Vacation Update, Part 3

OK, now that you have digested what all we ate (nice play on words, eh?) while in the great northwest - or southwest, if you're looking at the Canada part of our trip - what did we do besides eat, you ask?...that's a fine question, so here you go:

The Underground Tour
If you go to Seattle, I highly recommend this tour...it is a history of Seattle told by some creative storytellers (if you can, request Gael as your guide - she is the poster child for ADD, and hilarious), but it isn't your everyday history lesson...they get into more of the seedy side of the history that maybe the visitor's bureau would shy away from...for example, the city was originally built lower that it is currently (that's why the tour is "underground"), but had to be built up, because every time the tide came in, it would wash throughout the city everything that was in everyone's outhouses...or, that much of the revenue in the city's early days came from taxing the "sewers" (code word for prostitutes)...it was very interesting, and very fun...you'll need to set aside about an hour and a half of your time...

Pike Place Market
This is an outdoor (under tents) market down on the waterfront...notable items were the abundance of flowers (and cheap!) and the throwing of fish...that's what the market is famous for...apparently, when you choose a fish from the ice up front, they pitch it to the back where it is wrapped and weighed, with lots of shouting back and forth...interesting...

Starbucks
Yep, the original one was here at the Market...'nuff said...

Microsoft
Since Amber & Jeff both work at Microsoft, we got to go there...it's huge and sprawling...we went to the Microsoft store and loaded up on software for the church (they have ridiculous deals there)...plus, I got to play the new Xbox 360...I was King Kong that kept getting mauled by a T-Rex (OK, so I'm no good at video games)...


Space Needle
You can't go to Seattle and not experience this...it was somewhat cloudy when we finally go to go up, but we could still make out the faint image of Mount Ranier in the distance...I was surprised to discover that the observation deck was only 100' higher than the tallest roller coaster at Cedar Point, the Top Thrill Dragster (man, I need to ride that coaster!)...

Without having my notebook in front of me, that sort of exhausts what I can remember about the entertainment options we experienced...if I come up with more, you will probably read about them here...boy, I hope you people are more creative with your comments this time around...