Saturday 21 August 2010

Day 93 Seattle sightseeing

Friday 20th August

We had a lovely cooked breakfast then jumped in the car to the bike shop to drop off my rear wheel to be fixed. On closer inspection the actual rim is split in several places so on return to the UK Betty will need some major attention and its amazing she has held up this far. We went up very steep hills to the Lake View Cemetery where we located Bruce Lee and his son Brandon Lee’s grave stones. We paid our respects and fulfilled one of the two things Kris has always wanted to do in USA along with running up the Philadelphia steps from Rocky!

We got dropped off at Pike Street Market which was buzzing with street entertainers and busy stalls with Salmon being tossed high in the air. We searched high and low for the bubble gum wall which we had seen in a movie earlier in the trip and we eventually found it down a dark alley. It was grossly funky with passers by stringing their gum and sticking it amongst others on the wall. We met up with John again at 2pm and headed up another steep hill to a small park that gave a great view of the city skyline with space needle towering above. You could also see Mt Rainier in the background that stands at 14,411ft and does not look real as it is sitting in amongst the clouds.



























We went over to the beach where we skimmed the stone into the water that we had carried all the way from Sandy Hook in New Jersey on the Atlantic coast 4000 miles to the Pacific ocean. It was very sentimental and Kris celebrated with another handstand. On the way back to the house boat we stopped at the Ballard Salmon Ladder where you could go underground to see the Salmon that had managed to avoid the massive sea lion at the entrance to the tunnel and were struggling to swim upstream from salt water to fresh water. We also visited Troll St where there was a huge troll eating a VW campervan hiding under the bridge.

































Back at the house we jumped in the large boat and went out on Lake Washington armed with a book of all the magnificent houses on the water edge and who they belong to and how much they cost. We found Bill Gates’ house that was the most magnificent and it took $100m to build. Most of the houses that were in the book all belonged to people that invented various computer software such as Microsoft, Word etc. We stopped in the middle of the lake for cheese and biscuits washed down with a few beers then with a top speed of 60mph we viewed the sun starting to set as we made our way back. We walked up the street to dinner in a pizza restaurant then back to sleep after an exhausting action packed day of sightseeing.


























4 comments:

  1. Wow, you guys - what an awesome experience, totally amazing. You have both done very well and we are so proud of what you have achieved.
    I have checked out the AA route map and it should only take you 3 days to cycle up here to meet Flo!
    Take care, enjoy the trip to Vancouver and see you very soon x x x x
    love Helen, Dave and little Flo x

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  2. Amazing!
    Incredible!
    An accomplishment for the books! Congratulations, Alison and Kris for the fortitude and perseverence to realize a dream. We saw you near the beginning of your adventure and we knew you would carry through and conquer all those hard-pedaled miles.
    And you DID IT!
    Pete for Janie and Pete
    Ithaca, New York, USA.

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  3. ~~~EAST MEETS WEST~~~

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  4. Well, this was an extraordinary accomplishment for both of you. A great big CONGRATULATIONS to you for completing this amazing journey across our country. You really did it!!!! That ceremonial rock you carried from the East Coast in New Jersey and skimmed into the water on the West Coast in Washington will bring with it special memories of people and places that you met and experienced. Remember the little rock and the big memories it represents.

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