Seattle

Today we did a quick tour of Seattle.  Basically, the Space Needle, Chihuly Gardens and Glass, and the Pike Place Market.  We're staying near the airport, so the ride in took about 45 minutes and we got to use the Light Rail and the Monorail.  The monorail was built along with the Space Needle for the 1962 World Fair.  The theme of the fair that year was space, hence the "space" needle.  The day was nice, and the warmest we've had yet!

View of the Space Needle from the Monorail station.

 I really enjoy Chihuly's art.  It is all large scale installation blown glass.  He makes "gardens" and "ocean scenes."  Allen and I have both seen his work before in Indianapolis, but this is the largest collection we've come across.

I  loved this display, it was in a dark room, the floor is mirrored so the installation looks doubled, and soft classical music tinkles softly in the background.

After the gardens, we walked across the street to the Space Needle and lunch.  We almost didn't get to eat in the revolving restaurant because of all the reservations I had made for this trip, this was the one that was messed up!  We really had been debating about the merits of even eating there at all...its expensive, and reviews online were mixed.  But when they told us our reservations were not for today, I immediately knew I would be sad if we didn't get to go up and eat!  Luckily, they got us in.  The restaurant is pretty amazing, it looks very 1960's, but not in a run down way.  The revolutions are slow, once every 45 minutes or so,  I was worried about being sick by spinning around and eating at the same time, but you can barely tell you're moving.  The scenery just slowly turns beneath you.

The views were spectacular and the food was good.  Probably not as good as the amount we paid for it!  Lol! But, good none-the-less.   We had an appetizer of mussels and oysters which was my favorite part of the meal, then Allen ordered fish and chips and I ordered crab mac and cheese.  We sat and ate and enjoyed the view for about 2 hours.  It was a relatively clear day and we could see all the way to Mount Baker, the most Northern peak of the Cascade Mountains.  Our waiter told us it is on the border of Canada and about 3 hours drive from Seattle.  We also enjoyed beautiful views of Mount Ranier and the rest of the Cascade Mountain range.  To our West, the Olympia Mountain range was also beautiful and imposing.    

Mount Ranier and downtown Seattle

We took our very full selves down to the Pike Place Market this afternoon.  It's awesome, a huge open air market selling anything you can think of, but specializing in fresh fish...and the original Starbucks!

Waiting in line for Starbucks!

Double shot espresso!