8/4/08 - Bellevue, Washington

Today we drove to Seattle and parked across the street from the Space Needle. The Space Needle was made for the World’s Fair in 1962. We hopped a red double decker Gray Lines tour bus. This took us around town and we had on and off privileges. We walked around town and had lunch at a famous but crowded seafood place called Ivar’s Fish Bar. We went to Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park, then to Pike Place Market. This is an old farmer’s market that was started in the early 1900’s to cut out the middle man to get your food straight from the farmers. We went to the 1^st Startbuck’s store and had coffee. Starbuck’s home office is in a huge building in town. Then we walked back toward the water front and took a tour boat ride on the Argosy. It took us around Elliott Bay and we could see all of the Seattle skyline, the Space Needle and port. We could also see Mt. Rainier in the distance and it was perfectly clear today, there were no clouds surrounding it. Of course! We decided to eat dinner at Mike’s Chili Parlor, a place that was featured on Food Network’s Diner’s Drive Ins and Dives. The diner has occupied the same building since 1922 and it is still family owned and they use the original recipe. Jim had a Chiliburger and I had a bowl of chili with beans.