Seattle, Days 3 and 4, Pike Place Market and Harbor Cruise

Good morning, Seattle! 

 

Our hotel did not offer breakfast, but we had a delicious (if expensive) breakfast at a Greek restaurant a block away: marscapone pancakes that melted in our mouths and omelettes with mushrooms and edible flowers. Yum!

Today we were headed to the ultimate Seattle tourist spot, Pike Place Market, which was a short, but hilly walk from our hotel to Puget Sound.

There was a crowd, but we took in all of the quirky charm on multiple levels of the market. We heard music, sampled fruit (and bought some), smelled homemade soap, and admired art and photography on display as we strolled the halls.

We even timed it to walk right up to a famous fish throw. The guy catching the fish was buying it!

We also found, and added to, the Gum Wall. Ew!

The kids both pointing to their contributions.

Probably our favorite stop was a cool, but slightly nerdy, bookshop that had all of our favorite subjects. I think the kids could have stayed here for hours...

But it was finally noon, so we could get some snacks and a couple of pints at the Market's brewery. We met up there with friends from Idaho. They were all in town for a wedding that we were going to that night. Casey even drove the 12 hours from Idaho Falls by himself!

But we couldn't stay very long because we had a reservation for the Seattle Aquarium. It was a classic, drizzly day, perfect for an indoor attraction.

We do love a good aquarium. This one was a little small, but they had touch tanks, otters, an octopus, and an under-Puget-Sound-dome, which was cool because they were on a pier over the water, so part of the aquarium was actually under that water.

Soon after, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. On the walk back, we stopped in to a coffee shop for a warm pick-me-up and a break from the rain. 

Once we got all gussied up and plied the kids with Subway sandwiches and a movie, we Ubered over to Eastlake to witness Alex and Sophie's wedding. It was such a sweet ceremony, very sentimental, with his sister officiating and the groom trying not to cry. We shared a table with the Idahoans and by the time we made it back to the hotel, the kids had put themselves to bed.

Our final day in Seattle was relaxing with our last City Pass reservation for a mid-day harbor cruise through the Ballard Locks. We had to walk to another pier, just down from yesterday's aquarium, to catch our boat.

The cruise started off in Puget Sound by downtown, then went up and around some land to the NW, through the locks, and back down to South Lake Union. Basically, it made a near circle around a thumb of land. We had great views of the downtown skyline.

We also passed giant cruise ships in dock (all aboard for Alaska!), beaches, and a short lighthouse. Later, we took in the neighborhoods of Magnolia and Ballard before the locks and tried to imagine what life would be like in these areas with water views. 

This train drawbridge crosses the locks, and we had just seen one go by, so we had wait for them to raise it. Then we had to wait for a parade of smaller ships to come through the locks from the other direction. We went over our cruise time by 45 minutes!

Finally, it was our turn. Our ship had clearance of maybe a foot on each side in the small lock. Lake Union is freshwater and at a higher level than Puget Sounds, so they use the lock like a boat elevator to raise and lower water to the right height coming or going. There's also a salmon ladder here, but we couldn't see it from the boat, unfortunately.

Closing the big doors behind us.

Raising up. We were at low tide, so they said we got to go even farther than usual to make up the difference.

Leaving the locks and heading on to Lake Union. Our cruise was narrated, so we got some interesting facts along our way. We passed between the neighborhoods of Queen Anne and Fremont, and learned that Fremont was having their annual Summer Solstice Festival, which we could see along a waterfront park. There were lots of fishing boats and marinas that take advantage of the freshwater for boat storage and anchorage.

Eventually we got to our unloading dock and wandered around Southlake for a bit. While figuring out what to do next, the Naked Bike Parade (that our boat MC had mentioned as part of the Solstice Festival) pedaled by. They were mostly in body paint, but it was still a little eye opening for the kids. So we took our final form of public transit and returned to the hotel by streetcar.

We got in some R&R back at the hotel, found some delicious chowder and fish and chips nearby, wished our stay was a little longer, and packed our bags for our early morning flight.