SPF 100: 2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 11

Today's plan was to head into Seattle and explore.

To get there from our camping spot, we had to take the Kingston ferry across the sound.

While in line, we caught a few glances from the port authority officers with the drug-sniffing dogs. I'm sure the jeep's appearance helped.

Once aboard, it was about a 25 minute ride.

Our GPS had us at about 15mph and made for an interesting discourse with her instructing us along the way.

Heading into Seattle, it was 6 lanes of heavy traffic, but we did catch a glimpse of the Space Needle on the way in.

After a few parking misadventures (the streets are on severe inclines, the parking garages have 6' clearance (Jeep is almost 7'), and local traffic has no time for a hilljack from Michigan who doesn't know where he's going.

We finally found a spot and started to wander. Of course we did the tourist thing and checked out the market,

and followed the crowds to the Pike Place Fish Company

We did get to watch them throw some salmon around, but it was a pretty chaotic scene.

We stopped to grab some lunch at nearby Pike Brewing, which we immediately determined to be the TGIFridays of breweries.

Every square inch of every space was covered with some picture or knick knack. It felt like a Chotchki's, and our waitress had zero flair.

Next up, we headed to the waterfront. Jordan was frolicking all over, she really enjoyed the fountains,

sculptures,

Ferris wheel,

and jellyfish.

Then she took her very first iPhone picture. Not bad since she was in full ADD mode.

After a quick lemonade,

we were off to meet an attorney (JJ) that Kim works with. He has an office on the 66th floor of the Columbia Center, not too far from where we were.

On the walk there, Jordan unveiled a Darth Vader impersonation that had me rolling.

then we arrived at our destination.

2 escalators and 2 elevator rides later, we were in his office.

Pretty solid view. We then headed up a few floors to the club to catch up, where he had to persuade them to let me in due to their strict no shorts policy. I think it may have been the beard, but either way we got in.

It was great to catch up, turns out JJ grew up in Kalispell, MT and has a place on Flathead Lake that he and his dad built some 50 yrs ago. Very hospitable guy, here is the setting of our conversation.

You can see the Space Needle just right of center, we were on the 70-something-th floor. Incredible to watch the cruise ships, freighters, and airliners all coming into the city from that vantage point.

Sadly it was time to head back, and I had yet to see any signs of Cliff,

or Eddie,

but we could definitely feel the character of the city, and with its combination of mountains, water, culture, etc this has been one of our favorite destinations so far.

The drive back put us in Port Angeles right around sunset, offering this view,