Time to head north out of Ridgecrest into some cooler weather and a few rounds of golf.  However, there was one last morning with the Grands (and Heather).  Something on our agenda with them for some time was Manzanar, a National Historic Site just north of Ridgecrest in Independence, CA (a lot of irony in that location!).

After the December attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order on February 19, 1942 allowing the Army to ’round up’ people of Japanese decent.  Ultimately, 120,000 people – US CITIZENS – were deprived of their freedom and sent to detention camps.  These citizens lost their businesses, homes, assets and at times the rest of their families due to no crime – but just because they were of Japanese decent.  10,000 of these citizens were housed at the abandoned town site of Manzanar, which the US Army turned into one of the detention camps.  Although many of those detained and their decendents support a “Let it not happen again” movement it does not seem that we ever learn;-(

After the war, the government removed most of the structures, buried gardens and removed guard stations.  The National Park Service has rebuilt several of the barracks, a mess hall, one of the women’s latrines and uncovered some of the gardens so that visitors can get a feel for some of the ‘life’ at these detention centers.  They have also created a visitor center in the main building (that was used as the center point for life during the detention period), which explains the history, creation and many of the human stories of Manzanar.  A Cemetery Monument, which was created by a Catholic stonemason and residents of Block 9, also remains.  Detainees attended religious services here during the war and today it is a focal point of an annual pilgrimage to the camp.

If one has not been to one of these detention centers, you should make one a stop in your travels.  It is truly a reminder of mistakes we have made in the past and one would hope not do so again.

Lone Pine is the closest town to Manzanar, and provided a good lunch stop before saying a final farewell and heading further north.

Let the summer travels begin.  Mammoth Lakes, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, provided several sunny, beautiful days beneath Mammoth Mountain.  Sierra Star Golf Course provided two great rounds of golf and a drive to Horseshoe Lake was a highlight.  Scenery was magnificent.

Klamath Falls, OR was the next stop.  It is an access point to Crater Lake, NP and an easy drive from Ashland and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  Again the weather and scenery was hard to beat.  Running Y Ranch was to be ‘home’ for four days.  It provided a great concert in a beautiful setting the night of arrival and two great days of golf.  BUT, their only restaurant could use some help!  Thankfully, there was a delicious Thai restaurant – Oasis Thai – in Klamath Falls;-)

Working our way north to Seattle, next stop was Sisters, OR.  Thanks to friends – Bill & Nancy – a lovely townhouse was home base for five days.  Sisters has it all for the adventurer – hiking, biking, golf, skiing in winter, good restaurants and lots of coffee shops.  And, if you want the big city – Bend is just 20 minutes away with a great Thai restaurant (Noi Thai).  But, beware – not sure if aliens also inhabit the city – –

Finally Seattle.  What a beautiful city!  It is surrounded by the peaks of the Olympics, Cascades and Mt. Rainier.  There is water everywhere – Puget Sound, Elliott Bay and Lake Washington.  And the attractions are endless – the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Discovery Park, Museum of Pop Culture, Olympic Sculpture Park, Pike Place Market, Seattle Great Wheel, Washington Park Arboretum, Japanese Garden, Washington University campus, Microsoft campus, etc., etc., etc.  How to get to it all in four days?!?!?

Paul Allen’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) is as funky in as out!  The complex was designed by Frank Gehry and seems to be a fitting backdrop for rock memorabilia from Bob Dylan to grunge-scene heavies.  There are music, science fiction and pop artifacts.

Next door is a quite different scene – Chihuly Garden and Glass.  The Museum traces the artist’s early influences of Native American Northwest Coast baskets and Pendleton blankets (exhibiting his collection of these) to the colorful towers and installations of glass he is known for today.  There are eight galleries displaying different types of installations, a 40-foot tall Glasshouse and an outdoor garden.  A true delight for the senses.

Maybe the next stop should be the Space Needle?!?!  S0 – up the 605′ for the 360 degree view of Seattle and the surrounding area.  Seattle’s most iconic building was built 60 years ago for the 1962 World’s Fair – and it was built in less than a year!  It takes less than a minute to get to the top – and what views one has – –

Pike Place Market.  Dating back to 1907 when the city issued permits for farmers to sell produce from wagons parked at Pike Place in response to anger over rising food prices.  It has grown from that to more than 250 business, including 70 eateries.  It comes to life each morning at 6:30 AM with strumming street musicians, flying fish AND the very first Starbucks.

Just a mile down the road is the Olympic Sculpture Park, an outdoor branch of the Seattle Art Museum.  This green space features native plants and walking paths that wind past larger-than-life public artwork.

Sometimes one appreciates the quiet and serene only after the hustle and bustle has been experienced.  In the Seattle area that quiet splendor can be experienced at the Washington Park Arboretum and the adjacent Japanese Garden;-).   Although the area had several iterations, in 1924 the University of Washington and Seattle Parks reached an agreement where Seattle Parks would retain ownership of the land and the university would own the plant collections.  They collectively hired the Olmsted Brothers’ firm to create a master plan.  A proposed “Azalea Way” was to be one of the greatest displays of flowers in the world to include Japanese flowering cherry trees, dogwoods and rhododendrons.  Today’s 230 acre ‘escape’ also provides many miles of walking/hiking trails.  Visit on a clear blue sky day and nothing could be better – –

About a mile down the path, one can take a slight diversion to the Japanese Garden.  While the Arboretum is part of the Park system, and therefore free, there is a $10 admission for these Gardens.  But, this is one of the finest Japanese-style gardens outside of Japan and another tranquil sanctuary tucked within the arboretum.  Gardens in Japan have long been regarded as an important art form that’s essential to life.  (Return to the beginning of this post and revisit the gardens created by the Japanese detained at the interment camps – a bit of their ‘normal’ life.). This particular garden features a style known as a stroll garden.  Following a winding path around a central pond, the visitor journeys through the varied landscapes of Japan – mountains, forests, waterfalls, rivers and lakes.

After a nice, calming stroll about the Gardens and Arboretum, one can cross the 520 freeway and be back in the hustle and bustle of the University of Washington scene.  This is a stunningly beautiful campus with buildings that look like they could have been the campus for all the Harry Potter films!  And it sits just above Washington Lake with a football stadium that looks like it could be folded up like an envelope to wait for next season;-)

The Residence Inn – Bellevue has been home for the last four days (quite adequate, just aged).  The location is fabulous in a treed area close to freeway access and anything else necessary – even the Microsoft campus.  It’s 8 million square feet of office space employs 50,oo0 employees and energizes the housing market for miles around!  Also the construction industry as it continually adds office space as it grows.  The grounds were pretty interesting to wander around from the older West Campus to the newly created East Campus – accessed across the freeway via a quarter mile stunning covered bridge.   It truly is a city within a city with all types of stores, markets, service industry locations, spas, gyms and, of course, Starbucks included in the ground floors of the multitude of office buildings keyed for only employee entrance.  Oh, and there is a Visitors Center with a store and history museum.

Clouds may frequent the Seattle skies – but several of our visit days were beautifully warm and clear blue.  This provided fantastic views of Mt. Rainier 88 miles away!

And with all these adventures documented, it is time to pack up and board a ship for an Alaska cruise.  What a fun filled four days!

E & G – Happy to have finally really experienced Seattle – a great city with lots to offer;-)