Pre-Cruise Seattle Day 2

There’s nothing stamping related today to share. For those that want to read on about our day here in Seattle, sit a spell! Tomorrow we board the cruise ship to Alaska and there might be some stamping things after our meet and greet in the evening.

I have to say, Seattle is a hummin’ place! There seems to be more people walking around than driving. It’s about 6:00 pm here and with Matt taking a snooze behind me and the windows open, I hear lots of commotion outside our hotel. The breeze is fabulous here!

This morning: Matt, Jan, Darrell and I woke up early to head down to Pike’s Market for a good bagel breakfast. Great Tully’s coffee! Strolled thru the market, smelling flowers and fish!

Speaking of fish, the FISH throwing guys were a blast and if you haven’t seen their motivational video of how they got famous, you can watch a clip here. Just a bunch of guys who wanted to bring more fun into work so they started throwing fish to eachother and interacting with customers in a whole new way!

Pike Place Market’s unofficial mascot, Rachel, a bronze cast piggy bank that weighs 550 pounds, has been located since 1986. Rachel was designed by local artist Georgia Gerber and modeled after a pig (also named Rachel) that lived on Whidbey Island and was the 1977 Island County prize-winner. Rachel receives roughly US$6,000–$9,000 annually in just about every type of world currency. (and I did my part!)

Jan and I saying hello to Rachel the Pig

After we left the market, we took the local transit to a Japanese Garden located within the Washington Park Arboretum. A 3 1/2 acre formal garden designed and constructed under the supervision of world-renowned Japanese garden designer Juki Iida in 1960. Koi fish, bridges and tons of plants and trees I cannot pronounce the names of – breathtaking!

: Jan ‘almost’ walking on water!

Yeah, pretty much just want to live here. I took way too many pictures so I’ll just stop here.

So then we took another ride to the Space Needle to ride up to the top and have lunch. Really amazing views as I had an incredible salmon lunch:

605 feet in the air and while we were rotating during our lunch, this was one shot from the table.

The 360 observation deck was amazing and the weather was perfect!

Then after that, full and happy, we walked over to EMP museum. Matt being a drummer and lover of all music, this place seemed like it would be fun so we took a shot. Lots of interactive booths with different instruments to play, Nirvana exhibit, Hendrix, and some other displays.