Tour Guide

My visiting out-of-state family members, that would be my sister Kathy from California and my brother, Mark and his family, wife Rachel and children Celeste, Rebekah and Markie from Utah, wanted to see the sights and told me they preferred that I be their guide rather than use the local attraction “the Duck”.So my daughter, Rachyl, and I put our heads together and figured out some sights they may enjoy that were more than just the usual souvenir shops, such as the Seattle Waterfront is.

We did visit the Waterfront but just for a quick stroll around that included the view across the sound to Bainbridge Island and West Seattle. Dane actually came along for the first part of the day but left to go to an eye doctor appointment. We stopped for lunch at the take-out side of the Crab Pot restaurant there on the waterfront. From there we climbed to the Pike Place Market where the fish sellers throw the fish that they are internationally known for. It was a great time of year to go to the market as the flower vendors had a huge variety of every color imaginable.

Next we hiked up the hill one block, then the terrain levels off. This wouldn’t even had been necessary to mention except that Rach brought Hunter in his stroller and Shirley came along with both boys and stuck them both in a stroller as well. That was quite a load for that small a girl to push by herself. They got to the top of the hill and Shirl planted herself on the ground, exhausted. A few more easy blocks up the street and we were at the Westlake Center where we went to catch the 45+ year old monorail that travels one mile between that shopping center and the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle.

We visited the base of the Space Needle and got some interesting perspective shots and headed over to the International Fountain which is also approximately 45 years old.It’s a large, silver dome set in a bowl and people are encouraged to play in it.The fountain along with music and, at night, lights, is computerized and puts on quite a show. We ended up enjoying that for probably an hour, the younger kids running in the water and getting soaked. Hunter danced with his cousin Bekah, he’s so cute.

Our paid parking was nearly expired so we ran back to the monorail and back to our cars to head for our next destination which I knew Mark would particularly enjoy – the Fremont Troll. It’s a large statue of the upper half of a troll built under a bridge and in his left hand he’s holding a real VW. We got a few shots of that (Shirley had to stick her hand up his nose) and moved on to our final stop which was very close by, Gasworks Park. You can probably guess, based on the name, what that park used to be.They have some of the old gasworks fenced and rusting and some are in a covered area and painted bright colors. The park is located on Lake Union where there is lots of activity including houseboats and seaplanes.There is also a kite hill with an interesting mosaic built into the top.

After that long day we were all pretty exhausted so we split up and did our own dinners, then Mark’s family went down to Denny’s to visit some more with Rachyl since the plan was to leave Wednesday and she wouldn’t see them any more.

But those plans changed – mwahahaha!