Tour of the Pacific Northwest: Seattle

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Vancouver but, after 3.5 days, it was time to move on. We headed on down to Vancouver's Pacific Central Station to catch the Amtrak train that would take us to Seattle:

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We arrived in Seattle around 9:30pm. I neglected, unfortunately, to take a photo of the scenery as the train crossed the border into the US. It was pretty cool. Lots of flags. And we had an on-train visit from Homeland Security. In any case, we had looked at some maps before arriving and came to the conclusion that we could just walk the 6 or so blocks to our hotel from the train station. What we failed to take into account is that Seattle is extraordinarily hilly, particularly for people who are from the VERY FLAT midwest. Here is the main entrance to our hotel:

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It's hard to take pictures of hills, but you get the idea. HILLY.

In the end we made it, despite the hills, and settled in for a well deserved night's sleep. As with Vancouver, we crammed a lot into 3.5 days, so here are some photo highlights:

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JFK's Air Force One at the Museum of Flight/Boeing Field.

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The view from our seats at SafeCo Field for the Mariners vs. Cubs.

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Amazing glass sculpture at the Chihuly Garden & Glass Museum (next to the Space Needle).

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A view of the Space Needle from Seattle's tallest building. (P.S. - It's cheaper and better!)

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Gas Works Park, on Lake Union.

There was so, so much more but I think that's probably enough photos. We also reconnected with one of my long-lost high school tennis team buddies. Jessica now makes her home in Seattle and we were able to arrange a meet-up via Facebook. It was great to catch up!

More yet to come - Portland was our third and final stop. But I think I'll save that for another day. It is November, after all.

P.S. - The cats really missed us while we were gone:

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Even if they probably did spend most of their time sleeping in these exact spots.

Comments

Mom said…
Excellent trip monologue and photos. I'd love to visit the Chihuly Garden & Glass Museum. I saw a representative sampling of his work at the MIA a few years ago. Gorgeous.
Santini said…
Meaty post! Profligate use of photos for so early in the month. I like the Gas Works Park best, I think.

Auckland is another city where a six block walk can be nigh on to impossible because of the long steep, steep hills.