Day 5 - Seattle Downtown

Today was supposed to be pnly slightly adventurous. We had planned for a few things, but it was supposed to be one of those 'take it easy' sort of days. We ate breakfast at the hotel, jumped into the van, and took the George Washington down towards Pike Place Market. We figured it would be cheaper to park down there and walk than it would be to take public transit for the five of us. We were right. We had some fun finding the right exit, but we got there in plenty of time for early bird parking. In fact, we drove right through the market on our way to the parkade. It was pretty cool. But we were glad we chose to go in the morning rather than later in the day.

We were there as shopkeepers were just opening their stores and displaying their merchandise. The flowers smelled great, and then BAM! - You'd catch a whiff of fish. But after tasting a sample of smoked salmon at the beginning of the day, I had a craving for more. In fact, I still have one now that I think about it. There was so much going on there. When the kids got hungry, we brought them to Beechers Cheese where they had the best Mac and Cheese in the world, preservative- and additive-free I might add. We got to watch them making the cheese even.

After that, we took the van over to the Space Needle where a valet tried to commandeer it, but I fought him off with a kind glance and a wave as I turned to leave the lot. We walked a little further and saw the International Fountain spray water as music played. The kids didn't get very close or very wet, but we all thought it was pretty cool. Then we spent some time admiring the Space Needle and walked around the gift shop below it.

It was only 2:15 PM when we left there, but that was all we had planned for the day. We all still had energy left, so we drove to the Ballard Locks to watch the ships come and go in and out of Seattle. The locks filled so quickly! We were lucky enough to see a larger boat come through and a number of smaller boats. We also watched the Chinook and Sockeye salmon fight their way upstream through the ladders built for them into the lock system. If you ask the kids and Faith about it, they could tell you all kinds of interesting information about it. Then we walked around the gardens near the locks. By this time, everyone's feet and legs were sore, and we thought we ought to eat some supper.

After fish and chips got shot down, I suggested we order in pizza to our hotel room. I wished now that we had. Instead, we thought it would be best to sit down at a restaurant so that we wouldn't be cooped up in the hotel room for any longer than necessary. We looked up the Pizza Hut and drove several blocks to get there only to realize that it was nothing more than a kitchen with an order desk. So we had to sit and wait 15-20 minutes for our pizza. This flustered us a bit.

 So I ordered and took the family out of the most awkward parking lot in the world and down some pretty old streets with miniature traffic circles to a park. Did I mention that we dealt with a bit of attitude from hungry, tired kids? After playing, we circled back, took the pizza to the hotel, realized that in our state of shock that we hadn't ordered enough food. So we fed the kids (and I ate a bit), sent them to bed, and I went out to Taco Bell for us.

I didn't mention that in the middle of all of this we hit Trader Joe's and saw Mars Hill Church just for kicks and giggles. All in all, an adventurous day but - what will we do tomorrow?

- Mark