Today was spent in Seattle at Pike Place Market.
We took the ferry from Bremerton...
...and drove around downtown a bit just to get the lay of the land and to find a parking lot with a spot that we could actually fit in. We ended up at the corner of 8th and Pine Street and walked the 8 or so blocks to the Market.
Seeing it on TV is one thing, but witnessing the hustle and bustle of it firsthand is something else. If you've never experienced the Market, you need to. If you have, you know that it can't really be described - it really is more of an experience than anything. It's kind of overwhelming actually. There are SO many people and so many vendors and so many shops and so many good sniffs and so many food stuffs that it's hard to decide where you want to go and, most importantly, what you want to eat. :P
Since we had no idea where to even begin, we decided we would just wander around a bit and see what there was to see before deciding on what we wanted to eat. I've never seen so much produce in one place. It was a beautiful thing. I kind of thought it would be cheaper though. I was surprised that the prices weren't much different than what you'd find in the grocery store. Of course the one major difference is that most of this stuff is picked fresh every morning and didn't travel across the country in an 18 wheeler like most grocery store produce does.
Owners stand at their tables offering up free samples of this and free samples of that. If I remember correctly, we sampled peaches, nectarines, several different flavors of raw honey, multiple types of candied/smoked almonds, beef jerky, and spiced glazes. If you really wanted to, you could no doubt just fill up on the free samples that are offered up.
We saw some of the "famous" stuff. Like the gum wall in Post Alley,
the very first Starbucks (still using their original logo),
and of course Rachel the Pig.
As we found ourselves back at the starting point - the famous Pike Place Fish Market (yes, we did get to see one of their famous fish tosses) - we decided it was time to start buying some yummy stuff.
Knowing I would be trashing my stomach, I wanted to get something to line it and protect it from the torture that would follow. Bread seemed an ideal solution so we jumped in line at Beecher's Handmade Cheese for a breadzel.
I don't know exactly what a breadzel is, but it's really good and performed extremely well as an absorber of all things nasty. While in line, we opted to try an 8 oz. serving of the "World's Best Mac n Cheese". Having never traveled the world over, I can't really speak to the accuracy of that statement, but I can honestly say this was, hands down, the best mac n cheese I've ever eaten. I don't want to know what they put in it - I can only imagine that something that tasty had to have exceeded my daily caloric and fat intake by 150% - but man was it delicious! We picked up some cheese curds while we were there - we just can't pass up the squeaky cheese - and off we were to find our next tasty experience.
Next, we stopped at Lowell's - a well known and popular seafood restaurant.
I had seen a menu at another shop for a Dungeness Crab Roll and desperately wanted to try it. I am from Maryland after all - what can you offer in the way of yummy crab dishes that will impress me??? The answer is Dungeness Crab Roll. Pretty tasty. NOT as tasty as lump Maryland crab cakes from Mealey's (which of course I can no longer get), but a close second for sure. Bill and I split our "roll" and accompanying fries and hit the street for the next thing that struck our fancy.
We stumbled upon Dog Alley - one of a countless number of shops in the Market and picked up a much needed "Caution: This area patrolled by the Belgian Sheepdog Security Company" sign. (It is currently hanging on the front door of the trailer.) :)
Next up was a jaunt into the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. One Milk Chocolate Hawaiian Caramel Apple for me and one Butterfinger Caramel Apple for Bill. At 7.75 each, they were ridiculously overpriced - and as we would learn later - worth every penny. :)
Bill wanted me to pose next to the "Gimme Some Chocolate" bear, but I figured that would just be PMS fodder for him to use later. Nah, I'll pass.
Next up was the Korean stand for a Kimchi Wrap to go. (Eating this in a crowded market setting is not advisable.)
After our Kimchi Wrap purchase, we stopped at the Organic Smoothie stand. One Strawberry, Banana, Pluot Smoothie, please. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
We took our wrap and our smoothie down to the waterfront and parked ourselves on a concrete wall and people watched while we tore up the wrap and downed the smoothie.
Surprisingly enough, these things went together pretty well. The smoothie had a palette cleansing affect on the post kimchi death breath. It was really quite nice.
Since the day was waning quickly and we needed to get back to the Boys, we hoofed up the hill climb and raced back to the truck to make the 4:20 ferry departure.
We got to the ferry just in time - for them to take our money and let us be one of the 5 cars in line that wouldn't fit on the 4:20. Sooo... we had to sit and wait for the 5:30 ferry. We watched a K9 Unit Police Officer play ball with his dog - I suppose one of them was off duty - and entertained ourselves by eating the gourmet caramel apples we bought while watching the baby seagull beg us and then its mama for food.
We got back to Bremerton by 6:45 and took the Boys for a long walk. We let them off leash in the day use area for a bit just to get rid of some of their pent up energy, and then we hiked down to the marina area. We chatted with some older folks who were relaxing on their cabin cruiser and then headed back at dusk when the day use area officially closes. It was somewhat difficult to see the trail as we hiked back through the heavily canopied trees, but we made it back without incident and spent the rest of the evening kicking back and watching a couple episodes of SG1.
It was a good day. I've never been much of a city tourist type, but I really enjoyed the Market - more than I thought I would. It was surprisingly fun.
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