After our time at the Boeing
Factory, we had a pretty chilled out sleepy day and after unsuccessfully trying
to find a nearby RV (caravan) park or campground near Seattle to stay the night
at, we were invited to stay with some friends when we rang to find a nearby
meeting – so we had a lovely dinner and meeting with them in Issaquah near
Seattle, and it was fantastic to meet some of the friends! Kristin &
Marcus, their 3 month old son Peyton, Kristin’s dad Dave and cousin Connor from Boston.
 |
| Police Car in the USA - Marcus is a State Trooper |
 |
| Their beautiful house that we stayed in |
 |
| Connor, Zoe, Marcus, Peyton, Kristin, Dave |
We heard that Seattle has 2 seasons – winter and August. However, it’s not August yet… It’s also really well known for its rainy weather, with shirts in the markets showing the 4 seasons of the year as al the same – rain. It rained pretty much all day as we walked around the city, but a lot lighter rain than home, so we joined the rest of the city rugged up in our rain jackets and enjoyed the day!
 |
| The new (ish) Ferris Wheel on the Seattle waterfront |
 |
| Thought this umbrella artwork on the street was rather fitting! |
We went to the Pike Place Markets, which are on every day of the year and were crowded with people – they had some really cool stalls with all sorts of trinkets and also a lot of different food stalls which looked fantastic! It was probably a good thing we didn’t have much cash…
We stopped for quite a while at the famous Pike Place Fish Market, waiting until someone wanted to buy a fish – they are famous for their great attitude and smiles in a normally not so exciting job, so much that people crowd around to watch them! They are also well known for throwing the fish to each other when someone wants to buy one, and also getting someone from the crowd to try and catch the fish, with varying results! The blond girl below managed to catch the fish thrown to her, and got some pretty big cheers! Then the guy throwing it did a victory dance, and all the staff cheered again!
 |
| Crowds at the Pike Place Market |
 |
| Some really cool candles at the Markets |
 |
| The famous Pike Place Fish Market |
We also saw a less well known tourist attraction – the gum wall. Pretty disgusting, but it looked cool if you didn’t think too much about what it actually was!
After the gum wall we caught the monorail to the Space Needle (similar to Centre Point Tower) for views over the city – although it was a rather overcast day, so there wasn’t too much in sight! Certainly no Mt Rainier in sight behind the city, unlike most of the photos we’d seen! But I’m pretty sure we saw Seattle the way it’s typically seen!
Next to the Space Needle there’s the Chahuli Glass and Garden, where there are amazing glass blown sculptures made into the shape of different plants and set up as a garden – we didn’t pay to go in, but we had a look as best we could from the outside, and that was pretty cool!
Shall I mention that we had perfect sunny weather in Seattle?! ;-) I didn't realise just how rare that was!
ReplyDeleteGreat to read all your updates :-)
Hmm, our Seattle weather seems to have continued for the Oregon coast - with the exception of a lovely sunny day in Olympia! We did have unexpectedly almost all sunny weather in Vancouver though, so can't really complain! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like you got a good show at the fish market! Have you heard of the business book "Fish!" that's based on that place?
ReplyDeleteI've heard of the gum wall but don't know where it is. Will have to seek it out next time we're in Seattle. So bizarre and really quite awesome!
Oh and I forgot to add, the gum wall is just around the corner from the Pike Place Markets (the fish market end) - it's even signposted!
DeleteYup have heard of the book, but actually heard about it all from back home at my work! Haha yeah the gum wall was quite cool, although the idea of it is pretty gross! It looked cool though! :)
ReplyDeleteAwesome pics nik!! Espec the Forest and the lake... Looks like a magical place!!
ReplyDelete