This morning, I woke up at 3AM after sleeping for just three hours. Even with waking up that early, I arrived just on time to board the 6:15 AM flight to Seattle. When I booked the flight, I didn’t really think about how little sleep I would have. The first few hours of the day were difficult, but once I landed in Seattle I was energized and ready to go.
Upon landing in Seattle, I walked to the light rail station and bought an all-day pass for the light rail. After 30 minutes on the light rail, I exited at Pine Street. From Pine Street, I walked a few blocks downhill toward Pike Place Market.
Pike Place Market was interesting and nice, but wasn’t as unique as I thought it would be. It was basically like an Israeli Shuk which I’ve been to in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The market consisted of an approximately 1/2 mile long building with several floors. Lining the interior of the entire building were vendors selling produce, flowers, gifts/novelty items, and a fish stand. The whole area had a very touristy feel to it. For example, the much hyped Fish Stand with the “flying fish” was a let down. The throwing of fish and obnoxious bickering between the workers was completely rehearsed/unenthusiastic and served no practical purpose other than to entertain. It was as pathetic as it sounds. I embedded a video below to show the true nature of the”flying fish” experience.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the Pike Place Market was visiting the original Starbucks store located at 1912 Pikes Place. At the time I visited, there was an approximately 15-minute line outside the store. Upon entering the store and walking to the cash register, you can order pretty much anything you want. The wait time for all handcrafted drinks (everything except drip coffee and tea bags) seemed to be at least 15 minutes. For that reason, I just ordered a blonde roast, and immediately received my order.
Gum wall was a wacky spot near Pike Place Market. The walls of the alley are filled with thousands of pieces of used gum. Maybe I was just disgusted, but I felt like I could smell the fruity gum flavors while walking through the alley.
From Pike’s Place, I took the 33 bus from 3rd and Union to Discovery Park. The bus dropped me off at the North Parking Lot, where I met up with the Discovery Loop Trail and completed the 2.8 mile loop trail. The loop trail crosses many paved road, dirt roads, throughout Discovery Park. It was a beautiful trail (especially considering its location inside the City, but wasn’t anything tremendous or extremely unique).
After completing the Discovery Loop Trail, I took the same route 33 bus to Space Needle. Space Needle is part of a huge tourism complex comprised of Space Needle, the Glass Museum, children’s museum, and park-like grounds. The Space Needle restaurant didn’t have any available reservations, which would have allowed me a free trip up to the top (ith a lunch purchase) so I didn’t think it was worth it to pay the $20-30 fee to get a ride to the top. Instead, I ate lunch at the food court inside the complex, and then walked over the Gates Foundation Museum.
Although, I may not agree with Bill Gates’ politics, I really admire the level at which Bill and Melinda Gates set goals. They have a very high-altitude view of the problems in society and strive to completely eradicate/solve the issues through very rational methods.
I’m living it up in LA thinking that the biggest issue facing the world is a lack of critical thinking which leads people to believe in and do stupid things. However, that’s mostly a first world and developing countries problem. There are billions of people who are struggling with preventable hunger, sickness, and lack of necessities that we in America take for granted.
After visiting the Gates foundation I slowly walked and traveled via public transportation to the AirBNB in the Northgate District.
Schedule for Tomorrow:
- Gasworks Park
- Locks
- 701 5th Ave (40th floor) – Sky Bucks
- 1124 Pike Street (Starbucks 15,000 SF reserve store)
- 917 E Pine (Molly Moon’s Ice Cream)
- Check out one museum (Chihuly Glass maybe)
