Seattle
I was fortunate to have gorgeous weather for my second trip to Seattle. My previous stay had only be for a short time in Seattle before heading off to the Olympic Peninsula. This time Seattle was only stop. Seattle has different energy than San Francisco. There's a down to earth quality that's missing in California. The emphasis on fresh, often organic food was a gastronomic delight. I made a special trip out to West Seattle to visit Bakery Nouveau which was delicious. The setting of the city on Puget Sound is beautiful and when the sun is shining, it's a location that can not be beat.
The teller's cage really conjures the image of pioneer Seattle. I can just imagine
men selling gold late at night to get cash to take to the bars or a brothel. Seattle boomed as the gateway to the Klondike Gold Rush
and thus had all the vices that frontier boomtowns experienced.
The The Underground Tour reveals an abandoned city beneath Pioneer Square. After the Great Seattle fire of 1889, the local government decided that they would re-grade the streets. Before the re-grading could be accomplished, the local merchants decided to rebuild at the current ground level. When the re-grading happened, the former ground level of the buildings disappeared beneath the sidewalks. The tour shows this lost part of the city.
The reflections of the amusement rides caught my eye. The vivid colors conjured up the image of an old time carnival.