Seattle

Seattle is a great trendy city with a fantastic artistic side.  The sky needle rises above the city but is still dwarfed by the soaring high rises.  The cloudy sky cast a gray hue over the city but it was bustling with activity as we drove into City Center to park.  A quick walk to the area where the space needle was revealed a city of art. Tall steel yellow and red flowers along with the Chihuly Museum of Glass atrium added color to the gray sky over the city.  A street band with acoustic guitars and a pan flute set the background music as we explored the City Center area.  We boarded the monorail and a short ride later we arrived in the downtown area.

The streets were full of pedestrian's enjoying their lunch hour on a chilly Friday afternoon.  We came to an area with blue painted tree trunks topped with yellow fall leaves that set an impressive backdrop to the people playing chess on a large street chessboard.  The trees had been painted blue by a local artist as a statement.  Passers by played chess against each other in the blue and yellow colored park.

A short walk brought us to the Pike's Place Public Market where the Seattle public can go to get
fresh fish, seafood, flowers and vegetables.  The market was crowded and street musicians performed on the corners adjacent to the market.  In the market, crowds watched the fishmongers put on their show as they threw fish to each other and at times at the customers only to be caught at the last second before it hit the flinching customer.  Bright rings of peppers were strung everywhere and colorful vegetable stands lined the walk ways.  The smell of marijuana wafted over the market as Seattlites enjoyed a smoke.  Washington had just passed the law legalizing marijuana use and people were taking full advantage.   It seemed strange to see people walking down the street with a joint in their hand instead of a traditional cigarette.

Across from the market were cheese shops that had delicious samples available for trying.  A string band played outside a coffee shop.  This was the original Starbucks.  The huge chains very first store.  Crowds lined up for their shots of double espresso mocha lattes while the band entertained pedestrians and customers alike.

After leaving the market, we headed up the hill toward downtown where we found Kells Irish Pub in a back alley.  The pub was beautiful and served an authentic Irish menu overseen by the owner.  She was older woman who was directly from Ireland and spoke with a thick brogue.  She took time with the lunch patrons to translate the signs in the pub written in Gaelic.  With our belly's full from the sliced ham on Irish soda bread sandwiches accompanied by Swithwicks's Ale, we headed back up to downtown to take the monorail back to the City Center.

Once back in the City Center we paid our admission and took the glass lined elevator up the Space Needle to view the city from above.  The views were expansive and if it had not been for the overcast sky we could have seen Mount Ranier over looking the city.  Despite this, the view in the opposite direction was impressive looking over Puget Sound.

The highlight of the day was agreed upon to to be the Chihuly Museum of Glass.  His large sculptures in blown brightly colored glass were displayed in dark rooms with only lights illuminating the sculptures.  The colors and designs were amazing and awe inspiring as every corner you turned in the museum revealed another breath taking display of color.  After leaving the interior of the museum, we entered the outdoor glass garden where the glass was intertwined with flowers offset with the space needle rising above the garden.

Tomorrow's Saturday and it's back on the road headed north and into Canada.  A check at lunch of the road conditions on the Alaskan highway revealed snow covered roads and a portion that is closed in the Yukon.  Hopefully, this will be cleared by the time we reach that point.  Seattle was a great city to visit and I will hopefully have the opportunity to visit again some day.  Until then it's north to Alaska and the most adventurous part of this trip.

Covered walk way in City Center