Fitted so much into our 3 days in Seattle that it's been a struggle to find time to write this post. The first day was cold & rainy - very common for this place where the sun only shines for about 85 days per year! We ignored the weather & went on a great tour with Shuttertours to some famous & some more obscure areas, all with a focus on taking good travel photos. This was so good - right up my alley & Geoff loved it too. Lunched on the famous chowder in Pike Place Market then wandered around town & bought rain & exercise gear for our cruise.
Thursday was a very early start for a day trip by ferry to Victoria, Canada to spend the day with some new friends who live there. In one of the magic happenings of travel we met Margaret & Tony last year in London, purely by chance & they had just stayed in the cottage we were about to go to. We swapped travel advice & addresses & they invited us to see them here. It was a wonderful day with fine weather & great company. They took us on a scenic tour before a delicious lunch at their lovely home then a bonus visit to the fabulous Butchart Gardens.
Friday we went to the Boeing Factory for their tour of the largest building we've ever seen where they make their enormous planes. My dad came here in the 60's when they started to build 747s & he was about to build the model of the first one for Qantas. It was very special to be in this place that he had been & see them still creating those famous planes 50 years later.
Had a jaw-dropping walk through the Chihuly glass museum & garden then downtown to the Columbia building for a great overview of Seattle from the 73rd floor where we were lucky enough to have the place almost to ourselves. Spent the evening at the baseball game when the Seattle Mariners played the Boston Red Socks & we ate hotdogs, peanuts & crackerjacks just like the song! The atmosphere was great but the action was slow - only 3 home runs but great excitement when Seattle won - an unusual event this year apparently.