3 Days in Seattle: Day 2

Previous Days:

Day 1
Day in Vancouver

On day 2 in Seattle (day 3 of our overall trip) we grabbed 2 buses to get from the Queen Anne area where we were staying to get to the Ballard area. One note about the buses in Seattle is that they are consistently different from the schedule. If you have to be somewhere at a certain time I would allow extra time. For the most part we did not so it wasn't a big deal.

Upon arriving in the Ballard area we headed straight to the Ballard Locks which is free. We walked through a nice park on our way to the locks. At the time I had high hopes of hubby merging these 2 pictures so we were actually standing side by side in the same photo but I haven't remember to ask him about it since.

It was neat to read about how the locks separate the Puget Sound and the lakes. It is there to prevent the mixing of the salt water and fresh water and to maintain correct water levels of the lakes and move boats from the lakes to the Puget Sound. Here you can see boats lined up waiting to cross over.

Salmon also migrate through the locks through something called the fish ladder. They hatch in lakes and migrate to sea and then later return to the lakes to starting the cycle all over again.

We saw a seal and named him Sammy. We hoped he would come closer so we waited awhile taking in the view but he didn't return. Camera shy little guy.

 

 

After that we rode the buses back to the apartment and had lunch there.


Then we took the bus downtown and walked around for a bit and stopped to get Trophy Cupcakes! I had Snickerdoodle and Eric had a Chocolate Salted Caramel. This is where the new lens really shined! They were heavenly! I am a sucker for cinnamon flavor :)

Of course Eric found a nearby penguin sculpture thingy.

 

Then we hopped on another bus to the International District area of town.

Jackson St.

I wanted to see the Panama Hotel. This hotel was around during WWII and separated the Chinese and Japanese parts of town which was a large part of the Seattle population.. During that time most Japanese were forced to leave and stay in camps in other states until the war was over due to fear of their loyalty to Japan even though many of them were American born. If you have read the book The Corner of Bitter and Sweet you will know what I am talking about with the hotel being important.

From there we walked to the docks to board the Ferry to West Seattle. One of my to-do items in Seattle was to ride on a ferry.

This ferry was just a 15 minute ride. I had read about a park in West Seattle with spectacular views of the city close to where this ferry dropped off.

We did have quite the hike uphill but Hamilton Viewpoint Park views were amazing. Yes I used the tripod.

I wish we could have stayed til the sun completely set but we wanted to catch the last ferry back and go to dinner. Especially since Eric tried to eat the city.

I did get a few good shots on the ferry back too.

 

Earlier in the day we made reservations at an Italian place east of downtown recommended by a coworker, La Spiga. I had gnocchi and Eric had lasagna. It was very delicious and I would recommend it. Even worth the 20 minute seriously uphill walk from the ferry dock, and that was with us hustling. At least we didn't feel bad about eating carbs after that :)

After we took a cheap fixed fair cab (buses weren't running as frequently in this area) back to the Queen Anne area to take a few night shots at Kerry Park with the tripod. What a pretty night!