Seattle Sightseeing: Day 8

This is our last, true vacation day, and we packed in a full day, that's for sure. We were up fairly early and had breakfast down the street from our hotel, at a place called The Mecca. I think we were the only people who weren't 'regulars'. The breakfast was great, and fortified us for the walk to the Pike Place Market.

What can you say about the Market? You can find anything in the world there . . . local art, imported crap, beautiful flowers, vegetables, fruit, low-flying fish, pirates. It's quite a slice of life. Rosie saw her first street people (she had a lot of questions about that), Steve got panhandled by a guy we later saw smoking crack on Pier 66, and a swarm of very realistic pirates came swaggering through the Market, tossing silver doubloons. We sampled fresh fruit, watched the guys at the fish market yell and throw fish, walked down to the pier and fed the gulls. Rosie bought a handmade Seattle pottery piggy bank, and we had a fun conversation with the guy who was selling them.

Lunch was at the Pike Street Brewery so Steve could get a Seattle microbrew. The food was pretty good, and we were able to look across at some apartments at two cats that were coming out onto the deck. Cats . . . we haven't seen many here. Washingtonians love their dogs, but cats are another story. I only saw 2 cats the entire time we were on Orcas Island. We're all needing a serious cat fix.

We walked back to the Mediterranean Inn about 3 pm, stopping along the way at Continental Furniture and at Cherry Street for iced coffee.

In the evening, we walked to the Olympic Sculpture Park and the Space Needle. On the way back, we saw the very bizarre architecture of the Experience Music Project building and the Science Fiction Museum . . . you won't see that in our neck of the woods! We figure we walked at least 10 miles today. I've seen more full-body tattoos and flesh ear tunnels in one day than in my entire previous lifespan!

We bought a bottle of 2004 Flying Fish Merlot at the Space Needle and went up to the 7th floor deck of our hotel to watch the sunset—not anything at all like the sunset on Orcas, but nice anyway. Tomorrow we head back to Indiana, and I think we're ready. Back to work, back to school soon for Rosie, but with lots of new experiences, new friends and happy memories.