Sundays in My City: Roslyn, WA

More of my adventure into the state of Washington: Roslyn. Roslyn is probably most famous as the place (or one of the places) where "Northern Exposure" was filmed. Never heard of "Northern Exposure?" You should find some DVD copies or find it on line. It was an excellent TV series set in the wilds of Alaska (but filmed in Washington) & mainly about the towns many unusual inhabitants, (including the towns transplanted, indentured servant doctor) & their unusual relationships to each other.

Here's the Roslyn Cafe, where we ate lunch. Delicious, sophisticated food, not at all what you'd expect in a small town cafe. It was incredibly noisy & we sat by the window, at the  wrong time of day (the sun glared in), but neither marred the experience of the food! The tables had little copies of old town photos & there was a display of modern paintings on the walls.

 The Brick...a town bar & the scene of much of "Northern Exposure"

Roslyn was once a mining town...

This is the little history museum near the Roslyn Cafe...

More museum & related buildings













The day we were there they had a little farmer's market, where we got a free cookie & one of the vendors gave us apple cider bagels (delicious, but don't apparently rise as well as other flavors) with the purchase of some jalepeno bagels (I never got to eat one of these, my family ate them before I got to them). I even met seller ThriftStoreGlam, who makes little things she sells at the market & who sells vintage clothes in her Etsy shop. These days, Roslyn has become a destination on the way to or from Sturgis & is just a plain cute town to visit. All in all, it was a fun trip & then, we were on the road home:

Sundays in My City Pt 3 or 4?

So, this is more about where I spent last Sunday & not today. Today I went to the East West Cafe in the Proctor district, absolutely amazing food! Go there, no really go now, I'll wait...

How was it? See, I told you :)

So, anyway, last week I took a trip to Leavenworth, WA, a cute little Bavarian style town with beautiful, mountainous surroundings. From there, you can do all kinds of fun, outdoorsy type stuff, but we didn't. We did wander about town & saw a funny movie "The Other Guys" with Will Farrell & Mark Wahlburg (not for children, it has much swearing & violence).

Leavenworth is filled with gingerbread houses...

Sweet wall paintings...

                                                        
Cute details...

                                                                            
And more cute details...

                                                                               
And even a horse drawn carriage or two.











It reminds me of Solvang, CA, a town I visited many times as a child. I believe Solvang is larger. They are both filled with delicious pastries (yum) & both have lots of sweet little shops with imported & handmade goods. I can't imagine living there though, it would be amazingly expensive! The surrounding area is beautiful, but far from larger towns or cities. The goods you'd need day to day would be expensive, possibly require a drive or ordering in. One thing that is abundant there is fruit. The area has many orchards, where you can buy truly fresh fruit. I can see the appeal in this country. Next time, I'll show you more of the trip (Cashmere & Roslyn, WA), each interesting in its own way. How about you? How was  your Sunday?

Check out other cities on The Unknown Mami:

Seen in Seattle...

So, I actually went to Seattle the other day. Even though it's less than an hours drive away, I rarely go there. It's not that I don't like it there. If I could live there, I would. There are tons of great neighborhoods, filled with great art, design, people & yes, food. We went there to pick up a mannequin. No really, we went to Seattle to pick up a mannequin. (Somewhere, I think Lewis Black's head is about to explode). It was in a neighborhood near (or maybe in) Fremont, self proclaimed "Center of the Universe." You can easily spend the day wandering around to look at the great, the odd, the unusual statues & artwork, like the statue of Lenin, from the Soviet Union or the rocket ship. I've seen public knitting & the annual go-kart race, with all it's wild & strange go-karts. There's an annual naked bike event. No, I've never seen it & I'm not sure I'd want to, but it's a hugely popular event. There's a troll that "lives" under the bridge & speaking of bridges, there's a talking bridge. Oh yeah! There's a chocolate factory (Theo), but not a Hershey's chocolate kind of factory (or a Willy Wonka kind ether, sorry). It's a factory as unusual as it's location, filled with amazingly strange, but delicious flavors. It's an amazingly creative community & I'd love to live there (except, during the bicycle thing).
The bumper sticker is one that I saw all over Seattle. I'm not sure if it's advertising for something, like maybe a sporting goods company. I like the sentiment, but then I don't see it everywhere I go...It's kind of like "Don't Worry, Be Happy," sounds great, but after you've heard it a million times, a could be a bit annoying.
Have you ever been to any hotspots of creativity? Where'd you visit? What did you see? Where did you eat? It's always amazing & fun to happen upon one of these places, active & ever changing communities, candy for the eyes & food for thought...SAM

Travels, Meanderings & Giveaways

So, first things first, by random number generator the winner of my One World giveaway is Gracie of El Rey Gato, which I believe roughly translates to The King Cat, from Mexico. Congratulations Gracie! I hope she likes it, I'll soon be sending the bracelet on to it's new home. Thank you everyone for stopping by & entering & thanks to all the new followers! Even though the event is over, I'm going to continue with my travels & visit you. Maybe we need 80 days to travel around the world? I know I need at least that long to visit all the fun & interesting stops in this whirlwind journey. Who knows what excitement & surprises I'll find along the way!

Secondly, I have a confession to make: I'm a terrible Valentine! No really. I am participating in a Valentine swap (through The Domestic Dork) & I missed sending out my gift in time for Valentine's Day. I was sick & I was working, I shouldn't have done both, because now I'm still sick & I don't feel like I'm getting better. That's another story though. For my Valentine, I made a lovely necklace. She said she likes frogs (her cute little Etsy shop is even called The Framed Frog), so it has a jeweled frog, dangling from a green seed bead & wire wrapped bar, along with some little metal charms & a white glass leaf. The necklace closes in the front & the wire piece hangs from a metal chain, woven with black satin ribbon. I hope that she likes it & that she hasn't given up on my Valentine! Stop by her shop & check it out. Tell her I said hi!
Here's what I sent:

 

When I receive what she sent, I'll take a picture & post it here.
I hope everyone has fun in their travels (even the imaginary kind)! See you again soon. SAM

One World & a Magic Carpet Ride

So, here's something you may or may not know about me: I love to travel. Now, of course I mean that literally. It's always fun & exciting to see new places, experience other cultures & maybe even meet a new friend along the way. But, I mean this in other ways as well. You can travel through pictures & words, through books & music. You can travel through art. These are all ways of seeing the world through the experiences & thoughts of others. Blogs are a great way to do this & this brings me to a "Magic Carpet Ride." A groups of bloggers tied together through their experiences & the possibility of winning exciting new things from other lands, real & imaginary. My giveaway contribution is the bracelet pictured here, that I like to call "One World." Like the world we live in, it's comprised of disparate elements, some vintage or old & some shiny & new, that come together to form a single whole.

Giveaway "Rules" (there are only a few):
This contest is open to bloggers, anywhere in the world
Leave a comment for an entry
Contest ends 2/14/10
The winner will be announced 2/15/10

Giveaway request (not mandatory, just fun & in the spirit of the contest):
Take a look a some of the other participating blogs. They can be found by clicking on the Carpet Ride/One World, One Heart button.


Have fun & Happy Travels! SAM