Ride The Duck, A Retrospective Tale of Two Travellers Part 2

On Friday 6th we Rode the Duck!!!

K had organised tickets for us and on a drizzly Friday morning we all boarded the Duck ready for adventure. Our Duck Captain's name was Owen Money (LOL) and he was fantastic fun (I am sure all the other Captains are great too, there seems to be around 6 Ducks in the fleet).  You travel through the streets of Seattle, laughing, singing and dancing while some pedestrians join in and cheer you on - while others stare at you in bewilderment.  All good fun, but the best part for me personally was when we putted around on Lake Union.  We floated past some amazing house boats of all shapes and sizes including the famous one from the movie Sleepless in Seattle, we saw boats and ships of every kind and size, and even some other Ducks.

After the jaunt on the lake it was back on the road as we made our way back to the start point.  Hubby and our daughter K took some time to visit the Experience the Music Project which is right over the road from where the Ducks leave while K, her Mom and I went shopping.

If you are ever in Seattle (or one of the other places Ride the Duck occur in the USA) I recommend you hop on board, you will not be disappointed, I can assure you of that.

Thanks Owen for being our Captain.

Captain Owen Money, a man of many hats (I think there were at least 5 changes on the trip) with a huge personality and a great singing voice.

The famous Pink Elephant Car Wash

Street scenes

Space needle and antenna covered in cloud  

Two other Ducks out on the lake with us

The Old Gasworks Park with lots of geese on the lawn

Larger houseboats

Smaller houseboats

Driving past Safeco Field

Hubby drumming at Experience Music Project

While We Were Away - In Pictures and a Few Words

While We Were Away :

We got to eat ice-cream

Me on a table on my own as I don't like squishing


Big and little cousins together



We also went to

the beach and had a swim

and made sandcastles




One of us bought a fishing rod and took others to watch while he

caught blowies


and one real fish, to which his daughter at dinner said 'sandshoo Daddy for catching me a fish for dinner' (obviously the 2 year old and sandshoo is thank you if you didn't work that out)





Some of us relaxed at night (and during the day) and

Read books

While too many of us were digitally connected to the outside world or playing computer games, we did also play Scrabble (with a board and tiles), Uno and Poker with real cards - so all was not lost!!





One day after lunch we



took photos of painted cows




A lucky one of us

got put in a tree for photos




Another one of us

let the inner bogan (or should that be child?) come out



A special couple of us

got to feed lambs milk at Wonky Windmill Farm


And one of us walked into a glass door and left a face print on Friday night then trod on a bee on Saturday night - but she is okay, sadly the bee died but the door is still intact. And yet another one of us broke the toilet seat and fell on the floor, just as we were leaving for home - oops.
Oh, and it was not me.

The good outweighed the bad, we all managed to stay sane and no major fights happened, so all in all a good time for all of us I think.

We're All Going On A Summer Holiday

image : fotosearch.com

All the family - except my poor son who has to work : ( - are heading off down to Dunsborough (near Margaret River in the South West) for a long weekend (although not an official long weekend) break. And while Summer officially finished last week, it is still hot and sunny here in Western Australia so it is close enough for me!

First time we will have all spent that much time in each other's company for many years. So there is some trepidation as we are all so different in who we are, but I am putting my positive hat on - this will be great.

We have booked a fantastic holiday home with all the mod cons just down the road from the beach.

image : fotosearch.com

We are packing up board games, cards and some DVDs - all of which could cause arguments as we are nothing, if not competitive with each other. But they could also cause lots of laughter as we take the 'proverbial' out of each other.

I will also be taking a couple of books, so I can adjoin to my room if I need some space to chill. I hope to take lots of photos to share, and I am sure there will be some stories which might be eligible for posting as well. So from Thurs 11 to Sun 13 you won't find me here, but be assured I will check out all your blogs on my return.

image : fotosearch.com

To get me in the mood here is a short clip from Cliff Richard's Summer Holiday - I just loved going to see his movies when I was young.

Dear Mr Qantas

Dear Mr Qantas

Thank you for cancelling my flight to Adelaide with only a few hours notice, lucky I heard my phone with the text message telling me, otherwise wouldn't I have been red-faced turning up to check in when that flight was cancelled. That text message certainly saved me from the embarrassment of having my husband lose his cool at the airport. I can see in these tough economic times how sending a plane that was less than full would cost you money - shame that maybe your staff ended up with less pay because they didn't need to work, but still they are only the little people aren't they?

I would really like to thank you for losing my luggage as well, I can see how you got confused and sent it to Kalgoorlie instead of Adelaide (ADL and KGL) because both your codes end in L. Anyone could make such a mistake couldn't they?

Thank you also for helping me improve my hand washing skills as I got to wash out my knickers with soap so I had some clean ones for the next morning, and I really didn't mind wearing the same top and pants - after all I had only put them on as I rushed out the door to get my rescheduled earlier flight.

I even got to go and buy new underwear, a top, a nightie and pants the next day, as well as books to replace those in my luguage - the clothes were on the advice of your friendly staff who just had no idea where my bag was and they were obviously worried it wouldn't turn up at all. Oh and thanks for offering to reimburse me these costs - but wait that was only if my bag didn't turn up wasn't it. Shame for me that 24 hours later it appeared, still what girl doesn't like a shopping spree.

Oh and I especially love the fact that your staff gave me a little bag of toiletries to tide me over with those absolutely gorgeous pjs - and how flattering that the lady behind the counter thought I could fit into a size 14 - shame I am a 24. It really was a good thing for both of us that it wasn't a romantic night away for hubby and me as I am not sure that he would have found them particularly attractive and sexy - just check out the shot of him modelling them for me - well I thought they were extra sexy on him so maybe it did work out okay after all.

Just got to love being a gold frequent flyer - we get all the perks!!