Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington was the end of our 8-night cruise aboard the Celebrity Mercury to Alaska. We arrived early in the morning and Cathy and I opted for the Express Walk-off. It didn't end up being very express since someone with a foreign passport needed to clear immigration and they couldn't find her for a while. Finally though, we were off the ship and stored our luggage at a little office right at the pier for $3 a bag. We walked the short distance over to Pike Place Market just as things were opening.

I had never been to the market before-what an interesting place! The flowers were absolutely gorgeous and so cheap for a bouquet! The produce was a sight to behold, all those colors, and everything so fresh. I particularly enjoyed seeing the wreaths and strings of peppers. I never know there were so many colors. These were beautiful.

OK, so the first purchase I made was at a bakery counter for breakfast. I had an enormous, fresh maple bar. It literally melted in my mouth. They had these donuts that were the size of a dinner plate called a Texas donut.

Then we went on to the seafood-WOW. I have never seen so much fresh, beautiful seafood before. Cathy ended up buying a box of it and checked it with her luggage to enjoy in very land-locked Wyoming. We passed the counter where they throw the fish, but all I got to see them throwing was a bag of clams-that was kind of odd. They did have everything you could imagine-even the beautiful blue Parrot Fish.

We traveled the labyrinth of passageways under the main floor of the market and found a lot of neat shops. One that caught my eye had lots of old movie memorabilia along with novelties like metal lunch pails and scripts from movies. We came outside from down below to overlook a small daycare on the backside of the market. As we stood there on the landing, I looked at an apartment building across the way. On the small balcony of one of the apartments, I could see this figure, but couldn't quite tell what it was. I took out my camera and zoomed in to see a life-sized red plastic Indian, complete with spear and shield. I guess he was guarding the small kayak at his feet. Just thought that was kind of funny!

We walked back to collect our luggage and climbed in a taxi for the airport. At the airport I spied an Alaska Airlines plane that is painted to look like a giant salmon.

What a great trip it had been. I had learned so much about Alaska, among other things at our conference. I had seen some things I hadn't while we lived there. But mostly, I returned to a familiar place with lots of memories.

I am now planning our next cruise in January to the Western Caribbean. That will be different landscape.