One last classic pose.

Before we headed home, I took one last picture of Matt in front of the original logo of the iconic chain.

If you are not aware of why Matt looks so delightedly scandalized, click here

Monorail!

Another picture of the Seattle icon, before we headed off to sample the transportation of the future.

That's right! Monorail!

Matt had never been, but we all enjoyed our two-minute, one mile ride.

We walked down to the Pike Place Market and got some dinner before heading home. Here we see Laurie, Burt, Val and Matt posing in front of the iconic sign.

On our way

Outside the "shoppe" was the bench for weary Potter-ites. We sat for a bit before taking these pictures and continuing on our way.

Review and Schwag

Of course, Harry Potter: The Exhibition (make sure you read that with gravitas) does not allow photographs (or even cell phone use.) So you won't see anything of what I saw. What did I see? A lot of costumes and props from the movie. There were also informative signs explaining who people were. People like Harry, Hermione and Ron. I found those signs amusing. We also got to throw the quiddich balls (quaffles?) through the hoops, which was fun, sit in Hagrid's chair, which I don't think I actually did, but Laurie liked a lot. My favorite part was pulling the mandrakes which made a very satisfying screeching noise when you ripped them out of the "ground." They then sunk back. I learned from the "extra information thingie" that in the movie, each of those was an anamatronic being and the actors really enjoyed pulling them, because they all wiggled so satisfactorily.

My favorite costumes they had on display were the ones from the Yule Ball. The "extra information thingie" let me know that Hermione's gown was designed to be grownup and girlish at the same time. I loved seeing the Bulgarians' formal uniforms, which had claws on them. This in contrast to Ron's unfortunate attire, which was also on display.

Overall, we felt that Harry Potter: The Exhibition was worth the twelve dollar ticket price we paid, thanks to Hafidha, but was not worth the thirty dollar ticket price we would have paid.

And then we were vomited into the gift shop or "Shoppe" as it was called. It was full of a lot of things that cost a lot of money and which weren't really that great, in my opinion.

I did like this display of ties.

Matt, who when we first met had glasses that were very Harry Potter-esque, holds up Harry Potter glasses. He did not buy them.

Perhaps you would like some "Character Figures" with 14 points of articulation? But perhaps not at the prices listed below.

Here's what $250.00 of McGonagall looks like.

After much searching, I located the postcards, which were reasonably priced. I bought four.

Waiting for the Exhibition.

The Pacific Science Center has a gorgeous design made for good photos. While waiting in line to enter Harry Potter: The Exhibition (best said in a deep voice with a heaping of gravitas) I got this shot of the ad for the next big exhibition.

Matt sprung for the "extra information" thingie that only cost $6.00. We could pass it around. I listened to a lot of extra information and some of it was quite good and others of it not interesting at all.

Hedwig makes for some dramatic pictures.

We finally get a picture with cutouts.

Our tickets were timed and we had time to kill so we wandered about the Science Center. I was excited to discover bug cutouts (the people at Pike Schemes run across so many photo heads they have a tag for their blog). These were designed so you could see yourself as the bug, so were difficult to photograph, but we managed.

Matt was happy to get to hold a cockroach.

Which you can see in a close-up here.

Seattle Center

After parking (in the exact same lot I parked in the last time I was at the Seattle Center five years ago) we oriented ourselves.

There was a long line waiting to get into the museum and so Val, Laurie, Matt and myself stood in it while Burt went to see what it was for. While we were waiting, Matt phoned our friend Hafida because she was our ticket hookup.

It turned out that the line was for people who hadn't bought tickets and we had that covered already, so we wandered about before we met up with Hafidha.

Hafidha is a member of the Pacific Science Center and so she got us our tickets for $12.00 each instead of a whopping $30.00 each. For this (and many other reasons) we are happy we are friends with Hafidha.

Day trip!

Where are we headed on such a gray and rainy day?

Alas, the rain has obscured a clue. Though the rain itself is a clue.

How about this icon?

You know now, right? But what are we doing here?

We've come to see....

If they hadn't extended it, we wouldn't have seen it, but they did so we did.

Completed!

What is this a picture of?

It's a picture of how dark Matt's room is in the middle of the day now that I have finished both Roman Shades!

Here's is a picture of the matching set with the light on.

And here is what they look like pulled up.

It took a year an a half--worked on during vacation times--to finish them, but now I'm happy with how they have turned out. Five blinds on windows down, seven to go. Hopefully the next seven will be completed faster than the first five.

Matt & Jeff go snowboarding

Matt practices his skills before his first lesson.

He's ready for the cold with guess how many layers.

Jeff is ready for the trip up the mountain.

Happy New Year!

If this New Year's Day food is any indication, this will be a healthy and wealthy new year.