Sleeping (and Sightseeing) In Seattle

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Sharon survived sleeping in Seattle. Despite her initial uneasiness with the area we found ourselves, and, how did she put it, “Didn’t you find the desk clerk kind of creepy?” Well, okay, he did have that Norman Bates thing going on. Initially it would not have taken much to convince her to brave another taxi ride to find another place to stay; but, once we were back in the room to eat our Jack-in-the-Box burgers, she settled in with the internet. The tour we’d planned for tomorrow doesn’t pick up from hotels in “this part of town”; but, Sharon found that the bus-line to downtown picks up right across the street from us. So we had a plan. We were at the bus stop early. Sharon’s practicing what the priests sermonize about being too judgmental was sorely put to the test by some of the characters that soon joined us at the bus stop. One thin man with stringy hair was quite fidgety, and at one point slithered over and offered to sell me two bus tickets for $5. I declined, and he slithered away. I can just see myself trying to board the bus with a couple of out of date transfer stubs.

The bus did come and took us downtown. At first it was standing room only. Sharon was able to find a seat after the second stop; and, quite a few people got off at the third stop. We were a couple hours early and easily found the tour pickup point by the famous Pike Street Market. We didn’t see the gum wall; but, we did see them tossing fish at the fish monger up front. And we saw “the pig”, a large bronze piggy bank for charity. There were people getting their picture taken sitting on the pig. Across the street was a Starbucks. I got a chocolate chip cookie, a croissant, and a mocha Frappuccino for my breakfast; while, Sharon got a Sprite and perhaps her favorite treat of our four-week adventure so far: a s’mores tart (graham cracker crust under a layer of chocolate and a large marshmallow topper about two and one-half inches in diameter). They heated it for her so it was nice and gooey and the marshmallow showed browning from the heat. I think this one treat made two nights stay in our Seattle hovel all worthwhile for her. We met up with our tour guide from “Shutter Tours”. He was very enthusiastic and a very engaging speaker who easily told stories while driving. There were 14 of us on the tour and the bus/van was packed. Our guide also have camera technique and photo shot opportunity hints at the various stops that we would make. This was the first time Sharon had heard of the “Rule of Thirds” when composing a picture. If you imagine a Tic-Tac-Toe grid, it is best to concentrate the subject of your picture on any of the intersection points with the subject or action looking or moving into the open space.

Today we had nearly cloudless blue skies with a truly impressive view of Mount Rainier. Our first stop was at Snoqualmie Falls Park. We were told that this two hundred a forty something foot falls is significantly higher than Niagara Falls (by about one hundred feet). This was an impressive falls; but, obviously nowhere near as wide as Niagara. Perhaps because of how wide Niagara is and how much water is falling over those falls, it makes it seem taller than it actually is. It just didn’t seem to us that this falls was that much taller than Niagara (and we visited Niagara Falls less than one year ago). We took some pictures and then moved on to see “The Freemont Troll”. The lady seated across the aisle from me was really looking forward to this part of the tour. The city had gotten a small windfall from a “support the arts” fund and decided they would sponsor and artist’s competition for a work to put under a bridge to hopefully clean up that spot in an otherwise nice neighborhood. Four finalists were selected from nearly 2,500 entrants to make a one-fourth scale paper Mache model of their proposed work, and the winner was the troll. I later commiserated with the lady next to me on the bus, who was clearly disillusioned by the troll, “If this was the winner, imagine what the other three must have looked like!” The troll is a big concrete gray head with bulging eyes, one of them a shiny aluminum color who is hunched on its arms and under one of his hands is a crushed Volkswagen (if you look close, you can make out that it is a real Volkswagen). People come here to climb on the troll, and get on top of the troll and get their picture taken. From top to bottom the troll must be about thirty feet high. Sharon appreciated the troll more than I did, I think because it gave her a chance to take a picture of the troll with her cell phone and send it to her sister Erin who is known as “The Troll” in her family from her days working at Magic Mountain dressed up as what else: a troll!

We next visited Theo’s Chocolates where a dozen or so of free samples were available. I tried the chocolate with hot chili and 70% dark chocolate (it was good enough to buy a bar) and Sharon bought the mint with 70% dark chocolate bar. I also got the coconut curry with milk chocolate. Then Sharon saw the Big Daddy Marshmallow 3-Pack and knew she had to get that. On the way to the cash register a spotted a display of smaller chocolate bars and these were Theo’s Ghost Chili bars (sorry, no free samples of these). I knew I had to pick up a couple bars. As I’m writing this now I’m nibbling on one of these small bars; and, trust me: nibble is the most you can do. These definitely beat Lindt’s Chocolate Chili bars when it comes to bringing the heat; although, Sharon will tell you for a fact that I eat more than my share of those at home.

We stopped to see the locks that provide access to the interior man-made lake to the Pacific Ocean. Again we got some photo tips from our guide; and, later spent some time observing many nesting blue herons high above us in the trees. We also stopped on a roadside lookout for a great view of the Seattle skyline with Mount Rainier in the background. Our guide showed us how to take a panoramic view shot with our smart phone. You select “Panoramic” from the shot options. Holding the phone long side up-and-down, you press the shutter button, keeping that up-down orientation scan the panoramic view and press the shutter button again to end the shot. This skyline was perfect for this technique.



After being dropped off we went to the place that is reputed to have the best clam chowder in the world. It won an annually held national contest so many times in a row; that, they were asked not to compete anymore to let someone else win. Their reputation obviously preceded them because the line was much longer than we were willing to wait. That, and there wasn’t anything that Sharon would have eaten on their menu. We went on to Lowell’s, and were surprised that our expected 25 minute wait was only 5 minutes. I only hope I didn’t usurp some other “John’s” reservation for two! I ordered the clam chowder here, and it was quite good Boston style chowder. I ordered the Dungeness Crab Cakes and the spicy fish tacos. I was quite pleased with all of the food. Sharon had the fish and chips. They used cod and the fish was good; but, Sharon prefers the beer-battered haddock that St. Vincent de Paul serves during Lent at the fish fries back home where we volunteer as cashiers.

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