Day-10: Beautiful Day in Seattle

Saturday, October 5, 2013

I slept in today, not up until after 8. The view outside was again fog shrouded with no sun to be seen but what a day it was to be.

The day's first sightings were in the water, numerous large starfish and some sort of jellyfish, almost two-feet across.

By 9:30 we were headed for the Seattle ferry. The sun was trying hard to break through but the boats had encountered weather delays and were running 30 minutes late. In any case the one hour cruise from Bremerton to Seattle is free for passenger traffic. Getting back to Bremerton is another story, $3.90 for us seniors. Here's the ferry on our route this morning:

M/V Kaleetan

Vessel Information

Class: Super	Type: Auto/Passenger Ferry
Length: 382' 2"	Engines: 4
Beam: 73' 2"	Horsepower: 8,000
Draft: 18' 6"	Speed in Knots: 17
Max Passengers: 2000	Propulsion: DIESEL-ELECTRIC (DC)
Max Vehicles: 144	Gross Tonnage: 2704
Tall Deck Space: 30	City Built: San Diego
Auto Deck Clearance: 14' 5"	Year Built / Re-built: 1967
Meaning of Kaleetan: Native American/Chinook: "arrow."

Part way through the transit to Seattle the sun appeared and from the fog, shoreline and water born sites did appear. The most obvious visual for Seattle is the "Space Needle" but the general city sites including the football and baseball stadiums are clearly visible on the approach.





Disembarking around 11, we hiked the water front passing numerous seafood joints, plus Seattle's "best hot dog" stand and finally up hill to the Seattle Center, home to the 1962 World's Fair. Located here are a number of attractions including the Chihuly Garden & Glass Collections, the Space Needle, the Monorail, the EMP Museum and the Pacific Science Theater. 






Our walking journey through Seattle included:

• Chihuly Garden & Glass: Beautiful glass designs, much greater in scope and exhibit space than the St. Petersburg location. Much of the outside exhibits were accentuated by the bright sunshine and bluest of blue skies. 

• The EMP Museum: Sheila was looking for the "largest" guitar in the world, turned out it was the building itself though it is said to represent a smashed guitar. The museum provided a display of memorabilia from TV and movies of the past. Not enough to pull us in this time.

• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Such as it would be, the Gates were not in today to personally show Sheila around, perhaps we'll see them next time in Seattle or when they're in St. Pete Beach or Kitty Hawk. She did mention the interactive nature of the exhibits, something about carrying gallons of water and a large basket balanced on her head while walking through the  building to get a first hand view of life in the 3rd world. (BTW, I waited in a cafe downing a cup of Seattle's "best coffee".)

• The Monorail: Short trip from the Seattle Center to, where else, but a shopping center, just like exiting anything these days, you have to go through the "buy something" store. 

• Pike's Place Market: Can't visit Seattle without a walk through the market, the fresh flowers, wide varieties of vegetables and fruit, and of course the fish markets all make for a busy but colorful attraction of the area, mainly aimed at tourism but we're tourists, so be it. Picked up two apples for $2.50 each (should have asked for the price), hope they're good.

After the market it was time to descend from the high ground and return to the ferry docking area. (NOTE: The descent involved 172 steps from top to bottom, Sheila's knees worked to perfection)

Along the waterside we again passed the many seafood offerings, the Seattle Great Wheel (200 foot high ferris wheel) and the Seattle Aquarium. 

With minutes to spare we scooped up our ferry tickets and were on board for the return to Bremerton at 3 PM. No fog anywhere for this ride, the views of Seattle, the various islands and regional wildlife were spectacular. 

Around 4, we arrived back in Bremerton, in time to watch the last innings of the Rays vs Red Sox game along with D.J. Kitty.

For dinner tonight we met up at Anthony's (same as Thursday night) with Sheila's cousin Nancy and her husband Don, residents of Auburn, Washington. Over a 3-hour dinner the cousins caught up on the past 15 years (since our last visit), shared a few old photos and talked as old people do, mostly about the past. Suppose that's natural as we, like everyone else, have experienced more of the past than we have of the future.

Well it's approaching midnight so I must wrap this up otherwise it would be tomorrow's, not today's post. In summary, this was a day that generates skepticism about the supposed rainy climate of the Northwest, nothing but sunshine and blue skies. How soon one can forget the past week's "storm of the century".

Good night.