I leave my comfy schoolhouse abode today for a final day and night in the city. But first, coffee from the Principal’s Office, and a third day eating my cinnamon roll which is still not finished. I take the train tomorrow...and my cinnamon bun...to Vancouver for two weeks in Canada.
I check into my downtown hotel early to drop bags. I find out this hotel built in 1901 doesn’t have AC, and it is predicted to be unseasonably hot and may set a record. Oh, boy! I open a large window to the street....no screen so hope a creature doesn’t decide to visit...and close the curtains. Patience?
Rather than pay for parking, I plan to go ahead and turn-in my car about an hour before schedule. Enterprise is on the backside of the same block one street over...a couple of turns and Voila!
This is me, remember!
I don’t know if you have driven in downtown Seattle recently. There is lots of construction and traffic, mostly one-way streets, no left turns, bus only lanes, bus only streets, honking and impatience. Imagine New York City. Now imagine this country mouse driving!
I am using Google maps, but it directs me to blocked streets or tells me to turn after I pass a street or turn left which is a NO-NO, or even drive on one-way streets. Did some little gremlin change Seattle overnight and Google doesn’t know?
AND what is this buzzing on my phone!
Patience, remember!
It only takes me 1 1/2 hrs to FINALLY reach my destination around the block! I could have dug a roadway faster!
Lord, forgive me, but I HAD TO TURN LEFT!
I walk back to the hotel...without GPS, thank-you, so I can re-group and have a little cry.
There is too much to see and do on my last day in this amazing city so out the door I go. Pikes Market is another Seattle landmark...
...known for fresh fruits and vegetables...
...flowers...
...and home to the seafood merchants throwing their wares to the delight of tourists.
I buy amazing cherries, a couple of nectarines, and admire beautifully displayed ocean bounty. I even get to watch a fish toss along with some crabs go flying.
The Klondike Gold Rush Museum is a National Park site so of course I want to visit plus it’s “only a mile or so” to walk from the market according to the hotel clerk. Yea, right!
Seattle has a coffee shop on every corner, and they aren’t all Starbucks. I Googled “Seattle coffee” and I stopped counting at eighty! It seems everyone has their favorite, and even if Starbucks isn’t mine, I feel compelled to stop by for a visit since Seattle is home for this company...
...and UPS and Amazon!
Definitely getting my steps in today along with an aching hip from bursitis and arthritis in my ankle. Patience! And slow!
Klondike gold rush fever hit the papers in 1897 when a steamship arrived in Seattle with almost two tons of gold. Sixty-eight exhausted but wealthy miners disembarked with stories of rivers lined with gold and easy riches in remote northwest Canada.
Business leaders advertised Seattle as THE gateway to the gold fields. Eventually, 100,000 people would seek their fortunes northward, and 70% went through Seattle which boomed!
To prevent people coming north unprepared, Canada’s Royal Mounted Police required each person to have sufficient supplies to last them one year. This became their “ton of good” costing $250 to $500. Considered essential were 350 lbs. of flour, 150 of bacon, and 100 each of beans and sugar. These items were practical, but unscrupulous merchants also sold the unsuspecting miner bicycles to ride up the mountains!
Of the 70,000 mentioned, 30,000 made their way to Dawson City, the epicenter of the gold rush, 3,000 found some “color” but barely enough to break even, and only 300 became rich. Most lost their fortunes instead of making them, and many lost their lives.
In 1897 and 1898, about $26 million in gold was taken from the Klondike area. However, the miners spent about $60 million to get there. People still work the Klondike gold fields today.
A free shuttle runs through this older part of the city known as Pioneer Square so I hop on for a short trip to the ferry marine terminal. I cannot visit Seattle without taking a ferry.
I enjoy a delicious and extremely juicy nectarine from the market. We don’t have these in Virginia!
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The Seattle skyscrape towers over the water...
...and the ferries and cargo ships on Puget Sound...
...and Mt. Rainier towers above all.
Bainbridge Island is a small coastal community on the other side of the water. The 5:35 ferry is packed so I wonder if Bainbridge is considered a bedroom community of Seattle.
It’s a beautiful 35-minute trip, and I walk up the hill into town. Dinner is on the agenda, but restaurants either seem filled, closed, or have an un-interesting menu. I don’t really need to eat so decide to catch the return ferry and prepare for tomorrow.
To make sure I am not wandering the city into the night hours, I catch an Uber. My room is surprisingly cool plus I have a small rotating fan to blow air and no critters flying around. Not bad!
I repack for travel tomorrow. I left a cooler and some of my drug of choice, Diet Mt. Dew, at the schoolhouse, and I have almost finished a case of water.
Sleep, wake, Uber to station, train to Vancouver, rental car, hotel, and after two days of sightseeing, back to the mountains and nature.
Patience!
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