Today officially marks the end of our Alaskan Cruise Adventure. The ship was in port in Seattle by 4:30 AM, but the call for the process of disembarking wasn’t made until 6:30 AM.
We made our exit just before 8:00, opting to just roll out our own luggage, which went without a hitch. We shared an Uber lift with our cruise friends, as we were all booked into the same hotel. Our rooms were ready by 9:00! We couldn’t beat that!
We dropped off our luggage and went out to explore the city.
My knee is a bit tight from all of yesterday’s walking which exceeded 20,000 steps, so we just traveled a bit slowly as we headed to the Smith Tower which was our ultimate destination.
The city for the most part is exceptionally clean, particularly where we are staying. We passed some very interesting sculptures
and fascinating buildings
Old mixed with the new.
We spotted the totem pole in Pioneer park, which really isn't much of a park.
This is actually a Tlingit Totem Pole and is referenced as the Chief of all Women Pole. Just a block away, there were several other carved creations, but I am not aware of the history associated with these.
From here we made our way to Smith Tower.
We had opted to tour this tower rather than the infamous Space Needle. It's not nearly as tall, but in 1914, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River, and it had an interesting history. On the 35th floor there was a restaurant which offered a 360 degree view of the city. Considering that it was a bit hazy, we felt we had made the right choice. It was less expensive, had less people, and we could sit and enjoy each other's company for over 2 hours!
There was also the entertainment of watching one of our friends photograph salt and pepper shakers that he takes with him on all of his trips.
Here's one he took with the Hubbard Glacier in the background.
I think he might be onto some kind of artistic career!
We had some fun with selfies:
As you can see, we make an entertaining crew.
We certainly had another fun adventure with these two couples, and are thrilled that they asked us to join us back in March. I had been skeptical about taking a cruise on a large party boat, but they made the experience very entertaining. The fun that we had in Italy continued in Alaska! We bid them fond farewell last evening and they might even be planning a future excursion that includes us. How nice of them to include us "oldies".
Today Marty and I are going to view Seattle on the Hop On ....Hop Off bus before we head to the airport for a night flight. I'm not sure how much hopping I will do, but it appears to be a beautiful day, so we might as well make the most of it!
Thanks for following along!
