We spent 4 days exploring Seattle in glorious sunshine. We visited Seattle Centre, looked at the Space Needle (nope, didn’t go up this one!), loved the stunning (but expensive) Chihuly Glass and gardens, travelled the 60 year old one stop monorail, looked at the crazy queues at the first Starbucks and the Pike Place chowder and decided not to bother with either, enjoyed the chaotic Pike Place market with its fresh fish and veg stalls and a myriad of other local artisans, chilled out in Pioneer Square, enjoyed a pint in a very old pub, The Central, bought the obligatory keyring at the Hard Rock Cafe (declined to stay for a drink when they warned us it would be a 22% service charge!), and wandered along the front by the old piers where the thousands of prospectors arrived to buy their kit before heading out to the Klondike for gold. We tried to go to the Starbucks Reserve but they were closed as the staff were on strike so ended up at a food truck instead for a very tasty jambalaya!
We explored our suburb where we stayed and had a wonderful walk around Green Lake and also went out to Ballard to see the impressive Hiram M Chittenden Locks – they link the Washington Lake Canal to Puget Sound. We watched both the small and large locks in action, caught sight of a playful seal, before taking a wander around the botanical gardens.
We’re now looking forward to hiring a car for a few weeks and heading down highway 101 along the Pacific coastline.
