Seattle: Day Two

Monday, we started our day with Starbucks. Isn't that how you're supposed to do it, afterall? Then, we hopped on the bus and headed back to Pike's Market. Much different experience than on Sunday. It was bustling with people. The crowds were a bit ridiculous and I hear it only gets worse. We walked the stalls and bought blueberries and rasperries, so fresh and sweet, they were like candy. We stopped by the fish market.


and meandered our way around...








Eventually winding up at Beecher's Cheese. M'mmm glorious cheese!


We bought aged gouda and the sharpest aged cheddar they sold, and a grilled cheese and mariachi mac & cheese. Delicious!!




After that tasty bite, we were on the hunt for seafood. Nothing really grabbed us at Pike's, but we eventually settled on Lowell's. We had the special blackened halibut with seafood stew and an order of clam chowder. It was pretty bad. Only the seafood stew was decent, and that's not saying much.





Next we stopped at DeLaurenti Market we got a variety of salami. Ironically, they were from San Francisco. We had decided earlier we much prefer the Ferry Building to Pike's Market. We needed bread to complete our picnic lunch so I suggest we seek out Dahlia Bakery. We found it a few blocks away. We bought a baguette, potato loaf, chocolate chip cookies and split pea soup.


Everything from the bakery was awesome! We swore we'd return tomorrow to eat at Dahlia for lunch. We went back to the hotel and had ourselves a picnic with the meats, cheese and bread. Scrumptious!

After resting a bit we set off for Columbia Center. At 1,049 feet, it is the tallest building in Seattle. It's pennies to ride to the top compared to the Space Needle, no lines and I have no doubt it offers better views.




Quest and Safeco Field are located next to each other.












On the way down from the tower, we stopped at Starbucks for our afternoon cold treat for two bucks. It's rare I go to Starbucks so I never know what to order, Frank ordered me a green tea with soy Frappucino. It looked like guacamole, but it was surprisingly tasting. We relaxed a bit and enjoyed the view.


Then, we were off to first street in Pioneer Square to find an (ING) ATM and then catch the bus to Safeco Field. We had insufficient funds at the ATM, it shouldn't have been the case until we realized all of our bills hit checking and so did the Vancouver hotel stay. We bank with ING, transferring funds is instant, but we didn't have internet at the hotel so it never crossed our mind... until we were cashless. However, ING is so fantastic we were able to transfer funds on Frank's phone and within minutes we had cash in hand. I highly recommend ING. /end commercial.

We only had a brief stay at Pioneer Square but I liked the looks of it better than other Seattle neighborhoods, it had more character. Yes, there were bums a plenty, but they were everywhere, but the ballpark. I wanted to come back.





We rode the bus to Safeco, bought our tickets and headed inside as the gates opened.


We watched batting practice and I got a ball. My second, my first was a Thome home run, this one was foul and the sun was too bright to see who hit it.


Had to laugh when they came through to water the dirt. I bet it was still damp at the end of the game. If it were Vegas it would've dried in 15 minutes.



After batting practice we checked out the rolling roof.


and came across alcohol enforcement, were they making sure folks drank enough? Not too much? Watching for those underage? Not sure, but it looks like it's hard work. Dontcha think?


While admiring the roof and train yard, Frank was searching Wiki to learn more about the park. That's when we learned of the Ichiroll. We had to seek out sushi. Who eats sushi at the ballpark? We do! We got the combo to try it all. Oddly enough the best seafood we had in Seattle was at Safeco Field.




Later, we got fish and chips from Ivar's. Not bad. Way better than the hot dogs. Those were disgusting!


This taco salad was real good, though.




That says it all right there!

We crushed Seattle just like I hoped. We enjoyed the view from our seats. Frank knew just where to go, a few customers gave him the heads up before our trip.





It's 10:00 and the sun is still setting. Crazy!


Final score Sox 6, Mariners 1.

After the game we took the courtesy shuttle to Pioneer Square. We thought we'd stop for a drink, but the place closed down. It was nothing like what I saw earlier. It was us, a couple others coming from the game and handfuls of homeless. We felt it was best to get on the bus and seek out a bar near the hotel. I thought we'd try McMenimins, but we found an Irish pub first. It was perfect. It was us, a recent local and the bartender. Later, the recent local left and a long-time local came in... good times chatting. Kicked back and enjoyed a few beers. I sampled a few local brews but I took a liking to Trumer Pils and stuck with that. Frank switched back and forth between a local Hefe and Stella. Last call is usually one o'clock, but law is drinks have to be removed at two. About 1:30 a hooker popped in looking for any takers. We shut the bar down at 1:50 or so. We were pretty toasty walking back to the hotel despite it being chilly. We raided the last of the bakery goods and crashed.