Our third day in Seattle was spent mostly on sight seeing. I booked a ticket through Emerald City Trolley because I found it more convenient for us, as they have a stop over in Pike St., where we were staying.
The 3 day combo ticket (Downtown Seattle Trolley Tour + Overlook and Lock Tours) cost $111.58 for both the hubby and I.
It may sound expensive but considering the routes you can hop on – hop off for 3 days, I believe it was worth it. Incase you are wondering why I got a 3 day pass, it’s to ensure that we can come back to any of the places we visited and spend more time there in the next 3 days. All we had to do is hop on one of the trolleys and hop off to whichever stop we want to spend more time with.
Plus public parking in Seattle is expensive. It ranged from $3 to 5 dollars per hour, depending on where you park.
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Here are the photos I took , following the Trolley’s Route:
- Seattle Center – Originally built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the 74-acre (30 ha) Seattle Center is a park, arts, and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. Its landmark feature is the 605-foot (184 m) tall Space Needle, a now-iconic building that was, at its completion, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. Seattle Center is located just north of Belltown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood. (Wikipedia)
Star Wars was featured when we were there.
The famous Seattle Space Needle.
2. Victoria Clipper is the passenger ferry that goes to Victoria, British Columbia in Canada. They also have a trip to the San Juan Islands. For more details, please check their website – http://www.clippervacations.com/clipper-ferry/
3. Pier 66 is part of the Central Waterfront area of Seattle. This is where you will board Norwegian Jewel , the ship that offers a high end cruise from Seattle to Alaska.
4. Seattle Aquarium. I will write more of this in the next installment of this blog. 🙂
5. Sport Stadium. You may know them better than I do. Sorry, I am not into football. 🙂
6. Seattle Art Museum. This city is into art. In fact, newly opened businesses are encourage to put up any kind of art. You will see a lot of them wherever you go in Seattle. Some look nice. Some are weird. 🙂 And some, I just don’t understand. But then again, what do I know about art?!
To know more about SAM, please check their website –
http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/exhibitions
7. Pike’s Peak Market or commonly known as The Farmer’s Market. Thousands of people visit this place everyday, as this is “the market” in Seattle. There are several floors of goodies there. So yes, you should make this a part of your itinerary.
I had fun with one of the fish stalls there where the workers throw the fish from the display area to the weighing area , then finally to the bagger. It’s a cool show. 🙂
Going back to Seattle Center, we passed by The Westin. 
Back at Seattle Center, we boarded the coach below for the Locks and Overlook Tour. The sky looked dark by then.
And then it started raining. Well, it isn’t Seattle if it isn’t raining. 🙂 The heavy downpour didn’t deter our tour at all.
Below is the view of Lake Union. Remember, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan’s Sleepless in Seattle? Yes, this is where the house boat of Tom Hanks was located.
Do you know that said house sold for $5,000,000.00? That’s according to our tour guide. Lucky owner! 🙂
Our next stop was THE LOCKS.
Borrowing the words from Wikipedia – The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, or Ballard Locks, is a complex of locks at the west end of Salmon Bay, in Seattle, Washington‘s Lake Washington Ship Canal, between the neighborhoods of Ballard to the north and Magnolia to the south.[2]:2[3][4]:6
The Ballard Locks carry more boat traffic than any other lock in the US, and the Locks, along with the fish ladder and the surrounding Carl S. English, Jr., Botanical Gardens attract more than one million visitors annually, making it one of Seattle’s top tourist attractions.[5]:7–8 The construction of the locks profoundly reshaped the topography of Seattle and the surrounding area, lowering the water level of Lake Washington and Lake Union by 8.8 feet (2.7 m), adding miles of new waterfront land, reversing the flow of rivers, and leaving piers in the eastern half of Salmon Bay high and dry.[5] The Locks are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the American Society of Civil Engineers Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks.
The locks and associated facilities serve three purposes:
- To maintain the water level of the fresh water Lake Washington and Lake Union at 20–22 feet (6.1–6.7 m) above sea level, or more specifically, 20.6 ft (6.3 m) above Puget Sound’s mean low tide.[2]:2[3][5]:8
- To prevent the mixing of sea water from Puget Sound with the fresh water of the lakes (saltwater intrusion).[2]:2–3
- To move boats from the water level of the lakes to the water level of Puget Sound, and vice versa.[2]:3
The complex includes two locks, 30 ft × 150 ft (9.1 m × 45.7 m) (small) and 80 ft × 825 ft (24 m × 251 m) (large).[2]:8 The complex also includes a 235 ft (72 m) spillway with six 32 ft × 12 ft (9.8 m × 3.7 m) gates to assist in water-level control.[2]:8 A fish ladder is integrated into the locks for migration of anadromous fish, notably salmon.[2]:3[8]
The reason why we included this in our trip was to see the Salmon jump from one ladder to the other and eventually going out to the sea.
I wrote more about “salmon jumps” here – https://leawalkerblog.com/my-travels/canada/british-columbia/wells-gray-park/
From there, we stopped for a few minutes at this park where we could see Mt. Olympic from a distance. The golden color of the sunset looked pretty despite the thick clouds that covered the horizon.
I can’t believe the day is about to end. We started the tour around 10 in the morning. And we’re not done yet. Time flies when you’re having fun right?
Beautiful right? 🙂
Like I said, the tour wasn’t over yet. Our next stop was a visit to Kerry Park for the overlook tour.
Ahh.. so this is why it is one of the most famous tours in Seattle. The park offers a very beautiful view of Seattle’s skyline and the waters beside it.
So if you ever plan of visiting Seattle, make this a part of your trip. And check the weather. We had fun during this tour, but I would have wanted to walk around Lake Union , to see Tom Hank’s house, if it wasn’t raining. ha ha…
For more details on Emerald Trolley Tours, please check website here –
http://www.emeraldcitytrolley.com/overlook-locks-trolley-tour
Ciao for now everyone! And hope you will enjoy your Seattle trip as much as I did. 🙂
Lea C. Walker
leawalkerblog 