Our big trip first took us to Seattle, Washington, with a 5-hour flight, non-stop from Pittsburgh. To guard against flight delays, we built in an extra two days in Seattle before our main trip. But the whole thing went off without a hitch.
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| Seattle as seen from West Seattle |
Our gracious friends welcomed us at the huge SeaTac airport (five times the passenger volume of PIT) and then took us on a driving tour of their hometown, combined with a delicious lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking a marina.
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| Fishermen's Memorial monument |
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| sea creatures depicted at the base of the monument |
Water and hills are ever present in Seattle. The houses on the hills reminded me of some sections of Pittsburgh, looking all stacked on top of one another. Pittsburgh has rivers, but Seattle has PUGET SOUND. And also a waterway called Shilshole Bay, which I didn’t learn how to pronounce, but my eye wants me to say “Shithole Bay”. It is not that. It is lovely.
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| houses stacked on hills |
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| vertical lines at the marina |
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| boats and sky |
We felt right at home with all the bridges, although Pittsburgh has three times the number of bridges as Seattle. What Seattle has, and Pittsburgh does not, though, is a troll under the bridge.
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| The troll under the bridge (photo snapped as we passed by in the car) |
The Port of Seattle is a hopping place, with container shipping, a grain terminal, and two cruise ship ports. But the big influx of wealth in the past few decades is from high tech. With the arrival of AI, the economic future is uncertain.
Pier 91, cruise ship terminal
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| LDC grain terminal. I used to work for that company. |
The price of gas was a shocking ~$5.20/gallon, compared to about $4.20 here. Their tax on gasoline must be even heftier than ours. But our friends drove us hither and yon, over to West Seattle, and also to the top of hills overlooking Puget Sound. They pointed out the Pacific madrone tree, with a unique reddish bark.
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| Madrone tree trunk |
Then, oh! We went to the Olympic Sculpture Park, where most of the art is outdoors. It was marvelous! I hope to devote another post to the sculpture park, but first I have to convince my husband to give me his photos. Here's a tiny sample.
As we walked around the park, we saw scads of young folk in fancy dress. This was most likely preparation for the Seafair Torchlight Parade later on; it just added to the festive feel.
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| young ladies in gowns ride scooters near railroad tracks |
The next day, our first stop, at my request, was the “Gay Plant Store on Capitol Hill in Seattle.” Officially it’s “The Plant Store” but Planthony has made it famous with his social media videos. And he was there! I was in the presence of a celebrity, but I was too shy to take a selfie with Planthony. He was so gracious. I bought some Gay Plant Store stickers.
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| me, about to collide with a celebrity |
We walked all over the Capitol Hill area. Just down the street from The Gay Plant Store is Voodoo Doughnuts. Or if you would like to sip a coffee while surrounded by cats (achooo!), try the Cat Cafe. The neighborhood is welcoming to queer and transgender people (unlike other parts of our country). We saw the park where No Kings rallies took place. We passed a cafe which was having a drag sing along. Sadly, I do not have a photo of the Elliott Bay Book Company, where we stopped in for a rest and a beverage.
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| Voodoo Doughnuts started in Portland, I think. |
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| This is the actual voodoo doughnut. Pretzel stick stuck in the side of the pastry. |
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| The cat cafe |
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| massive amounts of posts plastered to poles |
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| Black Lives Matter street art just outside the huge park where many public rallies take place |
We were going to head to Seattle Center for a food festival, but the traffic was thick and we were tired so our friends took us back to our hotel. It turns out there was a mass shooting there that very afternoon. It doesn’t have to be this way, folks. It doesn’t.
View from Ray's Boathouse restaurant
We had a lovely meal at Ray's Boathouse, overlooking Shilshole Bay, drove along Alki Beach Park, and also at some point past the statue of Lenin, a building being built around an airplane (why do this?!), and eventually back to our hotel to rest before the next leg of our trip.
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| Lenin has blood on his hands. As viewed from the car. |
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| Why would anyone build this? We all agreed it was creepy. |
Did I mention that the weather was unexpectedly cooperative the whole time?
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| Thank you, Seattle friends. A wonderful start to our vacation. |
