Seattle Part Two

I started the morning of day two by calling the lost and found department at Alamo. The woman I spoke with said she would check and see if the van was there. If it was, she said she would check it. Later in the day I called her back because I hadn't heard from her in over two hours.She told me that she tried to call me earlier and the person that answered said they would look for me. Apparently she got the wrong number because my phone was in my pocket the entire day. She was very nice (unlike the people at the airport), and told me that the camera was found in the backseat (exactly where I thought it was). She told me that if the people had just looked it was there in plain sight. I told her of the problems I had at the airport and she said that is very common with those people. She told me I could come pick up the camera from her, but we weren't sure on how to get there and did not want to spend more money on an expensive taxi ride (this was before we figured out the cheap way to get around). She then told me that she could Fed-Ex the camera to our house. After hearing the great news I knew our vacation was taking a turn for the better.
We couldn't get our camera, but knew we still needed pictures so off we went to look for a disposable camera. The grocery store next to our hotel didn't have any, but we found some at a little drug store near the mall. Of course the pictures didn't turn out at well as they would have on our digital camera, but at least we still have some pictures to show off.

The next 3 and a half days were great!! We had a blast. We went many places and saw all kinds of people. The places we went and things we did included:

•  Pike Place Market- This is a must if you go to Seattle. I could have stayed for hours just looking around. They have everything you need in one spot. There is one main strip of the market and then all kinds of little shops and restaurants in nooks and crannies around it. The flowers were my favorite. They had all kinds and were cheap. You could pay fifteen dollars for a beautiful bouquet that you would spend at least thirty dollars for here in town. I would have bought some and brought them back if I could, but I don't think the airlines would have liked that very much.
• Ride the Ducks Tour- This was a fun tour. If you have never been on a Duck Tour, you should definitely try it. The tour is on a WWII amphibious landing craft.  It goes on land and then in the water. You can check out this website for more information on the duck tour. We did one in Galveston last year, but this one was even better. The driver was very funny. We sang and played name that theme song (to sitcoms based in Seattle), of course I knew 'Fraiser' the second it started. We saw all kinds of different sights. The tour took us around a little bit of Seattle and then into Lake Union. We saw the house from 'Sleepless in Seattle', a ship that was featured on 'Deadliest Catch', and Gasworks Park (which was featured on '10 Things I Hate About You'). We also saw a seaplane take off from the lake. This tour was a great way to see sights we wouldn't be able to by just walking.
• Children's Museum at the Center House- We took Kylie here because we knew we needed to take her somewhere she could run around. Joe and I weren't thrilled with the museum. I think it was a little old, but Kylie had fun so that is all that matters. Her favorite part was splashing at the water station (her favorite at any museum).
• Seattle Aquarium- We had a good time. It would have been better if Kylie had been in a better mood, but I think she was sleepy. There was a huge tank where we saw one of the workers in scuba gear feeding the fish.
• Miner's Landing- We didn't spend too much time here. It is mostly an arcade and carousel. Kylie loves the carousel at Kiddieland so we knew she would love it and of course we were right. As soon as she saw it her face lit up. She smiled the entire ride. She probably would have stayed on the rest of the day if we let her.
• Space Needle- We did this because we knew the view would be awesome, but I don't think it is a great deal. It is a little pricey for a thirty second ride to the top of the needle, walking around the top, and riding back down. At least we can say we have done it.
• Monorail- This was the way we got from our hotel to the mall which is blocks from everything else. We walked to the monorail everyday at least twice. The walk from the hotel to the monorail was about ten minutes but it was a beatiful walk. There were covered walkways and we walked past the International Fountain that plays water to music. It was a very popular spot for everyone. The monorail cost two dollars person each way. It seems a little pricey if you add it up, but it really only cost us what we would pay for less than half a tank of gas if we were driving. Walking was the way to go. I think we walked five miles in one day.

I told Joe while we were there that we needed to try foods that we don't normally eat here. Thankfully he was willing to try something different and he found a new favorite which is Indian Lamb Curry. He got it from the food court at the mall and loved it. I tried a falafel at the food court and it was also delicious. We also ate at a restaurant near our hotel called "Mecca Cafe'. The food was delicious!!! It is more of a dive than a restaurant, but we didn't care after eating our first bite of food. We liked it so much, we ate there twice. The first time we went, I had green eggs and ham. It included two fried eggs with pesto, a huge ham steak, four pieces of sourdough toast, and the entire bottom the plate was covered in hashbrowns (the best). I couldn't eat it all, so Joe had ham and toast for breakfast the next day. The food was awesome and the waitress was very nice. She brought Kylie a coloring book and big box of colors to keep her busy. At Pike Market we also tried 'Bubble Tea'. I had heard of it before and always wanted to try it. It was very good. You should try it if you can find it.  For a defintion of what it is click here. The tea had tapioca balls in the bottom. The straws they give you are big enough so the balls come up the straw and you can eat them. They took a little bit to get use to. We had it twice. Joe had one that was coffee flavored both times. I had one that was vanilla and one that was strawberry. We are both fans of it.


I'll end this post with some pictures from our trip.

This is where they throw the fish at Pike Market.

The beautiful flowers.

International Fountain

Kylie and her new silly cheesy smile.

Kylie and her twin at the hotel.

Pike Market

KJ and the Space Needle

To be continued...