Sightseeing in Seattle and Adventures in Alaska - The Magnets!

The final post of this trip, the all important magnets. We bought one at each port and only one from Seattle as there is only so much room on our fridge.

So here they are in all their glory:

Sightseeing in Seattle and Adventures in Alaska Day 12 - Going Home :(

28/29 Sept

We had a light breakfast in our room today, fruit and yogurt with coffee from downstairs.

We left just before 12 and checked out, storing our bags. We gifted our ship champagne to the hotel staff (which we are not sure if they were confused by).

We took the monorail to the Seattle Centre and got lunch at the armoury.

We selected the Wing Dome where Rob had a burger and I had some chicken ‘strips’, one of which looked like it was from a giant chicken!

We had planned to visit MoPop today with our city pass but on arrival discovered that it is closed on Wednesday 

With that planning fail on my part we took the monorail back to Westlake and headed to Target for a few bits and pieces (including some theatre boxes for the cinema room).

I was also intrigued to see yet another form of transport while walking near Westlake.

We then tried to find somewhere at Pike Place Market to get a drink (and a seat to drink it) but we failed on that count too! So, we ended up back at Westlake with a milkshake for me and a lemonade for Rob which ended up at a cost of $10!

We wandered back to the hotel where we collected our luggage and got an Uber to the airport; Rob selected the electric comfort option which cost us a bit more but meant he got a ride in a Tesla so he was happy!

On arrival at the airport we headed to the international check in desk, we had to wait in a short queue but nothing too bad.

Security on the other hand was over 20 min wait  One of our bags were pulled for an extra check - we believe because of our snacks which were in a box and probably looked weird.

We now had about a 2 hour wait before boarding so we had some of our snacks rather than getting anything else to eat.

Our flight boarded quickly and we left on time, passing under the really high bridge that we came across on the way in – Rob tried to get a photo:

Our meal was served after about 1hr30, options were pasta or chicken with an ice cream pot. I have forgotten to take photos and they can’t have been too memorable or I would have commented more in my notes!

We both watched Elvis then tried to sleep which wasn’t very successful, the seats were very uncomfortable – this was a Delta flight and the aircraft was smaller than we are used to (232 seating configuration).

We gave up trying to sleep with about 2 hr 30 to go; I watched Lightyear and Rob started watching Maverick (and didn’t manage to finish it before the end!)

Breakfast was about an hour before landing and was a weird egg and cheese sandwich which did not taste good. I ate the fruit pots though which contained melon and grape. I remain convinced that a breakfast bar / yoghurt / fruit would be better for most people.

We landed just after 1230 which was earlier than we expected but luckily the ridiculous passport control line was there to slow us down as always. I successfully got through the e-gate at my first attempt which was good.

Our bags arrived more quickly than back in June but we still had to wait a little while, thankfully as we weren’t travelling far this wasn’t a major problem.

We headed to M&S food to get lunch and dinner (a selection of sandwiches, sausage rolls, crisps, chocolate bars and some drinks) and then got the bus to the long stay car park.

Shortly after we were driving to Hilton Garden Inn where thankfully they had a room available even though we were earlier than official check in time. They even gave us a high floor away from the lift – which is my standard request.

We ate lunch then had a sleep with an alarm set for 1800, we woke up and had ‘dinner’ before watching TV before going to bed at about 2100.

30 Sept

This morning, having got a proper night’s sleep we got up at about 0600 and had breakfast downstairs before putting our bags in the car and starting our trip home.

Regular readers will be glad to know we stopped briefly at Fleet to charge the car (making sure to avoid any range anxiety like last time).

Once we had topped up we continued on our way having a smooth journey and arriving back at just after 1030.

I’m glad we decided to spend the extra night at Heathrow as although we struggled with jet lag for about a week after we got home it would not have been a fun drive home after so little sleep on the flight!

Sightseeing in Seattle and Adventures in Alaska Day 11

27 Sept

We set the alarm for 0730 today as we had booked a couple of attractions - Argosy harbour cruise and the Seattle Aquarium both included in the Citypass.

We had breakfast downstairs which was fine given that it is free/included.

We then walked down to the waterfront via Pike Place Market which was now a familiar walk. Our harbour cruise was at 1045 and we arrived just as they started boarding, apparently you weren’t allowed to take your own food or drinks onboard – but you could buy them at the bar on the boat (we didn’t!)

The narration was a bit cheesy and stilted but the views were good and it was nice to see our cruise dock again.

In the last photo the bird has a star fish in it’s mouth!

Once the cruise was over we got lunch at the Alaskan Sourdough Bakery in Miners Landing.

I had the grilled cheese special (sandwich and tomato soup) and Rob had the golden nugget sandwich (turkey, provolone, tomato, pesto) plus I had a gold rush cookie (macadamia, chocolate and maybe caramel) while Rob had a blueberry muffin plus sodas.

This was not cheap at around $38 but we had found that food and drinks were more expensive in Seattle (the headline price that is – the exchange rate then made it even worse).

Next up was the Aquarium which is next door, we were a little early for our timed slot but this wasn’t an issue.

We spent about an hour in the aquarium and found that they catch and release a lot of the fish. They also seem to be doing a lot of conservation which is good.

We noticed that there was a lot more focus on recycling etc in Seattle (and Victoria), with many ‘restaurants’ offering compostable packaging, straws etc.

We took a walk back towards Pike Place Market stopping to browse in an antiques store.

We also stopped for ice cream in a store we had found the other day, Rob over ordered and I had to help him with his ice cream mountain.

We walked a bit further past the Seattle Art Museum and then back to the hotel for a rest and some HGTV/Discovery.

We were also intrigued by these tram/buses or ‘electric trolley’s as they were called.

They only seemed to be on a few streets (which included Pike Street) but we didn’t actually use them to go anywhere.

We had dinner booked at the Cheesecake Factory at 1845, we arrived a few mins early but had to wait until our time to be seated as they were short of staff.

We were seated at a tiny booth for 2 people 

Apparently the salad, pizza and pasta sections were closed….oddly this included the chicken salad sandwich which was my first choice, I had assumed it fell under sandwiches but apparently would have been made by the salad section.

I instead chose the Cuban while Rob had a cheeseburger. He couldn’t have the one he wanted as it apparently could only be cooked medium rare (it had cheese inside).

We also got cheesecake to take away - having learned from previous experiences of not buying it and regretting it later

We got back to our room and checked in for our flight home  before watching some more Discovery / HGTV and eating our cheesecake before bed