Seattle

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The day started out with a GREAT breakfast at our Comfort Inn & Suites in Spokane. They had a large selection of hot and cold items including made to order omelettes and four staff running around keeping everything full and the place clean. In Canada, we're lucky if one employee glances into the room once. Don't know how they do it here other than perhaps paying the staff a lot less.



It was a warm and sunny day so the roof was down all the way to Seattle. I have never driven this route before so was really surprised at the changing terrain, from evergreen forests to semi-desert to farming. We stopped at a great viewpoint with paved trails all around the cliff-side on the Columbia River, just before crossing the bridge. Then it was over the Snoqualmie Pass into the mountains. Unfortunately, an accident on the pass caused us to crawl along stop-and-go for a long time but we eventually made it into Seattle around 2pm.



My darn Tom Tom GPS got confused coming into the city and kept thinking we were on a different street than we actually were. Part of the problem was streets crossing over us so it was never sure which one we were on. But we eventually made it to the Travelodge, just two blocks from the Space Needle and another coupon from www.hotelcoupons.com got us a great deal. Luckily hotel business is slowing down at the end of summer so these walk-in only deals are working so far.



We headed out on a long walk downtown along the waterfront then into Pike Place Market. We had a great seafood supper at the Pike Place Bar & Grill then walked back to the Space Needle. $40 got the two of us up the elevator (this is the reduced rate after 6pm) and the view was well worth it. I got a few shots of the scenery and they gave us a free photo too.

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Photos

Columbia River
Great viewpoint area just before the I-90 crosses the river.

Columbia River viewpoint
A rare photo of the photographer himself.