Seattle Sights

On the rare occasions I get to travel to someplace new my preferred way to see the place is through the eyes of friends who live there so they can show me what they love about a place.  Susie and Logo both had favorite places so they each had their own take on the place.  Then I showed up and added my Lime twist.  Here are just a few non-Needle related stops through out the city.  (The Needle is later.)

The Central Saloon is the oldest in the city.  Logo and I had a very yummy lunch there.  May I also add one of the things I really appreciated about Seattle and surrounds was the seemingly sincere desire of servers to actually serve patrons cheerfully.  Every restaurant I went into from the cheapest hole in the wall to the fanciest place they all brought water immediately and kept the glass filled.  At home I'd have to beg for a single glass and sell my soul for a refill.  Seattle servers are also more than happy to give a table as many separate checks as desired.  Around here, requesting such a thing might lead to you having your food spat upon.  Yeah, simple things but it made dining out the pleasure it ought to be.

Chief Seattle.  I learned during the Underground Tour that his name is actually pronounced more like a cat horking up a hairball and that he reluctantly allowed his name to be given to the city.  Initially, he resisted on the basis that calling his name after he was dead would mean he'd have to respond and he'd never get to rest in peace.  The city fathers offered him $500 a year for life to convince him.  They figured he was not long for this world.  He was swayed and lived another 15 years or so.

Not that I ever wondered especially what one of these looked like but now I know.  The Curiosity Shop is a very groovy place down on the water front.  It's filled with things like preserved whale penises, mummified dogs, a tooth collection and other weird items.  In other words, I was in heaven.  Very fun place.

Pennsylvania doesn't have a lot of obvious Native American relics around.  Geographical names are about it.  It was neat to see more prolific evidence of that culture.  Of course, it also brought out the silly in us sometimes, but so did things like restaurants, museums, bookstores, markets....ya know, it doesn't take much for us.

We didn't actually go in here but the Pacific Science Center looked really pretty all lit up at night, didn't it?

Gees, those totems are just all over the place!

Walrus gargoyles.  Now how cool is that? 

Please feel free to offer a caption for this particular shot.  This is the audience participation part of this post, your reward for sticking with me.

Of course I did have to do some touristy things.  One was the underground Tour which was given with great humor by an Elvis impersonator.  I learned all about the "seamstresses" (wink wink nudge nudge) who came to Seattle to serve all the "dressmaking" needs of the original settlers, who all happened to be men.  Oh, and I learned that folks scheduled their toilet usage around tide schedules so they didn't get blown off their crappers by a high tide surge mid-squat.  I love when history is presented in a down to earth manner that makes you laugh.  Anyway, this picture was just a groovy detail from underground.

And the bookstores.....Lord have mercy, there was an independent bookstore on every other corner.  It made me so happy.  Excuse me, I need just a moment here to revel in the bliss that was abundant books at affordable prices.....revel....revel...revel....ok, I'm back.   Now here's one of my favorite signs from a bookstore during my visit.