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| Rather than pay $18 each to ride to the top, we got a great photo of the Space Needle, from the ground |
Seattle....it's an interesting and progressive city, but I don't think I'd want to live there. Of course, we're not really looking to live in a big city, but if we were to change our minds, I don't see us in Seattle. One of the biggest disappointments of Seattle was the public transit. From what I saw, they just don't have it quite together yet. They are very late in adopting some kind of light rail or subway system and are planning a very expensive project to retrofit it into the downtown area. There is a very short monorail through downtown that really doesn't take you very far, and it was built for the World's Fair in the 1960's, so it is a bit outdated. And pricey - it is $4 for a ride of 1 mile. More of a tourist attraction than a functional mode of transit.
Since they haven't adopted light rail or a subway system, the whole city is served by an elaborate network of traditional buses. Like Vancouver, they have installed overhead cables to run electric buses from, but we never saw a bus use them. All the buses we saw used traditional diesel engines. We rode a bus downtown, and it seemed kinda dirty. I was very disappointed by one small but important thing that seemed to be missing - a sign or display showing the name of the next upcoming stop. This was a great asset of the transit in Vancouver. If you are not from an area and don't know what the streets look like, but know you need to be at the intersection of Main and Elm, it helps to have the bus tell you when that stop is coming up so you can pull the stop cord.
...But enough negative stuff! We did have a good time in Seattle. Let me describe a few highlights of our visit. The biggest positive was our CouchSurfing host, Jennifer. She had a wonderful house for us to stay in. She had to really nice cats, which made us miss our Sophie and Hershey!
We had the opportunity to help our CS host get her garden ready for planting, which was a very pleasant task in the 70 degree/no humidity weather of Seattle. This made us very happy to get to play in the dirt.
On our first full day in Seattle, we headed to the flagship store of REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) - a big supplier of hiking/camping/paddling/general outdoors gear. Kind of like a Bass Pro Shop without all the dead animals and guns. This store was HUGE! Three stories of every type of gear known to man. Oh boy could we spend some money in that place! We ventured into the backpacking section and finally got properly fitted for one. The guy who helped us must have spent an hour with us, measuring, adjusting and offering advice on packs. Ultimately we decided to hold off on purchasing one, which made us feel bad for taking so much of his time, but he didn't seem to mind at all. He just seemed happy to help out. What a cool store!! At least now we know what size we need when we do go to buy one.
Seattle was full of delicious vegan and vegetarian cafes. Being a veggie, it would be hard to go hungry in this town, but easy to go broke!! We tried out the In the Bowl Vegetarian Noodle Bistro in the Capitol Hill district, which offered a traditional menu of noodle dishes with your choice of beef, chicken, duck, prawn, etc -- except these were ALL imitation meats. This felt weird ordering a dish this way. But I highly recommend the "beef" green been noodle dish. Spicy and full of flavor, it was super delicious!
By far, our favorite cafe in Seattle was Wayward Vegan Cafe.
Like the noodle bowl place, everything on the menu was vegan. We're not used to so many freakin' choices! We like the place so much, we went back the next day to try something else. We tried the Pulled No Pork, which was like a traditional pulled pork sandwich, except made of seitan. It was cooked in their own house-made BBQ sauce and sauteed with peppers and onions, and served on grilled buttered bread and a side of fries. This had to be one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten...ever!
The next day we went back to try the biscuits and gravy with scrambled tofu and steamed greens. Did I mention it was all vegan! It was super delicious, but I still liked the sandwich best.
We visited the famous Pike Place Market, and made the pilgrimage to mecca - the first Starbucks! The one that started it all!
Unfortunately we didn't have a ton of time to browse as we arrived near closing, but it was still an interesting place. It was cool that such a place even exists - a permanent, waterfront farmer's market in the middle of downtown.
We did some people watching down Broadway in the Capitol Hill district, famous for being the gay district of Portland. The street was lined with rainbow flags and interesting people walking. There were both guys and girls holding hands, people with many piercings and tattoos, guys wearing dresses...you name it, they had it! We drove by a park where some folks were playing some type of polo-type game on bicycles, and another park with an awesome community garden. The signage told the story of how the lot used to be an asphalt parking lot, but they took up all the pavement and turned it into a beautiful community garden.
Of course, no trip to Seattle would be complete without a visit to the Fremont Troll. This sculpture is under a bridge and a popular tourist spot.
Seattle also presented an opportunity to thin down what we are carrying in the van. We sold the big pop-up gazebo on craigslist and donated a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. We can finally see out the back window!!! Hooray!
Next stop, Portland!
Since they haven't adopted light rail or a subway system, the whole city is served by an elaborate network of traditional buses. Like Vancouver, they have installed overhead cables to run electric buses from, but we never saw a bus use them. All the buses we saw used traditional diesel engines. We rode a bus downtown, and it seemed kinda dirty. I was very disappointed by one small but important thing that seemed to be missing - a sign or display showing the name of the next upcoming stop. This was a great asset of the transit in Vancouver. If you are not from an area and don't know what the streets look like, but know you need to be at the intersection of Main and Elm, it helps to have the bus tell you when that stop is coming up so you can pull the stop cord.
...But enough negative stuff! We did have a good time in Seattle. Let me describe a few highlights of our visit. The biggest positive was our CouchSurfing host, Jennifer. She had a wonderful house for us to stay in. She had to really nice cats, which made us miss our Sophie and Hershey!
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| Ice cream, the cat, just chillin |
On our first full day in Seattle, we headed to the flagship store of REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) - a big supplier of hiking/camping/paddling/general outdoors gear. Kind of like a Bass Pro Shop without all the dead animals and guns. This store was HUGE! Three stories of every type of gear known to man. Oh boy could we spend some money in that place! We ventured into the backpacking section and finally got properly fitted for one. The guy who helped us must have spent an hour with us, measuring, adjusting and offering advice on packs. Ultimately we decided to hold off on purchasing one, which made us feel bad for taking so much of his time, but he didn't seem to mind at all. He just seemed happy to help out. What a cool store!! At least now we know what size we need when we do go to buy one.
Seattle was full of delicious vegan and vegetarian cafes. Being a veggie, it would be hard to go hungry in this town, but easy to go broke!! We tried out the In the Bowl Vegetarian Noodle Bistro in the Capitol Hill district, which offered a traditional menu of noodle dishes with your choice of beef, chicken, duck, prawn, etc -- except these were ALL imitation meats. This felt weird ordering a dish this way. But I highly recommend the "beef" green been noodle dish. Spicy and full of flavor, it was super delicious!
By far, our favorite cafe in Seattle was Wayward Vegan Cafe.
The next day we went back to try the biscuits and gravy with scrambled tofu and steamed greens. Did I mention it was all vegan! It was super delicious, but I still liked the sandwich best.
We visited the famous Pike Place Market, and made the pilgrimage to mecca - the first Starbucks! The one that started it all!
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| Little did I know that Starbucks once sold spices AND had a bare-breasted mermaid as it's logo. What a shame they did away with both! |
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| Bekah with her "free drink" coupon we brought all the way from Sarasota to use here! |
There was a line out the door to buy a coffee. Pike Place was interesting, lots of vendors selling fresh fruits, veggies, fish, and handmade goods.
Unfortunately we didn't have a ton of time to browse as we arrived near closing, but it was still an interesting place. It was cool that such a place even exists - a permanent, waterfront farmer's market in the middle of downtown.
We did some people watching down Broadway in the Capitol Hill district, famous for being the gay district of Portland. The street was lined with rainbow flags and interesting people walking. There were both guys and girls holding hands, people with many piercings and tattoos, guys wearing dresses...you name it, they had it! We drove by a park where some folks were playing some type of polo-type game on bicycles, and another park with an awesome community garden. The signage told the story of how the lot used to be an asphalt parking lot, but they took up all the pavement and turned it into a beautiful community garden.
Of course, no trip to Seattle would be complete without a visit to the Fremont Troll. This sculpture is under a bridge and a popular tourist spot.
Seattle also presented an opportunity to thin down what we are carrying in the van. We sold the big pop-up gazebo on craigslist and donated a bunch of stuff to Goodwill. We can finally see out the back window!!! Hooray!
Next stop, Portland!
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