[Chewy734]

The middle portion of the trip we spent in Seattle. For the most part, we walked around the city quite a bit, enjoyed a beautiful harbor cruise of the locks, and visited Mt. Rainier.

Walking Around Seattle

The harbor area is really beautiful, and the city has done a good job of placing artwork on the boardwalk.







There was also an aquarium on the boardwalk, but I didn't go in.



The walk to the Olympic park sculptures was nice. There were a lot of various docks and piers along the way.





Once we arrived to the park area, we were greeted by many unique sculptures and buildings.



































The city look beautiful from the sculpture area.





One of the places we visited was the suburb of Fremont, where we looked for the Fremont Troll. As we drove around endlessly making turn after turn, we passed right by it without even realizing it was there. It was late at night and the lighting was poor, so this was the best shot I got of this creepy looking sculpture under the bridge.



One of the last areas we wanted to visit was the modern-looking public library. I was amazed how clean, organized, and cool it looked from the inside.













We also wanted to visit REI's main store out there. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a good shot of the complete rock wall from the inside because it was massive! It was really cool they had a waterfall, various bike and hiking trails, etc all around their store area where you can test their products out.











Pike Place Market

The market was quite large, well organized, and very clean compared to our local Westside market.







I loved how colorful everything was there.





I have never seen so much cheese in my life... We had lunch at this place, and it was phenomenal!



And, the most famous part was their fish market.





Harbor and Locks Cruise

We went on a three hour harbor and locks cruise around the shorelines of Seattle. Since it was too late to do one in Vancouver, I thought the Seattle one would be fun, and I wasn't disappointed. The views were spectacular!











These massive cranes are used for transporting and moving cargo containers around on those giant cargo ships... quite impressive machinery.





It was really cold out on the water, but I still managed to capture some awesome shots.







It was rare to see such a beautiful fisherman boat, so I was very lucky with this shot.



There was a beautiful lighthouse along the way.



There were many nice houses along the coast.



On the way to the locks, the draw bridges were pretty cool as well.









I was impressed with the locks there. It was pretty cool to see it in action as well.







Finally, on the other side...

















This is the Fremont drawbridge, the most frequently opened drawbridge in the US.



This was one of the most expensive boathouses here.

















Snoqualmie Falls

I really wanted to visit these falls ever since I saw pictures of it online. Unfortunately, we decided to go in the morning before visiting Mt. Rainier, and the fog started settling in.



Along the way, we stopped in this nice, little coffee shop. The owner was very friendly and made some tasty and unique drinks.



When we finally got to the falls, it didn't look promising.



And I was right. I heard the falls like it was flowing heavily right next to me. Unfortunately, this is all I could see...



Although I was a bit disappointed, I had the opportunity to capture these photos and I think they came out great!







Mt. Rainier

On the way out from the falls, you can see the dense fog within the valley.



On the way to Mt. Rainier there was a large Indian casino.



The drive up to mountain was very beautiful, as I expected.











As we entered the national park, we were greeted by a large sign.



The first scenic viewpoint was at Kautz Creek.







There were many waterfalls and bridges along the way.















We finally got to the base of this beautiful mountain.









We decided to walk up to a nearby waterfall, since it was too late in the day to hike four miles up to the highest point.



















On the way back down, the scenery was just as picturesque as on the way up.













Seattle was a lot of fun, and I look forward to visiting there again. Mt. Rainier was gigantic, beautiful, and majestic. I liked how the city was similar to Vancouver, where they decided that art looked better outdoors than being stuck inside a museum. It made the city much more vibrant. Overall, I think the people in Portland were much more laid back. I think the most annoying part of the city was that it seemed like everywhere I walked was uphill. It felt like I was in one of M.C. Escher's puzzling artwork.