seattle

We had never visited Seattle before, so we took 1.5 days to check it out. Not much time, so we just saw the typical tourist highlights.

We took a tour of the Boeing plant. It was really neat, seeing how/where they put together their big planes - including the popular 747s and the new 787. My one disappointment was not being able to take photos on the tour. The photo below is taken at the museum - I'm standing in front of the vertical wing of a 747. Tall, isn't it??

Underneath one of Seattle's bridges is this dude, the troll. That is a real life full size VW Beetle he's smooshing into the ground. And yeah, that's me, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Doesn't he look like he's going "awwwww"?!

The one most known and easily identifiable item in Seattle - the Space Needle. Inside there are boards explaining how they built it, why, etc. Neat!

Views from the top of the Needle...

We took a ferry ride to see the city from a different angle. And guess what?? - we saw Mt Rainier too!!

We did a tour on a double decker bus - the kind where they tell you stuff about the city, but you can get on and off the bus at numerous stops. Kind of the best of both worlds.

Anyway, I thought this water fountain was the coolest - you can walk underneath and barely get wet. See the path with the railings?

Supposedly kilts are becoming popular for dudes. But not the traditional Scottish kind - the "Utilikilt." They have pockets and are manly colors... supposedly guys like them because they can be more flexible. But of course no one we talked to knew anyone who actually has one!

Of course we had to goto the Public Market - quite famous in Seattle.

And of course we had to go watch them throw fish at Pike Place. There were tons of tourists hanging around, of course, waiting for them to throw some fish, but nobody was buying. And they only throw them when people buy. So it was kinda funny, everyone waiting, nothing really happening. I did catch them throwing something, but it is hard to see.

Starbucks originated in Seattle. This photo is from the location they now call the original, altho it really isn't - the original is closed. But this is the original logo. They don't have it anywhere else because of the bare bosom. LOL

We also did an Underground Tour. The original part of Seattle was built on flats. Meaning that when the tide came in, the water was up to the doorsteps. This meant that eliminating sewage was not easy - when the tide was low, gravity would take the sewage out to sea, but then the tide would bring it right back in - yuck! During high tide, it was highly advised to not use the commode, because there could be a backwards explosion, like a volcano. Double yuck! And another major problem in the flats were the roads. This was back when roads were dirt. Seattle's roads were dirt, rock and sawdust (it was a lumber town). So when it rained, or tide was a bit high, the roads were mucky. Horses would get stuck, get pulled out, leaving a huge hold in the street. The holes weren't fixed. So then there was a fire that destroyed that part of town. Great! - they could fix it. Well, not really. They tried, in a backwards kind of way. Anyway, long story short, they raised the grade of that part of town, but the buildings had already been rebuilt, so the bottom floor or two of the buildings were then underground. So anyway, the tour was ok, we really didn't see much, but the history and the stories and the potty jokes were pretty funny!