Our much anticipated trip from the UK to Alaska started with a flight to Seattle on 21^st August 2013, where we had 2 days to explore the city and its environs before boarding the Alaska Marine Highway ferry. I know 2 days is not enough, but we were determined to see as much as we could. The flight from Manchester via Reykjavik was fine, and markedly shorter than flying to the West coast via any other gateway, but jet-lag still hit us. We stayed at the Seatac Sleep Inn and were very happy with the room & facilities there, especially with the shuttle available to drop us anywhere within a 2 mile radius.

Day 1 started with a Light Rail trip to Westlake, then we walked down to Pike Place to have a look at Seattle's original farmers market, established in 1907 and the home of the very first Starbucks. We couldn't believe the array of flowers, every colour under the sun & very reasonable prices, but as we were heading for the Alaska ferry sadly it wasn't practical to buy any. Passing by the fish stalls, we were delighted to see the celebrated fish throwing happening, (vendors throwing huge whole fish to be packaged for customers) then browsed books 'n crafts underground.      Next was the Gum Wall - what an amazing sight: thousands upon thousands of colourful pieces of gum turned into art and really cheering up a fairly dark alley - though we agreed it lived up to its posting as Seattle's most disgusting sight!
 
We walked along the waterfront (with attendant beggars) to Pier 50 then turned inland to have a look at Pioneer Square: beautiful buildings marking Seattle's original downtown, dating back to 1852.    That was echoed by the Smith Tower - our tower of choice for the day. The elevator had to be seen to be believed, beautifully preserved from 1914, with all its shiny brass & decorative features, and the last surviving lift on the West coast to be operated by an attendant. We loved the Chinese room – a celebration of examples of 1920s interior design and with a beautiful carved teak ceiling; all the artefacts were gifts from the last Empress of China. The ticket attendant in there was a real Anglophile & we had some great discussions about all places & things British. The observation deck wrapped around floor 35 just topped it all off & we enjoyed the great view of the Space Needle framed by all the tower blocks, Safeco Stadium and the harbour.

A contact gave us a great tip about Waterfall Park - we found it on the way to the Klondike Museum & it was a beautiful little oasis in the hustle & bustle of the city, shady & serene, where we stopped for a break.

Then it was off to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, although its not actually a park, its a museum-type building. We learned such a lot, especially watching the film, which put everything into perspective as we were heading for Alaska (but not the Klondike). The displays & especially the photos were excellent - it's hard to believe that the whole Gold Rush only lasted for a couple of years, but the hardship they suffered went on much longer.

All this had worn us out, so we went across the road to Zeitgeist cafe for lunch, very pleasant & cost effective as it seemed to be a locals' place - always a bonus in money & atmosphere terms. We decided we had enough energy to go off to the Seattle Centre to see the Space Needle up close and personal, so we walked back to Westlake (actually quite a bit further than we anticipated!) to get the monorail. During our walk we had great views of the Smith Tower set against all the other buildings – it is totally dwarfed by them but especially by the Columbia Tower’s 76 floors, and realised just how hilly Seattle is...energy levels were running a little low by now.

The Seattle Centre was originally built in 1962 for the World’s Fair, and is many acres containing a park, arts, and entertainment centre. Its landmark feature is the 605-foot tall Space Needle, an iconic building that was the tallest building west of the Mississippi. The monorail let us off at the Space Needle, but by this time we were a) tired and b) very hot as it was 32degC, so we walked through the park and sat by the huge International Fountain enjoying some pomegranate shaved ice whilst watching the kids run in & out of the water.   

Jet lag had really started to catch up with us, so we walked through the grounds past the tower & glass sculptures heading back to the monorail - with more energy we would have gone to the Chihuly Garden as the bits of glass sculptures we could see looked amazing & definitely worth a visit. We took the decision not to go up the Needle ($19 each for a 3 min lift ride, and we’d already been up one tower) and "home" at Sleep Inn SeaTac was calling - a very suitable name in the circumstances! The light rail journey out to the airport gave us a rest plus great views of the Seattle skyline, and after an early meal across the road at iHOP, we had a very early night.

As we had a whole day to travel the 90 miles to Bellingham for the Alaska ferry, we had looked at all the options for travel there (not many) and decided to hire a car for a one way drop - quite reasonable at $55, we thought. We collected the car and drove there via the Boeing factory and Future of Flight, which we had booked from the UK, arriving slightly frazzled as we missed the turn-off from the freeway (slightly confusing signage to people sitting on the wrong side of the car, driving on the wrong side of the road!). Just be forewarned that you cannot take ANYTHING into the factory with you (bag, purse, phone, camera etc) so must leave them in the car or use a locker – and there are only 6 lockers big enough for a large bag/rucksack & may be full, as we saw one poor guest found out.

The film was most interesting, and gave us a good overview of what we would see later, then we boarded the shuttles to go to the actual factory. You walk what seems like miles of underground passages then emerge onto a walkway above the factory floor and actually watch planes being built. The floor area makes it the largest building in the world by volume (98.3 acres) but you don’t walk it all on the tour, thank goodness. Lots of the shelves/desks/machines/parts stores are on wheels and can be moved aside to allow wings etc to be attached to the plane bodies – a real challenge, I would have thought. My husband loves technical stuff and really enjoyed the visit; I am the opposite but also found it fascinating, so it really is suitable for everyone. Back at the Future of Flight building, we browsed the museum and displays, and watched planes on test flights taking off & landing, then set off northwards via lunch and a shopping mall. The car had to be dropped off at the airport so this gave us a chance to have a look at Bellingham with a very amiable taxi driver, We arrived at the Alaska Ferry terminal in good time for our journey up the Inside Passage – no comments here please!