Seattle-Pike's, Aquarium, & EMP

Monday we had to say goodbye to Victoria. (sniff)

We enjoyed breakfast at the same spot as Sunday, then packed up our bags & said goodbye to the Royal Scot Hotel.  We had been living large for the past few days--got an upgrade to a suite room with two (yes!!!) pull out couches, separate bedroom, and full kitchen.  Loved just about every part of Victoria...

Our ferry ride into Seattle was on the Clipper.  It's a much smaller boat (think catamaran), so getting out of the harbor was a tad choppy again. We snacked on the boat, spotted more whales, and enjoyed the views of the Puget Sound.  All in all it was a nice ride....until we docked.
The 10-15 minutes we had to wait on the boat while we were docked...and bouncing around.... were miserable.
So glad we had missed lunch.
By the time we got through customs, walked to our hotel, and relaxed for a few, we decided to grab an early dinner and then just call it a day.
Tuesday Kevin had a meeting in the morning, so the boys & I strolled to a fantastic local doughnut store and hit the hotel pool.
Then we met Kevin and strolled to Pike's Market...

Saw some fish get tossed around & enjoyed the show...

And had the blessing of having lunch with a dear, sweet friend...

Johnny was a pastor at our church before he and his wife left for the pacific northwest & missions work.  He knew Kevin & I before we were married, married us, dedicated Kieran, and was such a blessing to us back in our younger days.
Spending some time with him all these years later was just priceless.
There was big action in Seattle later in the day too....

A bit of a soccer match was going on--Argentina v. Bolivia in the Copa de America tournament.
That meant Keenan's favorite player was in town too.  Lionel Messi.
We did kick around the idea of going to watch the match....until we saw ticket prices....then we watched from our hotel room.
Thankfully Argentina won that game.
After lunch, Kevin had to get back for meetings, and Johnny had to leave as well, so the boys & I checked out the Seattle Aquarium.
We timed our visit well, and had several touch tanks all to ourselves.

The sea lions, and otters were all active and showed off some crazy swimming skills.
After we finished, we snacked our way back through Pike's Market before calling it a day.
So much food to try....macaroons, eclairs, turkish delight, gelato....
Wednesday Kevin was tied up in meetings, so the boys & I walked to our favorite doughnut shop again, then continued on to the EMP Museum.
We timed our visit well again:  arrived just as it opened and we headed straight up to the third floor....

And stayed there for the next 90 minutes!
Nothing but guitars, keyboards, drums, bass, mixing tables, vocal rooms, and sound rooms galore!

The boys were in heaven.

We did check out the other exhibits as well.
The huge exhibit on Nirvana/Kurt Cobain and the grunge sound of the 90's was not nearly as interesting to the boys as it was to me.
There was a Sci-Fi exhibit that was quite good.

And the Fantasy exhibit was fantastic!

"My name is Inigo Montoya...."
Go ahead & finish the quote.
If you can't, then you need to watch The Princess Bride.

And after we finished inside, we grabbed some hotdogs, then the boys hit this little playground for a while:

And to top it all off, we took the Monorail back to the hotel.

Not a bad day at all.