Seattle: Part Two

I was hoping to cover our trip in two posts, but I just have so much I want to share and this post would be so long.  I will have to settle for a three posts!  After our fun filled weekend outside of Seattle, we spent some time in town.

I had bought a Groupon for a Savor Seattle food and cultural tour of Pike Place Market for Monday morning.  We met up at Market Theater which is known for it's Gum Wall!  It is just as gross as it sounds, but also pretty cool!

We were led though the Market and learned about it's long (and sometimes torrid) history.  We also stop at 9 eateries and got to taste about 20 different items.

Mini Donuts, Market Spice Tea (I don't like tea, but their signature stuff was amazing!),
Tyler, our guide, at the flying fish stand, Pike Place Chowder

The last picture above was my favorite stop.  Pike Place Chowder was amazing.  We got to try both the original clam chowder and the seafood bisque.  Both were tasty, but the bisque was incredible.  No wonder they are in the Chowder Hall-of-Fame!

Chukar Cherries (chocolate covered fruits),  Beecher's Mac and Cheese,
Piroshky - Piroshky (Russian meat pies), tastes just like Runza!

 Parker took a snooze for about 30 minutes of the 2 hour tour.

We had so much fun, and would certainly recommend this to anyone visiting Seattle!  Parker loved the tour too and even gave Tyler a hug when it was over.

 We took a stroll through other parts of the market in search of some lunch.  We settles back at Pike Place Chowder and shared a big bowl of the Original!  Even Parker had some.

Chowder Mustache

 There is a small patch of grass and a "park" near the Market that overlooks Puget Sound.  We soon realized that Parker has never walked on grass since the snow never wants to end here in MN!  He was very apprehensive, but got the hang of it quick.

 It is hard to tell from these pictures, but he is trying to climb a little hill...then go back down!

We even ran into some Nebraska Cornhusker fans (they're everywhere!) who thought Parker was pretty adorable too!  We chilled for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  We had been on the run so much, it was nice just to rest.

Tuesday started with a tour of Chihuly Garden and Glass.  If you haven't heard of Dale Chihuly, you have some googling to do!  He is an incredible glass artist and is known for his elaborate blown glass pieces.  Chihuly Garden and Glass is a museum/atrium/courtyard that his full of his art.  It is almost directly below the Space Needle.  The pictures don't do it justice...

Inside

Outside

Below is a videa of Parker walking the grounds.  He was much more interested in the path lighting!

We headed straight to the Space Needle from here.  It was a quick elevator ride up to the observatory deck.  I was a little underwhelmed by this.  Maybe it's because it is only 518 ft. up, compared to Empire State (1050 ft) and John Hancock (1030 ft.)  It has some fun info about how it was built and several models to simulate the view at different times of day and seasons.  It was a "must-do" for the tourist, but I probably wouldn't go again.

West - Puget Sound

South - Downtown, Stadiums

 We stopped at one of the nick-nack shops and found this adorable piggy bank for Parker.  We had just been talking about getting him one and it was a nice memento of his first longer-than-a-weekend vacation.  My dad put in the first coin!

That's it for this post...The final post will include the baseball game and our final day trip to Bremerton.