We left Coeur d'Alene and cruised 30 mile on I-90 to Spokane, a major, inviting looking city I wish we had had time to explore. After stopping at the YMCA for a swim and a mocha, we continued on I-90 through the Yakima Valley and over the Cascade Mountains via Snoqualmie Pass. What a scenic drive. We stopped at the Snoqualmie Pass rest area to find free coffee and cookies waiting for us. Also all the rest areas we stopped at in the state of Washington had free Wi-Fi. What a progressive state! There was snow on the mountains. Here are a few pictures of our drive to Seattle. Remember you can click on any picture to see a larger version.
Finally, we're in Seattle. We settled into our hotel room at the Sixth Street Hotel disappointed to find no free internet access for the first time on our trip. The advantage was that there was a pretty good restaurant in our hotel which saved us from having to go out in the rainy weather. In Seattle there's a Starbucks on every street corner and sometimes there's one mid-block too.
The next day Judy wanted to go to the Rosalie Whyel Doll Museum in Bellevue. While Judy perused the dolls, I took some pictures outdoors.
Later that day we went to Pike Place Market, Seattle's main tourist attraction, where they throw and catch the fish. We weren't too impressed. We didn't actually see them throw any fish, and there were too many tourists there. So we walked down the street and had dinner at McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurant. We'd been to one in San Francisco last year and the food was as good this year.
The next day Judy wanted to rest in the hotel room while I checked out some of the downtown Seattle attractions. My first stop was at the brand new Seattle Public Library, an impressive, unorthodox structure designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas built in 2004. Of course they have free internet accesss on their computers or your laptop and a coffee bar right in the library. I actually did a blog entry from there, the one on Einstein. This is actually the coolest and most impressive library I've ever been in except perhaps for the one in Paris, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. Check out the pictures. The geometrical patterns are fantastic!
After I checked out the library I went to the Seattle Art Museum. The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) just opened its new expanded version this year. It has been in the same location since 1991 in a high rise and as time goes by it has taken over more floors of the high rise. It still has room for expansion as it owns the four floors located directly above it. The rest of the building is owned by WaMu.
The above photo is the cafe at the art museum. After I toured SAM (no photos were allowed), I headed for the monorail station for the ride to Seattle Center where the space needle is located and site of the World's Fair in 1962.
Finally, it was time to head back downtown on the monorail.
The next day we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island.
We could barely see Mt. Rainier through the haze. Mt. Rainier is an active volcano about 50 miles from Seattle, and on this day, for the first time in Seattle, the weather was not rainier.
On the trip back to Seattle the sun came out. I couldn't resist snapping a few more pictures of the Seattle skyline.
Here's a few other shots taken around town. For the complete Seattle picture album, click here.
The next day, October 9, 2007, Judy and I headed for the SeaTac Airport. We had one more adventure in store - the Seattle Transit Tunnel. Seattle busses are free downtown so we boarded a bus outside our hotel which dropped us off at the entrance to the Seattle Transit Tunnel, an underground transit system for busses. Here we picked up the bus for SeaTac for the outrageous fare of $1.35 apiece, I think it was. In 2009 they will have both busses and light rail utilizing the tunnel, the only underground transit system in the US which will be shared by both bus and rail. The rail connection will then link downtown with SeaTac Airport.
Judy was tired and couldn't wait to get home. After we got through security at the airport, she perked up and we had an uneventful (the best kind) flight to San Diego, just a short hop on Alaskan Airlines. They served Seattle's Best coffee on the plane, a definite plus.
