“Seattle is for people who love culture, but refuse to sacrifice their wild nature to attain it.”
—Kimberly Kinrade
The final leg of our San Juan Islands Cruise took us back to the vibrant city of Seattle. Our tour bus driver dropped us off several blocks from Pike Place Market. On the way there we passed the nation's first Starbucks where people were patiently waiting in a long line to get their coffee fix.
Pike Place is a vibrant neighborhood that serves as Seattle's largest incubator of small, independent businesses, including shops and restaurants, craftspeople, farmers and permitted buskers (entertainers/street performers). For more than a century, it is the oldest continuously operating market in the country and one of the most popular places to visit. One of the most notable performers is the Accordion Cat, who has entertained visitors with his accordion playing such classic renditions like “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" for over 13 years, while wearing a cat-head mask all year-round as seen in the photo. After perusing the shops and markets Nelson and I dropped in at the Locust Cider & Brewing Co. for a beer. We also took advantage of a photo-op with the 7 foot and 4 inch wood carved Bigfoot Statue (aka Sasquatch) inside Pike’s Place Market.
Considering the frequent rain Seattle gets during the course of the year, Susie, Nelson, and I had an abundance of sunshine and needed to seek refuge in the shade, We found it on the front yard patio of Kells Irish Pub and Restaurant. Cecile had a cold and rested aboard our cruise boat where we would all stay another evening before our flight home the next morning. All except Nelson, that is, who planned a trip to Walla Walla, where he hooked up with his two brothers to go wine tasting.
Postscript: One of our tour guides named Spencer Fairbanks shared a little Beatlemania story. In 1964, during their first world tour, the Beatles stayed at the Edgewater Hotel at a time no other hotel in the city would accept them as guests. Beatlemania consumed Seattle. It was so chaotic that the Edgewater had to install cyclone fencing around the hotel to keep screaming fans literally at bay. Some die-hard fans tried to swim across Elliott Bay to reach the FAB FOUR. After the concert, the Beatles were rushed back to the hotel in an ambulance. Meanwhile taxi cabs and stand-ins were cleverly used as decoys. During their stay at the hotel, they famously fished from the window of their suite. The attached photo of them doing so became legendary.
