On to Seattle . . .

Tuesday

On to Seattle.  Five hour drive with some dramatic scenery.  We took I-90 all the way with a stop in Ellensburg for lunch at the burrito stand we ate at last week.  I-90 crosses Route 2, last weeks route to CDA, at Ellensburg.  We also met up again with the mighty Columbia which we have deemed to be America’s most beautiful river.

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Approaching Seattle at 3 pm, we switched to I-405 to get to South Seattle (Burien) to get to our rental for six nights.  Bumper-to-bumper traffic, but they had a car pool lane in which we zipped right along.  The rental is everything the delightful carriage house in Coeur d’Alene wasn’t.  The view is tremendous from a spacious balcony, but the inside is old and dated.  The kitchen is small.  We shall make do and spend lots of time on the balcony.  We had crackers, cheese, salami, and wine for dinner.  We also had a visit from a neighborhood cat.

Wednesday

Fabulous first full day in Seattle.  Weather forecast seemed perfect.  We decided to go into downtown Seattle, a good 30-40 minute drive from where we are.  Instead we opted to drive just 10 minutes to the Angle Lake LINK station and take the light rail downtown.  Plan was Space Needle first and then on the Public Market.  But as we rode into town, the clouds and fog took over the city.  The Space Needle seemed silly with those conditions, so we changed plans.

Seattle’s Pike Place Market (Public Market) is fantastic, one of the best market areas in the world.  We walked around the neighborhood and the seven or eight levels of the main building.  It was lunch time and we wanted seafood.  So we picked Lowell’s.  Their motto is “Almost Classy“.Good choice.  Elaine had fish and chips while I had a grilled seafood platter.  Spot on.  The clouds lifted as we ate.

On the Walk to the Space Needle

After lunch we walked the waterfront a bit and walked on about a mile to the Space Needle,. Originally built for the 1962 World Fair, it was just recently totally transformed in a multi-million dollar renovation.  It now boasts the world’s only rotating glass floor. It was blessedly not crowded on this September weekday.  And the sky was now bright blue.  We rode to the top and did the whole thing.  Elaine freaked out as I leaned against the glass windows, sat on glass window ledges, and walked on the glass floor looking down.  But she did good staying a bit away from the windows and on solid flooring.

After descending we visited the permanent Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit which is practically next door.  We’ve seen temporary Chihuly exhibits at the Desert Botanical Garden and the Chihuly lobby in the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  The exhibits here, including Indian blankets and Indian portraits, are spectacular.  I’ll let pictures tell the story.

After viewing everything we took the Monorail back to the LINK station for the ride home. At the LINK station where our car was, there was a great view of Mount Ranier.

After reclaiming the car, we stopped at a Fred Meyer for some supplies and got home just in time for another spectacular evening of cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the balcony overlooking Elliot Bay and Vashon Island.  (We may have to go over one day.)  A couple of freighters chugged by and we can watch the ferries back and forth from the mainland to Vashon Island.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we are meeting up with Ken and Greg who were Elaine’s and Caroline’s dates on their tour of Ireland last year.