We visited Seattle in two parts. Part one with Carmen, Cole, Dawson and Brendan and part two by ourselves at the end of our vacation. As the title indicates, this entry is for part one.
We were met at the train station by Carmen and the boys. Todd, unfortunately for us had to work so he could not join us. Carmen had found a parking space some distance from the station so rather than lug all our bags I remained at the station with the boys and Dave and Carmen went to bring the car around. They had been visiting friends 'on the coast' as they say which means in Vancover compared to where they live (Kamploops) which is farther north and east. So they had a fair amount of bags themselves. But we managed to fit everything and all the people in the van.
Next stop the Quality Inn in downtown Seattle. I had printed a map from the hotel to the Safeco Field for the baseball game for that evening and from the hotel to the car rental for the next morning. I don't know why, but I didn't print directions from the station to the hotel. So we had to fudge from the two maps we had. I'm not sure having a map would have helped. Construction and strange direction of the roads caused us to circle the hotel several times before finally getting there. (A drill that was repeated each time we returned to it). Despite that the hotel was acceptable and in a good location. We were early but the clerk said they had one of our rooms ready and we could all go there until the other was ready. So we went up, changed our clothes and headed for the indoor pool and hot tub. After decompressing there for a bit we changed back to street clothes and headed out to walk the streets of Seattle. We had tickets for the Seattle Mariners - Oakland A's at 7:00 p.m. so there was plenty of time to wander.
The hotel was just a few blocks from the Space Needle. We headed that way, stopping at a corner cafe for sandwiches and drinks first. We took some pictures near the Needle and then walked down to the waterfront. We watched the ferries and enjoyed the view. As we continued down the street we came across a mime/juggler. He was frozen on soapbox. "Oooh look at that," one of us said. Brendan (5) took the bait and reached up to touch the mime's hand and was subsequently scared into fits of laughter as the mime reached out and grabbed him. Oh the times you wish the camera had been ready (it wasn't). The mime proceeded to play with the boys tricking them with juggling and other stunts. It was adorable and everyone had a great time. Dave tipped him and we went on our way.
We took pictures at Pike Place Market and watched them throw the fish. We figured out there was a bus that would take us back closer to the needle where we could walk the rest of the way back to the car. We had walked a fair distance from where we started and it was almost all down hill. Although before we were done we had walked back up the hill and down again. In my head I was singing "The Noble Duke of York".
I was suprised at the hills. I always pictured Seattle as flat. It's on the water afterall. But there are very steep hills from downtown to the waterfront. It's a real workout. Friends of mine ran in the Seattle Marathon at the end of June. I'm going to have to find out where they ran.
So next we were on to the baseball game. On Wednesdays in 2009 the Mariners featured family 4 packs for tickets. This included 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 drinks. We purchased t 4 packs originally thinking we would be a total of 7 so there would be one extra. Since Todd couldn't come we had two extra but the pricing was such that we still saved a bundle over buying tickets separately and food separately. I forget the numbers but it the savings was very significant. Plus we had two extra drinks and two extra hotdogs which did not go to waste.
Dave was able to get is Seattle Mariners hat. For those of you who don't know, each year for his birthday we travel to a new stadium where he collects a team hat. His goal is to have a hat from every team. The stadium is nice but was only about 40% full. This was so strange to Dave and I since we are used to sold out crowds at Citizens Bank Park. The boys had all brought gloves although we were too high up really to catch anything. The Mariners won.
On the train a man who found out we were going to the game told us a joke that he said was common among Seattle locals. What do the Mariners and Michael Jackson have in common? Answer: They both wear one glove for no apparent reason. (ugh!)
We arrived back at the hotel after 11pm. Right to bed for everyone with plans to get up early, have breakfast courtesy of the hotel and head to Vancouver. Dave and I set our alarm for 7 figuring we'd get breakfast early and pick up our rental car and come back for Carmen and the boys. We failed to tell Carmen that plan though and at 6:45 there was a knock on our door and three little boys came in dressed and ready to go! LOL So we hurried to get ready and went to breakfast together.
We picked up our rental car, a Toyota Camry and started our caravan to Vancouver, BC.
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