Seattle Attractions Part III

On to day three of the Seattle trip! The third day was the time to cram in everything we hadn't had a chance to get to before, so it was a hectic and attraction filled day. The first order of business was to get to the Seattle Zoo. Since we weren't driving and it was several miles from our hotel we tried out the bus system, which is surprisingly well put together mass transit system. Besides the one problem of the first bus expecting us to pay before we boarded and the second bus driver yelling at me because I was supposed to pay after the ride was down and I was leaving, everything was pretty smooth. We weren't familiar with the layout of the city and didn't have a bus map, but a helpful local told us where to get off the bus. Most of the buses in Seattle are two bus lengths long, with a bendable middle section. We sat in the middle, which was a crazy experience because every turn made the walls of the section expand and contract.

The Seattle Zoo is large enough to spend an entire day there, so our stay was full of running and finding the best sites. We stopped first at the food court and got smoothies, which are served in cups that look like plastic but are actually made out of corn so they are not only earth friendly, but they also can't harm the animals if someone drops them in an exhibit. The large elephant exhibit was our main reason for going, but for some reason none of the elephants could be seen, which was a bit of a letdown. We did get a good view of the apes, giraffes, and hippos, though.

After finishing up at the Zoo we took one last trek to the Pike Place Market to get all the purchases we didn't want to carry or weren't sure of the day before. There is a cheap T-Shirt shop with thousands of shirts just outside the Market building proper where I acquired the obligatory "Seattle" shot glass and my wife bought shirts to take home as gifts. We wandered away from the market to see what else was downtown and found the Pike Brewing Co., a restaurant, bar, and brewery. They have an amazing artichoke dip that puts a new spin on an old classic by adding in crab and putting it on little bread slices instead of chips. My meal choice was the "Son of Reuben", which supposedly is half of a full Reuben sandwich. If that was half, I'm glad I didn't get the full, because what I got was bigger than any Reuben I've had at home. We also tried the Pike Sampler, which was six of the brews available in four ounce glasses served on a wooden board with a little insert that told about each beers flavor, bitterness, and alcohol content. The Pike Naughty Nellie and the Pike Kilt Lifter were our favorites, and we were fortunate enough to find the Kilt Lifter in a store when we got home. For those who prefer a darker, heavier beer, I would recommend the Pike XXXXX Stout, which is a dark reddish-black and has a slight chocolate aftertaste.

Our last major stop was down the street at the Seattle Art Museum to see the Roman art exhibits on loan from the Louvre in France. Most of the statues were in marble, and since there weren't under glass it was a challenge to not reach out and touch them (the beer sampler might have had something to do with that lack of inhibition, though!). After perusing all the Roman art we had a few minutes before the museum closed to see the regular exhibits. Some of them were very interesting and fun to look at, like the king's robe made entirely of dog tags, but others were very much stretching the boundaries of what should be considered "art", like the canvas that simply was painted half black and half white, which any 1st grade kid could have done. The Art Museum's main lobby is an exhibit all on its own, sporting full sized cars hanging from cables with dozens of long glowing rods sticking out of them.

After all that walking and exploring it was time to relax, so back to the hotel to lounge in the hot tub and enjoy the sauna!