Pike Place Market and Seattle Center

Friday was Seattle day and our first meet up with the Burns clan. So much awesomeness in one day! We loved walking the city with friends and family. It's been too long since we've been able to be with everyone. One of the reasons we want to find work back west. We miss everyone so very much! Who knows... Seattle just might be our next home!

On Our Way

Port Orchard is across the water from Seattle, about 10 miles away. However, whether you take the ferry or drive around via Tacoma, it takes about an hour to get there. We decided to take the ferry over on Friday morning. If your schedule lines up with theirs it can be an awesome way to travel. 

When I'm not sea sick, the Ferry is awesome! A relaxing way to travel.

Our view from the passenger deck. GORGEOUS!

Andrew and Ali make good use of their time. :)

Andrew's wife, Kylie. (She's going to love this shot! hehe)

One of my favs! These reminded me of AT-AT walkers from Star Wars.
So this is where they build those!

The city as we drove off the ferry. Loved the low handing clouds!
And the BLUE SKY! I couldn't believe how happy it made me.

The gang: Ali, Joe, Jackson, Kylie and Andrew.

We're here! We're here! 

Pike Place Market

When told about this, I pictured a place entirely outdoors with shops and vendors spilling into the streets. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this is actually a three story building. There are some outdoor shops, but the market is contained all inside. And boy does this entrance REEK of fish! Yuck! You get used to it within the first few steps and, once I adjusted my expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed our jaunt through the market place. We tasted herb infused oils, freshly made donuts, home-dried fruits, and even chocolate spaghetti! We also had the chance to cheer on the braver of the Burns peeps who caught thrown fish!

Joe just inside the doors.

What can I say? I loved the ceiling. :)

Taylor getting ready to catch a fish!

Jim all smiles.

Jody was cool as a cucumber before the toss. Love her face in this one!
It's exactly how I would have felt just before catching a dead fish.

Marla cracked me up!
She totally got the crowd pumped before her toss.

Outside Pike Place Market.

The gum wall. All that texture you see? People's ABC gum!
EWWWWWWW!

Fun street performer. I realized early on that I couldn't
give a dollar to all of them. I'd go broke!

The floating mountains in the distance were so cool!
The vistas that opened up as clouds moved constantly surprised me.

Lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory.
I'll leave out names to protect the innocent. ;-)

Beautiful girls!

Seattle Center
The walking wasn't too bad. We made it from Pike Place to lunch and then up a hill to the Seattle Center. This place in town has many of the "to-sees" we were looking for. The most famous (and one ride we didn't take) is the Space Needle. Surrounding the tall building are several museums and centers worth taking a look at. After lunch, one group headed to the Pacific Science Center (a really great place for the kiddos), while another headed to the Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum. I love rock and roll! So Joe and I headed to EMP with Harry, Jim, Jimmy, Ryan, and Andrew's family. I couldn't tell if people were having fun (I don't think most of these guys know how to smile), but I found out later they all had a blast. Woot!

The Space Needle from the EMP side.

Headed into the EMP Museum. The building itself is pretty cool.

Ryan in front of the guitar geyser. You have to see this in person
to really appreciate just how awesome it is!

A really neat exhibit. I thought my family had every game system on the planet.
I was surprised by how many we never owned. Also really cool to see
the progression of gaming,all within my lifetime.

I have this thing for freedom. Let's just say it speaks to me.

Jimmy kickin' it old school.

Mr. James talking on the phone with hot babes.

Worn to be Wild was an exhibit on the leather jacket
as a rock and roll icon. So much fun!

As part of the exhibit, they had a Harley Davidson and several leather jacket options for the perfect photo opp! The only one I couldn't convince to get on the bike was Harry. Maybe next time. 

Trying to be all artsy in my photography.

Last shot of the day from the Pike Place Market bridge.

A fabulous day! Had a ton of fun with everyone and, overall, it was a relaxing stroll through the city. As a bonus, we even found out Jim and Harry had recorded a secret music video of the two of them playing, "I Love Rock n' Roll." You better believe I bought a copy and surprised everyone with it later. I should have gotten a copy for us as well. Not often you see Papa Burns rocking out with a guitar to his favorite kind of music!