On the Town

Well, we’re finally home! Luckily, E. was a trooper on the flight home. He didn’t throw up, or even cry. Yay!

When we were in Washington my sister and I took her boys and my brother up to Seattle to see the sites. (My mom watched E. at home). It was a lot of fun to play tourist. My nephews wanted to go on the ‘duck bus’ tour, so we did.

A tour company bought a bunch of WWII amphibious vehicles and turned them into tourist buses. First you drive around downtown and the guide points out attractions like the Space Needle, Safeco Field, the piers, the Olympic Sculpture Park, etc… and then you drive to (and into Lake Union). The bus drives down the boat launch and into the water and then you cruise (pretty slowly) around Lake Union looking at houseboats and bridges and whatnot. The entire time the guide keeps up a steady pratter of facts and bad jokes and plays fairly obnoxious music.

The tour is an hour and a half long, but is still shockingly pricey: $25 for adults and $15 for kids. But it’s a great deal if your sister pays for your ticket like mine did (thanks, Jan!) The kids really enjoyed it and once I surrendered to the corniness I thought it was pretty fun too. I was surprised at how friendly the Seattlites were. Tons of people smiled and waved when they saw/heard the bus. Maybe they were touched by the gleeful smiles on the children’s faces, or maybe they were just happy to be reminded of the millions of dollars tourist pump into their economy. Who knows?

Here are some photos from the tour:

Lake Union and Gasworks Park.

Gasworks park up close.

One of my favorite signs downtown. I remember it from field trips to Seattle as a kid.

The E.M.P. museum designed by Frank Gehry.

After the tour, Jan and I took everyone up to the top of the Space Needle.

I’m still going through the photos I took and will post some of E. with family later this week.