Only in Seattle

Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Space Needle, Pike’s Place Market and Ivar’s Clam Chowder headline this city named after an Indian Chief.

From Chimacum it is an hour by car and 35 minutes more on a ferry crossing Puget Sound. Once past the piers and docks, the steep, San Francisco like streets pass monolithic effigies of steel and glass. Connie and I were on a fact finding mission, requiring us to navigate downtown Seattle; that meant figuring out the bus system. Doing an online search got us an inkling of what and where but boots on the ground is the only way to know. Seattle should be ashamed, online it says seniors are 75 cents, on the bus there was no mention of a seniors price; regular fare was a whopping $2.25! There was a 75 cent fare for those with a special card, after questioning the driver she allowed us to pay the 75 cent fare and told us we could get the special card at the bus headquarters, what! Apparently local people know about the card and lower rate while the visitor pays full boat. At $2.25 I thought the buses should have been more limousine like, albeit the buses were many and not too difficult to figure out which one to take.

After we obtained the information we were after, we retraced our breadcrumbs back to the wharf area. Ivar’s clams restaurant has been in the same location since before we first were here in 1969, so we decided to see if they were like Mo’s and just living on their reputation. Upon request we were shown to a window table overlooking Puget Sound and a fire-boat tied up alongside. We were entertained by people outside throwing breadcrumbs in the air to the waiting seagulls, swooping down to grab them in mid-air. We also watched as a jet black harbor seal had his lunch of not so fast swimming silvery fish. We both opted for the spring salad and Ivar’s signature clam chowder in a hollowed out loaf of French bread; it was absolutely fantastic!

With a full belly, a little shopping and being a bit tired from walking up and down some very steep streets, we boarded the ferry for the return trip (it was only $3.75, round trip, cheaper than the bus!).