Seattle, Pike Place Market, The Museum of Flight

Dear Friend,
This is the last page of the journal about our driving trip from San Francisco to Seattle. so naturally we are in Seattle. the big spurprise for us was how much fun the Pike Place Market was. Pike Place Market has a carefree, come-have-fun atmosphere. It is an open-air celebration of fresh regional fruits and vegetables, seasonal flowers, herbs, seafood, spices, cheeses, and hand-crafted work by artisans. There are a couple of hundred shops including ones that sell imported groceries, clothing shops, jewelry shops, import shops with Russian handicrafts and of course more. When you’re hungry you can choose from fine restaurants and eateries--many with views of ferry and freighter traffic on Elliott Bay. It is an old nine-acre, multi-building community with cracked walkways and uneven cobblestone streets, the scent of lilies mingles with crabs and orange spiced teas, street musicians compete with "free sample!" vendors, and many languages can be heard from the nine million visitors who come to Pike Place Market yearly. This was a lot of fun for us – as you can tell.
We enjoyed the view of Seattle from the top of the Space Needle – about 600 feet above the city. We enjoyed the short cruise we took from the bay to Lake Union through the locks. We all found that fascinating.
Most of what we did in Seattle was exactly what the guide books talk about and we enjoyed it all. Occasionally we split up and spend a day separately on trips to accommodate our scattered interests. One day I went to the Seattle Museum of Art to see their Asian collection and my husband and son went to the Museum of Flight. We all had a good time. They dropped me at the museum and when I finished my tour, I took a cab back to the motel. I read and napped and was glad for some down time all by myself. I will tell you just a tiny bit about each, because you can read about them online and in Frommer’s and Fodor’s guide books. Your library probably has them and if not your bookstore surely does.

The museum I went to was not the Asian Art Museum at Pioneer Park but the downtown Seattle Art Museum. I didn’t have time to do both. I spent a couple of hours there looking at the Asian collection. The guys loved the Museum of Flight. I think they have something like 150 planes. That night they went to a Seattle Seahawks baseball game and I repacked the bags and got ready for the flight home. Our dog had become ill a few days before and needed our attention so we changed our plans and got the last 3 seats on the redeye flight home. I can promise you that if you get the last three seats on a full plane those seats will back up to the bulkhead and you will not be able to recline. I will also tell you that the old, golden yellow lab that hadn’t walked for four days due to her sudden illness got up and walked when she saw us. We were the medicine she needed.
I need to tell you too that these pictures today aren't mine. I got these from the www.webshots.com community photo pool. It is legal to use those photos. You can see these and hundreds more by going to that web site and doing a search for "Pike Place Market," or the "Museum of Flight" or even just "Seattle."
Have fun in Seattle and if you want to share something about Seattle that you liked, leave it in the comment area for all to read. Thanks for coming.

Take care,

Maggiegladyoucame