000 workers are employed. Everett is a suburb of Seattle and the Boeing plant is located only about 20 minutes north of where we were staying.

The Everett Plant has a visitor center and offers tours of the manufacturing facility. We heard the tour was excellent, so we headed up Everett. The entrance to the visitor center, which is called Future of Flight, is shown in the photo below.

William Boeing made his initial fortune in the timber industry. When he and a friend rode with an airplane with a barnstormer in the early days of flight, they decided they could design a better airplane. The Boeing Company was founded by William Boeing as the Pacific Aero Products Co. in 1916.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Boeing made many advancements in aircraft design. They started their own airline in 1927 that would be split off as United Airlines in 1934. During WWII, Boeing manufactured 350 bombers a month for the war effort. Many of the workers were women whose husbands had gone off to war.

After the war, the orders for bombers were canceled, but Boeing continued manufacturing military jets in addition to its commercial airliners. In the 1950s, the Cold War provided new opportunities for Boeing to manufacture short-range guided missiles used to intercept enemy aircraft.

In the late 1960s, Boeing began development of the 747, the first wide-body aircraft. Wide body refers to the fact the aircraft fuselage is wide enough to have two passenger aisles. After almost 40 years, the 747 is still in production and going strong. The latest model is the 747-8, which has just started in production replacing the 747-400.

The manufacturing plant at Everett builds all Boeing's current wide-body aircraft which include the 747, 767, 777, and 787. The 787 is the newest model that has recently begun production. We got to see the prototype, which will undergo destructive testing and will never be flown, as well as 787 numbers 1 and 2, which are currently undergoing pre-certification testing. The first six planes will soon be used for flight certification. Even though the 787 is so new it hasn't even flown yet, the orders are booked up until 2017.

The plant at Everett is the largest building in the world in terms of volume. It covers 98.3 acres and has enough room inside for six Empire State Buildings lying on their sides with room to spare or for 75 NFL football fields with space left over or all of Disneyland (California) with 12 acres leftover. The building is so big, it created its own weather with clouds forming up near the ceiling until an air circulation system was installed. The Everett Plant is shown in the photo below.

The plant is like a city with its own fire department, medical clinic, electrical substations, and water treatment plant. There are over 1 million light bulbs in the factory. Under the factory, there are 2.33 miles of pedestrian tunnels. Over 1,300 bicycles help employees get around the factory.

The six blue doors in the photo above don't look that big, but the four nearest doors are as long as a football field (300 feet) and 90 feet high. The two farthest doors are 350 feet wide and 90 feet high. The photo below is a closer shot of the doors. There is a mural on the doors that is the world's largest digital graphic.

 

Unfortunately, photography is not permitted on the factory tour. We boarded a bus for the trip from the Future of Flight building to the factory, then walked down one of the passageways under the factory floor to an elevator that took us to a walkway overlooking several sections of the manufacturing area. We got to see several models of aircraft being assembled, including the new 787. While most other aircraft are largely made from aluminum, a high percentage of the 787 is made from carbon-fiber composite.

Huge jigs are used to align sections of the planes for assembly. There are 26 cranes running on a 39-mile network of overhead tracks that are used to move sections of fuselage and wings around the plant and into place for final assembly.

After assembly and initial checks are complete, the assembled planes are wheeled out the big doors. Because the planes must cross a bridge over the highway, they are moved out of the plant at night so there is less distraction to passing motorists. From the assembly plant, the planes go to one of the three paint hangars shown in the next photo, where they are painted to the customer's specification.

After painting, the planes undergo further tests including a three-hour test flight.

Following our tour, we went back to the Future of Flight building to look at the displays. The next photo shows the exhibit area.

There were several displays about jet engines. The photo below shows a model of a Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engine, which is the type that will be used in the new 787. The model had video animations in the cutaway sections showing how the compression of the air and the combustion take place. The Trent 1000 jet engine uses the same amount of fuel per passenger as an automobile, yet it produces as much power as 1500 automobiles and can propel the plane 10 times faster than an automobile.

The next photo shows a Pratt & Whitney PW4098 turbofan engine. The engine was developed for the Boeing 777 freighter.

One of Paul's favorite displays was the cockpit of an airliner that you could climb into to see what it would feel like to be a pilot. We didn't know it was such a tight squeeze to get into the seat; and there sure are a lot of buttons, levers, and switches in there.

 

It looks like Margery is ready for the flight, too.

After our tour of Boeing, it was back to the campground. Stay tuned for more reports on the Seattle area.

Seattle, WA Part I: Microsoft, Chittenden Locks, and Voula's

Redmond, WA, is a suburb of Seattle located about 15 miles from where we were staying in Bothell. Redmond is the location of the headquarters for Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft Corporation is a major employer in Seattle with about 30,000 employees in the area.  Microsoft is best known for its Windows operating system and for the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. Microsoft has a visitor center in Redmond, so we drove over for a look.

The Altair 8800 microcomputer was introduced in 1975 as a kit sold through electronics hobby magazines. Bill Gates and Paul Allen, who was working for Honeywell, saw an opportunity to start their own company and contacted the creators of the Altair offering to develop a programming language for the 8800. They developed a programing language called Altair BASIC for the Altair 8800 and Microsoft was born. The photo below is an Altair 8800 computer.

 

Microsoft was originally founded in Albuquerque, MN, where the Altair computer was manufactured. They moved to Washington in 1979.

Following the development of Altair BASIC, Microsoft developed other computer programing languages, but their first big success came with DOS (Disc Operating System) for the IBM personal computer in 1981.

The visitor center has a few historical displays like the Altair 8800 shown above, and the typewriter in the next photo behind Margery. She remembers using typewriters like that.

Most of the displays at the visitor center showcase new technology. There were a lot of hands-on displays, and we had a lot of fun playing with their toys. The photo below shows Paul playing with a Zune MP3 player. Introduced in 2006, the Zune is Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPod.

They also had a bunch of PCs and laptops set up with the latest software including beta versions of Windows 7, scheduled to replace Windows Vista later this year. We've been thinking about a new laptop, but we have been holding off because we have heard so many people dislike Windows Vista.

One of the best toys was a touch sensitive horizontal screen. The default display looks like water in a pond that sends out ripples and waves when you touch it.

 

When you tap little icons in the corners, the display changes, and you can then use the device to display and sort photos and to play games.

After the Microsoft visitor center, we drove a few miles west to the northern part of Seattle to see the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks on the Lake Washington Ship Chanel. The locks, which were officially opened in 1917, separate the higher-level, fresh water Lake Washington from the salt water in Puget Sound. The locks also enable both pleasure boats and commercial ships to pass between the two bodies of water

Chittenden Locks were named for Hiram M. Chittenden, who was the Seattle District engineer for the Army Corps of engineers who was largely responsible for the design of the locks. Chittenden retired due to poor health before the construction of the locks began.

There are walkways where visitors can cross directly over the gates and view the ships passing through the locks.

Chittenden Locks consist of two sets of locks - a smaller set for smaller boats and times of lighter traffic and a large set of locks. The photo above shows the large locks. The locks accommodate anything from kayaks to a 760-foot, ocean-going ship.

There is a fish ladder at the locks that enables salmon to make the passage from Puget Sound to spawning areas farther upstream. This fish ladder is one of only a few in the world located where salt water meets fresh. Most fish ladders are located in fresh water. The photo beloe shows some of the 21 steps in the fish ladder.

 

The fish ladder also has an underwater viewing area. Steelhead, sockeye, chinook, and coho salmon all pass through this area. Different varieties of salmon migrate at different times of the year, and with four varieties in this area, there is salmon migration almost all year round. Sockeye were finishing their migration when we were there and chinook were just starting. The numbers at any particular time depend on the tides, and there weren't many passing through during our visit. There is a salmon barely visible in the photo below.

 

There is also a botanical gardens on the grounds of the locks. The north bank was just gravel until the Corps of Engineers hired gardener Carl English in 1931 to transform the grounds. English collected trees, shrubs, and flowers from around the world. The photo below shows just a few of the flowers in the garden.

 

After we visited the locks, it was mid afternoon and we headed to Voula's Offshore Cafe for a late lunch. Voula's is located along the ship canal about 15 minutes east of the locks and is another one of those restaurants we saw recently on the Food Network program Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Voula's is only open from 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM and serves breakfast and lunch with many Greek dishes. We both had Greek hobos, which are hash browns, sweet onions, mushrooms, and scrambled egg topped with melted feta cheese. It covers a dinner-size plate, and also includes your choice of toast or English muffin. Yum! We had enough left over to take back with us for breakfast the next morning.

There is still more to see in the Seattle area, so look for our next post.

Port Angeles to Chimacum to Bothell, WA

When we left Salt Creek Recreation Area near Port Angeles, we were planning a short drive of only about 1½ hours to the Escapees Evergreen Coho Park in Chimacum, WA. Escapees parks do not accept reservations and are first come, first served. The Escapees campgrounds all have a dry camp area where you can stay until a full-hookup site opens up; but since we had just spent a week without sewer hookup, we desperately needed to do laundry. Therefore, we really wanted a full hookup site.

We called the Escapees park just before we pulled out, and it looked like we might not get into a full-hookup site because they only knew about one site that was going to open up and someone else had called earlier and was already on their way to claim that site. We called another campground a little farther down the road who said they had one open site; but when we got there, our motor home barely fit into the site, and there was no way we were going to get satellite. We called several other campgrounds, and no one had a site open even though it was only 11:00 AM on a Monday no less.

As much as we dislike being tied down by reservations, we hate being left with no place to stay even more. That's the reason we usually make reservations anytime we are in tourist areas during the summer, in a snowbird area in winter, or when we are planning to stay in a state park or Corps of Engineers campground on a weekend. We made an exception this time to give our schedule a little flexibility, and because we had the Escapees dry camp area as a backup.

So we went to Plan B and backtracked to the Escapees park figuring we would have to take a dry-camp site and use the campground laundry, but much to our surprise, someone left unexpectedly. We were gratified to get a full-hookup site after all.  :-)

Escapees Evergreen Coho Park is a co-op that has has a small camping area for transients. The camping area has full hookups (30 amp electric) plus cable. The roads are paved and the sites are all gravel. The gravel is fresh and clean, and there is plenty of it. The campground is nice and quiet with no road noise and no trains. The photo below shows our site at Escapees Evergreen Coho Park.



We spent two days at the Escapees park chilling out and catching up on laundry. We didn't have any sightseeing plans, but we did drive about 10 minutes to the north to Port Townsend. Port Townsend is a quaint, Victorian town that is somewhat of an artist community. Port Townsend is located where the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound meet.

The Romanesque building in the next photo was built in 1893 as the U. S. Customs House and Post Office. It is still in daily use today as a Post Office with federal offices on the upper floors.



The Post Office and a number of Victorian houses, like the bed and breakfast in the next photo, are located on a hill overlooking the Port Townsend waterfront.



Below us at the waterfront, the ferry from Whidbey Island, WA, was approaching.



The ferry didn't look that big, and we were surprised at how many vehicles, including an 18-wheeler, got off when it docked. All the vehicles in the photo above that were waiting, except for two of the smaller RVs and about half a dozen cars, fit onto the ferry for the return trip to Whidbey. Those that didn't fit had an hour and a half wait for the ferry to return.

From the waterfront, we drove a little way north of town to see the Point Wilson Lighthouse. The light was originally located on top of the keepers house to the left and was first lit in 1879. The light was moved when the tower was completed in 1913.



After our excursion to Port Townsend, Margery had an appointment in Chimacum for a haircut after which we went to the Chimacum Cafe for an early dinner. The cafe was recommended by some of the Escapees. It isn't fancy, but the food is good, and there's plenty of it. Dinners run from about $10 to $15 and include soup, a large salad, potato, vegetable, roll and butter, and ice cream. Paul had chicken-fried steak (special of the day at $8.95) and Margery had fried clam strips. Both meals were great, and we were stuffed when we left. The next photo shows Paul about to dig into his salad. It was smothered in bleu cheese dressing which tasted home made.



From Chimacum, we had about a three-hour drive down around the southern end of Puget Sound to Bothell, WA, which is a northern suburb of Seattle on the eastern side of Puget Sound. In Bothell, we stayed at Lake Pleasant RV Park. Lake Pleasant RV has 186 full-hookup RV sites situated around a lake. The lake is located down in a hollow, which helps eliminate traffic noise from the busy road that passes by the campground. Except for the Canada geese that squawk from time to time, the campground is pretty quiet.

Lake Pleasant RV has 50 amp electric, Wi-Fi, and cable. The roads and pads are paved. The sites are a little narrow, but there are shrubs between the sites for added privacy. The landscaping is attractive and well-groomed. The photo below shows our site at Lake Pleasant RV.

 

We will be using Lake Pleasant RV as a home base to visit the Seattle area where there is a lot to see and do. We'll be covering our adventures in the area in the next several posts.

Sequim, WA Lavender Festival

Sequim, WA (pronounced Skwim), which is about 20 miles from Port Angeles, is the Lavender Capital of North America. There are numerous commercial lavender farms in the area. Sequim is also home of the Lavender Festival, which happened to be held the weekend we were in the area. The Lavender Festival has a street fair with crafts and food booths as well as tours of eight lavender farms.

We decided to go visit a couple of the farms the Wednesday before the festival (the festival ran Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) to avoid the crowds. That turned out to be a good plan because the two farms we visited were all decked out for the festival, but there was hardly anyone there.

The first farm we visited was Port Williams Lavender Farm. Port Williams Lavender is a 9-acre farm that grows numerous varieties of lavender. There were several areas planted with long rows of fragrant lavender.

The fine-textured, blue lavender was accented and contrasted by plantings of other flowers like the roses Margery is enjoying in the photo below.

 

The next three photos show just some of the picturesque areas at Port Williams Lavender Farm.

 

 

The other farm we visited was Cedarbrook Lavender and Herb Farm. Cedarbrook's gift shop is in the 100-year old Bell farm house.

 

Although Cedarbrook's lavender plantings were attractive, they didn't appear to be as extensive as those of Port Williams. Cedarbrook did, however, have some beautiful items in their gift shop. We particularly liked the stoneware that was decorated in a lavender pattern.

Sequim is in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains receiving only about 20 inches of rainfall a year, and lavender grows very well in this type of dry environment. The lavender grown in the Sequim area has earned a reputation for its high quality and excellent fragrance.

Lavender farming in the Sequim area began in the mid 1990s. Early growers researched and experimented with different varieties. Some varieties have long stems and are best for making decorative bundles. Other varieties loose their blossoms when dried, so they are good for making sachets and potpourri. Still other varieties lend themselves best to culinary purposes and some are good for distillation of fragrant oils.

The Lavender Festival, which is celebrating its 13th year, is sponsored by the Sequim Lavender Growers Association. The Lavender Street Fair is held a few blocks away from the main downtown area. We headed over to Sequim on Friday to check out the fair. The photo below shows Margery at the entrance.

As you can see from the number of people in the photo below, there was a good turnout. We can only imagine how crowded they were on Saturday and Sunday.

 

Of course, there were lots of booths selling cut lavender, dried lavender, lavender soaps, and lavender oils and lotions. Since it was the Lavender Festival, it's no surprise those booths seemed to be most popular.

 

There were also a good many lavender-themed crafts like the bowls in the next photo.

 

In addition to lavender and lavender-themed crafts, there were a lot of items that had a northwest influence like these wood carvings of eagles, bears, and salmon.

 

There were also some very nice paintings, photography, pottery, jewelry, and more. The crafts were of excellent quality. Unfortunately (or fortunately - depending on how you look at it), as full-timers, we can't buy much at craft shows; but we do enjoy looking.

After the Lavender Festival, we took a couple of days off from sightseeing. After our fairly busy schedule in the Port Angeles area, we needed a rest before moving on to our next destination.

Victoria, British Columbia Part II: Victoria and the Inner Harbor

In our last post, we told you about our visit to Butchart Gardens, but we didn't tell you about the ferry to and from Victoria or about the city of Victoria. We'll do that in this post.

There are two types of ferries from Port Angeles to Victoria. You can take your car, or even your RV, over on a large ferry; or you can take the smaller, faster, passenger ferry. We decided on the passenger ferry.

Once in Victoria, there are a variety of things you can do. If you're going to Butchart Gardens like we did, you can take a public bus, a taxi, or a tour bus for the 14-mile trip from the ferry to the gardens. We opted to take the tour bus because it provided narration about some of the sights on the way to the gardens, and it also meant there was no chance we would get lost on the way back to the dock and miss the last ferry over to the United States.  :-)

There are a couple of companies operating ferries out of Port Angeles. We took the Victoria Express. To make things easy, you can book packages directly through them that include the ferry, transportation to the gardens (or other city tour if you prefer not to go to the gardens), admission to the gardens, and even the afternoon tea.

We showed up bright and early for the 8:10 AM ferry departure. Parking in downtown Port Angeles was reasonably priced from $11 a day at the garage directly across the street from the dock to $6 for a lot about a few blocks down the street. We parked in the lot down the street and had a walk of less than 5 minutes to the boarding point.

The photo below is a shot of the ferry as we were about to board.

We had a fairly smooth crossing that took about an hour. Over in Canada, it took only a few minutes to clear customs, then we were on the tour bus and on our way to Butchart Gardens that we told you about in our last post. In this post, we'll tell you a little more about some of the things we saw in Victoria.

As the bus pulled out of the parking lot, one of the first things we saw was the turn-of-the-century Empress Hotel. The hotel was renovated in 1966 at a cost of $4 million and again in 1989 at a cost or $45 million. The Empress has all the things guests expect to find in a 5-star resort - an 18-hole golf course, a spa, fine restaurants, and even afternoon tea in the finest English tradition. The photo below shows the Empress Hotel overlooking Victoria's Inner Harbor.



The Art Deco building adjacent to the Inner Harbor that is now the Victoria Visitor Center was originally an Esso gas station. The top is designed to look like the Empire State Building.



The next photo is Victoria City Hall, which we passed on our way through downtown on the way to the garden.

After our visit to Butchart Gardens and our tea, we caught the next tour bus back to town. We had a few hours before the ferry departed, so we spent some time around the harbor area.

There were some street entertainers along the docks. We watched Plasterman for a while. He would strike a perfectly motionless pose, then reach out and hug an unsuspecting passer-by. If you dropped something in his container, he would pose for a picture with you.

 

We watched a few other entertainers, then strolled past the craft vendors along the far side of the harbor. Indian art and jewelry were popular items.

 

The food at the tea at Butchart Gardens was excellent, but it wasn't all that filling. Plus, it was a long day, so we were both getting hungry again. We remembered our bus driver mentioning a good place for fish and chips near the harbor, so we set off looking for it. It is called Barb's Place, and it's a floating restaurant located about four blocks from the Inner Harbor at the fishing docks. The photo below shows Barb's Place.

They had all sorts of seafood - fish, mussels, oysters, prawns, crabs, and more. They are best known for their fish and chips, so we split a two-piece order of fish and chips with a side of slaw. It was delish.

Back at the ferry dock, it was soon time to board to head back to the United States. As the ferry left the Inner Harbor, we could watch the float planes land and take off on the waterway beside us. Victoria is the busiest float plane port in Canada, much to the dismay of the local residents. The photo below shows a departing flight, and, as you can see, there are condos in the background.

 

As we reached the outer harbor, there was a large cruise ship in port...

...and we overtook another one that had just left port and was heading for the Pacific.

 

As we crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we could see the Olympic Mountains over on the U. S. side.

The next photo shows the harbor as we approached Port Angeles. The ferry dock is the second building from the left.

We again cleared customs fairly quickly and were on our way back to the motor home. It was a long, but interesting and fun day. Stay tuned...we have more plans for the Port Angeles area.