Greece ~ Those best laid plans. . .

Life is something that happens to you

while you are making other plans.

         -- Margaret Millar

Our plan had been to spend a couple months this spring at The Stone House on The Hill, our home in the Greek Peloponnese. We’d return to the Pacific Northwest in June.

We’d planned several road trips and had completed one.

We’d scheduled some projects at the house. During our spring stay we anticipated visits with friends and neighbors who make up our new world.

Those were the plans. . .but we all know – and as the saying above reminds us, that sometimes life and plans are two different things.

Our plans changed . . .or, you might say, were changed for us. We took a journey of sorts through a part of Greece that we certainly hadn’t anticipated seeing. Now, two months after its start, we can say it was interesting and we learned many things, but we are happy it is over.

Setting Forth

The Journey began

Even before buying the house, we’d heard about our village doctor, Doctor Sofia.  An obviously respected and loved physician who no one called by her tongue-twisting full Greek name. She is simply, Doctor Sofia. Fellow ex pats described her as one sharp physician, a very kind woman and not one to leave anything to chance.

“Someday we should stop in and meet her,” we told ourselves. That is how things are done in the village. Can you imagine ‘stopping in’ to meet a doctor in a large city medical center in the States?

The opportunity to meet presented itself after The Scout had spent a couple weeks suffering from a head cold and swollen gland in his neck. The cold went away, the swollen gland didn’t. It was time to meet the doctor and get a prescription for antibiotics.

Dr. Sofia's Office

Lesson One:  You don’t make ‘doctor’s appointments’. You can, but you sort of aim for that time and check to see how long the wait might be. We dropped in to make an appointment.

Lesson Two: Those stories about nothing in medical clinics being private here are true. The receptionist desk is in a corner of the waiting room, – therefore a conversation with her is heard by all. (All waiting rooms we were to visit on this journey were configured this way). On this day, the lady who was waiting to see the doctor, overheard the conversation and told The Scout to go before her. She, an ex pat from Northern Europe, and I struck up a conversation (something else never done in US medical clinics) while waiting and had exchanged names and phone numbers by the time The Scout re-emerged.

The real journey begins - unknown territory ahead

Hand-drawn maps have always led us to interesting places

Instead of a prescription, he carried a sheaf of papers; two were rather long notes of introduction to other doctors hand-written by Dr. Sofia and the third was a hand-drawn-by-the-doctor map of an area in Kalamata, the large city with a population of about 100,000 about an hour north of us.

In our years of travel, hand-drawn maps have taken us to some of the world’s most fascinating places. In this case, they would take us to a radiologist’s office and a nearby Ear, Nose and Throat specialist (ENT) because Dr. Sofia hadn’t liked the location of that ‘swollen gland’ and wanted to have it checked further.

Pedestrian-friendly Kalamata

Off to Kalamata we went the next day. This time with a set appointment at the radiologist, and a ‘sort-of time’ for the specialist, both of whom had offices near the pedestrian-friendly downtown. 
We appreciated its pedestrian-friendly layout as we bounced back and forth between the two offices for the better part of the day: first an exam by the ENT doctor, then an ultrasound at the radiologist’s, then with ultrasound photos in hand we returned to the ENT who reviewed them and sent us back to the radiologist who aspirated the cyst. Cell samples were sent for testing at the medical laboratory in Athens. Both specialists believed there was nothing to be concerned about – it appeared benign.

If you want to make God laugh,

tell him about your plans.

         -- Woody Allen

Lesson Three:  I stayed in the waiting room at each visit as is ‘normal’ in the U.S. After all, even if it is a close relative, it is their health and, well, it is personal . . . you know, private.  On our second visit to the ENT the receptionist told me that family members – no matter the number – go in with the patient.

Lesson Four: Coming from the U.S. where the recent Affordable Care Act has sent our insurance premiums and co-pays into the ozone, we had braced ourselves for what these visits and tests – all done by private physicians would cost. We were paying out-of-pocket.

Brace yourself, before your read this next line:

Five doctor exams, two per specialist and Dr. Sofia, one ultrasound, one aspiration, one lab test and courier costs to get the sample to Athens: $345 US.  Read that out loud: only $345US!!

Street-scene Kalamata

Lesson Five: Be prepared for the unexpected.

The lab results were returned two business day's later in early May, which this year was Easter Week in Greece, a time when most business slows and vacations are taken.  Luckily all of the doctors were still working as the report surprisingly concluded: ‘probable cancer cells’.

We paid another visit to the radiologist, to the ENT and to Dr. Sofia – I’d adopted ‘the Greek way’ and was 'going in' with the patient.  All three doctors still seemed surprised at the finding  – the ‘lump’ as we called it had disappeared with the aspiration and not returned. (No charge for any of those follow-up consultations).

I always say don’t make plans, make options.

                             -- Jennifer Aniston

We came upon two roads - which one to take. . .

All three doctors at that point  – to eliminate any possibility – talking biopsy and upper body scans.  All procedures were best done in an Athens hospital, they said. Or, we thought, back in the U.S. Either option required travel, hotels and logistics.

The Scout at this point was consulting via email with his U.S. doctor who wanted the ultrasound results and lab reports. 

The actual ultrasound copies fit in a legal-sized manila envelope, but at the neighboring village post office they were deemed were too large for the Greek postal system to send via express mail (go figure that one). If they made that day's flight it would take 10 days via mail. "It is Easter Week, you know," the postal agent told us.

A special courier would charge 55-euros and delivery would take five days.

We had them scanned and emailed them.  A brilliant idea, we thought. Until. . .

Sigh. . . Seattle’s big city medical center, has such internet security systems in place that they were unable to open the medical records sent via ‘the cloud’. 

Dr. Sofia had taken the Greek lab report home one evening because her clinic schedule is so full and translated it to English so that it could be sent to the U.S. doctor (can you imagine your doctor doing that??).

Time to ponder what to do (this is the visiting Princess Cat on our deck)

Lesson Six: Think it through. Ponder the options and outcomes of this journey.

The U.S. doctor said tests could be done in Greece and if treatment was required he recommended returning to the States for it. However, we decided, we’d likely have to have all the tests re-done in the States if that were the case. 

If tests were done there and treatment started in Greece we had only that 90-day Schengen Treaty tourist visa window in which to get it completed. (Click the link for a post I wrote about it in April)

In the U.S. we have insurance but whether it would cover a Greek operation and hospital stay was questionable.

And sadly, as much as we love Greece, we had to consider the impact of that country’s propensity towards labor stoppages and strikes.  One patient of Dr. Sofia’s had joined in a conversation we were having with the doctor in the waiting room about The Scout’s situation (no privacy, for sure) and said she’d had surgery in Athens a few years back but it had been postponed a day or two by a strike.

Hmmmm. . .sometimes those group medical conversations can be enlightening.

On the road to Athens

We opted to return to the States, cutting our stay at The Stone House on the Hill to less than half of what we’d planned. Neighbors and friends in Greece stepped in to keep an eye on those projects we had scheduled and offered help with anything else we needed. 

We used air miles to buy our one-way tickets home – we had to be realistic. We didn't know when we might return to this daydream life of ours. We burned some accumulated Marriott hotel points and treated ourselves to five nights in London en route back to the U.S. Again, not knowing when we might again travel, we following the advice of Horace, who said:

Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans.

It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.

Journey’s End:

Seattle - known for its cancer-care facilities

At 6:45 a.m. the morning after we arrived in Seattle, The Scout underwent a series of scans at Seattle’s Virginia Mason Hospital.  All showed no signs of cancer. 

However, 'the lump' returned three weeks ago. It was surgically removed last week and he had an overnight stay in the hospital.

The ‘lump’, a cyst in the parotid (pear rotted) gland, a salivary gland, was benign.  We’ve booked our return trip to Greece. We are pondering future cruises. Travel planning is underway again.

Lesson Seven:  In case you are wondering, our experience with the Greek medical system exceeded our expectations, with the exception of the questionable lab finding. The doctors with whom we dealt spoke English and were clearly professionals in their fields. The interactions we had with them were like ‘the old days’ when you were a name and not a number. The costs were incredibly affordable. And every procedure and recommendation that the Greek doctors offered were similar to that which was recommended and eventually done by the U.S. doctors.

Don't put off to tomorrow. . .

Lesson Eight: This one is for all of you boomer-aged male readers of ours  – the U.S. doctor told us that too often men of 'your ages' find such lumps, or other questionable bumps in their necks and don’t have them checked figuring they ‘will go away’. For too many, they've waited too long.

Those little bumps/lumps can be harbingers of something very serious. Get them checked early.

Hey, next week we'll lighten up and take you on a whirlwind tour of London! We walked over 40 miles in five days and have a lot to show you! As always thanks for the time you’ve spent with us today. Safe – and healthy! -- travels to you and yours ~

Linking up this week with ~

Through My Lens
Our World Tuesday
Wordless Wednesday
Travel Photo Thursday – 
Photo Friday
Weekend Travel Inspiration

Celebrating Christopher Columbus on His Day!

If you live in the Americas, will you be celebrating or condemning Columbus Day?  It seems there are two ways of looking at that voyager who back in 1492 crossed the ocean blue!

In the United States, October 12th (and now the second Monday of October) is known as Columbus Day, a federal holiday since 1937. It was celebrated unofficially by a number of cities and states far earlier than that – some dating back to the 18th century.

I would like to think that all travelers will be giving a nod of thanks to the courage of that daring 15th century explorer who has been credited throughout history with discovering the New World.

Christopher Columbus statue - Lisbon, Portugal

However, despite his voyage and discovery – or maybe as result of it – there are those who won’t be celebrating his arrival in the present-day Bahamas on Oct. 12, 1492 for reasons best explained by History.com:

“There are three main sources of controversy involving Columbus’s interactions with the indigenous people he labeled “Indians”: the use of violence and slavery, the forced conversion of native peoples to Christianity, and the introduction of a host of new diseases that would have dramatic long-term effects on native people in the Americas.”

(Those indigenous people did introduce Columbus – and thus, the Old World -- to tobacco. In fact they gave him some of the dried leaves as a welcome, and he later learned from them how to smoke it, so in some ways maybe they got some revenge early on.)

Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492

So now, more than 500 years later, controversy surrounds the celebration of Columbus Day in some places on the globe. . .prompted by a focus is on the treatment of the indigenous people – not the voyage of discovery.

In reality, it would be difficult to find a ‘hero’  in history who didn’t have some character or behavioral flaws shadowing their lauded contributions, wouldn’t it?  We can name several and I suspect you can as well. People aren’t perfect, plain and simple!

Replica of one of Columbus's ships - Funchal, Madeira

The fact remains that the Italian-born Christopher Columbus had the guts to believe in himself and was able to get the Spanish king and queen to back the expedition of the trio of tiny ships (not much larger than present-day cruise ship life boats) in his attempt to find a western route to China – in 1492!

Navigation in 1492 on left; present-day cruise ship bridge

We probably took Columbus and his courage for granted until the first time we took a repositioning cruise across that wide expanse of the Atlantic Ocean a few years ago. We followed  a route similar to that of the early day sailor.

Crossing the Atlantic - only sea and sky and our ship

The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the earth’s four oceans.

Its surface area is about 31,660 sq. miles (82 million sq. kilometers).

It has an an average depth of 12,881 feet (3926 meters). Its deepest point is the 

Puerto Rico Trench with a depth of 28,681 feet (8742 meters).

Leaving Fort Lauderdale to cross the Atlantic

We’ve now crossed the Atlantic Ocean four times –  each time in large, modern cruise ships with the latest medical facilities, on-board communication and navigation equipment.  As we’ve sailed from Florida’s Fort Lauderdale, the logical side of our brains ‘know’ we will be safe.

On the Atlantic Ocean 

Yet . .we pause as we pass that last  tip of land knowing we will see nothing but water and sky  – no birds, no ships for at least six days . . . I can’t imagine being in those tiny wooden ships that took two months to cross the Atlantic and not knowing when I would see land again.

Celebrating the Explorers

Unlike on this side of the Atlantic, we’ve seen tributes – towering statues and monuments -- to Columbus and his fellow early day explorers throughout Europe;  Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, Seville, Barcelona, just to name a few. The enormous tribute below, the Monument to the Discoveries (Padrao dos Descobrimentos) on the approach to Lisbon, Portugal honors Henry the Navigator.

Monument to the Discoveries - Lisbon, Portugal

Post Script:
If you’ve stayed with me this long, and you hadn’t noticed, I’ve got a bee in my bonnet, and here’s why:

Seattle Space Needle

The Seattle City Council took action this week declaring the second Monday in October (aka Columbus Day), Indigenous People’s Day. In taking the action, Seattle has joined a few other city’s who’ve shifted the day’s focus.

A Seattle council member was quoted as saying, (Columbus) “played such a pivotal role in the worst genocide humankind has ever known.”

What put the bee in my bonnet was the singular focus; the condemnation of a portion of his actions without recognition of the exploration, the discovery – not even by the media who covered the council's deliberations.

I believe all historic events are most accurately told by more than one story -  if we don’t tell them all, our true history will be lost.

Native American Totem Pole - Seattle

The Seattle council’s action brought cheers from local Native Americans while Italian Americans were insulted by it.

In reality, Washington State doesn’t recognize Columbus Day (meaning it isn’t a day off work for most).

Indigenous People’s Day is much the same; no time off, just a holiday in name only. 

Without a day off work, the day -- by either name -- will likely go unnoticed by most living  in the “New World”.




I suspect that if my maternal grandparents, who at the turn of the 20th century escaped to the “New World” from the Russian hell-hole in which they lived, were still alive, they’d be celebrating the day set aside to honor the guy credited with discovering it.

Perhaps in that sense, we all should be celebrating those early discoverers.



Linking today:
Travel Photo Thursday – Budget Travelers Sandbox
Weekend Travel Inspiration - Reflections En Route
Mosaic Monday – Lavender Cottage Gardening
Travel Photo Monday - Travel Photo Discovery

Seattle Seahawks and Other Travel News . . .

What do those Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawk’s have to do with travel?
Well, plenty in the Pacific Northwest!

And as the football season gets underway, several Seattle hotels are paying tribute to the "12th Man" as the fans are known, by offering some interesting packages. Take Seattle’s Kimpton Hotels (Alexis, Hotel Monaco and Hotel Vintage), for example:


Each of the three Kimpton hotels is offering the ‘12^th Man’ Package (Thursday – Sunday on home game weekends) which includes:

· Accommodations
· Poster making bar in the lobby for game days
· Upgrade (based on availability) for guests who wear a 12^th Man jersey upon check-in
· In-room gold fish named for Seahawk player (i.e. Russell Gilson, Richard Merman, etc)
Remember to use the rate code 12MAN when making reservations: www.kimptonhotels.com

More Travel Tidbits from this week’s headlines

Web based travel companies are coming under scrutiny in various metropolitan areas, among them:

Boston, Mass., USA:  The City Council is considering restrictions on ride-sharing services like Sidecar, Lyft and Uber and lodging websites like Airbnb, HomeAway and Flipkey. – reports  The Associated Press

Austin, Texas, USA:  has set up a licensing system with an annual fee and limits on the number of units in a building – or houses in a residential neighborhood – that can be rented at a given time. – reports The Associated Press.

Portland, Oregon, USA – allows single-family homeowners – but not apartment and condo owners – to offer short-term rentals as long as they notify neighbors and complete a safety inspection. –  reports The Associated Press

London’s Gatwick Airport, England – British Airways has added three new routes from Gatwick airport to its 2015 schedule:  Seville (Spain), Funchal (Madeira) and Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) will be introduced from March 2015.  They join the new routes  for next year from previously announced:  Cagliari (Sardinia), Heraklion (Crete), Rhodes (Greece) and Bodrum and Dalaman (Turkey).

Also beginning in December are the new winter sun and ski destinations of Fuerteventura (Caneries), Friedrichshafen (Germany) and Grenoble (Switzerland). –reports BTN, The Business Travel News

 English football fans take note:

London, England:  Coming soon: The Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium – 99 Sir Matt Busby Way, a location that is recognized by sports fans all over the world will open as  Hotel Football on Dec. 8, 2014. Behind the project are former Man U teammates, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, all members of what is known as “the class of ‘92”, are also involved.
The 133-room hotel will offer the ultimate match day experience, as well as being home to The Old Trafford Supporters Club.” –  reports BTN, The Business Travel News

That’s it for now ~ happy travels to you! Hope to see you back here soon and do bring some friends and family with you!  If you’ve not yet signed up to receive posts in your inbox, do so by using the box to the right on our home page. 


And if you liked these news tidbits let us know and we will keep them coming ~

WAWeekend: Seattle Sidewalk Tours

I spent several days of our perfect summer being a ‘tourist in my own town’.  I’d catch the METRO bus in Kirkland and a 20 minute ride later, I was in downtown Seattle.

The award-winning Central Public Library Building

Each day, for a week, I’d set out in a new direction to experience the city just as tourists might: on foot. I was researching an article for the Seattle Times. 

The Giant Wheel that towers over Elliott Bayy

I have to say that our “Emerald City” does sparkle in the summer. I was again reminded of many of its amazing features and its quirky ones, as I hiked up and down its hills on sidewalks that lead from city center to Elliott Bay. 

Along my travels, I visited. . .

the International District’s Panama Hotel, made famous in the book, 

“Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet”

the longest continuously operating restaurant in town in Pioneer Square ~

I strolled through parks that stretched along the waterfront ~

I wandered through the vendor stalls at the iconic Pike Place Market.

I took a Public Art walk tour through the heart of town and the Central Library

and, oh so much, more!

Close up view of "The Gum Wall" - yes, it really is a chewed gum wall!

I scribbled notes and drew maps keeping track of where I’d been. Those same hand-drawn maps, when turned over to the creative talents of the newspaper’s production staff were turned into the maps used in the article.

Last Sunday, when the article appeared, we were in Sydney, Australia. A friend’s email alerted me to its publication and thanks to technology I read it while “Down Under”. 

Many of you followed my summer travels as I did the research, so for those who didn’t see the link on TravelnWrite’s FB page, here’s a link to the article:  Seattle Walks.

By the way, if you get to Seattle and need an enthusiastic tour guide, just give me a call!

Have a great week ~ hope you'll come back soon!

WAWeekend: Where were you in ‘62?

That was the year -- 1962 -- when the focus in Washington State was Seattle, host city to the Century 21 Exposition (better known to this day as the Seattle’s World’s Fair).

The Fair, showcasing a new century -- then, still 38 years in the future -- ran from April 21st to October 21st and is said to have ‘put Seattle on the world map”.

If you were willing to wait in the long lines, you probably even rode that space-age marvel, the Monorail, to the World’s Fair site. Fair creators realized that some form of transportation system would be needed to move the fair-goers (nearly 10 million people visited during the Fair’s run). The elevated Monorail was built to ease congestion on surface streets.

I remember the terror of that wait for a ride on that sleek rapid-transit contraption that my parents insisted would be fun. It seemed pretty space-age to me at the time!

Now, just over a half century later, the Monorail’s popularity continues.  On a mid-week afternoon this summer I joined the lines of folks at Westlake Center who waited far longer than the ride itself for their turn on a nostalgic journey.

The Monorail travels about a mile, from the heart of downtown Seattle to the former Fairgrounds, now the Seattle Center, home to the iconic Space Needle, also built for the Fair, and the site's newcomer, the Dale Chihuly Garden and Glass. 



The children in line couldn’t stand still; their excitement too great. For those of my age it was a chance to share stories and memories of those early day trips.

The cars were as I remembered them and because I was the only one simply taking a round-trip ride, for a brief minute or two after the others had left the train, I had it all to myself!



The view of the Space Needle from the Monorail is one of the best to be had – not to mention being up-close and personal with the EMP Museum (formerly called the Experience Music Project) created by Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen. A portion of its exterior is pictured in the photo below.

If you are visiting Seattle, don’t miss the Monorail. It’s a great (quick) trip into the city’s more recent history and it is still a slick way to get between the two places without the cost of seeking lots and then paying sky-high parking rates.

If You Go:

One way tickets are $2.25 for adults, less than that for seniors (65 and older) and children. For additional admission information and hours, visit, www.SeattleMonorail.com

WA Weekend: Autumn at Husky Harbor

Travel traditions run strong in the Pacific Northwest. One of the longest is travel prompted by -- and for -- college football games. With two major universities and several four-year college's, there's a bit of football fever to be found in every corner of Washington State.

But one of the most beautiful locales is our WA Weekend destination:

But what does a football game have to do with travel, you are probably asking yourself.  Well, quite a bit in Seattle, home of the University of Washington Huskies. It's impact on roadways before and after games, hotel availability on game day, boat traffic, and restaurant  is major.

Looking east over Lake Washington (boaters anchor for the game) and Mt. Rainier

The football stadium at the eastside of the campus, sits on the Seattle shore of Lake Washington.  It provides fans postcard perfect views of the adjacent lake, Kirkland and Bellevue to the east and Mount Rainier, to the southeast.

Boaters bring a new definition to 'tailgating' pre- and post-game celebrations

Fans, alumni, students and those supporting the visiting teams -- some 70,000 of them --  flock by bus, car, boat and RV to Husky Stadium. Hotels fill quickly on home game weekends and accommodation prices can soar. Last weekend’s season opener commanded hotel rates of more than $260 a night in some places.

Tour boats pictured center and to the right at 'Husky Harbor'

For those, like us, who are ‘Boatless in Seattle’ there are tour boats originating in Kirkland and south Lake Union (the lake connected to Lake Washington by the waterway called the Montlake Cut)  that bring hundreds of fans to the game. Two such boats are pictured above.

While many fans opt to arrive at the stadium by boat, some tying up at the dock or anchoring in “Husky Harbor” as we showed you above, others bring their recreational vehicles and set up ‘tailgating’ pre-game parties that start hours before kick-off. The RV above has been 'a regular' for decades. Most are like this one: decor - purple and gold from top to bottom!

The “Fan Van” featured in the collage above served party-goers buffet-style food and drinks were obtained nearby from a serving window on the side of the van. (Note the satellite dish and television - those are found throughout the parking/party lot).

Still others set up grills, chairs and tents throughout the parking and lawn areas near the lake, like those pictured to the left.

University of Washington's Husky Stadium Re-opening 2013

The stadium re-opened last weekend following a $280 million remodel and refurbishing . The resulting stadium is so impressive that representatives of the construction crew (pictured on the new whiz-bang scoreboard/video screen) formed the on-field tunnel through which the team emerged from the locker room.

The crowd went  nuts for the construction crew and the crescendo built for the team's appearance. One of the best traditions of the games here is the unfurling of the American flag and singing of the National Anthem.

The atmosphere before, during and after the game was electric – think Mardi Gras in New Orleans or New Year’s Eve in Times Square. 

And the best part was, our un-ranked Huskies blew out the ranked Boise (Idaho) Broncos. (As of this writing, the Huskies are now #20!)

 "Go Dawgs!" as they say at Husky Harbor!

If You Go:

Husky tickets:  Schedules and ticket information can be found at www.GoHuskies.com

Seattle lodging:  www.visitseattle.org

Getting to the Game: Your hotel will be able to tell you the options available for getting to the game from their location. Ask the concierge  about tour boat. One of the easiest ways to get to the game is aboard one of the several special shuttle buses operated by Metro.  A $5 round-trip ticket will get you to the game and back to your starting point. For information:  http://www.huskystadium.com/2013-game-day/transportation

Thanks for spending time with us today. Have a great weekend! See you back here next week~

WAWeekend: “Gold!” ~ and the Rush was on!

Seattle had a real ‘rush’ following the arrival in July 1897 of the  SS Portland. The ship was carrying  68 miners and nearly two tons of gold. The Klondike Gold Rush was about to begin and it would have a significant impact on The Emerald City:

In fact it was that discovery more than a century ago that put Seattle on the map as a Gateway to the Klondike; marking its beginning as the Pacific Northwest regional trade center it is today.

At the time, Seattle’s Chamber of Commerce promoted the city as the ‘only place’ to outfit for the gold fields.


More than 100,000 people would seek their fortunes as result of that discovery near where the Klondike and Yukon rivers meet. And large numbers of them set forth from Seattle, taking either overland or water routes as shown on the map below:

I had never paid much attention to the Gold Rush nor its impact locally until I made a discovery of my own:
The Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park* in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. 

(*It is not Museum – although housed on two floors of the historic Cadillac Building, it sure looks more like one than it does a park).

This haven of history is an easy two block walk north of Century Link field, home of the Seattle Seahawks or King St. Station, the city’s Amtrak hub (its clock tower is visible in the cityscape photo above).

I’ve visited the historic park three times in recent years and each time discovered something I’d missed on previous visits in its audio and visual displays or in the life size models of a store, cabin and a mining operation.

I can assure you that a visit to the Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park is a gold mine of an experience – and the best part, admission is free!

If You Go:

Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park
319 2nd Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98104
206-220-4240
www.nps.gov/klse
Hours: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily. Closed Jan. 1, Thanksgiving Day and Dec. 25

It is a great place for kids – stop by the Ranger’s desk and get one of the activity sheet they have for the wee ones.

Parking is limited on the street, but there are several nearby lots. Bus stops, the train station and local ferries are within walking distance.

Thanks much for spending time with us this weekend. See you back here next week, until then,  ‘Happy Travels!’