It has been a wonderful week of vacation in the Pacific Northwest. I had expectations that the region would be beautiful, and it has far exceeded those expectations. I chose the area because of the proximity of mountains and beaches, with major urban centers to visit. And Major League Baseball! A prime requirement for me on vacation.
If you remember your parents inviting over all their friends to view slides of their vacations, you might be inclined to skip this post. But I think you will find some of the pictures very weather relevant!
We arrived in Seattle last Friday night and went immediately to Elliott’s, one of the city’s best seafood restaurants, located directly on Elliott Bay It lived up to its advance billing. We had a delightful English waiter and delicious oysters and halibut. We checked in to the Silver Cloud Hotel, which is directly across the street from Safeco Field.
We were up early on Saturday morning to make the trek up to Everett to tour the Boeing Assembly plant. Everett is where the 777 and the new 787 aircraft is being built. That was an amazing place. The assembly building is the largest building on Earth by volume. It could hold 74 football fields! After the tour was complete, we ate lunch at a restaurant right on the Puget Sound, with spectacular views of the Cascade Mountains and the water. Then we headed to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners play the Nationals. The two worst teams in baseball right now, but it was still major league baseball.
Sunday morning, we rose early and walked to the historic Pioneer Square district where we had coffee and pastries to fortify us for a grand tour of Seattle’s downtown on foot, including a great bookstore, the Space Needle, the Experience Music Project and a spectacular public library. We then walked down to the famed Pike Street Market. The marketplace is a fabulous frenzy of people, seafood, produce, flowers and almost everything else you can imagine. The original Starbucks coffeehouse is there. And it is poised above Elliott Bay, with stunning views of cruise ships, water and mountains.
We sought out The Pink Door, an incredible Italian restaurant in an alley just above the Public Market. There was a spectacular deck with views of the mountains and bays, but since we didn’t have reservations, we were relegated to the dining room. The food was just as good. A nice walk back to the hotel worked off the big dinner.
Monday morning, it was off to Mount Rainier. The mountain grew in our windshield as we headed south and then east. In the distance, it seemed to hover above the horizon, as the base was completely shrouded in a stratus layer.
We entered Mt. Rainier National Park at its southwest entrance, otherwise known as the Nisqualy Entrance. The trip took several hours, as we had to stop at the rustic National Park Inn for lunch and then at nearly every other viewing area or waypoint. The fact that Rainier is an active volcano is not lost on you as you see signs of previous eruptions and various outbursts from the mountain that have happened in our lifetime.
Here are pictures from the trip…with captions
TOMORROW…Mount St. Helens and the Oregon Coast
