Seattle, here we come!

After all the angst of packing, my suitcase weighed in at 49.6 lbs.  Luckily, American Airline's scale matches that of my bathroom, so I was prepared for it to be close. Admittedly, my carry-on backpack is pretty heavy, too, so once again I've over-packed.  Seriously, how does one pack for Alaska in May?  The weather might be all over the place.

Kelley and Zach flew from Indy to Denver to Seattle and arrived about 1:50 pm.  My mom and I flew from Cleveland to Dallas to Seattle arriving about 30 minutes later.  Our flights were uneventful, and we met at baggage claim.

Welcome Grammy and Toots

I had pre-arranged a shuttle to get us to our hotel, the Marriott Seattle Waterfront.  The hotel was nice and the location was pretty good for our needs.

The view of Puget Sound from our hotel room.

When I think about Seattle, I think of Starbucks, the Space Needle and the skyline picture that is used in every episode of Grey's Anatomy. I had never considered that Seattle would be hilly, and boy, is it ever.  Some of the inclines are extreme.  It really isn't what I would consider a "walking" town, so even though our hotel was convenient, it would have taken someone much more fit than myself to walk from our hotel to some of the shopping areas.  Luckily, one of my Chevrolet dealers has a son who lives in Seattle, so he had recommended using "Uber" for our transportation needs.  Uber is an app on your phone that allows you to arrange immediate transportation in select cities.  The app uses your GPS location to send a driver to you, and you can choose the size of the vehicle you need.  The driver usually arrives in 5-8 minutes, and conveniently, you can set up your account with PayPal so that no money is exchanged (tip is included).  You hop in, ride, hop out.  Easy peasy...and it's less expensive than a cab.  We used Uber several times throughout the evening.

When we got into our hotel room, Kelley introduced me to a couple of stowaways - Flat Nathan and Flat Jon - who would be joining us on our escapades.  Here they are hitching a ride to dinner.

Flat Nathan and Flat Jon

After settling into the hotel, we headed to Iver's Seafood for dinner.  It's was probably a little early for dinner by Seattle's standards, but with the 3-hour time difference, we were all ready to eat.  We tried some oysters as an appetizer, then we had salmon, crab legs, and halibut for dinner.  It was delicious.

The Puget Sound ferry

We then headed to the Space Needle and the Chihuly Glass Gardens.  The weather in Seattle was perfect for long distance viewing.  We were told that Seattle has an average of 54 days without rain each year, so we were very fortunate.  The views were amazing.

Spiders painted on the roof of the building

Century Link Field - Home of the World Champion Seattle Seahawks

Safeco Field - Home of the Seattle Mariners

We then headed next door to the Chihuly Glass Garden.  Dale Chihuly is an American glass artist from Washington.  He spent some of his early career in Venice, Italy, and is celebrated world-wide for his permanent art installations.  The first one I saw in person was in the lobby of the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, but according to his website, he also has an installation at the Huntington Museum of Art.  (I plan on checking that out soon!)  As you can see from these pictures, his work is amazing.  The colors are so vibrant.  Interestingly, Dale Chihuly suffered an eye injury years ago, so he isn't able to personally create a lot of the individual glass pieces any more, but he has glass artisans working with him that bring his vision to life.

Glass Flowers

Flat Nathan enjoying the art

Flat Nathan loves cobalt glass

This shot was inspired by my art director, Zach Lego

Glass Cactus

By now, we are all exhausted.  We ordered an Uber to get back to the hotel and crashed.  We watched part 1 of the finale of Dancing with the Stars, but Kelley was begging to go to bed.  We just aren't cut out for this time change.  Here's to a good night's sleep.


7,887 steps
3.55 miles