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After Portland, we couldn’t imagine finding yet another city in the Pacific NW that we loved. But, Seattle, was the Boston of the NW. The city itself was beautiful and the weather was spectacular- warm, but not too hot, clear and sunny. We did talk with the locals who assured us that winter weather was nothing short of awful- drizzly
, cloudy days.
We took a City Tour that picked us up directly from the campground and we had a great tour of the city. The guide was a Jim Belushi wanna-be and really brought the city to life. We got to see all the highlights of the city- Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, the Space Needle, the Queen Anne District, the Freemont District (and the famous Freemont under the bridge Troll). We also stopped at the Hiram M Chittenden Locks and saw another fish ladder.
After getting the city overview, we spent the next few days going back to visit the city- spending time in Pikes Place Market (John had a few beers and chatted with the locals while I bought fresh produce), the International District (where we found the most wonderful Korean food court restaurant), seeing The Eruption of St Helens at the Omnidome and having a spectacular fish lunch at the Chinook Restaurant near the Fisherman’s Terminal. We had heard that the best place to buy fresh salmon was under bridge heading south from the city. A local Indian (they have salmon fishing rights) supposedly catches them daily and sells them from the back of his trunk. We tried several times, but never caught the Chief.
As home of Boeing, we had to visit the Boeing factory and take the tour. What an eye-opener. Our premier aircraft manufacturer had a largest factory building in the world- and only one 747 being built. The Europeans have taken the lead in large scale aircraft manufacturing with the AirBus. We spent another day at the Museum of Flight- with over 50 historic aircraft on display. Retired Boeing employees give 1 or 2 hour tours of the museum.
We had a wonderful time in Portland—it was an absolutely beautiful city. It was a bit like Boston, but less expensive....lots of interesting neighborhoods, markets, liberal people--no Bush/Cheney bumper stickers out here! It's also a bit of a throw-back to the 60's. They have tons of hippies- young and old ones. It's like Haight Ashbury in the 60's where everyone got the message to congregate in San Francisco. They've just moved north to Portland for the millennium. We couldn’t remember the last time we saw dred locks and tye-dyed t-shirts--for real, not as a fashion statement!! And, they do love their coffee (espressos, lattes,etc). There's a drive-thru espresso stand every few miles (kind of like the drive-thru daiquiris in Louisiana).
We walked through Old Town and Chinatown to visit the Saturday Market (which actually runs every weekend- on Saturday and Sunday. It was filled with vendors selling New Age crystals, tie-dyed shirts, wooden toys and an international food bazaar with the most amazing food. We spent two days and two lunches (the best gyros ever) there.
The neighborhoods were interesting- from the upscale (Newbury Street-esque) Pearl District to the Hawthorne- hippy-dippy- area. The downtown area is connected via a free trolley system- so access to all the shops and restaurants is easy. They have Powell’s bookstore- which covers an entire city block- and was packed with patrons.
We couldn’t visit Oregon without seeing the Cascades and Mt Hood. So we took a day to drive through the mountains, made a stop at horrifying Timberlake Lodge packed with teenage snowboarders. 
The stop at the fish hatchery was fascinating. The salmon ladders were active and we were able to see the fish making their way through the ladders. We learned that salmon have a 2 second memory- so now John has officially declared himself “salmon brained”. We talked with a woman who’s sole job is counting fish. She sits in a small room with a keypad counter and counts the individual fish as they enter the ladder. She has to count them by species and also note any damage on their bodies (on a special counter). And we thought selling training was a horrible job!
, cloudy days.
After getting the city overview, we spent the next few days going back to visit the city- spending time in Pikes Place Market (John had a few beers and chatted with the locals while I bought fresh produce), the International District (where we found the most wonderful Korean food court restaurant), seeing The Eruption of St Helens at the Omnidome and having a spectacular fish lunch at the Chinook Restaurant near the Fisherman’s Terminal. We had heard that the best place to buy fresh salmon was under bridge heading south from the city. A local Indian (they have salmon fishing rights) supposedly catches them daily and sells them from the back of his trunk. We tried several times, but never caught the Chief.
As home of Boeing, we had to visit the Boeing factory and take the tour. What an eye-opener. Our premier aircraft manufacturer had a largest factory building in the world- and only one 747 being built. The Europeans have taken the lead in large scale aircraft manufacturing with the AirBus. We spent another day at the Museum of Flight- with over 50 historic aircraft on display. Retired Boeing employees give 1 or 2 hour tours of the museum.
