Day 21 – Puget Sound

Chihuly Glass Sculptures

This was our second long day in a row, hence a late posting of the blog. We started the morning in Port Angeles with a quick visit to the Olympic National Park visitor center, which was closed last night by the time we made it to Port Angeles. Then another quick stop at Sequim, WA, which is known for their lavender fields, so we did some lavender shopping there. This was followed by a 2-hour drive to Tacoma which took us over a pontoon bridge, one of 5 in the area. Finally we made it to Tacoma for a visit to their Museum of Glass. You might think Tacoma is a strange place for a glass museum, but it is the birthplace of Dale Chihuly who is probably the world’s foremost artist working in the medium of glass. Tacoma looked like a pretty cool town but we just didn’t have enough time for a longer visit.

Salmon on Open Fire on Cedar Planks

We arrived in Seattle, checked in at the hotel and headed straight downtown for our dinner cruise. We had advanced booked a cruise to Tillicum Village, which is 45 minutes travel by boat. The cruise gave us a great view of the city of Seattle from Puget Sound but also a chance to learn about the First People in the area. First People, by the way, seems to be the new PC way to refer to Native Americans, at least in the Northwest. At other places the word Indian was used so I have no idea what the correct term to use is. In any case, we had a nice salmon (Steelhead) dinner cooked on cedar planks in the native way. This was followed by a “First People” show that talked about their legends and beliefs. Normally we find these shows a little boring, but this one was good.

Space Needle in Seattle

Then after dinner we had the opportunity to sit on the beach and contemplate the amazing view. We could see the Space Needle and Seattle to our left and Mt. Rainier to our right. Mt. Rainier is on view only about 20% of the time, so we were very fortunate to be here at the right time again. We saw a beautiful sunset on the way back to Seattle and you can easily understand why Seattle is such an attractive city to many people. Here are a couple of photos from the trip. First is the Space Needle (built in 1962 for the World's Fair).

View of Mt. Rainier from Tillicum Village

Second is Mt. Rainier from Tillicum Village with a deer in the foreground and a Washington State Ferry in the background.

Sunset over the Olympic Mountains as seen from Puget Sound

Finally is the sunset over the Olympic Mountains, which are to the west of Seattle.