Off to Seattle!

Todd dropped us at the train station on Portland early Tuesday morning as we were headed off on Amtrak to Seattle for the last few days of our trip. We had never been to Seattle so we figured since it was only a 3 and a half hour train ride from Portland, we should extend our vacation and spend a few days there.


First of all, the train was fantastic...so roomy and comfortable with big old leather seats and a bistro where we got coffee and delish oatmeal with dried fruit and brown sugar. Did I mention it was super cheap?!? Ryan and I took the time to relive our time in Portland through the videos and photos we had taken on our laptop.


Also, the weather. Wow...7 days in the Pacific Northwest and all sun and in the 70's. No kidding! While in Portland a year ago, we had all rain and overcast conditions - we still had an amazing time, but the weather was icing on the cake for this trip.



But, again, I digress. We were going to Seattle. Here we go!



Our first stop in Seattle was the famous Pike Place Market. We went back here several times as it was only 7 or 8 blocks from our hotel. Here are some photos from the market:

Our first time....

As sunset was upon us.

Another view.
Many of you may have seen the corporate video about teamwork that featured the Pike Place Fish people or you might have just seen them on the Real World. Basically, when they get an order, they throw the fish and yell in unison. Pretty fun to see in person!


They have this crazy looking monkfish on a string and pull it back and out to surprise the people passing by.
There was also entertainment each day...
Check out the flowers...only $15!



The produce was amazing with equally amazing prices. What I wouldn't give to have a market like this close to us. The sign on the apples above cracked me up....watch out for the "applanche"!

There were pigs all over Pike Place. I had to give one of them a squeeze!

Behind Pike Place Market was a neat little park overlooking the water. There was only one little problem....a freeway in the middle. Who designed that??

So, we did go elsewhere aside from the market while we were there...well, a few places....



There were some pretty cool hills in the middle of the city that allowed a view to the water from several blocks away.

Post Alley. We hit some neat places for drinks and the like down here.
Here I am at one of these places...the Kells. We had baked brie with soda bread and fruit. True Irish style!
Ryan and I ...downtown by the water.

We also hit a few of the tourist attractions since it was our first visit. Number one on that list was the Space Needle. Right next door was the "Experience Music Project" as well as the Science Fiction Museum. One purchased pass got you into both otherwise we probably wouldn't have bothered with the Science Fiction piece (sorry, Trekkies).

We rode on a fairly empty monorail to get there.
Funny enough, the "Experience Music Project" was supposed to be pretty cool. You can play all of these instruments and create your own video. However, there was a large group of middle schoolers on a field trip that swarmed the place and made it a bit difficult to navigate. Ryan was able to get a room with an electric guitar, keyboard and drums all amplified for about 10 minutes before the tweens started knocking on the door.

Believe it or not, the Science Fiction Museum ended up being better solely due to the Jim Henson exhibit. We snuck a photo in of Bert, Ernie and I before the photo police came to get us. There were also Fraggles there, too!
Next stop, Space Needle! Pretty quick and pricey trip but worth it to experience at least once.

A view from the top....

I had to give a shout out to 2 other places. First was our hotel, the Fairmont Olympic. Sounds and looks and was super expensive...but, since I always book my hotels on Hotels.com, I get alerted when they are having a sale and I got our room for 50% off plus I had a $50 coupon from a previous visit. All in all, we got away with one of the cheapest hotels we have ever stayed in and it was also the nicest! Fantastic service and a huge room with a comfy bed.

And, on our last night in Seattle, we had dinner at The Taphouse. Great beer selection (160 on tap, holy cow!) and martinis. The food was also fantastic (sushi, pasta, burgers, etc. etc.). It is on 6th Ave just a few blocks from where we stayed.

Phew...can you believe we only stayed in Seattle for 2 days? We definitely squeezed a lot in and got our money's worth. Luckily we had our walking shoes on, who knows how many miles we put on those sneaks!


We are still a bit on west coast time, staying up too late and sleeping in. Work on Monday morning is going to be a harsh awakening! But, at least we are refreshed and had a wonderful time!