DAY 17

Yeah, today we get to head towards Pikes Market which is best known for the area of the 1st Starbucks and the people that throw fish (more on that later). Yes, that is the highlight of the trip for me. We pulled out of FamCamp and it was looking pretty overcast and there was a cool bite in the air. Rocky is doing well and traffic is not bad. We turn to head to downtown Seattle and Rocky starts acting up again. Okay, nothing to panic over right, just some bad diesel working its way through. We drove around the downtown area for quite some time looking for a parking spot. We finally found a spot and we head off to get our now much needed coffee.

The area is streaming with people. We found the 1st Starbucks (The mother ship) and we heard the angels singing, bells ringing, and light shining down from the heavens. The aroma of freshly brewed espresso and sound of bluegrass singers in front of the store beckoned us in. We knew we were in the right place when we stepped to the counter, ordered our Iced Venti Americana, no H20, add a shot of espresso (now 5 total), add caramel sauce and Vanilla syrup, stirred and topped off with ice and Brads with a splash of soy milk. The Starbucks employee starts laughing saying that is her same exact drink too!!! It was so cool. The counter is L shaped so they throw the cups to get to the bar. The lines were long yet quick moving and damn the coffee was perfect. Just like our favorite Starbucks in Barnes and Noble in Colorado Springs. The only problem is the coffee went WAY too fast. We wanted to go back for another but that would just be TOO much caffeine.

We began our on our path through the market. One entire side of the market, about 2 blocks, was nothing but flowers. There were tulips, lilacs and huge bouquets of brightly colored flowers. We were walking through the gaggle of people when a booth caught my attention. I found beautiful pieces of jewelry that reminded me of the style of scrimshaw. I am my mother’s daughter ya know. The gentleman that makes the jewelry hand cast each of the different designs and then uses an acrylic polymer mixture to make copies of the hand cast mold. http://www.danielleen.com I found a Celtic Endless Knot. I LOVE it. Cindy was even taken by his talent and bought a pair of beautiful fish earrings. The style is very native for this area. He has quite a resume as he is an Anthropologist. He lived on his boat for some time and has been studying Northwest Coast art for over 20 years. His spirit is very wise and he is the type you could sit and listen to all day.

We continued on and came across the famous throwing fish stand. It was a fresh fish stand where the workers looked for an excuse to throw fish to each other. It was good entertainment. We were recommended to eat at a local fish place called Ivers by an Archiver’s customer… repeatedly. We found one right on the pier so we ordered at the fish bar and popped a squat on the pier. The seagulls were well feed and used to eating off the pier so they were swarming the area. The food was good for the price. By the time we sat down to eat the sun had made its way out and the clouds had cleared. Dan and Cindy both commented about how beautiful the day was as it had been along time since such perfect weather.

Of course we had to explore the Ye Old Curiosity shop. It is a must see as it has been around since 1899 www.yeoldecuriosityshop.com It had everything from tourist key chains to real shrunken heads. They had it all. We walked around the store and Brad was lured in by a rice writing sales man. He got Brad to tell him all the names of our kids and wrote my name and Brad’s with a heart between and all 5 kids names on 1 grain of rice. As I was passing by the guy asks me to hold out my hand and he drops the grain of rice on my hand. Just after instructing me to not roll the rice around in my hand, I rolled it down my sleeve. I did get to see all of the names but of course I can not find a flipin grain of rice in my sleeve. The grain of rice was free but the jar with the “special” solution to preserve the writing starts at $25. Yeah, I don’t think so.

We hiked over to the area of town that was built up over time so the 1st floor of all the buildings is now the basement. You can see the tops of the windows and the skylights on the sidewalk. Pretty cool looking. They even have an underground tour you can go on.

Cindy had described a chocolate drink that Godiva makes in their stores. Lucky for me there was a store in the mall 9 blocks North of where we were. So in search of chocolate we hiked to the mall. Unlucky for me not all the stores make the drinks and this one did not. Oh well, we were there so of course we HAD to buy some chocolate. Brad even won a candy bar.

As we hike back to the truck we were drawn to a couple of street performers. This was a unique pair that we had not seen yet. One of the guys was a bagpiper and the other was a beat boxer. Weird combo but it sounded really cool. We hung out awhile jamming with their little robots dancing on the sidewalk. We returned to the truck hoping that the additive has worked in the fuel. We say goodbye to Dan and Cindy as they have to work tomorrow. We had a great time with them. Both are very laid back and easy to get along with. The kids have always enjoyed their company too. They address each kid and have real conversations with them.

We started Rocky only to find the additive had not yet kicked in. In fact it got worse as we drove home. We made it over to the auto store to have codes read on it, but nothing comes up so we head home. Bad diesel, gonna take some time to work it through.