First thing we went to the train station to collect our rail passes and to book our tickets for tomorrows train to San Francisco. The station is very old and many original features still remain, e.g. the original ceiling.
We then made our way to the museum of flight which is just south of downtown, and located near the Boeing fields where many planes are still made and serviced. There was heavy rain on route but it eased when we arrived at the museum.
First stop was Concorde and Air Force One which you are able to go on board. Was very exciting boarding Concorde, wasn’t really sure what to expect! It seemed to be a much narrower, posher version of your average passenger plane! All the seats and controls were sectioned off to preserve them, but you still got an idea! There were some interesting facts and ‘did you knows’ on board which you can see in our pictures, and it had Michelin tyres on it, even if they were bald! Also out with Concorde was Air Force One which is the posh plane which has carried many of the presidents in the past. This had lots of posh features, including the conference room for the President and a communication centre. The cockpits seem to be huge!! Air Force one had 4 or 5 seats! Other planes out with Concorde included the first 737 made and the first 747 made. Interesting stuff, and they had interesting facts which you can see in the pictures.
Once back inside the museum we explored the WW2 section which was very interesting. They had lots of planes (including a spitfire which mother will be happy about!), facts and artifacts to explore. We watched a few films about what it was like for the pilots, about the battle of Britain and the legacy of the war. There was so much to see in there and we just didn’t have enough time to see it all properly! We didn’t realize how amazing the museum was and how much time it would take up to get around everything! Upstairs was about WW1, which didn’t interest us as much as WW2, but there were still some nice bits to see, again time was of the essence!
Part of the museum is where the original Boeing factory was. It showed all the machines that were used to make the planes, how each bit was made and upstairs where the plans were drawn up. It also showed you how the planes had evolved over time. Interesting, but again required more time!
The next section had some more planes and the space section. I was particularly interested in the space section! This again showed how space travel has evolved over time and had some amazing photos from space and many artifacts. They had moon food, which is like baby food in a bag which you drink, they had spacesuits which astronauts have worn in the past and they even had a moon buggy!! There was also a mock capsule, just like the ones in rockets, which is used for training astronauts. They had videos that are being recorded from the space station travelling around the earth in just 1.5 hours! Oooo er!!
From the space section we went up to the air traffic control centre. From here you could see, pretty much what the air traffic controllers see and hear. They had the screens which track the planes, just as they do, and they also had the live radio transmissions which were taking place at the time. Exciting stuff!
This was our last stop in the museum, apart from wondering through all the other planes there. We just didn’t have enough time to see everything in as much detail as we would have liked!
We made our way back to the city on the bus, along with people having a snooze! Very odd! We made dinner at the hostel and then piled on the layers ready to go and watch baseball!
It was the Seattle Mariners VS Texas Rangers, and we had heard that the Rangers were a good team so weren’t sure what to expect. The Safeco field was pretty big, and nearly full. We had good seats, were high up but at the front so could see everything! Mark had researched the rules so we had a vague idea of what was going on! Like in the Ice Hockey, there seemed to be a lot of stopping and starting and swapping players but not as bad as the IH. We soon started to get the hang of the game and understood what was happening. Unfortunately, the Seattle Mariners lost 7-4 but they have another 2 nights to play yet! Apparently, if they don’t end the 9 innings with a winner, then they keep playing until there is one! Luckily for us, this didn’t happen! We noticed that a lot of people there seemed to be there for the social side, but this could have been as the season is coming to an end this weekend.

Our first experiences of America have been good ones, and I personally would have liked to have spent longer in Seattle, but Mark reckons I say that every time we leave somewhere! The weather hasn’t been great here, but we’re expecting better things further south after all, Washington is known for its rain! We’re going on our first Amtrak train tomorrow, down to San Francisco, changing in Emeryville. We leave at 9.45am and arrive at about 8.30am the following day! We checked how long it would take to drive, and it was much quicker, see the trains are much slower over here!! But, at least it will be scenic!