Other than your traffic, you're beautiful, Seattle.

We hit downtown Seattle late morning in search of Maggie's Holy Grail - The Original Starbucks. As with any good teenager, she loves all things Starbucks. This pilgrimage has been the #1 spot she wanted to hit on the Trip. Mission accomplished! There was a line down the block filled with other seekers, so we waited with them, in the sun, basking in the best street jazz band I have ever heard. Once in the store, we bought coffee swag only available in that specific store, waited in line for 30 minutes to get our drinks and then hauled arse to lunch at...

The Space Needle. Tourists we are, so we could not miss it. It's everything you would think - gift shop, pretty crowded, but actually pretty well done. We ate lunch in the rotating restaurant 600 or so feet in the air (it was GREAT food...not cheap, but if you take into account that a ticket to the observation deck alone is $20-ish, and that is included with lunch, well the food isn't a bad deal.) and then walked to the deck for the panoramic views and a few pictures.

After coming back down from up high, we walked back to the Pikes Place Public Market for a great walk around. Cleveland's public market was nifty, but Seattle is a whole 'nother level. Artists everywhere with great quality stuff, food vendors, seafood, fruit and veggie producers, unbelievable flowers, and then on lower levels, all kinds of eclectic shops. Everything you could imagine, and extremely well done. There is also a lot of construction in the area which appears to be expanding the market even more. Good call, Seattle.

We hit the road mid-afternoon with the thought of visiting Mt. St. Helens and learning some about that event's history, but we spent a little too much time in Seattle for that to happen and missed the visitor center hours, so we pushed on to Portland. State #16!

Thanks, Washington. It was a great couple days. We will see what Oregon has in store for us tomorrow.

- Jim