I got a couple of hours of sleep before waking up at 2:00 AM for the scheduled 3:00 AM taxi pickup. The taxi was running late, so I took a couple of photos while I was waiting and the taxi eventually arrived at 3:15 AM.
not very dark at 3:00 AM
Surprisingly enough the Delta check in counter was actually open when I arrived, so I checked my bags and went to the security line. Once I got to TSA they wanted me to remove all the food from my bags, so I opened them to search for my granola bars. When I opened the bag with my camera lens and the souvenirs the TSA agent asked me if that “was an Ulu knife”… oh *$%@. So I had to take it out and put it in the checked bag. Luckily the airport isn’t that big and the Delta agents at the desk were able to retrieve my bag without a problem.
Despite that hiccup getting through the TSA checkpoint wasn’t much of an issue and now I only needed to wait until the flight was ready for boarding. The airport did have seats with outlets which was nice to have charged phones as today was going to be filled with exploring Seattle.
I was upgraded to first class again on this leg, very early due to the low number of travelers with status on Delta in Alaska.
The view from my seat me with the obligatory face mask
I took some pictures while taking off. One of the cool things about the Juneau airport is that they have a canal that runs along the runway for floatplanes to use as a runway. There were quite a few tied up in the canal.
Juneau airport…. I know it’s massive, I’m surprised I didn’t get lost in it If you look closely you can see Mendenhall glacier You can just barely see Mendenhall glacier The canal with the float planes…. blurry because the plane I am on is taking off
After taking off I was given the choice of two different snack boxes… well the snacks are sometimes better than the “food” they serve you. At least it is something.
bistro snack box
I took a few more photos while we were on approach to Seattle.
When the plane landed in Seattle I sent the hotel a message saying I had arrived at the airport (and I had already checked in yesterday and asked for an early check in). I got a response saying the room would be ready around 9:30 AM.
When I got into the terminal in Seattle I went to the wrong luggage claim because apparently they only show the baggage claim for Alaska Airlines and they also had a flight coming in from Juneau, eventually I found the right baggage claim and my luggage. I was considering taking the light rail closer to the hotel, but ultimately decided to take a Lyft, which required me to find the pickup area in the parking garage. It was a much more pleasant experience than the Houston airport where all the traffic causes a traffic jam.
While in the Lyft (which seemed to take a very odd route) I got a glimpse of the Space Needle and a very old harbor building. I have much better photos of the Space Needle, so I didn’t include the highway ones below.
It’s obviously construction season (as opposed to winter, winter and still winter)
I arrived at the hotel at almost 10:00 AM. When I went to check in the person at the counter wasn’t very friendly. She told me the room wasn’t ready and “housekeeping just started working”. This upset me because she was not telling me the same story as I was told earlier that housekeeping started at 9:00 AM. In any case I started to reorganize my camera so I could go explore. After I got that organized I went to the bell hop (there was only one who was also the valet) and no one was there to take my bags. They charge people $55 a day to park and can’t afford more than one person to park the cars? Luckily when we checked back at the desk (with another person) they told us the room was ready (now 10:30) and I didn’t need to wait any longer for the bell hop. I was in the lobby with my bags and they also didn’t bother to come over to tell me the room was ready. It was definitely not the service I expected from a Marriott branded Marriott.
The room was on the top (8th) floor, and had a decent view.
the view from the very small balcony mostly a roof below and a small outdoor area one of the Washington State Ferries
I decided to look for a sushi restaurant that was near Pike’s Place Market. It was a bit difficult to walk through the levels of the market to get to the restaurant. Along the way I walked by the first Starbucks.
the first Starbucks
Once I did arrive to the restaurant it was closed, so I went to my second choice – Old Stove Brewery.
When I got to the front of the queue I was told it would be a 10-15 minute wait to sit outdoors, so I decided to wait and go to an overlook above while I waited for the table to become available.
view from the nearby public overlook
Not only did the Old Stove Brewery have an excellent location overlooking the harbor they also had amazing food. I decided to try the pretzel bites, clam and bacon chowder and the salmon BLT. Oh, and I also tried a flight of beers.
I tried the “Light Flight” the “Light Flight” delicious pretzel bites Salmon BLT – yes it tasted as good as it looked Inside of the restaurant…
After lunch I walked back to the hotel for a short time to relax and planned the rest of the day.
interesting artwork, it actually changed direction with the wind view from a pedestrian bridge view from a public overlook near the pedestrian bridge
I decided to visit the Chihuly Gardens and Glass exhibit in addition to the Space Needle as they had a combination ticket.
Since I wanted to see the sunset (which was at 8:30 PM) I bought the Space Needle ticket for 7:45 PM so I could see Seattle in the daylight and at sunset (wasn’t going to be properly night before they closed).
I walked to the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum from the hotel. I discovered a nice elevator that brought me up quite a bit and eliminated some of the hiking. I took a few pictures of the Space Needle when it came into view.
The Chihuly Garden and Glass museum
The museum was nice, they even had a free audio tour (which luckily I had brought my earbuds with me) to explain some of the pieces.
My favorite part of the museum was the boat with the balls, especially with the reflective surface the boat was sitting on.
sea life Persian Ceiling Persian Ceiling Persian Ceiling Persian Ceiling Persian Ceiling Persian Ceiling Persian Ceiling me under the Persian Ceiling Mille Fiori Ikebana and float boats Chandeliers Macchia Forest Glasshouse In the Garden
At about 7:45 PM I arrived at the Space Needle. I didn’t know they had so much history on display while waiting in the line to take the elevator (ok, so there was no line today, but where the line would be). I took pictures of all the historical information.
Just before the elevator to the top was a huge Lego version of the Space Needle…very impressive.
The ride to the top was pretty quick, I took a video with the GoPro and waited until I got to the top to take photos. The skies were clear and Mt. Rainier was easily visible (especially with the position of the sun). I also took pictures through the glass floor, but they weren’t so clean and there was a lot of glare. It was cool to see the gears that rotate the floor. There were some colors that appeared at sunset over Mt Rainier and the sunset was an orange color.
some nice colors from the sunset start appearing sunset
Poor planning means it was now after 9:00 PM and I haven’t had dinner yet. Limited options available I decided to try a pizza place that had good ratings on google – Rocco’s.
The menu was intriguing, it had a lot of different options, ultimately I chose the Banh Mi pizza and it was delicious.
Banh Mi pizza
The picture is only half a pizza – I could only manage to eat one slice even though I was starving. I save the rest for breakfast for tomorrow.
After a long day (starting at 2:00 AM) it was time to crash back at the hotel so I could take advantage of the next day properly.
