Seattle trip: Rainy day and Monday

After a busy day hanging out with Suzanne and her family, I decided to take it relatively easy yesterday, which worked out because the weather was not very pleasant - chilly and off-and-on rainy most of the day. I started off the day at the Bellevue Square shopping mall where I bought a bunch of souvenirs for family and a couple items for myself. :-) Next, I ventured over to Redmond to catch a glimpse of the Microsoft campus. Finally, I drove back the other way on 502 to University Village, an outdoor mall near the University of Washington campus. I got a bit lost on the way back :-) but otherwise, it was a nice little road trip. The rest of the day and evening I just spent relaxing in my hotel room.


Inside Bellevue Square

Today, Dave (Teknodave) picked me up from my hotel shortly after 8am for a full day of sightseeing. We started off by heading over to Snoqualmie Falls. In addition to the falls, we also saw the lodge that was featured in the tv series Twin Peaks some years back. Next we drove through North Bend and then back up through Seattle. We stopped at the Ballard Locks and watched a few boats go through. Our next stop was Gasworks Park where I took more pics of the Seattle skyline. Next we saw the Fremont Troll, a neat sculpture situated under an overpass. Also in Fremont we saw a statue of Lenin, and "the center of the universe" (hehe). Eventually we ended up in northern Seattle where we had lunch at Wedgwood Broiler (very tasty burgers).


Snoqualmie Falls


Me and the Fremont Troll

After lunch, we hit the road again and drove down towards Puyallup hoping to catch a glimpse of Mount Rainier. As luck would have it, the fluffy clouds parted just enough for us to see the peak of the mountain as we drove into Orting. We grabbed some smoothies at Emerald City Smoothies then drove back towards Seattle, this time heading into the west side of town. We drove along the waterfront for a while and stopped a few times for some photo opps, including a few more shots of Mt. Rainier, whose peak was now in full view as the skies cleared even more.


Mount Rainier

We crossed back into downtown Seattle and visited Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle and other attractions. The weather was now really clear so I got some nice shots of Seattle and vicinity from atop the Space Needle, including more pics of Mt. Rainier (since we have no mountains in Chicagoland I had to get my fill of mountain peak photos here, heh). We also checked out International Fountain and got misted upon by some of the higher-flying water jets. After leaving Seattle Center, Dave took me into the Capital Hill neighborhood, where we visited Volunteer Park, including a trip up the old water tower (100+ steps!) where I took more scenery photos. Finally, we grabbed dinner at Dick's Drive-In and headed back to Bellevue where Dave dropped me off at my hotel.


View of downtown and Mt. Rainier from the Needle


Space Needle and International Fountain

It was a very full and fun day, and I greatly appreciate Dave taking time out of his long weekend to drive me all over the Seattle area! My camera and I got quite a workout but it was definitely worth it. :-D


Me and Dave, exhausted :-)