Bright eyed boys and girls awoke with plenty of energy to get to Seattle's number one attraction; the Space Needle! What a cool experience! The group was served our fanciest breakfast yet of fresh fruit, cinnamon sugar scones, cheese eggs, ham and potatoes. As great as the breakfast was, the best part about the meal happened when the floor started rotating, the kids were exasperated, exclaiming "woah!" and "so cool!" We got to see a 360 degree view of the Emerald City. The excited chitchat was contagious, and our kids were well behaved in this fancy environment.
Tour guide James, a native North Carolinian, gave us three jam-packed hours full of useful information about the city of Seattle. We learned George Vancouver discovered the area. George Wilkes mapped and developed the area and was responsible for naming a lot of streets and things after random friends of his. For example, Mt. Rainier was named after a guy that never even saw the west coast! He took us to the waterfront, showing us osprey birds and their babies, as well as down to the locks.
The group explored the underground tunnel to learn about the incredible fishing business Seattle has maintained since 1917. The "Locks" turn 100 years old this year on July 4th! The locks system is similar to an elevator and fence combo that fills up with water, a boat comes in, another fence goes down to allow ships in and out of the canals. The locks are not only for boats, but for the sea life as well. We were able to follow the fish ladder, which provides the Sockeye salmon an opportunity to navigate from saltwater back to fresh water. Up to this point, the fish have lived in saltwater, this passage allows them to spend time getting acclimated to freshwater, and then they find their way back to the rivers in order to lay eggs.
For the first time ever on this tour, we drove through Magnolia Discovery Park seeing the edge of the Seattle coastline as well as the Westpoint Lighthouse. The group got to dip their toes in the Pugent Sound and enjoy their first beach experience of the trip. We then visited Theo's chocolate, learning the name comes from theobromine, which is the chemical that gives you that little chocolate high, not caffeine!
We continued through downtown passing the shopping district, Amazon's newest architectural project, the Bezzo spheres, Chinatown, to Pioneer Square, ending our fascinating tour at the world famous Pike Market, the longest running public market in the United States. The crew was given free time for lunch, many of them chose to shop, eat Asian cuisine, relax in the parks and more!
Our dinner followed along with the day's theme of being fancy, and the young ladies and gentleman showed off some of their new purchases from the day. We feasted like kings and queens at Ivar's Salmon House, located right on the water, Lake Union to be exact. This city has more than 200 miles of waterfront shoreline. The unique private room provided various Totem carvings in the walls and the kids all loved tonight's dinner. Before returning to our hotel in the university district, the crew enjoyed the scenes from the shoreline.
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