My flight into Seattle yesterday was pretty uneventful, but I have to say that it was pretty interesting to see a raging blizzard at higher altitudes just before landing. I was actually glad to see that it was raining in Seattle. Imagine that!!! From the Airport, I took "Seattle Downtown Airport" bus to my hotel(a deal at $10.25). The shuttle service was fairly easy to find. Just go past Baggage Claim 1, bear to the right, review the monitors to the right of the glass doors to find departure time and go out the glass doors to the bus. You can pay on the bus if no one if at the desk.
This is my first time in Seattle, so I decided to take a 3-Hour Tour (Seattle City Tours). This was a great way to get to know the city and the miscellaneous transportation options. My favorite parts of the tour were Pike Place Market, Waterfall Garden Park (Historic Pioneer Square), Puget Sound views, Fremont neighborhood, Fishermen’s Terminal, Scenic Magnolia bluff & the Space Needle. I sampled some awesome white chowder at Little Chinook's which is located at Fisherman's Terminal. While eating my chowder, I observed a tribute to fallen fisherman and realized that this was the place were some of the boat's from TLC's Deadliest Catch television series were docked. I believe I saw the ship named the Time Bandit.
After departing the tour, I walked around the area where the Space Needle is located. The tour guide kept on mentioning the "Experience Music Project" and I had a few hours to kill, so I decided to walk through the museum. The cost was $19.95, but it was worth every penny. The best part of the museum was the Jimi Hendrix exhibit. The exhibit displayed letters from Jimi as a child, the Hendrix family stereo, examples of Jimi's childhood and teenage drawings and paintings, as well as documentation of his early high school garage bands. I'm not a real Jimi Hendrix fan, but I really enjoyed this exhibit. From the Space Needle area, I took the monorail to Nordstrom’s which is only a block or two from my hotel. Not bad for $2.
Later on in the day, I journeyed down to the Pike Place Market. I can't believe how many shops this city has. I'm getting a little overwhelmed as my suitcase is within 4lbs of the 50lb limit. Yikes!!! Shops in the market were starting to close down by about 4:45pm and I started to see a lot of street folk, so I decided to start back to my hotel. I stumbled across Beecher's Handmade Cheese Shop and bought a hunk of Beecher's Flagship cheese to bring back to my room. Yummy and well worth the calories!!!
It's already been a busy day for me and I still have dinner and the evening to go. I'm hoping to catch up with some of my friends, but if I don't you'll probably find me parked on a sofa in the lobby of my hotel reading PASS Community Summit literature.
SQLDiva