Part 1 - Seattle

Greetings from our North America trip 2012.

We have had excellent, sunny, blue sky weather all of our time in Seattle. Very fortunate, in view of the city's reputation for constant rain (like Melbourne).

We had a good flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles with VAustralia, then to Seattle with Alaska Airlines.

In Seattle we stayed in the Worldmark timeshare apartments, well located in the downtown area, within walking distance of attractions. On day 1 we discovered President Obama was giving a talk at the Paramount theatre across the road next day, so then the streets were blocked off. But quite a jolly party atmosphere anyway. He stayed in the Paramount Hotel nearby.

The first night we celebrated our wedding anniversary (a few days late) at Elliott's Oyster Bar on the waterfront. We had excellent crab cakes (local delicacy), salmon and halibut, and a nice local sparkling wine. The waterfront has many seafood restaurants and souvenir shops. See Gail dining at Elliott's and outside another waterfront restaurant.

Pike Place Market is at the waterfront also, and is a bustling, colourful collection of shops and stalls selling fresh seafood, fruit, vegetables, unique local products, antiques, souvenirs and much else. Pics below show the market sign high above the market rooftop, and views of market activity. There is also a pic of the famous "Gum Wall" (as in chewing gum).

The original Starbucks coffee shop is in Pike Place, where the coffee craze is said to have started. See pic below. There seems to be a Starbucks in every block of Seattle.

The Seattle Space Needle was built for the 1962 World Fair. It is a famous feature of the city skyline. We went up to the observation desk for the superb views of the city and surrounding snow-capped mountains. Pics below show the Space Needle and a view from its top deck.

The interesting Museum of Flight is a 30min drive out of Seattle, at Boeing Field (an airport). It includes the Red Barn, the original Boeing manufacturing building. See pic below.

Inside the museum are models of early flying machines, actual examples of historical aircraft, including famous ones from World wars 1 and 2. Pics show an early glider, Gail in the cockpit of a Hornet fighter, the main gallery, an aerocar (red flying car) and a World War 2 fighter with decorative paintwork.

In the outside airpark we saw a British Airways Concorde and went into a former Air Force One plane used by US presidents between 1959 and 1996. See pics below.

Pioneer Square is the oldest permanently inhabited area of Seattle. In the pop world it is notable as the place where Nirvana first performed. See pics below of a Victorian building on the square and a bust of Chief Seattle, who gave his name to the city of Seattle.

In Pioneer Square we went on the Underground Tour, a 90min humorous historic walk beneath Seattle's sidewalks. After the great 1889 Seattle fire, the city was rebuilt on the ruins at a higher level, thus creating the informal tunnels which the tour follows. This also helped alleviate the flooding and drainage problems which the city had experienced since its beginning. Pics below show our colourful guide and remains of a former shopfront.

On one of our many fine, sunny days in Seattle, we took a ferry trip to Bainbridge Island. The main street of the town of Winslow is lined with craft shops and cafes (similar to Montville, for instance). The Saturday market was in progress, and emphasises local, fresh, organic produce and crafts. Pics below show Bainbridge Island from the approaching ferry, the market, a craft shop and the marina.

We had excellent views of Seattle from the ferry, the Space Needle and snow covered Mt Rainier. See pics below.

Seattle was good for shopping - a wider range of goods and cheaper prices than in Australia. For instance, cosmetics at one third the Australian price. Gail was busy shopping at Macy's one day sale. See pic of Macy's below.

Next stop Vancouver Island.