Today is a special day, because it starts with the Underground Tour of Seattle. The Underground Tour is one of the very specific things that PK wanted to do in Seattle that prompted this trip. She was not disappointed!
The Underground Tour was 70 minutes of bathroom jokes and the grudge between Seattle and Tacoma, alongside a real history of Seattle and why they have underground areas beneath all their sidewalks in downtown. The tour guide, Clay, did an outstanding job and kept everybody laughing the entire way.
Next stop was the Pike Place Market to check out the throwing of the fish. This was an important item on KK’s to-do list on this trip. Mission accomplished.
Pike Place Fish Market
The final full group activity of the day was a visit to the Space Needle. Given our flexibility in touring, we had not made any advance ticket purchases to go to the top, and when we arrived, it would be a 75 minute wait to do so. We decided a picture in front would be perfect!
It really is convenient that so many of Seattle’s attractions are so close together and we completed these stops by Noon.
In the afternoon, KK and PK visited an old friend, Tark, who lives north of Seattle a couple of hours.
While KK and PK did their visiting, the remainder of us drove around the Seattle area and did some impromptu exploring.
A place that Miles recommended was the Chittenden Locks. This lock system connects Salmon Bay and Puget Sound. There were two locks at this complex. One was much larger and transports commercial boats, and the other serves personal boats. It turns out that these locks carry the most boat traffic of any locks in the country. It was a popular tourist attraction.
Lock with a boat 
Lock without a boat
There is also a salmon fish ladder at this dam and lock system. We took the stairs down and could see a viewing area with windows into the water, and we even saw a few large fish that were apparently using the ladder. (I’m not an expert)
There was a rumor of an ice cream store not too far away from the locks called Salt and Straw that there was an interest in visiting. Miles and Peyton had been by it several times over the few days they’d been in Seattle, and the line was always way too long to stop. This afternoon we found the store and walked right up to order. This place does crazy stuff like include local Beecher’s cheese or peppers.
The ice cream store was on a street right next to a Farmers Market. The street was closed and locals brought their pop-up tents and sold everything from meats to candles to fresh flowers. And this market was popular. We got through right as it was closing, but there was still a big crowd.
Our last stop was to see the University of Washington campus. We parked next to the football stadium and spent quite a bit of time wandering the campus. UW is not afraid to place a new building with modern design right next to an old building with classical architecture.
Their campus had one very neat feature that was called Ranier Vista. When the sun is out and the clouds are minimal (which is not often), you can see Mt. Rainer through an intentional clearing in the buildings. I’m sure it is very popular the few times of the year that it’s operational.
We grabbed dinner at a restaurant that was completely gluten free, and maybe not coincidentally, promoted apples on their menu.
It was after 9pm before both parties arrived back at the hotel. We covered a lot of ground on our last day in Seattle.