Vandrea Does America: Day 12- Seattle, WA (Klondike National Park and Pike's Place Market)

Monday 7/2/12

As the ominous line in our last blog entry hinted at, our second day in Seattle started off a little rough. We woke in the town of Tukwila at 5am to a pounding on the window. Still mostly asleep Isaiah opened the door to find a police officer brandishing a flashlight as bright as a semi's high beams, who informed us that the ever vigilant Neighborhood Watch had called concerned about a unknown vehicle in the neighborhood. Though he was fairly nice about it and didn't ask us to leave we decided that we should head out. We sought refuge at the Starbuck's within the Safeway (yes we went to Seattle and our first coffee was at the Starbuck's cart in a Safeway in an outlying airport town) and hid out until the morning light came. The plan was then to proceed to Bellevue (since we had promised ourselves we would never stay in Tukwila again) but things have a way of getting off track. As we came down the largest and steepest hill in the area the brake warning light came on. We immediately called Jason (our friend and the miracle worker who got the van running in the first place) and was reassured that the issue was with the Map Sensor and not the brakes. In plain English: the brakes work fine, its just the dashboard lights are screwy. Thank you for small miracles! With some reassurance under our belt we continued onto Bellevue and the Park and Ride there.

Not only did Bellevue offer better parking and a cheaper and faster ride into the city it also boasted a more inviting town to be in. In the end the day started off later than planned but ended up being really fun. We started off at the Klondike Gold Rush National Park and museum and walked through their two stories of exhibits on the history of the gold rush. Isaiah had lots of luck and ended up striking gold in the museum (there's only a 1% chance of that happening!) and discovered a walking tour. We got to spend the next hour walking around downtown with a park ranger who explained the fascinating history of the city. Seattle has undergone many revisions to its architectural structure, including such dramatic rebuilding efforts that many townsfolk were left having to climb ladders to cross streets, the city having built up roads above their houses. There is an Underground tour that I took with my sister a few years back that I would definitely recommend. There you hear more and get to take a tour of some of the remaining underground portions of the first draft of the city. Seattle has also faced several disastrous fires and earthquakes and yet they continue to rebuild over the rubble and go on. To this day several of the buildings are on the edge of coming down, so avoid Seattle in the event of a natural disaster.

Our next adventure was walking through Pike's Place Market. Though we've both been before and the almost suffocating cluster of other tourists, we found we hadn't actually experienced the market fully initially. First of all, it is huge! And its a maze. It boasts hundreds of shops stretching many blocks and multiple floors. We had a fun time walking and sampling jellys and cheeses. We spent the night camped out by the Factoria mall behind a semi-truck. Traveling tip: This is the best way to blend in. If other's are sleeping around you-you're golden. -A