Seattle – City Pass Day One

Monday, July 21st we left home base by 8:30am, drove south down I-5 and succeeded in getting early bird parking rates the Pike Place Market Garage. We walked a few blocks to Pier 55/56 and bought our CityPASS ticket and coupon booklets. We had decided to start our exploration of Seattle with a cruise for orientation and upgraded our Argosy Cruise ticket to the longer 2½ hour version that included a passage through the Ballard Locks. This excursion started by transporting us via tour bus through downtown Seattle north to the Lake Union departure point at the AGC Marina. From there we would board our ship the GOODTIME III and make a longer route northwest along the ship canal, through the locks, out into Puget Sound, around West Point, before heading southeast back into Elliot Bay.

Sue, John, Margaret, Joe, (part of) Frank, and I are ready to depart on our cruise.

We'd taken a tour bus from PIER 55/56 north through metropolitan Seattle
 and boarded our ship at the AGC MARINA on Lake Union.

In Lake Union and along the Lake Washington Ship Canal on our way to the locks we saw parks, houseboats, seaplanes taking off and landing, dry docks, large ships and a brilliantly blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. At the start of our journey was Gas Works Park which is in the National Register of Historic Places and contains remnants of the sole remaining goal gasification plant in the US. The floating houseboat community off to the right on Lake Washington was fun to see. In preparation for this trip Frank and I had watched an episode of the HGTV show House Hunters in which the buyer was seeking a houseboat, so we'd seen what the inside of one typically looked like. Some houseboats have motors and can change location while others are stationary. There is also a hefty monthly mooring fee in addition to your not-so-small mortgage. Almost none of them have an on-board washer or dryer and so residents have to use off-board laundry facilities in the dock area. If I were to live in one, realism would trump allure in my opinion. Frank and I also read a romance/mystery book that was set on a houseboat titled Morning Glory by Sarah Jio. It was a quick enjoyable read and set the mood.

Sue initially chose indoor seating at the beginning of our cruise as we
departed from the AGC Marina and viewed the sights along Lake Union.

This aerial view of Gas Works park that I snatched from the web shows the route our ship was to take on its locks cruise. Gas Works Park was not on our must see list but it looks like it would have been real interesting.

The houseboat featured in the film Sleepless in Seattle came into view off to the left. When the movie was filmed the producers picked a time of year that was the least rainy in Seattle so as to minimize lost filming time due to inclement weather. This strategy backfired when they filmed the outdoor scene where the architect Sam Baldwin enters his houseboat home in the rain. Apparently, they had to use fireboats squirting water on the house boat to film that scene because it was not raining sufficiently.

This is the houseboat on Lake Union that was used for the movie
Sleepless in Seattle with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. We saw it off our port side.
Aaah... memories.  Who can forget the closing scene at the top of the Empire State Building
 when the architect Sam Baldwin and his son Jonah finally meet Annie?

There were large ships to see as we cruised along the Lake Washington Ship Canal. One of these was the BOLD which had been owned from 2004-2013 by the Environmental Protection Agency of the US government until it was sold for $5000 to the Seattle Central Community College. SCCC had made the best case for its use as a educational facility since it was outfitted with sidescan sonar, underwater video, and water and sediment sampling instruments. Although we were unable to catch a glimpse at any of them, the ships from the TV show Deadliest Catch dock here in the fresh water of the Lake Union Ship Canal since it is less corrosive than saline sea water. The WIZARD was in dry dock here during our visit but we did not see it.

The BOLD, once a naval and an EPA vessel, is now used to train students
at Seattle Central Community College.

The WIZARD from The Deadliest Catch dry docks in a shipyard along our route. We missed seeing it
but it would have been located off our starboard just before we passed through the Ballard Locks.

The locks at the northern point of our cruise are known as the Hiram Chittenden Locks,
the Ballard Locks or, since there is only one of them in Seattle, simple "the locks".
This cartoon map summarizes our route and some of the sights we saw.

The following four photos capture the process for passing through the locks: waiting, entering and closing the gates, draining, opening the gates, and exiting.

We wait our turn to enter the locks as smaller vessels come through them from Puget Sound toward Lake Union.

Having entered the locks, the gates behind us have just closed
 between our ship and the fresh waters of Lake Union.

Still looking back out the aft of the ship we see the water level is dropping as we are lowered
to the sea level of the salt water in Elliot Bay of Puget Sound.

Looking over the bow of our ship, the gates in front of us open and
we proceed out into Elliot Bay of Puget Sound.

The temperature dropped dramatically and the wind picked up as we exited the locks and ventured  into Puget Sound. The sites to see were more distant but the panoramic views were awesome. It was exhilarating to sit or stand at the bow and feel the warm sun and brisk breezes on your face and back.

The sea breezes set our ship's flag waving energetically.

We are about to round West Point.

John in profile reminds me of the grizzled sea captain.
Perhaps he is pondering the animal preserve we passed.

I do not remember what this was, or if we were told,
but it sure is pretty and looks like something out of my budget.

On our final approach back to Seattle Center we passed Amgen on our left with its pedestrian Helix Bridge, modeled after the double helix DNA molecule, only left-handed instead of right handed like the original. Sue was very familiar with the genetics research company since it supplies teachers with lots of free materials to educate their students. We saw a view of the Space Needle and the waterfront area as we drew closer and closer to the end of our cruise.

Frank is pensively gazing at the Seattle skyline with its distinctive Space Needle. The distant wide red building is a restaurant on Pier 70 and the Seattle Aquarium at Pier 59 is just to the right of it out of view.

This scene awaited us off the port side as we returned to dock at the Seattle Center.

After the cruise we were hungry for lunch. I had not appreciated how hilly a city Seattle was. It is was very much like San Francisco in terms of terrain. After climbing a lot of steps from the waterfront level we took time to catch our breath and pause for a picture with Rachel the Piggy Bank at Pike Place Market. Donations into Rachel go to support the less fortunate in the nearby neighborhoods. It is said to be good luck to rub her snout and make a donation. We briefly cut through the Pike Place Market looking for a place to eat but it was very crowded and we wanted more of a quieter, sit-down place rather than fast food. We found the Steelhead Diner a few short blocks away without losing much elevation.

Joe & Margaret, John & Sue, and Frank with
 Rachel the Piggy Bank at Pike Place Market

We had lunch at the Steelhead Diner with a view of the large Post Alley sign.
The bay view is at the height of the sign on the roof.
It was just a block from the Public Market.

We had been using Margaret's iPhone to guide us in our walk and it was running low on power. We were able to recharge it during lunch with jointly supplied components.

Margaret's iPhone was low on power. I had a Mophie juice pack. John had an iPad cable.
We were able to recharge human and electronic batteries during lunch.
We high-fived our success. Teamwork in action!

After lunch we all went to the tourist attraction know as Pike Place Market, reported to be a source for fresh produce, art work, and the entertainment of fish tossing. John and Sue stayed only briefly, wanting a head start on the Seattle Aquarium. Sue, ever the biologist and teacher, was anxious for a lot of time there and the market held little appeal for her. Joe & Margaret and Frank & I wanted to explore a bit more of the market and so stayed. We did witness a fish being tossed, almost clobbering a tourist in the face and it was fun and something to laugh at. A fish is only tossed when an order is placed though, and orders were not plentiful that afternoon. We admired the flowers, watched another fish tossing, and darted into a couple curio shops, but shortly thereafter made our way to catch up with John & Sue at the aquarium.

The produce at Pike Place Market was really exceptional. But of course!
Look who managed it.

The Seattle Aquarium was included in our CityPASS but it was not very extensive and so our stay there lasted only a little over an hour. I was able to purchase a jigsaw puzzle on clearance in the gift shop and we had that for our amusement back at home base.

At Pier 59 the Seattle Aquarium was not as extensive or well-labeled as we would have hoped.
Perhaps John & Sue and Frank & I had been spoiled by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in CA.

I thought these vivid tiles along the wall were very eye catching with the black background.
Typically seascapes are usually blue or sand colored. I filed this away as another quilt inspiration.

I title this photo...  Life on the Edge with an Odd Guy.After 39 years of marriage Frank has learned not to get his nose out of joint by my humor.

On our way back to the car, Frank and I visited the Market Theatre Gum Wall in Post Alley under Pike Place Market. I was chewing a piece toward the end of the aquarium visit so I would be ready to make a contribution of my own. In 2009, it was rated as one of the five germiest tourist attractions. There is a similar place in San Luis Obispo where Dan went to Cal Poly called the Bubblegum Alley. Bubblegum Alley has no theatre associated with and no real excuse for patrons to park their used gum there.

First I remove the gum from my mouth.
No am NOT placing a piece FROM the wall in my mouth! YUK!
Then I place my piece on the wall and finally show a closeup of my contribution.

All this gum did not affect my appetite. Frank and I went on back to home base and we had a lovely grilled hamburger dinner with John & Sue and Joe & Margaret.