Itinerary: Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market, Harbor Tour, Anniversary dinner
The aquarium was AMAZING! They had a touch and feel section where anyone could touch sea anemones, sea cucumbers, starfish, and a variety of other sea invertebrates. I was very impressed with the exhibits and how they were tailored and geared for hands on learning for children and adults. The harbor seals were the highlight, as well as the sea and river otters. All were amazing creatures to observe. The seals would bob in he water and had his cute expression of curiosity on their adorable faces. Honestly their faces reminded me of Ollie. None of the animals are trained for entertainment purposes, but they are trained for their own safety. We watched a demonstration with the seals where the biologists showed the audience how they trained the seals to retrieve trash (specifically plastic water bottles) out of their enclosures. One seal even would put the bottle in a recycling bin! All if the mammals and birds at the aquarium were rescued and had been rehabilitated, but could not be released into the wild. The mission of the Seattle aquarium is education and conservation and they do a great job at it.
After the aquarium we headed to Pike Place Market. We were getting pretty hungry so we looked for a place to sit down for lunch. We had no idea how big Pike Place Market was going to be. It's six stories. We climbed the stairs from the waterfront to the top story several times. The market is filled with produce sellers, restaurants, and shops. Every kind of cuisine is available. What's best of all, I've had no trouble at all finding something I want to eat. This is an impressive feat since I'm a health conscience, picky vegetarian. There's also a neat area of shops and stores across the street on Post Alley. We settled on a little Thai place where I ordered Tom Yum soup and Patrick had Masaman curry. Oh it was so good. The fresh food stalls nearby sold the most amazing fruits and veggies and I wanted so much to stock up. I settled for a few free slices of fruit, for now. We plan to return later in the week and get some fruit and yogurt for a meal. There were also samples of fresh, homemade Greek yogurt. I has never tasted yogurt that good! I'm looking forward to that meal. Just a few shops down from there is the original Starbucks. That was pretty neat to see as well.
After working our way through the market, we headed back to the waterfront to go on a harbor tour. Before we left Texas we found there's an attraction pass called the City Pass. You pay $64 and you get passes into a variety of city attractions for a overall reduced price. The harbor tour and the aquarium were part if the city pass. On the harbor tour we saw the city from a new angle, learned a lot more about the city, and enjoyed the fresh cool air. The summer weather here is much more mild than Texas as you could imagine. From the boat we also saw Mt. Rainier, a navy destroyer, and the space needle. All pretty impressive to see. Mt. Rainier is 3 hours away, one way, so we won't be able to visit that site on this trip.
After the harbor tour we walked back to the hotel for a nap before dinner. We'd been up and walking the city since before 8 am and it was now 5pm, so we were a bit tired. We changed and headed to pier 67 and restaurant SixSeven for dinner. I scoped the place out during the vacation planning phase and found they had some good options for me. The view and dinner were amazing. What a great way to end an amazing day and celebrate 11 years of blissful marriage. I am so grateful to have found Patrick and that we are happily married. He is in every way my perfect match. In all our time together we have never bickered or fought and I am very proud of that. We sacrifice for each other and our family and we proudly consider ourselves a team. I can't express how much I love him in words or how happy I am that he asked me to marry him. My life has turned out much happier and exciting than I could have ever imagined thanks to my true and only love.
More pictures to come. I'm posting from remote devices so pictures are a little difficult to include at times.
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