ST HELENS to SEATTLE – the bluest skies you’ve ever seen are not in Seattle today
Saturday – the best laid plans etc etc etc. Light misty rain is falling as we pack everything we own into Kylie’s trusty wagon! I bet our little four wheeled friend is saying ‘oh not, not them again’. Little does she know what is in store!
3 suitcases; 2 backpacks; 3 quilts that Kylie has made for the Alaskan Cruise so we don’t freeze as we sit out on our verandah; food; drink; cameras; tripods and trip tik directions all go into the hatchback and the back seat.
Hmmm. Do we not plan on doing any shopping? Obviously we will cross that bridge when we come to it! After a planned 9am departure we get on the road at 11am and head straight for breakfast at Denny’s. I realise that brekkie is a bit late today but nevermind. It will hold us until dinner.
Bacon, sausages, hash browns, vegemite muffins and juice and then there is another stop for real coffee – Starbucks. Contented we hit the road and have a good trip to Seattle – holy cow Tyler brakes suddenly and the cans of Apple Juice that were so carefully packed in the cooler bag decide to fling themselves forward and into the back of my head.
The car then mounts the gutter going around a corner and needless to say words are spoken by Kylie and I am in the back seat holding on for life. Our little cross country trips are always adventurous to say the least. The misty rain is still with us and let me say now that it will be our partner for the entire duration of our trip.
Unfortunately finding the way to our hotel in Seattle is another adventure because the trusty Trip Tik does not show us the one way streets. Because of this we get to see more of Seattle at this stage than was planned but we arrive safe and sound at the Best Western Loyal Inn.
We unpack what we need which is everything and head off to our room. Surprise! Two double beds – ok for me but not for K & T. Quick as a flash Kylie is on the phone to speak with the Manager who is very apologetic but states that they only have double beds and the hotel is full.
Kylie stands her ground and next thing we have a discount of $40 plus they promise to bring a foldaway cot! What a hoot. There is already no room in our room so the additional of a foldaway cot will be interesting to say the least. But we do have a great view of – yep – the car park.
In the photo our room is about half way along the bottom row of windows. On the up side, we also have a view of the Seattle Tower when you get on the floor and stick your face up against the glass and look skyward. We can even take a photo if we open the window the restricted 6 inches and hold the camera out. Hopefully no-one will be jogging along the lane way and grab the camera as you are doing this! After settling in we take off to explore the city!
We plan on doing the Seattle Underground Tour which sounds interesting. Seattle was practically burnt to the ground in the Great Fire of 1889 and the new city was built over the top of the ruins – hence the old city being underground. 
We start to walk to Pioneer Square but decide that it is too far so we get on a bus and sit and sit until we are told it has broken down but will be fixed soon. WRONG. We are now told it is not going anywhere so off we get and onto another bus and a taxi and finally arrive at the place at a quarter past 4 – only to find that the time we wanted, 5pm, has been booked out.
In hindsight we should have purchased these tickets online before we left but decided that we did not want to be restricted to a time frame in case we did not make it. The next available time is 7pm so we decide to give it a miss and walk around here for a while.
There is a huge totem pole in the square and of course I get set up to take a photo and the customary tourists decide to walk right in front and stand there. How close did she want to get?
Maybe I could have politely suggested that she sit on the top of the thing!! This is a pretty place that is very ‘villagey’ if there is such a word but I think all the action must be happening further back up the town so we venture forth to Pike Place where there are some markets and more things of interest. 
It is just our luck that by the time we get there a lot of the stalls are nearly finished for the day. I do however see the ‘Flying Fish’ at the Pike Place Fish Market. It is a real hoot.
When someone purchases a fish it gets tossed all around the place before being wrapped up and given to the customer.
There is one stall there that sells all flavours of honey. Kylie bought me some Amaretto honey here once and it tasted wonderful so I go in search and am lucky to find what I want. That will be something else to have on my toast or muffins of a morning. It is getting late and the markets are now closing so we go for coffee at Starbucks just across the road. 
This is the original Starbucks with the original logo which is a topless mermaid. But the people in the good old US took offence to seeing that, so redesigned it to make her look more of a lady and covered up the boobs! The logo has changed in every shop except in Seattle.
The place is packed and it has started to drizzle rain again so we head on inside to make our purchases. I must admit, the coffee is great.
Next stop is a very small but well stocked t-shirt place as Kylie wants to get another night shirt but she cannot find anything she likes and I don’t buy anything so we have saved some money! They have shirts of every description – except for the Hairy Otter one I saw in Monterey on the last trip. Oh well.
After more meandering we head off to the Space Needle. There is to be a concert in the nearby area tonight – not the best weather – and Kylie discovers it is Katy Perry. I ask who? But K & T know who she is and I suppose that is all that matters.
So it’s off to the Space Needle to get our tickets, $16 per person and we are directed to the lifts by way of a railed walkway that goes up and around. The lift arrives and it is on the outside of the building! Kylie is not impressed and grabs hold of Tyler as she starts to go weak at the knees. I am at the front with my nose practically against the glass door.
Certainly gets the heart going but the views are incredible as we head towards the sky. Pity it is such a lousy day.
Arriving at the top the views are breath-taking so venturing outside for a better look we nearly get blown off the thing. It is blowing a gale and it is cold (because we did not bring our jackets) however the views of Elliott Bay and Puget Sound despite the weather are great and make for some good photo opportunities although it is hard to keep the camera still the wind is that strong.
I am also glad that around the viewing platform are rungs of heavy wire that will stop us from being blown over the side. This would be a great place if the weather was nice, oh well, what can you do?
After a walk around the top we head for the shelter of inside because now it has decided to rain – and I do mean RAIN! We wait for the torrent to subside before we enter the outside lifts for our journey down to the exit where – colour me surprised – you have to go through the souvenir store to get out. A fridge magnet and some postcards later we emerge to investigate Seattle further.
We see the Experience Music Project which is supposed to be sacred ground for music lovers. It was built as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and contains a huge range of music memorabilia – but it is not on our list today so we press on.
I did get a photo of it from atop the needle. Our hotel is quite a distance from everything so after walking around for quite some time we decide on dinner at Subway.
As it turned out this proved to be a ‘lowlight’ of the night. Picture this – Seattle 2009 – sitting in a booth at Subway and a young lady who obviously enjoys the highs and lows of the drug scene enters and heads towards the ladies rest room. The people behind the counter just look at her and do not bat an eyelid. Obviously a regular customer!
We must have sat there for another 30 minutes or so finishing our meal and she has not emerged so we decide it is time to leave. Do hope she was OK. Just another day in paradise.
Back to the hotel and our foldaway bed arrives. Talk about a giggle. Kylie decides to sleep in it and after much discussion on where to put it there is only one place it will fit and that is at the foot of our beds so to get to the bathroom I have to climb over K & T’s beds without ending up in them.
We laugh and laugh and it’s a wonder that Kylie doesn’t launch herself out the window. I did take photos but this is not the place to display them. Kylie is in her straight-jacket bed and as we settle down for the evening I can’t help but emit a giggle every now and again. We soon fall asleep knowing that we enter the land of the Maple Leaf tomorrow!
Highlight of the day: the lift at the Space Needle!