The flight to Seattle was uneventful. I had chosen aisle seats for Mairead and myself. Now that the seats are narrower with less leg room and 3 together, I prefer an aisle seat - I can stretch my legs out in the aisle until someone walks by - I would never want to be in the middle seat! I also volunteer my carry on bag if the airline does not have enough overhead bin space and is looking for a volunteer to check them. I figure I have a checked bag anyway and this way I don't have to struggle getting the bag in and out of the overhead compartment.
Jet Blue seems to have more leg room, and the seats don't seem so squished. They gave us free soft drinks, tea, or coffee and a bag of chips or pretzels. I was glad I had eaten that piece of pizza this morning!
There was a free shuttle to the Days Inn Sea-Tac - the motel that Danno had booked. We took the shuttle to the Motel - we knew the room would not be ready until 2, but we just wanted to drop our bags off. Dan and Amanda are arriving about 8 pm. I checked in, and they put our bags in a locked room until we returned and were given a room.
I had my first Lyft ride from the motel to Seattle's waterfront. The driver was originally from Ethiopia - had worked as a driver for an embassy in Japan - and has lived in Seattle for 6 or 7 years. He was very friendly and talked about how the prices of houses and apartments are going up. He was paying $1500 monthly rent, but now his landlord wants to raise his rent to $2500 per month!! We were talking about how people who grew up in the cities like Boston and Seattle can't afford to live there.
We needed to eat so we went into Miners Landing to the Crab Pot restaurant - I think that was the name of it. Mairead went for fish and chips and a beer. I had a fish sandwich that came with a cup of soup and fruit - grapes, cantaloupe, and honey dew melon - I ate the soup, fruit and the cod - the fish was very fresh - the bun was covered in tartar sauce which I don't like.
We ate along this pier - about half way down toward the Seattle Wheel.
We were sitting outside - Mairead had a good view of boats in the harbor. The waiter David told us that we brought the sunshine. It was getting hotter - in the 80s anyway. We walked along the harbor and poked into a couple of shops - Mairead bought her first T shirt! I bought a couple of magnets and postcards.
View of the pier where we ate in Miners Landing.
This place had all kinds of unusual things!!
It was very warm by this time so we cooled off with ice cream!! We sat outside on a pier while we ate it. Then we walked to the Seattle Wheel and decided to give it a whirl. It is much smaller than the London Eye, but it was pleasant - we made 3 or 4 rotations and had a good view of that area of the harbor and the Space Needle.
View of Space Needle from Seattle Wheel
Red, white and blue umbrellas of restaurant where we ate.
Red, white and blue umbrellas of restaurant where we ate. You can go out for a harbor tour in the sailboat docked between piers - maybe tomorrow!!
You can just see the two stadiums near the top of these pictures.
Getting tired - I thought this lumberman might carry me to the exit!
The driver was another pleasant fellow - there was another passenger and the two of them were talking about all the homeless people along the waterfront. I had noticed quite a few - an Asian fellow with one leg on crutches and a woman with a shopping cart of belongings - she passed us as we poked into some shops - then we saw her near a fountain outside the Seattle Aquarium - she was yelling at no one in particular. There were men sitting along the sidewalk with signs asking for handouts. We drove passed a tent city. The driver said that the city had a program to get the homeless off the street, but the homeless have to be sober to participate - so many don't. The driver was talking about the number of homeless who don't want to come in from the cold. The other passenger said she had see homeless camped out under the Western Bridge. I was impressed with the compassion that the Lyft driver and that woman had for the homeless. As we drove by some old buildings along the waterfronts - some were being rehabbed - they talked about how the rents would be going up once the buildings were finished, and the homeless would be moved somewhere else.
The other passenger lived near Sea-Tac Airport - off the main drag - it was a very nice residential area - the architecture reminded me of the houses near John Huliston's cottage in Falmouth - some had triangular details and other "modern" features - the yards were all nicely landscaped. The gal told us that each lot had a grandfathered in deed to the nearby beach! She had said that she and her husband had looked for a year before they found their house - they had been considering moving out of Seattle until they found this house.
After we dropped the other passenger off, the Lyft driver said that the neighborhood was very nice but too far aware from everything - it was good if you had kids, but not if you were single.
The driver lost connection to his Waze - my battery was low - so Mairead had to find the way to Days Inn. The driver was very apologetic.
We are in Room 428 - we left Danno and Amanda's key at the desk. It's 7:37 pm so they should be arriving soon. I took a shower which woke me up a little. I was too tired to go back out. So I am stretched out in bed. We had a pizza delivered to the room. Mairead can go to with Dan and Amanda if they want to go out. I am going to try to stay awake for another hour or so and then hit the hay!!
It's now 10:29 pm - Dan and Amanda have arrived - I gave them the leftover pizza. We are thinking of brunch at the Space Needle tomorrow. The menu looks great! and the price include admission to the observation deck!
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