Scenes from Seattle (part 6)

Sunday was a transition day. We were leaving Seattle to spend an afternoon on Bainbridge Island and a night at Port Townsend. To do that, we had to travel by ferry.

He's the view from the passenger deck.

It was beautiful day, and I really enjoyed our trip on the ferry. 

On a side note, our rental apartment in Seattle had underground parking, and that required us to rent a compact car. I was underwhelmed when I first saw our Chevy Sonic sedan. I didn't even take a picture of it. 

The car was so small, but in the end, the Sonic's small stature was its biggest strength. The trunk easily held our luggage, and the car was zippy enough in town. The car's size made it really easy to parallel park (something that makes me cringe), and maneuvering the Sonic out of the tight spaces of the ferry's belly was a snap. The car also made good gas mileage. We only filled the tank once, and that was right before we returned it.

I'm not ready to trade the RAV4 in for a Smart car, but renting a compact car for vacation has it advantages.

The only drawback wasn't the car's fault. Charlotte really enjoys listening to books on Cd, and that makes traveling with a six-year-old so much easier. We thought we were so smart to bring a few audio books with us, but new cars don't have Cd players! That hadn't occurred to either of us. Sigh. I am so far behind the times. I still think bluetooth is something you get after drinking juice or when your teeth get sad.

 Here's how Bainbridge Island looks like as you approach it on the ferry.

And now, the food memories:

Our first stop on the island was to eat a crepe.

Lunch was pizza.

Dinner at Port Townsend included mussels,

a French dip with onion rings,

and fish and chips.

I'll write more about Port Townsend next time... it's one of my favorite stories from the summer.

Scenes from Seattle (part 5)

Saturday started out at Top Pot Doughnuts, again. 

Then we visited Charlotte's favorite park, again.

But this time we got inside the Pacific Science Center!

Two grown men spent weeks inside this tiny space while orbiting the Earth? 

Oh. My. Goodness. 

An animal whose foot was this big walked the Earth? 

Oh. My. Goodness.

Question: Do you know what is worse than waiting 45 minutes for a butterfly to land on your daughter in the butterfly habitat? 

Answer: Having a butterfly land on you while she stresses out because one hasn't landed on her.

Eventually a butterfly found Charlotte.

Finally! We could now get out of that heated room and play some big checkers in the air conditioning... Charlotte says she won this game. (I think Mom let that happen.)

Lunch was seriously good. No pun intended.

Fried chicken, black pepper Tabasco gravy:

Fried catfish cake, green olive tartar:

Dinner at Mollusk was a good time, too:

Yep, that's poutine, again. Deal with it, health-conscious-sucka!

Scenes from Seattle (part 4)

Daphne started Friday with a cup of joe from Starbucks. FYI, Seattle Starbucks tastes just like Des Moines Starbucks.

Speaking of similarities, there were two statues in Seattle that looked pretty familiar. 

We stopped at Charlotte's favorite park to eat our breakfast donuts. 

On the way to the Pacific Science Center, Charlotte spotted her name. That's always fun.

When we turned the corner, the day went south. A day camp/ school group had also chosen to visit the Pacific Science Center, and they had brought ten full school buses with them. That put about 700 kids in front of us in line. Char was crushed. It would take forever to get into the science center, and when we did get in, the place would be packed. We explained to Char why it would be better to come back tomorrow, but Char was inconsolable. We were standing in a sea of children, and the tears silently flowed. 

We tried to distract her by going to the Museum  of Pop Culture. 

She kinda liked seeing Sirius Black's cloak.

 Posing with mom as royalty was better.

And she liked seeing the outfits from The Princess Bride.

Things changed when we entered the Jim Henson exhibit. Pretending to be a Muppet is cool.

But making a Muppet is even cooler.

Coolest of all was learning to play guitar in the Sound Lab's interactive exhibits. Real instruments were outfitted with lights, and computer screens gave you instructions to play along with. I was so into the rhythm guitar exhibit that I forgot where I was. After twenty minutes I looked up and thought, "Wait. Don't I have a family? Where are they?" Luckily, they were right across from me.

I thought it was neat to see Michael Jackson's outfit from the "Thriller" music video.

Speaking of music, we went shopping in the afternoon, and I spotted a record store with a pinball theme. It was a match made in heaven!

I didn't want to buy any records on this trip because I didn't want to worry about how to safely get them home, so I only shopped for Cd's. I visited two record shops in Seattle, and I bought The Replacements' Let It Be, a Sub Pop anniversary collection, and Nirvana's Bleach. Being a Nirvana fan in Seattle, I felt obligated to buy something related to the band. 

We had lunch in a food court. Daphne and I shared a beef and mushroom pot pie and some tater tot poutine. Char had Subway... sigh.

The afternoon snack was fish and chips at the 100 Pound Clam. Char had a few of the chips that didn't have any obvious seasoning... sigh.

Dinner was at Taco Chukis. 

We aren't world travelers by any measure, but Daph and I have discovered that if a Mexican restaurant is within a short walking distance from where you are staying, then it will be good. We haven't been disappointed yet, and Taco Chukis didn't break our streak. We ordered their signature tacos with adobada pork, cheese, guacamole, and grilled pineapple. They rocked! Char had a cheese quesadilla... eh, I can't blame her for that. The quesadilla was good, too.

Scenes from Seattle (part 3)

Thursday morning's weather was what I expected from Seattle. It was cloudy and rainy - perfect for a morning at the aquarium.

I dread the day when Charlotte decides that she is too old to stick her head in these things. 

We tried to convince Charlotte to touch the creatures in the tide pool, but it took the encouragement of strangers for her to get her hands wet. This was, by and far, her favorite part of the trip. She loved how the sea anemones would close around and stick to her fingers. We spent well over an hour playing here. The worm that disappeared as soon as you touched it made Char laugh with delight over and over again.

I thought it might be hard to capture a cute picture of a sea otter, but these guys know they are the stars, and they really work the crowd.

We headed back to the Market for lunch.

Chowder and mussels.

People say that everything is better with bacon. I agree, and would like to give melted butter that same status.

The Seattle Underground Tour was a lot of fun. We learned a lot, laughed a lot, and now I can give the people who named the Space Needle a tip of my hat. Well done, gentlemen - wink, wink, nudge, nudge. (You'll have to take the tour to know what I mean.)

The sidewalk from above:

The sidewalk from below:

We visited the Seattle Pinball Museum next. It was one of my required stops.

I didn't grow up in a time when EM pinball machines were plentiful - I was an 80's video arcade kid - so the only EM games I know well are mine. It was a bit strange to play someone else's pinball games. They weren't set up the way I'd do it, but I got over that pretty quickly. It was great to pay a few bucks and then get to play an unknown game that I didn't have to buy, fix, clean, and paint first. 

Char looked pretty upbeat at dinner. She has really become quite a reader this summer.

But by the time we got back "home", she was just beat. 

She even put herself to bed while watching a couple episodes of My Little Pony on Netflix. 

That doesn't happen at "real home"; I can assure you of that.