Howdy folks
Pounding the sidewalk of seattle yesterday, visiting the Seattle Art Museum and Pike Place Market, and attempted to find shopping, but wasn't really in the mood. Felt a bit lonely after being surrounded by others for two weeks! But hurray, I bumped into a fellow trekker, who is staying in my room! We made for the Space Needle, noticing that there were preparations being made for a parade. There were all sorts of bizarre vehicles lining up in local streets, and lots of runners on others. By the time the marching bands started up, it was after seven, but we could see them from the top of the VERY tall space needle. We were up there over two hours, but we saw the sun set over the Olympic Mountains, and could see Mount Rainier in the far distance, behind the skyscrapers of downtown Seattle. Brilliant views. We eventually got down the needle, frozen and hungry, and stopped to watch the rest of the parade, which was going for pretty much three hours! We loved the pirates who fired a cannon, the jazzy dancers, and had been astonished to see from the top of the needle all the dancers forming these intricate patterns. There was one float which had ladies sat in giant lotus flowers pretending to meditate - impossible as the crowd was so raucous! Fantastic to catch the end of the parade. Fremont and Burke Memorial Museum today I think...
