Adventure #15

A couple of days ago Matt and I took another day trip to Seattle. We cannot seem to get enough of the Emerald City. It was overcast all day but did not rain. We also enjoyed warmer weather and no snow. We started our adventure by walking to the Columbia/Bank of America Tower, which is the tallest building in Seattle. There is a lovely view of the city and surrounding area from the 73rd floor's observation deck. There was a nice gentleman at the ticket counter who gave us half off admission since the view was foggy. (Is Seattle ever not foggy?) As we were paying he asked us where we were from. We of course said Salt Lake City, expecting the usual, "Oh Utah, huh" or "Are you one of those Mormons?" But no! He said, "Oh Utah! Are you LDS? I am." So he told us our admission was free. Friends and family discount. We thanked him profusely. The view was even more amazing since it was free. Here are some of my favorites.






After visiting the Columbia Tower we went to Pike's Place for some lunch. We ate a delicious place called Zaina. They serve middle eastern food. I ate the most original qyro ever. Full of chicken, vegetables, hummas, and a super hot, super delicious tomato sauce. Matt had the qyro platter, sounds similar but it was very different. Of course we bought a slice of baklava, flaky, honey goodness. Seattle you never fail us.




After all that good food we decided to work some of it off by walking around Pike's Place. The market was mildly disappointing since a huge chunk is under construction to earth quake prof the area. We did stop at Beecher's for Mac and Cheese to go. Then, we made our way down to take the underground tour of Seattle. On the way there we stumbled across a store I thought I would never find again. We found it the first visit to Seattle and I could not remember the name or where it was located at all. It is called Watson Kennedy and it is on 1st Avenue. (That is more for my reference.) The store is extremely over priced, but has great ideas for home decoration that could easily be homemade for less. I did cave and bought a calendar of old world maps for half off. We made it to the underground tour just as a new group was starting. So some background information that I learned on the tour. When Seattle was founded there was much less land area than today. The pioneers built the city on mud and sawdust basically. Their toilets would also become geysers of sea water and waste when the tide came in. So their homes and buildings were sinking and being flooded daily with bodily waste. Super smart these pioneers. However, a fire took out the entire city. So they started rebuilding, but decided to solve the problems by building walls up to the second floor, just past the sidewalks around the buildings. They filled the streets in with dirt and rock, essentially burying the first floor of all the buildings or making a basement. And then building new sidewalks level with the second floor. So the underground tour covers three city blocks in which you walk underground on the original sidewalks directly under the new sidewalks, between the wall lining the street and the wall of the original first floor. Did that make any sense? The tour was not visually appealing but the history of Seattle's underground was interesting. It made me curious about the history of Salt Lake City being built. Here are some pictures.