Seattle Day 15

Day 15: Seattle Space Needle and Chihuly Glass Exhibit

View from atop the Seattle Space Needle

Alderwood smoked salmon

Marty's 1st Tat

Marty's 1st Tat

Olympic National Park to Seattle Day 14

Day 14: Seattle

We left early this morning for the drive to Seattle.

On the way, we detoured to the Lake Quinault area of Olympic NP.  There was a short hike to an old homestead that we took to stretch our legs, and it gave us one last look at the rain forest trees covered with club moss.  We were hoping to catch a glimpse of elk, but no luck. The rest of the trip to Seattle was pretty uneventful.

We checked into our hotel early and decided to take public transportation into Seattle. The weather was very pleasant; warm, not so much smoke, and the sun was even trying to come out.  We figured this would be a good opportunity to do a harbor cruise and eat dinner in town.  The light rail (the hotel gave us a ride to the station) here in Seattle is an amazing bargain.  It is a 40-min ride into downtown and the cost is $6 per day, unless you are over 65. Then it is a whopping $2 per day. This is a good lesson in how to get people to use mass transit.

Seattle is built on the side of a hill requiring significant elevation loss (and more importantly, elevation gain when going back) to get to the water.  There are at least two significant staircases to aid walkers in negotiating the roughly 250 ft vertical drop.  We boarded the Spirit of Seattle and spent the next hour cruising around the harbor.  We got nice views of downtown Seattle and the Space Needle, the working docks and cargo ships, and the Coast Guard station.  The narrator also gave plenty of information about the history of the region in a very animated talk.

After the cruise, we walked through the famous Pike Market 

which was starting to shut down for the evening. Many of the stores and restaurants were closed or closing, so we let Yelp find us a restaurant.  The Pink Door got great revues but their answering machine said there was a burlesque show with dinner and Dave was unable to talk to anyone for more info.  We decided to take a short (but very uphill) walk to it and check it out.  We walked down the alley that Apple maps said it was on, but could not find it.  Just when we were about to give up, Jeri noticed a very unassuming pinkish (really salmon-colored) door with no signage.  Some girls at a nearby restaurant told us that it was the restaurant and that it was great. 

 I hesitatingly opened the door and found a huge upscale restaurant.  We had a nice table overlooking the harbor and a fantastic waitress.  The food (Italian) was phenomenal!  Turns out that there is live entertainment every night that varies including, a burlesque show as well as a trapeze show, but it did not start until later in the evening.  

 

We walked off a few of the dinner’s calories by heading back down to the waterfront for ice cream, and then promptly reinstated the missing calories (in spades).  

Some of us ended the evening with a light rail trip back to the hotel, others continued the festivities by returning the car to Budget.  It took forever to do this simple maneuver.  We weren’t sure what was going on, but the traffic at the airport at 10 pm was horrific. The 3 guys (just so you know who brought back the car) finally made it back to the hotel just before 11.  The rental center was only 3 miles from the hotel and the trip took close to 2 hours.

Tomorrow is our last day here.  We have tickets for the Space Needle and Chahuly Exhibit early in the morning.