Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington definitely makes our top 10 list of favorite places. The food was amazing, there were lots of fun things to see and do and the city was clean and well designed. The only negatives were the traffic and I seemed to notice more homeless people than in the other cities we have visited recently.

The Seattle skyline.

We were meeting the rest of Tom's family in Seattle so we could go on a family trip with Tom's two sisters and their families and Tom's mom, Sue. I can't quite remember how it all came about but a couple of years ago, Sue mentioned she wanted to take the entire family on a trip. Tom and his sisters came up with the idea of an Alaskan cruise and after all those months of planing it and looking forward to the trip, it was finally here.

We met up with Tom's sister, Cathy and her family in Seattle a few days early so we had time to explore the city. We were fortunate enough to arrive on a day that was completely sunny and 85 degrees! The first thing we did was walk over to the Space Needle for a look at the city from above.

The view from the Space Needle, Mt. Rainier is in the distance.

A different view of the Space Needle.

Tom thought he would be funny and jumped in front of the camera when I was trying to take of picture of something from the observation deck. He probably doesn't even remember doing this but I thought I should document his attempt at being funny for everyone to enjoy.

Tom being "funny." ;-)

Pike Place Market was amazing. The fresh fruit and vegetables looked delicious and even the fish and seafood looked like something I would eat (or at least be more willing to taste). The kids got a big kick out of watching the fishmongers throw the fish to each other. And the flowers...did I mention the fresh flowers? Huge big beautiful bouquets of flowers for sale and they only cost $10!

Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington

The fishmongers and the fresh seafood.

Fresh fruit and veggies galore at the market.

Fresh bouquets for only $10!

Kait and Andrew with one of the Pike pigs.

Our nephew, Jack, hijacks a pig.

We also had time to check out the Seattle Aquarium. The kids really enjoyed hanging out with their older cousin, Jack. Cathy and I especially liked the sea lion and sea otter exhibits. They had a pelt from a sea otter for us to touch and feel how dense and soft the fur is. I made the mistake of saying how nice it would be to have a blanket made from the fur. Apparently, they frown on suggesting using the pelts for anything other than educational purposes. The aquarium lady said if I kept talking like that, they would have to search me to make sure I wasn't carrying a club! Oops.

Enjoying the octopus exhibit.

Sleeping sea lions.

Andrew and Jack having fun at the aquarium.

Seattle will definitely be somewhere we visit again!