From Victoria, BC, we headed to Bellingham, WA for one of the most unique weddings we’ve attended. The widowed bride (my friend Carol) and widowed groom (David) had the perfect setting and exchanged heartfelt vows in the presence of their family and friends before walking down the dock at the edge of the lake and literally taking the plunge! Dinner, dancing, and wonderfully good time followed.
Carol and David take the plunge into married life!
From Bellingham, we made a quick stop in Steilacoom, WA (more info on that area linked here) to see our friends the Sherves. We always have fun with them and we really love the Puget Sound area.
We could not, however, pass through the state of Washington again without visiting the state capitol in Olympia. It is a strange place to find one of the largest collection of Tiffany lamps and chandeliers, but here they are and in fact, the largest ever designed by Tiffany hangs proudly from the fourth floor! The pictures of the chandeliers don’t do them justice as despite their enormous size they are dwarfed by the size of the building itself. As an example, the main chandelier below weighs in at over 10,000 lbs!
It is a strange place to find one of the largest collection of Tiffany lamps and chandeliers, but here they are and in fact, the largest ever designed by Tiffany hangs proudly from the fourth floor!
Some other interesting facts:
- The building is covered in marble from Alaska, Italy, Germany, and France.
- Complete in 1922, the building (per the Washington state legislature website) is comprised of more than 173 million pounds of stone, brick, concrete and steel (about the equivalent of 8,850 Volkswagen Beetles + 5538 Orca whales + 3740 African elephants).
- It is also the fourth tallest masonry dome in the world, rising 287 feet high.
- It’s footprint is so large it would take 136 Olympic-sized swimming pools to fill the legislative building with water and
- to build this capitol today would cost tax payers over 1 billion dollars.
A fun wedding, some time with friends, and a pretty impressive state capitol building were great reasons to re-enter the U.S.
