Flat Food Dragon in Seattle, Washington

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Otters,
This is Mimi and Poppy, Claire's grandparents, writing from Seattle. Flat Food Dragon visited us last Saturday morning.

Seattle is a large city located about 4 hours drive north via interstate highway from Forest Grove. It is Washington State's largest metropolis, though it is not the state capitol [Olympia is]. Seattle had a population of 737,000 at the end of 2020. That's almost three-quarters-of-a-million people! In 2010, we numbered about 610,000 residents! A lot of growth happened in 10 years!

What would Flat Food Dragon tell you about Seattle in his short morning visit? He'd say:

First, there's lots and lots of water in and around Seattle. There's Puget Sound to the west and Lake Washington to the east and Lake Union in between. The map below illustrates how the Locks move boats and fish from the salt water of Puget Sound to the freshwater of Lake Washington. The photos below show both Lake Union and Lake Washington. And somewhere north of downtown Seattle there's Green Lake, 3 miles in circumference, where runners/walkers/cyclists are everywhere.

Second, with all this water, Seattle has many, many, many boats of all types. Below are some photos taken in and around Golden Gardens Park on Puget Sound. They show the Sound itself, the many boats in the marina, and, from a higher vantage point, both the marina and the far-away Olympic Mountains to the west.

Third, you can see nearby mountains from different high locations in Seattle. Above Golden Gardens is a tiny park overlooking a marina. In the far distance, facing west, you can see the Olympic Mountains, if you look closely at the pictures I sent.

Fourth, it rains here frequently, just like in Forest Grove.

Fifth, there are many tourist attractions in Seattle. For example, I LOVED the Pike Place Market in the downtown area. It has many small shops and restaurants, fish markets, outdoor vegetable stands, Hmong flower stands [I'll let Ms. Aja explain who the Hmong are] and the ORIGINAL Starbucks. It is always crowded, usually with local residents as well as tourists.

I also loved The Locks [the full name is Hiram M. Chittenden Locks]. It is a ship canal and dam - as well as a fish ladder for salmon. I've included a number of pictures of the Locks and I hope you enjoy them. The photos show many aspects of The Locks - the canal, the dam and the turbulent waters it regulates, the salmon ladders and spillways that allow the salmon to move from the saltwater of Puget Sound to the freshwater of Lake Washington. There's also a grainy photo of the stages of development of salmon eggs into fish. Inside the Locks gift store you'll see a board showing, among other things, the number of salmon [for Sockeye, Chinook, and Coho] passing through 2022 - IN THE THOUSANDS!!!!! There's also an explanation of the on-going impact on fishing and the Locks on native tribes and their treaty rights [see the "Indian Fishing Rights" picture].

Our last set of pictures was taken at Swanson's, a long-time nursery houseed north of Ballard, a section of Seattle that used to be home to city residents, many of whom were Scandinavian, who worked in the fishing industry. Swanson's celebrates the holiday season in festive ways - and Flat Food Dragon and Mimi wanted to share those pictures with you, including of the fish in the pool.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, OTTERS!!!!!!

From Mimi, Poppy, and Flat Food Dragon

Flat Dragon Unicorn Man in West Virginia

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Hi boys and girls! Flat Stanley arrived! We are Laurence and Sebastian’s grandparents. They call us Mimi and Papaw.  We want to welcome you and Flat Stanley to “Almost Heaven” West Virginia.  WV looks a lot like Oregon. We have lots of trees and mountains.

This is what our state looks like. John Denver made our state famous with his song “Country Roads”. See if you can find the red dot showing where we live. West Virginia was a part of Virginia until 1863. During the Civil War we decided to break away from Virginia and become our own state called West Virginia. Our motto is “mountaineers are always free”.

This is where we live. We live between Fairmont and Morgantown in a little community of 750 called Smithtown. Flat Stanley got to see the first snow of the season here. Summers are hot and winters are cold and snowy.

This is papaw’s guitar in his music room. Papaw played his guitar and Flat Stanley sang and sang.

Flat Stanley enjoyed a walk in the woods behind our house. Papaw has a woodshed where he keeps all the wood he has milled on his sawmill.

Flat Stanley visited Papaw’s wood working workshop where he builds lots of stuff.

Flat Stanley liked running in the pasture and inspecting the old red barn across from our house. Kids love to sled ride down the hill in the winter.

Flat Stanley visited the Opekiska Lock and Dam that is 3 miles from us. “Opekiska” was named after an Indian Chief and it means “White Day”.

The Lock and Dam opened in 1964. It allows boats to go to different levels of the river to go back and forth while hauling cargo. The Monongahela River (which means “falling banks”) is 128 miles long and runs from Fairmont, WV to Pittsburgh, PA.

Flat Stanley enjoyed going to visit Smithtown Community and Senior Center. It originally was an elementary school. It was built in 1939. Laurence and Sebastian’s papaw and dad went to this school. It now is a community building where we vote, hold dinners, have car shows, and rent it out for different occasions.

Flat Stanley had fun visiting Laurence and Sebastian’s cousins, Silas and Jude, and their aunts, Aunt Sarah and Aunt Amanda. He loved playing with their dogs, Sunny and Sailor. They live next door to Mimi and Papaw. ( P.S. I think Flat Stanley wants a dog now).

Flat Stanley went to see our new addition of WVU’s Ruby McQuain Hospital in Morgantown. He loved the look of Children’s Hospital.

Flat Stanley told us he loves sports so of course we had to take him to see the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown where WVU plays basketball. It opened in 1970 and has a 14,000 seat capacity. It also hosts concerts, women’s gymnastics, wrestling, and women’s basketball.

Flat Stanley said he loves school so we took him to see Woodburn Hall on the WVU campus. It was built in 1876 and is lighted every Christmas. WVU was founded in 1867 and has an enrollment of 29,000.

We decided to take Flat Stanley to Grafton to see some historical sites. Mimi grew up in Grafton so she was the guide. The first stop was to see the monument honoring T. Bailey Brown, the first Union soldier killed in the Civil War. He was 32 years old when he was killed. He is buried in the National Cemetery which we will visit later.

The first Mother’s Day was founded in this church, the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, by Anna Jarvis in honor of her mother. Mimi attended this church as a child until it was made the International Mother ’s Day Shrine. There is a special service every Mother’s Day to honor mothers everywhere.

The only national cemetery in WV is located in Grafton. It was established in 1868.

The national cemetery holds the graves of 2,133 soldiers including 664 unknown soldiers.  The cemetery contains burials from the Civil War to Vietnam.

Flat Stanley wanted to pay his respects to all the soldiers that gave their lives for freedom. This cemetery is a 3 acre site, roughly square, that consists of three terraces. Those soldiers buried here represent more than 30 WV counties and 24 states. It is now closed to new burials.

Flat Stanley is heading home to Oregon. We loved having him and hope he enjoyed our state as much as we do. Come visit West Virginia if you get the chance. There is so much more to see in Wild and Wonderful West Virginia!!

I am sending you a recipe to make pepperoni rolls.  The pepperoni roll is a WV original.  It was invented by Giuseppe Argiro, an Italian immigrant and coal miner, in 1927.  Miners worked very long hours and needed a simple lunch they could eat with one hand and use their other hand to hold a drink. They had to eat quickly so the pepperoni roll was ideal.  Giuseppe’s original bakery, Country Club Bakery in Fairmont, is still in operation today.  It is a WV favorite.