Stop 10- Seattle

We arrived in Seattle on Friday evening.  Chrissy is our hostess and in her own words she met us at a bar in DC and now we are here staying at her place for the weekend!  Chrissy and her roommate gave us the rundown of what to do in Seattle, which we have greatly appreciated.  Chrissy lives near Green Lake, just north of the city.  The first night we ventured down her block to find some food for dinner.  A corner bar had a live jazz band so we sat down for a delicious dinner of salad and beer.  The night ended with a couple of mean games of Skip-Bo (Emily, I finally found the "old" version of the game at Target somewhere in Idaho.)

This morning we had breakfast at 5 Spot, a neat little place where the menu is theme based and their daily specialty is coffee cake.  After a yummy breakfast, Laurel and I walked to Kerry Park.  The city, the Space Needle and Mt. Rainer was in plain view because of the clear day.  Unfortunately, our cameras couldn't really capture the mountain as well as the naked eye. As we walked back to the car we went to three yard sales and got DVDs, books, and plates all for less than $10.  More stuff to shove into the already packed car!

The next stop was downtown to see the Space Needle and Pike Place Market.  The market was a pretty cool place.  Our noses and stomach almost wished that we waited to eat breakfast at the market.  I had to take pictures of the original Starbucks, the gorgeous vendors of flowers and fruit, and of course the energizing fish salesman at Pike Fish Market.  I tried to capture them throwing the fish on video, but my videographer skills were not the greatest.

Instead of trying to not act like tourists and figure things out on our own, we decided to take a real tour.  We had time to kill between the start of the Underground Tour of the city.  So of course, Laurel and I sought out a good spot for a beer.  Somehow I got pen on my shirt and Laurel happened to tell me that hairspray gets out ink.  Did you know that?  #1 fun fact of the day: hairspray takes out ink stains!

The Underground Tour of the city was interesting.  This tour basically explained how the city of Seattle got it's name and that it had horrible plumbing issues and the city was basically a dirty, smelly place.  The underground exists because they raised the city up to 33 feet as they improved the sewer system and filled in the tidal flats.

After the tour we ventured down to the see the water.  It was here that we talked to two guys standing next to us about the city.  It just so happened that one of the guys went to Georgetown.  Once again we found someone connected to good ol' DC.

There was an evening parade and we stopped to watch it for a bit.  Drew Carey was the parade marshal and we caught him just as he was riding by for a picture!

Our night ended at the same place where our day started, at Kerry Park. We captured the night skyline in a picture!

                                                                View from Kerry Park

                                                                

                                       About to blow a bubble to add to the nasty gum wall!
     

Tomorrow we have another market to explore, we might take a duck boat tour, and I'm sure there will be some unplanned stops throughout the day.  So far Seattle has been pretty cool.  We have discussed how we loved the outdoor adventures and enjoying all the sites mother nature has at national parks, etc. But, I am really a city girl :)