the Seattle Fun Spots

So there are a few areas around Seattle that are fun to stop at, but not spend all day there. We tried to hit as many as possible.

First, we went to Beecher's Handmade Cheese. I guess it's considered a part of the Pike Place Market, and you get to watch them make the cheese. We didn't stay too long since we have Gossner's so close to home, but it was a fun short stop.

We passed a whole bunch of "One Way" signs that had been changed to say, "One Love." Everyone had a lot of fun taking pictures with them.

Inside the Pike Place Market is the Athenian, the little restaurant where scenes from "Sleepless in Seattle" were filmed. It was another spot where we didn't spend too much time (literally like one minute was spent there) but since we were there, we looked around and reminisced about the movie.

 This bar stool has a plaque above it that says, "ROB REINER SAT HERE".

 This bar stool has a plaque above it that says, "TOM HANKS SAT HERE".

 It's always fun to see where movies were filmed and then go home and watch them. (Yes, my mom purchased the movie for that very reason :0).

We walked through Post Alley to the Seattle Gum Wall. It's actually right around the corner from Pike's Market, you simply walk down the stairs and the alley is on the right.

I wasn't sure how much gum to expect on the wall, but it was quite a bit. I searched for information on it and Wikipedia said that parts of the wall that are covered in gum are several inches thick, 15 feet high for 50 feet. I thought this photo of me in front of the wall did a good job portraying how far the gum wall extended. 

Austin on the other end of the Gum Wall.

We brought a couple bags of Double Bouble and chewed until our jaws hurt (literally).

I chewed at least five pieces and then I made a long string and hung it from the window ledge.

We all ended up hanging near each other's gum - or right on top of their gum.

Well... everyone but Mike & Whitney. They found their owns spot to stick their gum (funny that they stuck theirs in the same place too though - I wonder if most groups stick to a certain area...).

It was named one of the top 5 Germiest Tourist Attractions in 2009, second to the Blarney Stone in Ireland.

The tradition began around 1993 when patrons stuck gum to the wall and placed coins in the gum blobs. Theater workers scraped the gum away twice, but eventually gave up after market officials deemed the gum wall a tourist attraction in around 1999. Some people create small works of art out of gum.

We went to the Crab Pot for lunch. It was highly recommended and it did not disappoint us!

They have a couple of different meal options called "Seafeasts" where you order the food and they dump it in the center of the table. We ordered a couple of those and then got a couple extra pounds of crab legs so that everyone would be able to have some crab legs.

Our seafeasts included steamed clams, mussels, Dungeness crab, Snow crab, shrimp, andouille sausage, corn on the cob and red potatoes. It was a lot of food and even between the 7 of us, we couldn't finish it all.

Also near the Pike Place Market is the World's First Starbuck's Store. Maybe people don't care about that, but since I love their Carmel Apple Spice drinks in the winter time, I thought it would be fun to stop by, see the store, and purchase a Starbucks Card with the original logo on it (they say you can only buy these cards at the Pike Place Market location so I figured it was a must. 

Our final stop for the evening was at the Fremont Troll. It's actually art that was sculpted under the Aurora Bridge in the Fremont neighborhood by four local artists.

You can't really tell in the photos but the troll is clutching an actual Volkswagen Beetle to give the illusion that it was simply swiped off the road. (You can't really see it because of the dang construction and dirt - it's everywhere!) 

Wikipedia said that the troll is 18 feet high, weighs 13,000 pounds and is made of steal rebar, wire, and concrete. Oh and the shiny eye of the troll is a hubcap.

We had yet another fun day in Seattle and saw quite a few things. There are still things so many other things that would be awesome to see and do - if only there was more time!