Seattle

After my night in Portland I drove up the interstate into Washington State and on to Seattle. Prior to this trip, I had never been north of California and I have always wanted to visit Seattle. It is located on the shores of the Puget Sound and is best viewed from the water.

The best homes look out over the Sound or even float on it.

Gas Works Park, on Lake Union, contains the remnants of the sole remaining coal gasification plant in the USA. It used to burn coal to produce gas for use in the City’s street lights. It was in operation up until 1956.

On my way out to the park I went past a piece of the Berlin wall!

The city is big on public art such as this installation in one of the control towers on a draw bridge.

And these outside the Gates Foundation visitor centre (made out of concrete).

Opened in 1907, Pike Place Market is one of the oldest farmers markets in the USA.

It is also the location of the first ever Starbucks which opened in 1971.

Don’t bother joining the permanent queue outside, there are now 25 other Starbucks within a mile of this one.

There are also some pleasant surprises such as the Pike Place Community Garden based on a balcony behind the market.

I took a ride on the Monorail that was installed for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Apparently Elvis rode it once.

It takes you out to the Seattle Centre which has been built on the location of the Fair. It is now the home to several museums and tourist attractions. The Space Needle was kept from the Fair. I didn’t go up it as it was rather cloudy.

The following day I drove north to the suburb of Everett to visit the Boeing factory. You are not allowed to take cameras inside the factory. It is hard to comprehend the size of the factory (it is the largest building in the world covering 90 acres). To try and put it into context, one of the 6 bays of the building has space to build 6 747s with plenty of space around them.