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| Under the Seattle's Best cup |
On Tuesday, we drove up to
Seattle through the fog and rain and chilly dampness that has defined most of our stay in the Pacific northwest. We set up camp at the
Blue Sky RV Park in Issaquah, Washington, a lovely little park with blue skies in name only. The park is in among hundreds of trees and lots of wildflowers with a couple of very nice folks managing the place. There's even a cute little koi pond where the fishies swim around under the raindrops.
On Wednesday, we headed into Seattle and straight for the
Pike Place Market, a public market established in 1907 after onion prices increased tenfold. A progressive and popular city councilman, Thomas Revelle, proposed a public market to allow folks to 'meet the producer', thus eliminating the middleman, and the
Pike Place Market was born. This large indoor market, sprawling over 9 acres with two floors below the street level of its namesake, is known for fish, fresh produce, fish, flowers, meat, art, t-shirts and fish. Did I mention fish?
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| The first Starbucks store |
Across the street, we found the original
Starbucks store, a tiny storefront with a three person band playing out front while scores of tourists watched and took pictures. We wrestled our way in and saw a sparsely decorated little store with lots of wood (worn from use all these years) and boxes stacked in every nook and corner. Moved in 1976 from its original location on Western Ave. where it stood for 5 years, this store does a brisk business at its current location on Pike Place.
We wandered around and into a cheese store for some samples, past a couple of bakeries producing great smells, and into another market area with fresh produce for sale. Back in the
Pike Place Market, we listened to the employees at one fish vendor shouting in unison each customer's order while they threw the fish around. Quite entertaining. We stopped for a quick lunch of gyoza and chicken teriyaki at a teeny, tiny Japanese restaurant on a corner in the market. We walked in and among lots of other stores and vendors, some selling handmade items, some hawking drawings or photos of iconic spots around Seattle, and still others offering jewelry or pottery or honey.
We continued on our way, trying not to wear out the clutch on the super steep streets through town. We found the
Seattle Space Needle and the waterfront behind the markets but with the heavy clouds and constant threat of drizzle, picture taking was not ideal. At least we got to experience Seattle as it normally is. Funny, the tourist information brochures show all the iconic sites under sunny skies...hmm.
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| Downtown Seattle |
We found a huge downtown thrift store, where, naturally, we stopped to browse for a while. Afterwards, we drove around a bit more, looking for another angle on the
Space Needle, but with no success. We headed back to the RV for happy hour and an early dinner, before we took a walk around the park.
What a great day!
On Tuesday, we drove up to Seattle through the fog and rain and chilly dampness that has defined most of our stay in the Pacific northwest. We set up camp at the Blue Sky RV Park in Issaquah, Washington, a lovely little park with blue skies in name only. The park is in among hundreds of trees and lots of wildflowers with a couple of very nice folks managing the place. There's even a cute little koi pond where the fishies swim around under the raindrops.
Across the street, we found the original Starbucks store, a tiny storefront with a three person band playing out front while scores of tourists watched and took pictures. We wrestled our way in and saw a sparsely decorated little store with lots of wood (worn from use all these years) and boxes stacked in every nook and corner. Moved in 1976 from its original location on Western Ave. where it stood for 5 years, this store does a brisk business at its current location on Pike Place.
We wandered around and into a cheese store for some samples, past a couple of bakeries producing great smells, and into another market area with fresh produce for sale. Back in the Pike Place Market, we listened to the employees at one fish vendor shouting in unison each customer's order while they threw the fish around. Quite entertaining. We stopped for a quick lunch of gyoza and chicken teriyaki at a teeny, tiny Japanese restaurant on a corner in the market. We walked in and among lots of other stores and vendors, some selling handmade items, some hawking drawings or photos of iconic spots around Seattle, and still others offering jewelry or pottery or honey.
We continued on our way, trying not to wear out the clutch on the super steep streets through town. We found the Seattle Space Needle and the waterfront behind the markets but with the heavy clouds and constant threat of drizzle, picture taking was not ideal. At least we got to experience Seattle as it normally is. Funny, the tourist information brochures show all the iconic sites under sunny skies...hmm.
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