Pacific Northwest Trip 2018 Day 15 Sunday July 28: Seattle

UPDATED: February 12, 2021 

This is the 15th of a series of posts dealing with my 2018 trip to Olympia, Seattle, and vicinity. I’ve made minor corrections to these reports (typos, bits I don’t feel like making public). Also, I’ve added additional thoughts with the hindsight of two years later or to add further clarification.  These are indicated by “NOW”.

I walked along the former Torchlight Parade route then, after a quick stopover at the hostel, to Pike Place Market (saw Rachel again). I walked along the waterfront, getting photos of a Norwegian cruise ship at Pier 66. After breakfast at the hostel, I walked to Target, then Pike Place Market again, getting interior mall shots and visiting Lamplight books.

[NOW: The hostel is City Hostel Seattle. Rachel is the pig/gybank by Pike Place Fish.

I took a D Rapidride bus (both buses today King County Metro Transit) to Ballard (all regions are in Seattle). I walked to the Hiram M. Chittenden locks again, mainly for the Fish Ladder. Not many fish, and one had a nasty gash on its back. I visited Sonic Boom Records and had lunch at McDonald's. My receipt seemed a little high so I checked the receipt: they actually added a small drink surcharge to the price of a small drink.

I walked more, crossing the Burke-Gilman trail where I crossed over to Fremont. I visited the plant dinosaurs, Outsider Comics, the Fremont Rocket, the VI Lenin statue (it cost $300,000 in 2008; owners refused offers to melt the bronze). I got some DVDs from the outside area of Jive Time Records; I later got an e-receipt from them; will have to figure out how they got my email address. At Ophelia Books, the usually sleeping Claudia the cat was meowing at me, I visited the Center of the Universe signpost,  the downstairs Fremont Vintage market, Rapunzel on the Fremont Bridge, the Waiting for the Interurban statue, the JP Patches & Gertrude: Late for the Interurban statue, and the Fremont Troll.

Crossing over to Wallingford, I walked down the Wallingford Steps to Gas Works Park. Lots of goose poop on the grass so it was hard to find a place to sit there. I walked up the Wallingford Steps and crossed back over to Fremont, where I caught a 62 bus south.

My map book was misleading and I thought there was a way across Aurora Ave (a highway) near where I got off; there wasn't. So reluctantly, because I wasn't up to a long detour on a hot day, I watched for traffic and dashed for to the middle, then after a good wait, to the other side. Not recommended unless you are very experienced with my kind of travelling and there aren't other viable options.

I got photos at Kerry Park Viewpoint, meeting a cat along the way, and then walked to the international Fountain in Seattle Center. I rested there nearly two hours, going in to cool off. Since I was my last day before my trip home early tomorrow, I got more money from a Bank of America machine and treated myself to Mod Pizza, sitting outside. Briefly a guy was smoking nearly. Not as briefly a woman was singing off key.  After a bit more time at the fountain, I left. I would have had to leave soon after anyway because the off key woman showed up nearby. I returned to the hostel and got rid of a bunch of duplicate free stuff and did the Customs calculations.