Crotchety Old Man Rant
I try very hard to avoid tourist traps, mass crowds, and long lines. I especially don’t do lines. Very few things in this world are worth waiting any significant amount of time in line for (Geez – I’m a real ball of fun!). Having said that, I’m traveling and exploring and it’s pretty difficult to completely avoid these types of places and situations. They just aren’t typically my cup of tea. But if you’ve never been to Seattle – you go to the Space Needle and Pike Place Market. That’s just what you do! OK – I’m sucking it up and gonna try to get through this!
Space Needle
An icon of Seattle, this observation tower was built for the 1962 World’s Fair. It measures 605 ft high with an observation deck at 520 ft and a rotating restaurant at 500 ft.
The atmosphere around here feels more like a circus or a theme park. Masses of people walking around, street performers, and tourists galore. Also – it’s an unseasonably hot 93 degrees today.
Once I finally made it up top, the observation deck was undergoing some reconstruction. Although not complete 360 degree views due to the construction going on – the views that were to be had were quite nice.
Lake Union
Queen Anne neighborhood
Elliot Bay & Olympic Mountains in the distance
Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront. The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers’ markets in the United States.
Underground Tour
Back in the mid 1800’s, Seattle was originally built from wooden structures at high tide level. Among flooding and a host of other problems, a fire on June 6th 1899 destroyed much of the city. To avoid past mistakes city officials rebuilt using brick and stone structures but also decided to elevate the city to be one or two stories higher. Today you can take a tour and go below the streets of current day Pioneer Square and tour a bit of Seattle’s origins. It’s about an hour long tour and they do a pretty good job explaining the history while injecting a lot of albeit corny humor. If you’re looking for something different to do while in Seattle, this might fit the bill.
Original photograph of Seattle
Original street level storefront windows
Rendering of ladders used to get down to old street level
Ladder up to elevated street level
Original bank building
Skylight looking up to the street
Street level skylights
Noteworthy | Random
Oldest Bar In Seattle (est. 1890)
Smith Tower. Tallest building west of the Mississippi until 1931
Original Starbucks. Too bad I don’t drink coffee
