Kilted Walking Tour of Seattle

[ardchoille]

Great pics! I knew that the Pike Place Market mascot was a pig, but I never found out why a pig was chosen.

[Retro Red]

Great pics! I knew that the Pike Place Market mascot was a pig, but I never found out why a pig was chosen.

Rachel is the Market’s bronze piggy bank, and for the past 21 years, she’s raised over $120,000—that’s a lot of bacon! Money collected in Rachel buys services for low-income people at the Pike Market Medical Clinic, Senior Center, Preschool and Downtown Food Bank. Legend has it that you can rub her snout and make a donation for good luck.

(copied from www.pigsonparade.org)
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[Retro Red]

Home stadiums for the Seahawks & Mariners
Qwest Field & Safeco Field, respectively


a busy port...


Close-up of clock & tower at Starbucks Headquarters


Mecca of the caffeinated

[Retro Red]

St James Cathedral


Inside a hidden gem...
In front of the waterfall in Waterfall Garden Park. This is where we had lunch, which we had picked up at a bakery in Pioneer Square. A lovely, secluded oasis that effectively isolates you from the surrounding urban environment. This privately built & maintained garden sits on the original site of the United Parcel Service.


Everybody gets in on the act...
Besides my wife, my sister & neice joined us on our walking tour. (L-R: me, wifey, neice, sister)


This one is for you Beatles fans out there...
This is the Edgewater Hotel where the Beatles stayed during their visit to Seattle on their 1964 American tour - Room 272 - & where they famously fished from their room's window.

[ardchoille]

Rachel is the Market’s bronze piggy bank, and for the past 21 years, she’s raised over $120,000—that’s a lot of bacon! Money collected in Rachel buys services for low-income people at the Pike Market Medical Clinic, Senior Center, Preschool and Downtown Food Bank. Legend has it that you can rub her snout and make a donation for good luck.

(copied from www.pigsonparade.org)
.

I could use a bit of good luck.. I'll have to rub her snout and make a donation

[ccga3359]

Wonderful photos, I can almost smell the aromas from Cafe Nervosa. Love the tartan but cannot name it.

[Retro Red]

Wonderful photos, I can almost smell the aromas from Cafe Nervosa. Love the tartan but cannot name it.

'Tis the official tartan of me home state - Arizona!
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[Retro Red]

Original Starbucks sign
The original sign hanging outside the original Starbucks in Pike Place Market. For you Starbuck aficianados, you'll notice this sign is unique; no other store has one like it.


Where it all started...
Storefront of original Starbucks. We didn't even try to go inside because as you can see the place was packed & folks were lined up way down the sidewalk just to get in!!!


Wifey & I with Rachel, the Pike Place Market mascot

[Retro Red]

Klondike Gold Rush Historical Park
I think this qualifies as the most unlikely setting for a national park I've ever been in - inside the former Cadillac Hotel. Just seemed kinda odd to see park rangers patrolling their park inside a building. A great little park, though, that gives a lot of insight to the events that helped establish Seattle. Oh, & sorry for the tiny picture, but I missed getting a pic of this place, but wanted to include it here.


A couple-a dummies...
Me & a mannequin in front of the new Utilikilts Flagship Store


Home of Utilikilts


Paying homage
A Utilikilt Original was my first kilt (I now own 5 UKs) & started me on the road to freedom. I of course had to stop in to the Flagship Store & pay my respects.


A mini-Rabble
I know this pic has already been posted, but since meeting Kyle & Don came at the end of our walking tour, I thought a rerun was in order. A long walk builds up your thirst!



That concludes the walking tour of Seattle. There were a bunch of other places we went to on the tour that I didn't take pics of, but I hope you enjoyed these that I did take.

Next up - the Museum of Flight!
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[Hamish]

Congratulations, Retro, on a superb set of photos which brought back happy memories of my stay in Seattle back in 2003. I went up/over there especially for the Utilikilts 3rd Anniversary Party which was actually held out in the country, at Duvall. The new Utilikilts flagship store looks absolutely marvellous - what a step up from the one I knew in a somewhat dilapidated warehouse, north of the city! I currently have 11 Utilikilts in The Kollection (although some have now been archived, including my first: an early Workmans which Steven Villegas actually made himself in 1999/2000).

Whilst I knew that Starbucks was born in Seattle, I had no idea that it was IN Pike Market - and I must have walked past that branch half a dozen times without knowing that.

I must get back to that city sometime. Thanks again.