Seattle, WA - Day 3

On Monday we started by driving to Poulsbo, WA.  Poulsbo is a Nordic community that is mostly just tourist shops now.  It is quaint and peaceful, but that may just be because the off-season has started.  It was a very pretty place and the chocolate shop was excellent!

The drive from Poulsbo to Seattle provided great views of Mount Rainier.  The interesting thing about Mount Rainier is that it's the only peak in the area.  You'll be looking around and suddenly see the huge peak, no other mountains are near it.  I know it's because it's actually a dormant volcano, but it is odd to see.

Next on our agenda was a harbor cruise.  The cruise lasted just over 2 hours.  We were able to see the city from a distance.

We also saw the best jacket I have seen in years!

And some funky hair!

Hair under control, everyone can now enjoy the ride and the scenery.

The lighthouses aren't built as big as other lighthouses.  They figure if you make it all the way into the sound and don't realize there is land nearby, you deserve to crash.

Part of the cruise went through the lock system Seattle uses to move boats from the saltwater of Puget Sound to the freshwater lakes.  It was interesting to go through.  The water in the back is the saltwater.  If you look you can see we are in the freshwater which is about 12 feet higher than the saltwater.  It was designed by the same person who designed the Panama Canal.  No pumps or machines are needed.  Just gravity.  Pretty cool!  It is also salmon migration season.  The locks have a separate tunnel set up for the salmon to move through when they are going to the freshwater.  Lots of salmon were jumping.

Seattle has floating homes.  These are not house boats because they cannot move.  They are only allowed in certain areas and can only be 2 stories high.  However, some people build a underwater basement to get an extra floor in.  The most famous of the floating homes is this one.  It was the house Tom Hanks lived in on Sleepless in Seattle.

After the harbor tour, Lisa and I walked to the Key Arena.  The arena is in the same complex as the Space Needle.

This fountain is fun to watch.  The dog you see at the base was having a blast trying to catch the water sprays when they shot.  He whined and laid on the ground whenever his owner tried to leave.  It was funny.

Time now for the reason we went to Seattle to begin with:  Pearl Jam!  Pearl Jam is Lisa's favorite band.  I have a solid appreciation for them.  This was their kick-off for their tour.  Seattle is also the birthplace of grunge music so it was fun to see them.  Lisa was very excited to see her Eddie Vedder!

After the concert we grabbed some dinner and walked back to the hotel.  Eric and Adrianne dropped us off at the airport early on Tuesday and started their drive back to Utah.  We flew back to Nashville.  The weekend was really fun.  The weather was great.  Only a few minutes of rain, the rest was all sunny.  It was nice to see all of the evergreen trees too since we don't see many anymore.  We plan on going back!