Seattle! For the third annual Christmas trip.
We started out in Tacoma this year.
Cupcakes! This place wins for best decor.
Apparently, back in the day, both Seattle and Tacoma were fighting for the main railway stop. Tacoma won. But of course now Seattle is the larger city. So Tacoma’s Union Station has been turned into a city hall or court house or something.
The Chihuly Bridge ceiling. It looks similar to the Bellagio’s ceiling.
One of two glass pillars on the bridge.
On the ferry from Bremerton.
This is the least-blurry shot from the ferry.
Nene and Steven.
Nene and Steven make the beds.
Our hotel!
The view from the front of our hotel.
Nene and Steven.
In the in-flight magazine, I saw an ad for “hand forged doughnuts.” When I saw that they were offering pumpkin glazed old fashioned, I decided to find the Top Pot Doughnuts closest to our hotel. Luckily it was a block and a half away.
Two pumpkin glazed old fashioned, one apple fritter, one blueberry glazed, one hot chocolate, and one coffee.
Emily, this is for you! The First Starbucks Ever!
One of the famous fish stands at Pike Place Market.
The gum wall in Post Alley. One of the shops had a sign that said, Buy gum for the wall here!
Smith Tower, my favorite building in the downtown skyline.
The Underground Tour, Pioneer Square.
Seattle has an underground for several reasons, including waste management problems and poor planning. But, like our tour guide, Gail, told us “It’s okay, because now it means that I have a job and you have something to do.”
The underground skylight from beneath.
And from above.
The fruit stand to the right had amazing oranges, Heritage Navel.
But the Jazz apples were just as marvelous.
City center, by Nordstrom. I didn’t realize Nordstrom was from Seattle until the underground tour. He started out selling shoes.
Christmas at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. This year they put up enough lights to create a $60,000 electric bill, but, for the $1 donation they requested, it was well worth it, delightful.
From Bellevue Botanical Gardens, we moved on to Bellevue Square where we met up with the rest of the group and wandered the surprisingly intriguing offerings of the Container Store.
Sunday morning. “Containing Yourself” is hard, especially in a wonder-inducing city like Seattle.
With our Heritage Naval orange and Jazz apples, we ate overlooking the waterfront.
A Seattle ferry. One of them is called the Walla Walla.
Steven explains the universe to Nene. She doesn’t believe him.
We met the rest of the group at the Space Needle and then headed for Ballard.
Ballard. They have the right idea.
Cupcake Royale World Headquarters.
My chocolate coconut cupcake was amazing. Not too sweet. And so good that I forgot to take a photo.