Ending the Journey in Seattle

Seattle was the final city on my west coast vacation.

I woke to sunny skies with a great view of the downtown and Puget Sound

I headed out for a walk in the neighbourhood looking for some breakfast.  No shortages of Starbucks in the Emerald City.

My plans for today included a visit to the Boeing factory in Everett, WA.  http://www.boeing.com/company/tours/

Since this was north of the city, I had booked a package with a local tour group.  They picked me up at my hotel and drove me to the Boeing plant.  We learned about Bill Boeing and the Seattle area during the drive up.  Here is a view of the plant area from the outside.

Cameras were not allowed during the actual plant tour but here are some pictures I found on the web.

It was a quite an experience

During the tour I started to talk to one of the other unaccompanied guests on the tour.   She happened to be a member of the State Legislature of Colorado.  We talked about some of the important issues facing the people of her state.   To me this is one of the great advantages of travelling alone; the ability to strike up conversations with other travellers.

 The next day I explored the downtown area of the city.  I took the monorail to Seattle Center, site of the Space Needle.

Also on the grounds was the E.M.P. Museum (http://www.empmuseum.org/) which had a lot to offer 

They had a great exhibit featuring the history of the band Nirvana

A great exhibit on Jimi Hendrix

Jimi reflecting on his visit to Ottawa

                                     

Also on display was a Star Wars costume exhibit

Other exhibits included  the work of famous Warner Brothers animator Chuck Jones, some science fiction stuff and more music exhibits

Next I decided to "ride the ducks".  This was a city tour on some old WWII amphibious vehicles.  We toured both land and water.  The tour guide's delivery was slapstick at times;  this turned out to be extremely entertaining.  http://www.ridetheducksofseattle.com/

I then headed over to the Pike Place Market along the waterfront.  This is a working market with plenty of fresh fish and produce.

The next day I spent at the "Museum of Flight"  This was a good collection of some past civilian and military aircraft.

Here is "Air Force One" that was used up to and including President Richard Nixon

This is a re-creation of  Bill Boeing's original shop.

Some of the more modern aircraft on display

With my energy waning on the last day of my vacation I decided to just take it easy.  So I headed downtown to the ferry docks and boarded the ferry for Bremerton.  This was a peaceful 60 minute ride across Puget sound. 

   At Bremerton

  After reaching Bremerton, I re-boarded the ferry for the return voyage.  Here I am returning to Seattle.

That evening I headed to the airport and took the red eye to Toronto.  A few hours later I was back home in Ottawa.

This was a fantastic vacation.  I took away so many pleasant memories and really enjoyed myself.
I'm hoping I will get to return to the Los Angeles area and spend some more time there.  I can see how a few days in Santa Monica would help beat the winter blues.