Picked Kevin (Cheryl's brother) and Janet up at the airport at 9:00 AM. Then went back to Kent for breakfast at the Golden Steer - yummers.
Then over to the lightrail station for the ride to Seattle. We got off at the Pioneer Square where a short walk took us to Seattle's Underground Tour.
The tour takes 90 minutes including "setting the stage" in the Doc Maynard's Bar (the bar is no longer open. It's a good basic introduction to Seattle's history and very interesting to learn about how the "underground" came to be.
Afterwards we went over to Starbucks where we had coffee and planned our next moves...
From there we caught a city bus and rode to Pike Place Market. We'd just crossed the street to get to the market entrance, when a man came darting out of a store with a clerk behind him yelling, "Stop that man!" So I chased him... We darted in between cars crossing 1st Ave (one who wasn't so inclined to stop until I slapped his left front fender), through a parking lot and down an alley before I caught up with him... It was at that point that two things happened...
- First, I didn't even know what he'd done or what he took - so what do I say? I said, "Just drop it!" Whatever "it" was!
- Secondly, he all of the sudden had two accomplices... Kind of changed the odds... As we came to a stop, he wouldn't respond to me, but told one of his buddies, "Get this guy off my back man!" His buddy came over and chest bumped me telling me to "Get lost bro".
Well, to this point, no one else was coming to help, it was three against one and to top it off I have no idea what to ask him to give back... It was very frustrating to watch them walk down the alley... All I could do was yell "THIEF". One of the accomplices turned around at that point and looked at me like I was off my rocker or something. Or maybe he just didn't like being called what he was! At least I tried... (It did feel food to run though, albeit in cargo pants, boots and carrying a back-back! haha)
So, back to Pike Place Market where Cheryl, Janet and Kevin were wondering where I'd gone... Kevin actually was on his way to help, but didn't know where we'd gone. It was that run down the alley where everyone lost us... At the market we looked at all of the beautiful fresh flowers - Janet was so amazed a big bouquet would cost only $10 - and frustrated that she couldn't buy any (as how would she get them home?). We went by the fish market, into a couple of t-shirt/sweatshirt stores, a toy store, and tea store and just wandered around the Market - always, always an interesting experience.
Our last stop before getting back on the bus was at Beecher's Handmade Cheese. They make wonderful artisan cheeses! Janet bought some Sharp Gouda and I bought some No Woman and some Marco Polo.
The we boarded the bus again for a ride to Safeco Field to watch the Seattle Mariners play the New York Yankees.
Well, the seats were good, the sausages from the outside vendors were good and the online replays of the Husky football game were good... Mariners lost 10 to 1.
And how about those Huskies! Here’s an excerpt from a blog I read – “I am not predicting a certain upset on Saturday however this game is on every experts upset watch list. Washington has a 25-30 percent chance of beating these guys at home this week.” UW Dawg Pound. Well upset the number 3 USC Trojans they did - 16 to 13 with a well orchestrated drive and game ending field goal!
Took the light rail system home from Safeco Field, catching it at the Stadium Station.
Got home around midnight. A fun full day…
Sunday saw a very, very lazy start to the day...
Cheryl made waffles and eggs for breakfast. We got up at various times from 7:30 to 10:00! haha
We finally left home at nearly 12:00 and headed for my office for a panoramic view of the Puget Sound area. It's amazing what you can see from 49 floors up!
Then we headed for Deception Pass.
But of course we couldn't take the direct route...
We headed north on I-5 and then east on the 520 bridge. This is a floating bridge that crosses Lake Washington. From the bridge deck you have a view north to Mt. Baker and a view south to Mount Rainier. Can't figure out what the all commotion was about. We just stopped to get some nice pictures...
From there we intersected with and headed north on I-405.
Eventually we re-intersected with I-5 and headed north.
By now it was nearly 2:30 in the afternoon and we were all ready for lunch. We headed for the Skagit River Brewery for a very tasty meal. Afterwards we found a nearby cache enduring the scrutiny of an over-ambitious security guard. LOL
So now back on to Hwy 536 which took us northeast to Hwy 20 and on to Fidalgo Island.
Our destination was the Deception Pass Bridge that spans the strait separating Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island. We passed over the nearly 200 foot tall bridge and pulled off in to a rest area. From there we were able to walk back over the bridge and look down on to the strait. Water runs through this strait at a rate of 5 to 8 knots (about 6 to 9 mph) and can literally take control of a boat if it's not careful as it passes through the strait. Beautiful scenery and views. We are pretty confident we could see some thirty miles west where Canada (the southern tip of Vancouver Island) and the north end of the Olympic Peninsula (maybe the Dungeness area?) could be seen. And we discovered an Earthcache.
We found another cache along the way at a Veteran's display in front of a small restaurant right off the highway.
Back in the car and back on Hwy 20 and in to Oak Harbor, home to the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. (AND my cousin Jenny and her family - Hi Jenny!) Here we found one more cache, but alas, no Seattle sweatshirt for Janet...
From here we headed to Clinton where we boarded the ferry for a short 20 minute ride to Mukilteo.
Once in Mukilteo we decided we were hungry again and headed for Ivar's Mukilteo Landing Restaurant where we were lucky enough to get a window table overlooking Puget Sound!
After a scrumptous meal we headed home arriving there at about 10:00 PM. We were all in bed by 10:05! haha Afterall, 4:30 this morning came very early!
It was a fun visit with Cheryl's brother Kevin and his wife Janet and we look forward to future time with them!
