Pacific Northwest Trip 2022 Day 14 July 30 Seattle Including Torchlight Parade

LAST UPDATED: January 2, 2026

This is the 14^th in a series of posts covering my trip to the US Pacific Northwest in 2022, adapting emails originally sent to friends. I use NOW to refer to any updates since I did the trip.

Apologies in advance if there are more typos this time. There's a karaoke night here at the Green Tortoise Hostel. It's overly loud so I want to whip through this.

[NOW: I’ve hopefully corrected any such typos.]

Fire trucks by Pike Place Market this morning. Fortunately the market still opened later so the damage couldn't have been too severe. Before and after breakfast I walked along the then upcoming Torchlight Parade route getting photos of the set-up. The seating area by Westlake Center, probably for rich people looked a lot different this time. I saw motorcycle cops escorting some floats to the starting point. At times passed a giant red Popsicle sculpture

I returned to the hostel in part because I forgot my water bottle. I went to Pike Place Market when I snapped a few shots of Rachel the Pig before visiting Golden Age Collectables. I decided to ask about any connection to the Vancouver version. It seems the Vancouver owner used to be a patron of the Seattle version and became friends with the owner. When he opened his own shop he named it after the Seattle version. The market also has a Giant Shoe Museum (peep show format) but I didn't pay for the show.

I grabbed a few more things from the hostel, then went to the downtown branch of the Seattle Public Library and managed to take care of ArriveCAN there using a temporary library card number and PIN. I took a C Rapidride bus (all transportation today King County Metro Transit) to Alaska Junction in Seattle's West Seattle district. I visited Pegasus Book Exchange and bought a DVD from Easy Street Records. I took a few shots of Tales to Astonish, not yet open for the day. It's almost certainly named after a Marvel title.

[NOW: At the time, it was mandatory for people visiting or returning to Canada to fill in vaccination details in advance in ArriveCan to enter the country. The Marvel title is Tales to Astonish but the store is Tails to Astonish.]

 I took a 50 bus to Jack in the Box. Again I had to order via a drive through. The bus schedule at the stop proved inaccurate; I missed a couple buses because I thought they weren't for a while. I made it to Alki Beach, The Birthplace of Seattle Marker was gone. Don't know if moved or removed. I did see the miniature Statue of Liberty and some art tents. I lay down on the sand and rested a bit. The seashore was too shallow to swim at but I did sit in the water.

[NOW: Google Street View shows that the marker is still there. Because I arrived on foot I might have been a block away.]

I took a 775 becoming 773 bus and then a C Rapidride bus back to near Pike Place Market. Curiously since I got on the earlier bus at 10:30, the transfer didn't expire until 9 pm. At the market I visited Left Bank Books, Lionheart Books, BLMF Books, Holy Cow Records (bought DVDs), Orange Dracula (novelty shop), Rummage Around, Lamplight Books. After a stopover at the hostel to grab batteries I took the parade route to Seattle Center.

[NOW: Rummage Around has closed.] 

At the International Fountain there I took a lot of shots but was trying to keep an older guy in a black speedo out of the shots. A couple people trying to get a petition for universal healthcare in the state seemed impressed that I couldn't sign because I was Canadian and thus already had it. It took time to locate but I got money from a Bank of America ATM near the center. I grabbed dinner from the 7-11 near Seattle Center and found a place across from Westlake Park. Unlike before the parade route was fenced off so no "Repent or Go to Hell" types with loudspeakers, no butting in front of me. I saw mini-marathon runners.

No motorcycle pre-show this time. Across the street a family was playing rap music so lots of n-word. Alaska Airlines was offered cookies, water, and airplane shaped hat. At one point a guy with a beef against a group in the parade pushed beside me and flipped the group and cussed them out. No horses this year. Did see a chicken place vehicle shaped like a giant helmet, the Seattle Seahawks helmet car, the Seattle Seafair Clowns, and the Seattle Seafair Pirates firing a cannon. My mind wanted to follow them a ways to get more shots of the cannon firing, but the body was unwilling and I returned to the hostel.