Pike Place, Seattle, WA

Saturday 9/8/2012

Our next day trip while in Sequim was to take a ferry to Seattle, WA. We had to drive to Bainbridge Island to catch the ferry. It was 60 miles to get to Bainbridge Island, and it took about 1 1/2 hours to get there. We found parking, and as we were walking to the terminal, Joe yelled, " The ferry is getting ready to leave"! He started to run to the terminal and then up the ramp. I ran, then walked fast, then ran again. I was loaded down with my back pack, while Joe likes to go light weight, and carried nothing. We just made it on board, as the gate keeper closed the gate behind us. We would have had to wait for another 55 minutes for the next ferry, if we missed it.

 

Sailboats out on Puget Sound.

Seattle looked a bit gloomy.

There went the other ferry heading for Bainbridge Island.

Getting closer.

Looking north of Seattle.

Looking north of Seattle at a marina.

Seattle is cloudy 201 days of the year.

Blue skies peaked out once in a while, but mostly cloudy on our 30 minute ride to Seattle.

Seattle has a population of 600,000 people and 3.4 million in the metropolis area.

Seattle has mild wet winters and warm dry summers.

We never made it to the Space Needle. I guess that will have to be on our bucket list also.

I read on wikipedia that Seattle's voters are majority Democratic, and it has consistently reported to have the highest atheism status in America.





Seattle's Great Wheel, one of the largest ferry's wheel in the United States.

A cruise ship at the Seattle downtown cruise terminal.

Most recently Seattle has become the hub for the "green" industry and a model for sustainable development.

As we get off the ferry, we looked back to see all the cars getting on or off the ship.

We walked up Seattle's waterfront, past Pier 56 Elliott's Oyster House. Joe peered at the menu and prices.

Miners Landing in downtown Seattle.

Joe holding up the ferry's wheel.

We find Pike Street and cross the road.

 

We leave the waterfront and head towards Pike's Place.

 

A few vendors were along this walkway before climbing all the stairs to Pike's Place.After climbing all these stairs we found an elevator that takes us another 3 floors up. Shows how steep Seattle is.

A giant piggy bank. I wonder how much change it can hold?

At Pikes Place we find you can buy a bouquet of flowers for $3,

or get fresh fish!

This guy on the streets had his African Grey doing tricks for passer by's. Here his bird is playing dead.

It was a very cute and talented bird!

Fresh fruits and vegetables galore. What I was really looking for was Dr. McDreamy, the neurosurgeon from Seattle Grace.

Pepper wreaths and decorations for your kitchen. Just pull one out when ready to cook.

Next to Pike's Place was a park with these three people acting as statue's to get people's attention to sign a petition.

This guy was just being a statue for a tips.

View from the park toward Bainbridge Island.

Looking south toward the shipping area.

Seattle has the 8th largest port in the United States in terms of container capacity.

We walked back across the street to Pike Place again.  Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington, United States. The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States.

Seattle is very hilly like San Francisco. It has seven neighborhoods on hills.



I went into one Greek restaurant and wanted to buy something but there were only two people working and their organizational system was not good, and it was taking forever to fill someones order, so I gave up.

Joe spotted a place with a long line of people, and said he was going to try what everyone was coming out the door with. The line went very fast.



Piroshky makes Russian pastries. They are different ingredients in each pastry. I wanted the one with salmon and lox, but Joe wanted one that had egg, ham and cheese. We shared one and it was yummy!



After our snack we watch this guy preform card tricks.



He had a very interesting hair cut.

We went looking for the fish throwing place that we had been told about from previous travelers.

We found it where there was crowds of people.

When you hear the market men start yelling something, it was time to look up and take a picture. All my pictures were blurry, so you will have to use your imagination. A worker throws a large fish across the way to another worker.

A wedding couple at Pike's Place? Did they forget to order flowers?

As we continued to wander Joe found another snack at Jack's Fish Spot.

Their clam chowder was thin but bursting with flavor. I would buy it again. Yum!

View of the inside and outside of Pike's Place Market. I made another attempt to get some food at the Greek place, that I had stopped at earlier. A young lady who worked there got two of the Greek treats I wanted, but then walked away to help someone else. I still wanted to order some food, and she hadn't even asked me to pay for the sweets Mean while the older women was helping someone else. I waited, and then the young girl finished up on the other custome. She didn't come back to me. She just went over to do something else. After about 10 minutes I got so frustrated by not being acknowledged one way or another. I put my money on the counter for my sweets and walked out. They need a better system, because they lost my money and I wonder how many other people's money.

We decided it was time to head back to the ferry. Half way back, we looked at the ferry schedule and decided we were going to have to hurry to make the next one. I walked as fast as I could to get to the ferry. The royal jelly I have been taking has really been helping with my energy levels. It sure helped that day.

We got there, got our tickets, and got in line. They open the doors and we started to board just as we got in line.

Almost back to Bainbridge Island.

Homes on Bainbridge Island.

A point on Bainbridge Island with Seattle coastline in the background.

The ferry cost was $12  per person round trip. Pretty good deal!

Bikes get off first, then motorcycles, then cars. The walk on's, like us, take a upper ramp to the streets.

Bainbridge Island has a  population of 23,000 and is the name of the town and island.

The couple we met while on our ferry ride to Victoria, British Columbia live in Poulsbo, WA. They told us we would be going through their town when in route to the ferry to Seattle. They told us that their town had been established by a Norwegian immigrant . My grandmother was a Norwegian, and served Norwegian meals at Christmas. This is a picture of Poulsbo. We made a stop to Poulsbo on our way home. You can see the Lutheran Church on the hill. Norwegians, like my grandmother was, are strong Lutheran's.

The town had a very cute Scandinatian apperance.

Unfortunately, it was after five and most of the shops were closed.

I stopped at Sluys' Bakery.

I was told that they had some Norwegian pastries. The only Norwegian pastries that they had, were Kringle's. I bought 2 of them, but they were not very good. Like always, food is never as good as what your family makes with Love!

A wall in town, had this viking murul, true to it's history.

This was a cute alley that had been painted, giving it an inviting appearance.

Poulsbo has a population of 9,000 people.

I found this greenhouse for sale along the street. I took a flyer about it.

There are 6 different sizes of the Little Greenhouse.  I would like one of these when we settle down. The shipping cost though would be way too much. If interested in this product, the phone number is 360-710-1510.

Our drive back home took us up to an elevation of 627 feet, before we head back down to Sequim. We got home just before dark. We had a good time in Seattle, but I never ran into Dr. McDreamy, so I was a little bummed!