Celebrated Thanksgiving at my sister's home. Bill and I and Brian and Jane were invited to join the Samer clan. It was a nice evening. Food was delicious and the company was very enjoyable.
Bill and I spent a few days in Seattle last week. We left on a Wednesday and came back on the Saturday. It was only 4 days but we crammed a lot into those few days. We love Seattle and I am always impressed by the transit system in that city. For $2.75 you can take the sky train from the airport directly to downtown Seattle.
We stayed at a different hotel once again. Parking is very hard to find at the downtown hotels or when you do, it is extremely expensive. So when we drive to Seattle, we stay just outside of the core. When we fly, we stay right in the middle of downtown so that most things are within walking distance. This has probably been the best hotel we have stayed at so far. It was called the Belltown. The room was smallish, but there was a queen bed, large desk, table, and small kitchenette with a microwave and sink. The bathroom was small as well, but really, other than a sink, toilet and tub/shower , what else do you need.
The hotel lends out umbrellas for the rain; bikes for getting around downtown, andan internet service center on the mail level. It is only 4 levels high and you can go up to the roof and sit and enjoy the weather. (they say to enjoy the view, but we went up and the view at 5 stories is not that spectacular. )
Only a block away from our hotel was one of the neatest things I have seen in an inner city area. It was a dog play park. The park was usually busiest at night. I could sit and watch these dogs play and socialize all day.
I'm not sure of the exact size, but the dogs had lots of room to run and chase toys. There were well placed tree's etc. and benches for people to sit. There was a fence around the entire area, and two sets of gates so that dogs couldn't sneak out. I wonder how long it would take for Maya to clear out a place like that. We would sure have to work on her socialization skills
An acquaintance of Bill's (some work connection) was kind enough to pick us up at our hotel on the Thursday and give us a morning tour. We went out of town to Snoqualmie Falls Park.
When we first arrived the fog was so strong, you could barely see farther than the falls, but as the morning warmed up, the fog lifted and the view was inviting.
We finished off the morning tour at the Seattle Space Needle. This is the first time we have actually gone up to the top of the needle.
Here we found a spectacular view of the city (unlike our hotel view). Owen, (our tour guide) then treated us to lunch. The menu seemed fancy; for example, cooked chicken on romaine. But when the waiter brought the meal to Owen, he asked, "Who is having the Caesar salad with chicken." Nobody answered because we were waiting for the cooked chicken on romaine..... Needless to say the prices matched the fancy names.
We thanked Owen for our wonderful morning. Our next adventure came late afternoon. We headed down to Pike's Market and sat on the pier to watch the sunset.
We were not disappointed (by the sunset) Bill however, was annoyed at himself. He had brought a flask of tequila with him (trust me, it was a lot less conspicuous than the "weed" smoke and the people drinking wine out of brown paper bags), and when he started taking pictures of the sunset, he laid his flask down, and forgot to put the lid on. Half of the tequila spilled on his lap and pant leg. Thank goodness alcohol drys fast.
After the sun had left the sky, we headed over to the alley beside Pike's Market. We had signed up for a Ghost Tour. Hopefully they wouldn't notice the sweet smell of Tequila following us around.
There are different tours you can do in Seattle. The city has such a history and a wonderful character about it. We have done the Underground tour before. There is also a Ghost Underground tour and a Ghost "Adult" Tour. We chose the Ghost Alley tour. We met at the Ghost Alley Expresso. (It's right next to the famous gum wall.) The buildings around the market are quite old. One of them was the Butterworth Mortuary. Today, there is a restaurant there, and many stories are around about the ghosts that live among the walls.
Friday we revisited Pike's Market and the pier to stroll around and of course give Bill his Seattle craving - no it's not the famous coffee, but his sourdough bread and clam chowder soup.
For some reason, except for Seattle we have never been able to find the double sour dough bread. And yes, it has been suggested I start making my own sour dough bread. I'll add that to my list of things to do.
Friday night was the reason we came to Seattle in the first place. Jazz Alley
Bill is a big jazz fan (he wishes he could play the saxophone) and Jazz Alley brings in some pretty big names. You can order dinner and watch or just come in for drinks. This picture is from the entrance, atop the stairs. Our seat was right in front on the stage, second table.
The group playing was "FourPlay". Bill has most of their CD's and of course he purchased their latest and got it signed at the end of the show. They were all fantastic musicians, but the two gentleman in the center were amazing guitarists.
That was our 4 days in a nutshell. We arrived home Saturday night, and Sunday, it was back to work at my Card stores.
Will catch up more later.
Stacey
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