Home Sweet Home

So I apologize for not updating my blog in a very, very long time!  I’ve just been so incredibly busy since I made it back to Oklahoma.

My mom flew up to Seattle a few days before my internship was over, so that she could drive back home with me.  We left Seattle on Saturday, August 15th and made it back to Oklahoma Monday night.  On our way back, we drove a different route than when Kristin and I went to Washington in June.  We drove across Washington and stopped in Spokane for lunch with some family friends that were passing through the area.  It was crazy that it worked out that we were able to meet up with them.  They live in Missouri and yet we haven’t seen them in over a year; yet we met them 2,000 miles from home.  Crazy how things work out sometimes!

That night, we stayed in Big Sky, Montana.  We got so lost, because the roads were under construction and all of the road signs had been taken down.  It was about 1am before we were able to get to the hotel.  But the view the next morning was well worth it!  The hotel was a ski resort, so we were surrounded by mountains and ski slopes.

That day we drove through Yellowstone National Park and stopped by to see Old Faithful.  The park was absolutely beautiful!  We were able to see several smaller geysers, fountain pots, and fumaroles.  At one point, we were stopped in traffic, when two buffaloes ran by our car!  It was so unreal.  Then a little later, we spotted a small herd of buffalo just lounging in the open.    When we got to Old Faithful, it had just erupted.  We ended up waiting around for another hour or so until it erupted again.   I am so glad that we stayed around, because it was amazing!  It was just a great reminder of the beauty of God’s creation.  After we exited Yellowstone, we also drove by the Grand Teton Mountains.  They were beautiful!   We didn’t realize that it was going to take all day in the park.  We had planned to stay the night in Denver, but because of several delays including construction and traffic we stayed in Rawlings, Wyoming.

The next day, we ended up driving for almost 14 hours!  It was such a long day.  When we got to Wichita, Kansas, we ran into a severe thunderstorm and got caught in some hail.  We finally made it home around 11pm.  I was so glad to be home!

I want to thank all of you that have followed me through the summer.  I had a great time and hope that you enjoyed hearing about some of my Seattle Adventures.  I am not going to blog any more, due to the fact that I am back in school and trying to finish up with everything this year.  Thank you again for your support

!

 

My dad came to visit!

Last week, my dad came to Seattle for a few days.  We had so much fun!  I just wish that we would have had more time to do more things while he was here.  But we took full advantage of what little time we did have.  Sunday, we walked down to Pike Place Market.  I must say that the market is my favorite part of Seattle!  There are so many wonderful things to see: vegetables, fruit, fish, and all kinds of hand-crafted wares.  Afterwards, we drove out to the Ballard Locks, and they were so busy!  The locks were busy the entire time we were there.  We went down below to see the salmon, but it was disappointing.  There weren’t as many fish as when I went with my sisters.

Monday, we walked to the Space Needle.  On the way, we stopped by the Seattle Glassblowing Studio.  We were able to watch them as they created new glass items, but it was so hot that we didn’t watch very long.  They had a video looping in the studio that we stood and watched instead.   I had a coupon for the Space Needle, if we went after 7pm.  We got there early so we walked around Seattle Center.  We found a small exhibit that gave some history about the Space Needle.  I knew that is was built in 1962 for the World’s Fair, but I also learned that the Monorail was built for the World’s Fair as well. Pretty neat!  We went up into the Space Needle a little before sunset.  Since it was so close to time, we stayed until the sun went down.  It was gorgeous!

Tuesday, we walked down to the Waterfront and enjoyed the curiosities that abound there.  We then ate supper and went to the Fifth Avenue Theater to watch the world premiere of Catch Me If You Can.  The writers and producers of Catch Me If You Can also wrote and produced Hairspray.  It was wonderful!  The actor that played Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks’ character in the movie) played Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway!  He stole the show.  Everyone was was so great!  Many of the show that have played and premiered at Fifth Avenue have gone onto play on Broadway.  So maybe next year, I can say I saw it BEFORE it was on Broadway.   It was the perfect ending to a great few days.

Fifth Avenue Theater

at night

Sunset at the Needle

Me and Daddy

Me at the Space Needle

Seattle Glassblowing Studio

Me at the English Gardens at the Locks

Out to Sea

Daddy at the Newsstand

Flowers at Pike Place

 

Flesh Avenue

Since I have been here in Seattle, I have learned alot about the interesting history of the city.  One of the most surprising things that I learned was that First Avenue, which is where my apartment is located, used to known as “Flesh Avenue.”  Up until the 1980s, First Avenue was a part of town that upstanding citizens stayed away from.  The entire street was full of strip joints and porn cinemas.

Just a couple of blocks from my apartment is a club known as The Triple Door.  It used to be a pornography theater that operated up until the 80s.  There is a famous story of some local bank robbers.  There were some bank robbers that planted a bomb in the theater downtown.  They then called the police to report it.  The bomb went off in the theater; while they were downtown, the bank robbers were able to pull off their heist.  Afterwards the theater was unable to make the repairs, so the patrons would sit in the charred out seats!

There are still two strip joints on First Avenue.  They are very out of place now!  Below is a picture of the Lusty Lady.  I had to take a picture of their sign outside.

 

Almost done…maybe

It is so hard to believe that a week from today I will be finished with my internship!  This summer has flown by so fast!!  It feels in some ways that I just got to Seattle last week.  However, I have a lot to do between today and next Friday.  My project has convenient stopping points built-in.  However, I am nowhere near a stopping point.  I need to finish processing about 12 boxes, including making preservation copies and entering them into the database.  AND I also need to make labels for the 90+ boxes that I have completed.  There just aren’t enough hours in the day.  I’m going to have to work like crazy to get finished, if I get finished….

 

2009 Alaska Airlines Torchlight Parade

Last Saturday night,  I went to the 2009 Alaska Airlines Torchlight Parade.  It began around 8:00pm and lasted until 10:30pm.  It was held on 4th Avenue, so I only had to walk three blocks up to 4th to watch it.  I met Sam there, and later Rosemary and her husband joined us.  It was so much fun, except for the fact that it rained on us!  It has only rained one other time since I have been here, but it decided to rain when we were standing outside without any umbrellas!  Thankfully, it only rained for a few minutes.

The parade had a lot  of really neat floats, marching bands, and balloons.  Each of the surrounding neighborhoods entered a float or a group into the parade, so it gave everyone the opportunity to see the different unique attributes of the neighborhood.  I was very surprised at the many ethnic groups that participated in the parade.  They included the Sikhs of India, Filipino martial arts, Chinese dragons and musicians, Japanese musicians, and Hispanics in costume on horseback, just to name a few!

All of the different sports teams participated by having their marching bands perform.  They were all very good!  Also all of the armed forces participated.  I must say my favorite was the US Navy; they played Anchors Aweigh!  It made me feel very patriotic!     The finale was great! The theme was Legends of the Sea, so they had a huge pirate balloon followed by a pirate ship!  Everyone on the ship was dressed up like pirates.  Once they arrived at each block, they would light a canon.  It was so loud that I think I temporarily lost my hearing! But it made me feel like I was in the middle of Pirates of the Caribbean! Just call me Captain Jack Sparrow!

I wasn’t able to get a lot of great pictures, since they were always in motion.  Enjoy the pictures that I did get!

Seattle’s Finest on horseback

My view of the Parade

Legends of the Sea

Alaska Airlines Float

Horse and Flag

Anchors Aweigh!

Sikhs

Museum of Flight

Isn’t it cute?!

Pirate!

 

Seattle Heat

So I never thought that when I came to Seattle, I would complain about the heat…but it has happened!  Today, the official temperature for Seattle was 103 degrees!  This is an all-time high for Seattle!  It wouldn’t be so bad, if my apartment had A/C.  However, it is incredibly hot!  Today, everyone was freaking out over the temperature, and they forgot how to drive as well.  There were several accidents today, and the only thing that anyone could blame it on was the heat. Isn’t that crazy?!  There was a small brush fire along I-5, because someone was idiotic enough to throw a cigarette onto the median!  This area has been under drought warnings for several weeks due to the unusual lack of rain, so the heat just added to the danger.  By Friday, it is supposed to be back to normal temperatures.  I can’t wait!!

 

What do Jimi Hendrix and Ted Bundy have in common?

A local reporter from the Seattle Times came today and interviewed Sue and Candace, the directors, about what is going on at NARA.  He actually noticed our sign advertising that this year is our 75th anniversary, so he thought he would come check us out.  He is working on a story and will probably be back to get more information.  In the afternoon, we had a group of American History students that are in summer school take a tour of the archives.

When outsiders come to tour the archives, the archivists try to put their best feet forward.  In order to do that, they showed the visitors our most interesting holdings.  They showed them some files on the Chinese Exclusion Act,which is very popular among genealogists researching their family histories.  These files contain immigration records and usually have pictures of the immigrants with them.  Also they showed them an inmate log from McNeil Island Penitentiary.  This book listed the inmates names, photos, crime, sentence, distinguishing marks, birthplace, etc.  It is a treasure trove of information!  Most of the men (and a few women) look very scary!  The big finale is the draft cards that belong to Jimi Hendrix and Ted Bundy, the serial killer.  They were issued in 1942 and 1946 respectively.  They contain alot of information about physical characteristics and where they attended high school, etc.  Very cool stuff!

 

An exciting Monday

Today,  I was able to attend a short seminar on Records Management.  The seminar was given by Jeff, who is a Senior Records Analyst at NARA.  He gave a brief (one-hour) overview of records management to the Department of Forestry.  We went to the Pacific Fire Research Lab in Fremont, where they have video-conferencing equipment.  There we were able to meet with 7 other forestry offices and ranger stations throughout Region 6, which is comprised of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.  The purpose of this seminar was to encourage the rangers and forestry personnel  to manage their documents.  For those who are unfamiliar with records management, it is a means of caring for active records.  These records are only kept for a specific amount of time–usually this is determined by their usefulness–and then they are disposed of properly.  The records are disposed of according to a retention schedule, which gives a specific amount of time for the agencies to keep these records.  Only about 5% of all Federal records are deemed important enough to remain permanent records and sent to the archives for posterity’s sake.

After the short seminar, the Investigator General of the United States came to NARA to inspect the archives. Everyone was very anxious about this inspection–no one had ever been present for an Investigator General’s visit in their entire career within NARA!  He came to basically make sure that we are keeping track of our documents and maintaining their safety and security.  There have been several incidents that have made their way into national news that have caused some concern as to the security of documents at the archival facilities, particularly Philadelphia where some documents were stolen.

While the interns were diligently working in the Red Room, he came back to say hello.  While he was there he tried to give us a staple remover!  (FYI:  these are strictly forbidden from use on the documents, due to the fact that they will tear the pages. We use what is known as an archival spatula to remove staples when needed.)  All three of the archivists that were with him immediately said NO! They were absolutely horrified at the thought of his suggestion!  I found it quite amusing that the IG thought he was being helpful, when in reality he was going to aid in the destruction of permanent records, which is what he is so adamantly against!

 

Sunday at Pike Place

Today, I spent the afternoon doing a little souvenir shopping for my family.  After doing some shopping on the waterfront, I decided to go to Pike Place Market.  Since today was a Sunday,  it was very crowded and busy!  There were so many booths with unique handcrafted wares.  I think I could go everyday to see the new things that are on display.  There were several street musicians and magicians performing today.  In front of Starbucks was a Gospel quartet that was very talented.  Then as I was walking down the street I noticed a man playing the piano, only it wasn’t a full-size piano.  It looked like both ends had been cut off so that it was shortened! I took a picture, but I don’t think the picture shows it very well.  Then there was a huge crowd gathered around a juggler on a unicycle.  He was very entertaining!  For his finale, he juggled a bowling pin, a machete-like knife, and an apple.  While still juggling, he took a bite of the apple!  It was incredible!

Also, today was a beautiful day!  Below is a picture of Mount Ranier. Enjoy!

Shortened Piano

Unicyclist

Juggling Unicyclist

Mount Ranier

 

Bite of Seattle and Seafair Pow Wow

I had a very busy and exciting Saturday!  I met Rosemary and her husband, Joyejeet, and we went to the Bite of Seattle.  This is an annual food festival, where alot of the local restaurants go and set up booths to sell their food for cheap.  It was held at the Seattle Center, which is where the Space Needle is located.  There were tons of people there!  All of the food smelled absolutely delicious!  They had all kinds of things to choose from; anything from alligator on a stick to Filipino eggrolls!  I ended up settling on the Jerk Chicken Wrap from the Taste of the Caribbean and Strawberry shortcake that was made with fresh local strawberries.  I was stuffed after that!

After we went our separate ways, I went to the 24th Annual Indian Days Seafair Pow Wow, which was held at Discovery Park in Seattle.  It was the first Pow Wow that I had ever been to.  I loved it!  I felt very “native” while I was there.    I was able to make it to see the grand entry.  This is where all of the Native Americans came in with full regalia.  It was amazing!  They then had everyone dance, called Intertribals; even non-natives could dance during this time.  They began the ceremonies by praying, which was very disturbing because he prayed in his native tongue and I’m not sure what god he was praying to.  They then had different categories of dancers that competed.  While I was watching them, they all looked as if they were dancing the same way.  As if he was reading my thoughts, the announcer explained what they judged on.  He said they looked at their regalia, how well they stayed with the beat of the drum, and how fitting their style of dance is to the song.  It was very educational!

I walked through all of the booths of handiwork and bought a couple of things for gifts.  I really enjoyed looking at the different jewelry and carvings.  I really wanted to buy an ulu, so I was disappointed that they didn’t have any.  Hopefully, I will be able to find one somewhere in the city.  Below are some pictures that I took at the Pow Wow.  Some of them are not that good, because of all of the movement.  However, you will get an idea of the beautiful regalia.

Notice the eagle staff in the air

Look at the incredible face paint.

Raising of the colors

Women Dancers

Pow Wow