SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Have we lost anyone yet? I know it’s grueling but we only have one and a half days left of our vacation so let’s make the most of it.
After a little dozing, we are off to our Harbor Tour. I don’t know where I thought we were going to board the tour. Maybe at the Space Needle? I guess I hadn’t thought about it, but if you’re going on a “harbor” tour, Seattle must have a………………
WATERFRONT………….with a wharf and piers just like San Francisco; just like Fishermen’s Wharf. Why have I not hear about this!
We had a little time to walk along, visit some shops, and get coffee before we boarded our cruise ship. We went into one really gross shop. It had a mummy, heads of odd animals like a two headed calf, other animal heads, and odd weird stuff for sale. Joni tried to make me buy dried edible crickets. When that didn’t work, she tried the dried worms. I declined both of those suggestions. GROSS!
I did not take a picture of the boat, but it had three levels. We sat inside for the cruise which was fine with me because it was just a bit chilly and I imagine windy up on the 3rd open deck. So here we go along the Seattle shoreline, out into Puget Sound, and back along the shore line in a big circle.
See that cruise liner? That was from Norway. Seattle built a place to dock those big luxury cruise ships and for four years, not one ship came. They finally started coming and now have 200+ ships in each year. I’ve heard several people say that they started their Alaskan cruises at Seattle. This is probably the place they were talking about.
There’s the Space Needle again. We must have seen it from all sides now including from top to bottom.
There was a big Monsanto grain unloading station and I think it is about here that a canal was dug between Puget Sound and Lake Union that we were on in the duck boat. I’m not sure on that because why would they mix the seawater with a fresh water lake? Well, no matter. We are starting to swing around in the circle now.
We saw some sea lions lying on a buoy. Now get this! The tour guide announced that these were really CA sea lions. They were the less dominate lions so they swam up to Seattle to spend the summer getting bigger and stronger so they could swim back to CA and try to become the dominant sea lions. Really? REALLY? Who in their right mind would believe that story! So all the sea lions in Seattle are male animals? Really? And all the sea lions really belong to CA? I was quite miffed that he would think I was going to believe that story and I did not trust one word out of his mouth after that. (Maybe I’m too easily miffed?)
So then we swung by this:
Here’s one of the big cranes that take the cargo containers off ships and set them on the docks. The guy said this was fully constructed in China or someplace, bolted on to a ship, moved here fully put together, and then set on the dock with another big crane. OK, so maybe he could be right on that. But he said this place where the freight docks are is a man-made island thing. And it was so well built that it is the only remaining man-made island of its type still in use; all the other ones around the country have fallen apart and washed away……………..well, maybe.
Then the tour guide said something that I do believe and it was very interesting. “If you want to know what a trucker needs, then just ask one”. He said it was a regular everyday trucker that proposed using a standardized container that could be filled, put on a ship, lifted off, put on a truck or train car and delivered to its destination. Before he thought of the idea, cargo was shipped in every imaginable box, bag, mix-matched metal things, barrels, and Lord knows what all. Imagine the time and effort saved by packing stuff once in a container from origin to final destination. Can we find out who that trucker was? Great idea!
Next we went by Safeco Stadium, home of the Seattle Mariners that the Twins just beat today 10-0. The Link Light Rail runs just on the other side of Safeco Stadium and suddenly, the train stopping at “Stadium” Station and all these young people getting out at 5pm on a Friday afternoon started to make more sense. And that completed our harbor cruise.
It was about 3pm so Will led us across the street, by the Public Market, up a hill, to this fabulous restaurant. I had the most delicious bowl of clam chowder I have ever had in my whole life. You must have him take you there when you visit. I don’t know the name of it, but you can use this picture as a point of reference.
I took this picture from the booth I was sitting in. Eldon and Joni had wonderful looking fluffy cod and Will had some kind of chicken. All the food looked/tasted so good. (Look at all those people packed in the Market!)
We headed for the University District where Joni works. So she comes driving her bike up to this building where she teaches some classes. (Eldon’s family always said that “driving a bike” not riding a bike.) Of course the building was all closed up on Sunday.
Then about 2pm, she walks up about a block to this building and teaches some more.
Just a few doors down from here is a frozen yogurt shop. We stopped in and Will and I had our dessert. The yogurt is sold by the pound -21 flavors to choose from, fresh fruit, sprinkles, syrups, and toppings and you make it up yourself. I had half cheesecake and half key lime flavors with some fruit and crumbled cheesecake particles on top. The University campus started just a block over from this street.
We went back to Fremont and are down by those dinosaurs again. This little cement center thing is just to the left of the dinosaurs. As mentioned earlier, there is the bike trail that Joni gets on and the canal.
See how Eldon is being very careful on those steps and Joni is keeping an eye on him? That’s because the steps are the same shape as that smooth piece of cement you see in the lower right hand corner of the picture. So as you step down, you may have 6” to put your foot on or you may have 3” to put your foot on. And I believe one side of the stairway is about 4’ long and the other side is about 2’ long. Again, artsy Fremont decided to design the steps to match the flat slab in an attempt at balance and visual pleasingness………………………… or the designers were drinkin’ that day –one or the other.
So we got down to the canal and Joni promptly sat down and put her rain boots in the water to test them for waterproofness. I looked to my left and the Fremont bridge was about to go up. They blow a horn to warn drivers before lowering arms to stop the cars.
There is a sailboat coming through. This may have been where we saw the young people yelling, screaming, and partying on a boat too. It was such a beautiful evening.
We walked along the bike trail for a while and then went back to the apartment because we had to get to the Fred Meyer. Now, I was confused………………..or deliberately misled. It was my understanding that we were going to the Fred Meyer to get some grocery item. We got in the car and drove about 4-5 blocks; not very far and with little traffic. (There is a community theater right by the Fred Meyer that the kids have gone to.) When we walked in, I discovered the Fred Meyer is actually like Wal-mart. Yes food, but also clothes, shoes, everything. By now it was about 7pm so they would not let me look around the store. I guess we did look at coffee pots. We had to get our thing and rush home again. Just one more reason to make a return visit to the kids’ home.
We had an evening light luncheon of crackers, cream cheese & smoked salmon, and bing cherries. Eldon and I walked back to the hotel. That must have been about 9pm because it was starting to get dark. And that concluded our Sunday in Seattle.
**I want to publicly apologize for my shortness and rude remarks about the harbor tour guide, who was only trying to do his job. He just wanted to make the tour interesting……………………even if he had to make stuff up.
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