The Alaska Vacation Begins with A Flight to Seattle - Fri., July 27, 2018

Finally, the anticipated Alaskan cruise blogs!

An early flight this morning had us at airport economy parking about 6:30 a.m. Our flight today takes us from San Antonio to Houston, Texas, and from there we will change planes for Seattle, Washington. We made the flight with time to spare. 

As soon as we were on board, the flight attendants handed out a flyer titled, "Salute to Your Captain." Here are some excerpts from the flyer:

"...Today's flight to Houston's Hobby Airport is under the command of Captain Rob Mansfield, who will be celebrating his 65th birthday on August 22nd. Federal Aviation Regulations mandate an Airline Pilot's retirement at age 65, therefore, this will be Captain Mansfield's last commercial flight after more than 33 years of dedicated service at Southwest.

"Captain Mansfield was born in Killeen, TX. He attended the Millard Prep School in Oregon and later joined the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He also earned a Master's in Business Administration from Phillips University in Oklahoma. He served our country in the Air Force for 23 years; he was an instructor pilot on the T-18...

"Rob has accumulated over 27,000 total flight hours in the Northrup T-38, Cessna T-37, Cessna T-41, Cessna L-19 Birddog, Mitchell B-25 WWII Bomber (for the Confederate Air Force) and the Boeing 737 commercial aircraft which you are enjoying today...

"His sons Greg, John and James are aboard our flight today with family and friends honoring Rob and his career. In fact, Greg is the first officer flying with Rob today!..." 

Wow, we feel like we're in good hands with our pilots to Houston. Let the vacation begin!

After safely making it to Houston, and then Seattle, a shuttle bus took us to our hotel, the Quality Inn at the Space Needle. Along the way, we saw the Starbucks headquarters (which took over the old Sears Building). 

Starbucks HQ tower

It took us a while to get to our hotel because of an accident on the way there. We checked in, ate some of their delicious cookies in the lobby, and I signed us in for the downtown Seattle 10k Volksmarch. The walk box was right at our hotel. How handy. But we knew that, and that's one of the reasons we chose this hotel. 

We saw some rough-looking characters in the lobby, and from our room, we saw who they were...pirates and wenches from a pirate ship on wheels.

Pirate party ship on wheels. They were loading
in the beer for the evening.

After we rested a bit, we headed out on our walk. It was just a couple of blocks to the Seattle Center. Seattle Center is where the 1962 World's Fair was held. The Space Needle towered over the proceedings back then, just as it does now!

The Space Needle

[NOTE: We now live in San Antonio which has a similar tower from HemisFair 1964. When people from the West come to Traveler's World RV Resort, they invariably refer to the tower as "The Space Needle." The actual name of San Antonio's structure is "The Tower of the Americas."]

Seattle Center has unique art and landmarks; for example, MoPOP: the Museum of Pop Culture. When we lived in the Northwest, this was billionaire Paul Allen's Experience Music Project (EMP) which was built to hold his Jimi Hendrix collection. One exhibit currently at MoPOP is "Marvel: Universe of Super Heroes." The building is famous for not having any straight lines or square corners. It was designed by Frank Gehry. 

MoPOP, formerly EMP

Close-up of the sign

A few yards down  from MoPOP is the Chihuly Sculpture Garden. We did not take time to go in. From the outside, I got one partial Chihuly sculpture in the photo below.

Partial Chihuly glass sculpture (lime green)

We wandered around Seattle Center and came to "Sonic Bloom," copyrighted by Dan Corson. I was captivated. There are five "flowers" ranging up to 40' in height. The descriptive sign says: "In the playful context of Seattle Center's festival grounds, 5 giant solar energy-generating flowers absorb the sun's energy and express it at night with dynamic LED lighting and in the daytime with a chorus of interactive harmonic tones triggered by people's movement around each flower. The striped stalks are also massive barcodes that allow inquisitive types to decode the supersized puzzle."

"Sonic Bloom," by Dan Corson

From Seattle Center, we headed downhill to the Olympic Sculpture Park.

First sculpture in the park...a stainless steel tree.
Did not see a marker naming the artist. 

Below is the sculpture called "Mary's Invitation - A Place to Regard Beauty," by Ginny Ruffner. This coated aluminum bench was commissioned by the Seattle Art Museum in memory of Mary Shirley, one of the most passionate supporters and key benefactors of the Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park. 

I liked "Mary's Invitation" and I took
her up on it.

View from Olympic Sculpture Park of
Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.

The next four photos are a collective work of art titled "Wake." I interpret it to be like the wake of a ship. Each way you look at it, the sculpture looks different.

"The Wake"

"The Wake"

Bob walking by "The Wake."

"The Wake"

Photo from the Alaskan Way Overlook: The Edgewater
Hotel, restaurants, and cruise ship terminals
are on the right.

After the Olympic Sculpture Park, we headed down to the water. 

Puget Sound and The Edgewater Hotel.

The Space Needle, and "The Eagle" sculpture,
by Alexander Calder.

Freighter on the Puget Sound with the
Olympic Mountains in the background.

Walking along the Puget Sound on Seattle's waterfront is a treat. There is so much to see: the aquarium, restaurants, ferries, ships, shops, historical markers, piers, art, Seattle Great Wheel, and the downtown skyline. 

Speaking of piers, tomorrow we will embark on our Alaska cruise on the Norwegian Bliss at Pier 66. We happened to see a historical marker about Pier 66 on our walk.

Bell Street Pier, Pier 66

After a full day traveling and walking 3k, those cookies we ate at hotel check in just didn't cut it for dinner. We stopped at a waterfront restaurant for salmon dinners and sat outside by the marina to enjoy the beautiful Seattle afternoon. Yummy!

Marina, Seattle Great Wheel, and Seahawks stadium
(CenturyLink Field) in the background.

Below is a historical marker about the U.S. Navy's "Great White Fleet" that sailed 46,000 miles around the world in 1908 and made a stop in Seattle.

A giant squid sculpture.

The Port of Seattle and a Washington State Ferry
coming into its terminal.

A pretty fountain in front of Seattle Great Wheel.

Me with a big sea otter.

Most places we travel have horse-drawn carriages. Seattle has a Captain America, bicycle-powered carriage.

Captain America powered

Gold Rush history from 1897

From the waterfront, we turned east through the Washington State Ferry Terminal and made our way to Pioneer Square. If you're in Seattle, one of the interesting tours is Seattle Underground which starts in Pioneer Square. Your guide takes you into the underground world of Seattle's waterfront where you learn the history of the gold rush era. 

Pioneer Building

Who said Las Vegas is the only place you can have a shotgun wedding? 

We were supposed to go through the Grand Arcade, but it was closed and looked like it hadn't been open for quite a while. We went around the block to get to the back door where we were supposed to come out. There's quite an interesting park with a large chessboard, foosball games, ping pong, and a Firefighter's Memorial. 

Firefighter's Memorial

Following are Seattle impressions...

Downtown Seattle

We passed by Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (Seattle unit). Unfortunately, it was closed for the day. 

Below, two old buildings are joined together by a modern atrium. Gorgeous!

King Street Station

If you remember my blog about St. Paul, Minnesota, you will recognize railroader James J. Hill and his Great Northern Railroad. Below is another piece of James Hill history.

Entry to King Street Station

Inside King Street Station

Seahawks' CenturyLink Field (football)

Interesting architecture.

We went through Uwajimaya Asian market (huge!).

We're currently winding through Chinatown. This walk is hitting all of downtown Seattle's highlights.

Detail on the pagoda roof.

Chinese Pagoda

Chinese Gate

Chinese Gate

Dragons galore! Need I say more?

We walked by a wall of Japanese American history on the way back up the hill. Many historical murals tell of the Japanese American incarceration during WWII.

Skyscrapers

I may be biased, but I think Seattle has some of
the prettiest skyscrapers.

Seattle's architecturally significant and
award-winning public library.

Our walk instructions said to go through the library and take the escalator up to the next street; however, the library had closed about a half-hour before we got there. So, we hiked up the hill instead. (We should get extra credit for that. LOL.) Apparently, the creators of the walk did not anticipate evening walkers.

Below, is the Olympic Hotel. This was the original site of the University of Washington.

Olympic Hotel

Unusual architecture!

Old and new skyscrapers side by side.

We walked down University St. to Veteran's Memorial Garden of Remembrance. There is a pretty waterfall as well as walls of remembrances.

What would a visit to Seattle be without a visit to Pike Place Market? They were in the process of closing for the day, so it's a good thing we've been to Seattle a number of times and have visited more than once.

Pike Place Market

Westlake Park waterfall garden - you can walk
between the walls of water!

Looking down 6th St. to the Space Needle.

Below is Amazon.com's new "rainforest" for employees (only). This reuters.com article from January 29, 2018, with reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Seattle, editing by Peter Henderson and Marguerita Choy, describes "The Spheres" really well.

Amazon.com's "Spheres"

The walk is almost complete, but what tour of downtown Seattle would be complete without passing by the iconic Elephant Car Wash? That has been here as long as I can remember (1951, according to their website!).

Thank you so much to the FS Wanderers Volkssport Club for an awesome walk to start our Alaskan cruise vacation. You hit all the downtown highlights. I recommend your walk to anyone who really wants to get to know downtown Seattle on foot! (Be ready to walk some hills.)

Tomorrow, we embark on our cruise!! Good night all.