Wednesday, 22 August

A long and busy day. So long, in fact, that we are writing this on Thursday. When we checked in to the RV Park(ing lot) we asked the woman at the desk about parking in downtown Seattle. She said that basically there was none except we could park the motorhome at the Space Needle and it would be free all day. So we made plans accordingly.

It isn't Seattle without a picture of the Space Needle

We left about 9:30 in hopes of snagging one of those parking places. We couldn't lay our hands on the detail map of downtown Seattle but Gene thought he could remember the simple route we had worked out. He didn't quite remember it right and we ended up in a residential district miles from downtown  and off the detailed map. Jean found a large-scale (wider area, less detail) map and with a lot of guessing we finally found our way to Seattle Center. There was parking, but it wasn't free. If we had been able to go there directly we could have gotten a special rate, but we arrived after the time for that, so it cost us $16.00 for the day. Not that bad considering. So it was off to explore a little and get some breakfast.




When we returned an hour and a half latter to give YumYum a walk, we noticed a backpack that we don't use on top of his water dish. How odd. When Jean took the doggie out, Gene went in and discovered that the motorhome had been ransacked. We swore we had locked it but someone had obviously been in there. Cabinets were open and contents thrown down on the bed and seats and counter. A careful check revealed that nothing had been taken. All the medications had been gone through but we don't take anything that would pass for drugs so there was nothing missing there. Both our checkbooks were still there. As far as we could tell, nothing had been taken, not even the GPS on the windshield.

Gene went in search of security, who took him to the police. They found that the driver's door had a small hole over the handle where the thief had inserted a tool and popped the lock. Obviously somebody who knew what he was doing. We don't leave any money lying around, and the fact that nothing was missing, not even the GPS, which is a prime target, suggested to the police that whoever was in there had been spooked and left quickly (perhaps by our coming back unexpectedly).

While the police were still there, our friend, Linda, arrived. We had arranged to spend the afternoon with her. When things quieted down, we went to the Chihuly Museum. Chihuly is a well-known glass artist and the museum is amazing. It was filled with glass in a wide range of shapes and colors. There are several darkened rooms with the glass illuminated by spotlights and glowing in every color of the rainbow and then some. Many of the works are very large and often consist of an assemblage of several individual pieces.

In addition, there is a very large area with dozens of glass flowers hanging high inside a huge "greenhouse" affair.

Outside, there is an extensive garden with glass pieces placed among the plants like flowers. The whole thing is a little overwhelming.







After checking on the dog again, we went to a small but very good Greek restaurant.  Then Linda took us up to Lake Union and the Wooden Boat Center. This consists of several floating piers with a variety of boats tied up. There were boats of almost every kind, all of wood: sailboats, rowing boats, motorboats even a couple of pedal boats. There were even two skin boats.

Too soon it was time to go  back and pick up the motorhome and go meet Linda's daughter, Liandren, and her boyfriend Luke for supper. Linda led us to a quintessentially Seattle restaurant on Lake Union that specializes in salmon. Here Liandren revealed that it was Linda's birthday. After a delicious meal and lots of conversation, Linda led us to the nearest interstate entrance and we were on our way back to the RV park. On the way we crossed a high bridge that gave us a view of Seattle at night, two hills covered with lights flanking the Space Needle.

After a not-so-good start, we had a long, somewhat exhausting, but delightful day. Seattle has many more things to offer, but we opted not to deal with the traffic, rough streets, and parking problems another day, so tomorrow we are off to the Olympic Peninsula. We have been spoiled by Yellowstone and are eager to get back to the woods and quiet.