Blogs from Seattle, Washington, United States, North America - page 86

Well, by now, most of you know that we made it back. London was a little hairy given the terrorist plot, but we made it out (we had a three hour delay, which given the circumstances, we didn't think was too bad. In case you're wondering, the reason we didn't blog from the Seychelles was because we didn't have Internet access. We stayed on the island of Pralin, which is remote and pretty sparce from a population standpoint. We loved it. The Seychelles must be what Hawaii was like 50 years ago. We now have had our pictures developed and have been watching our videos. They all turned out pretty darned good. We are getting back into the swing of things things here at home now that the effects of jet lag are lessening. Thanks for ... read more

Oh, Seattle. What a week. I'm staying three block north of the Seattle Center (which is where the Space Needle, the opera house, a little carnival area, an Imax, the Key Arena, and the Experience Music Project are located -- the Seattle Center was also the location of the 1962 World's Fair). On the evening of my first full day here, I went up the Space Needle. It has a panoramic view of the city, Puget Sound, and the surrounding mountains. I could see Mount Rainier, though it was not the clearest view (due to humidity, I guess). Inside, it has maps and descriptions of the area that each spot overlooks, which worked well as an introduction to Seattle and the surrounding area. I could easily see Bellevue, Redmond (where Microsoft is located), downtown Seattle, Lake ... read more

Waking up by jumping into the cold water from the boat, was again a chore for a Monday morning. But was possibly the highlight of the day spent mostly on a greyhound bus to San Francisco. (oh and of course meeting you, Anders, for coffee!) Not really much to say about the journey, just that it was boring, we slept for a lot of it (grateful given the two late nights we had just had) and that it meant we experienced a number of different characters. For example the 2 behind us had conversations like this - "you were in jail in X, no way, me too back in '87, remember so-and-so, small world eh". Main observation of the day is that being a Greyhound bus driver is the worst job in the world. ... read more

Waking up in our private room was bliss - a quiet room all to ourselves - imagine! A really good start to what would be a great day. Meeting up with Anders and his friend Christina, we got the boat ready and started on the beers. Union lake showed us downtown Seattle, the Space Needle, the house used in 'Sleepless in Seattle', a front row seat for a 'Thunderbird' regatta race and also a glimpse of the Blue Angels flying display (the American equivalent to the Red Arrows). Moving onto Lake Washington, we got a good sail and even a dip in the water, being towed along by the boat (which surprised us both by being fresh water). We even 'ventured' over to Kirkland for some cocktails and Mexican food, not returning until gone 9pm. ... read more

Our time in Seattle was mainly spent sleeping as much as possible to overcome jet lag and eating as much fresh food as we could fit in. One of the greatest things about Seattle is the Pike Place Market and the scores of smaller farmers' markets and strong local food movement. Pike Place Market is chock full of rows and rows of fresh, organic produce direct from the farmers and fishermen in mind boggling quantities. It is the oldest continually operating farmers' market in the world and to top it off we were there on Organic Wednesday! Having lived on Mongolian yak meat and dehydrated food for the past month, we were on a mission to get some fresh veges and this was the place to do it. Apart from the markets, Seattle is famous for ... read more