Seattle, WA: The Turn Home

On Monday night, we met Jenna's parents in Seattle. They were there on their own trip and had lived there in the past, so it was really fortunate to have them show us around. We ate at a small place on the water called Ivar's on Monday evening before heading back to the hotel. Jenna took the pull-out couch and I took the floor, but I was excited: even that was more restful than the weekend at the Gorge we were just returning from.

We started the next day by swinging by the original Starbucks and visiting the Pike Place Market. The market is huge and interesting; it spans an entire street and has multiple floors. There are all kinds of specialty vendors along the main stretch including everything from pasta and olive oil to dried berries.

A strange part of the market is the gum wall, which is neat, but somewhat disgusting. It's not anything more than it sounds - an alley that is covered in gum.

Between walking and driving around town, I noticed that Seattle was in the middle of a significant shift in architecture. More than anywhere else, there were dozens of modern, boxy, green-roofed, stainless-steel accented apartments and condos in the city, with more under construction all over the place.

Later in the day, we met Drew and Maddie one last time before Jenna and I would leave them for good the next day. We went up the Space Needle, which was good but less impressive after having been up the Empire State Building.

We also visited the new Chihuly glass museum next to the Space Needle. Chihuly is a glass artist with work around the world, but several pieces were collected and placed in the museum. His unique way of creating glass shapes made the place sort of eerie and odd, considering his pieces look strange and monster-ish at some times. However, it was very interesting - it's not often I find myself in an art museum.

After our final goodbyes with Drew and Maddie, we met Jenna's parents again for dinner. We went to a seafood place near Pike Place that was aptly named "Cutter's." It was a really nice evening, so Mt. Rainier was visible off in the distance throughout the city.

Mt. Rainier hiding next to the clouds

It was a neat place to visit - after Tuesday evening, we got organized for Wednesday morning, when Jenna and I would depart down US 101 through Oregon and California to the Bay Area. It was a pretty significant milestone: after traveling so long "up and over," we were finally heading "down and back," transitioning from a journey outward to a journey back home!