Seattle was our only port without a purpose. We had nothing scheduled, no tours or activities. We were only in port from about 8 a.m. to 4:00 in the afternoon, but nothing was open uber-early anyhow, so there was no point in rushing out there. We were all off the ship and through customs with our passports by 9, though, so things were rustling about.
Our first stop was the famous Fish Market, which looks just like you’d expect. It’s WAAAYYY better than the farmer’s market in Lost Angeles was, if for no other reason than that it was truly a farmer’s market – veggies, fruit, and amazing flowers. No chain stores that we saw, although after a bit we decided there wasn’t a lot there for us other than a couple of T-shirts and trying about 50 different types of jelly offered at this one booth. (My favorite was Garlic Pepper, which sounds kind of disgusting but is really good).At that point, we recognized that the seniors couldn’t keep up with the kiddies. The four block trek from the ship to the Market had about put Bobbie Jean under, and my folks were looking for benches to hold down as well. When we got to the market and realized it took about 8 flights of steps to go up where the map indicated and that there was NO elevator (how stupid is that???), we put them in a cab to go around to the front while the others did their aerobics for the day.
Once we were all connected again, we recognized the desire to do different things – so we split. The senior members of the group did 10 minutes in the Farmer’s Market, said, “Nope, don’t need none o’ that,” and opted for the Gray Line tour (the busses with the open tops). They liked it so well they rode it twice. The only thing that they saw that the rest of us missed was the original Starbucks. I had visions of a commemorative mug to go with the other 278 we have, but sadly, it wasn’t to be. Our Starbucks break came in disposable cups.
The only crisis of the day was that Bobbie Jean lost her cell phone. It was time for an upgrade anyhow.
The rest of us opted to head toward the Space Needle, which is right at the end of the monorail ride. After walking about 6 blocks up some very steep hills, we found the entry and $4.00 a head later (round trip) we were riding the monorail over to the needle. Those who’ve read prior blogs know that if there’s a tower to climb, I will go to the top to take pictures most of the time. This was no exception, except Eddie had the camera and took the pictures.The tower ($16.00 a head, adult admission) was originally constructed for the 1962 World’s Fair and has been rakin’ in the bucks ever since. If you can slap a logo on it, they’ve done so and have it in the gift shop. I can’t imagine that my life would need a Space Needle Napkin Holder in order to be complete, but then again, I’m not from Seattle.
The Space Needle is in the midst of the old fairgrounds, which now has a number of carnival rides around it. It’s not Universal, or even Carowinds. It looked more along the lines of the carnival that the Lions host in the Wal Mart parking lot every year, where you know that food poisoning is lurking in every booth and doubt the authenticity of those safety inspection stickers slapped on the back side. We didn’t do much to contribute to the economy there.
They’ve got a very nice historical display set up inside. I was utterly amazed to learn that the Needle moved 312 feet to the southwest in June, 1987. Given how hard it was to schlep a lighthouse a mile away from the beach in North Carolina a few years ago, it would seem that moving this 605 ft. tower (512 to the observation deck) would be a pretty significant undertaking that would have made the papers. If you read a bit further, though, it explains that the “movement” was do to remapping of the earth via satellite, so it was just used to make corrections to earlier maps. Once again, we see that the pen is mightier than the sword. It moved because someone said that it moved. Haven’t seen much of that type of action since Genesis, best I can tell.
After returning via monorail and another 6 block walk (this one blissfully downhill!), we bought T-shirts galore (surprise!) and returned to the ship in time to beat the 2:30 close of the lunch buffet. After all, we’ve paid for these meals and wouldn’t dare want to miss one!
This afforded the second time we’ve had sun on this trip, so most everyone hit the sun deck. Given that we started the day with heavy clouds and 60 degrees (this IS Seattle, after all), it was surprising to see Sol peak out and invite us to partake. It wasn’t Carribbean sun, but it was enough that sunscreen was warranted, so that counts as acceptable vacation sun.
Show and Dinner
Everyone reconvened to go to the show at 7:00. Tonight was LaRaf, who were illusionists (think Harry Houdini, but on a cruise ship). It was a decent show – no real “WOW” moments, other than the finale, when they actually did an old Houdini stunt – the one where he’s handcuffed, put in a bag, in a box, which is locked, then they pick up a curtain and when they drop it the other guy is on top of the box. By the time they get it all unlocked again, the one that started on top is now in the original position in the box. It was OK, but I personally thought the lady changing costumes at the ice show was better.
Dinner dress was the topic of some discussion this evening. Mom and Dad misread the calendar, so they were dressed for formal night – looking very nice, but with a necktie on dad some 24 hours early.
Eddie and I had been tipped to shop at Rugged Wearhouse for cheap clothes. (It’s true, they have them – so if hard decisions had to be made about ditching something, it’s things you don’t mind throwing away on a vacation) While there, though, we’d found these truly hideous pants – Mine are black, white and yellow plaid and his are blue, white and yellow plaid. Think cheesy used car salesman in the late 1960’s and you’ve got the idea. We decided we’d “wow” everyone by wearing them to dinner one evening.
The effect was exactly as desired – the adults laughed and the teenagers were mortified, with directions to us to go back and change because they would “just die” if seen with us dressed this way. Undaunted, we proceeded – and got more than our share of stares from the crowd. If we were together, it was somewhat obvious that it was intentional and a joke. If we happened to be separated, people were unsure whether we just had bad taste or if we were part of the clown act from the ice show. The goal was attained, though.
At dinner, Lyall has taken to showing tricks and posing riddles. Tonight’s finale was when he balanced 8 forks on top of a wine bottle by sticking the tines together and balancing them on toothpicks. It took a while, but it WAS impressive.
Dating Rituals
After dinner, everyone under 40 engaged in further teenage rituals. Specifically, the one where the older boys ditch their little brother, because everyone knows when you’re trying to work your mojo on a couple of girls who think you’re older than you really are to try and get some shipboard romance going, your little brother can really put a damper on the moment.
This, of course, is exactly why the parental units require that the little brother be included most of the time. In this case, Caleb had made the mistake of following the adults out of dinner while Jacob and Taylor held back and then grabbed an elevator down. I was done in the casino and ready for bed and Caleb couldn’t find the boys so we went on a search. Although I wasn’t especially good at it, I was a teenage boy once and can think like them when necessary. It still makes my brain hurt, though.
Thus, after checking their room (where I knew they weren’t) went to the promenade which is the ship equivalent of the mall. It was teen night in the dance club, and from 11 to 1 it was open to 14 to 20 year olds and we knew that would be the eventual target. We found Jacob and Taylor with the two lil’ fillies who’ve been bird-dogging them throughout the cruise at the end of the Promenade. I delivered Caleb to them (still wearing my plaid pants, mind you) with the admonition to “call and check in later, boys.” The look on Jacob’s face was priceless.
Apparently they had a good time, because they checked in at curfew and were still comatose when we passed through the room about 8:00 and counted – 3 heads, each in individual beds, all belonging to the occupants of their cabin.
Once again, the goal was accomplished. Life is good.
