From Washington DC to Washington state, it is not as close as the name might suggest - it actually takes a 6 hour flight across the continent, all the way on the Pacific side.
The iconic structure in the town is the Space Needle (we can see it in the distance on the above picture as well). With such a key and high landmark, I really wonder who would need a GPS to orientate itself there... Maybe it would be needed during the many rainy and foggy days. I was told that there are two seasons in Seattle: winter and August !
Of course, the West Coast is famous for its excellent salmon. I went to the local Pike market where you see merchants throwing heavy salmons over the counter and estimating the weight of the animal, before being weighted on a scale. Quite accurate in general. And the salmon - fresh or smoked - is yummy!
Seattle is also famous for being the headquarter and birthplace of many important businesses - probably a positive externality of bad weather: people here have to stay indoors (because of the rain) and come up with good ideas. For coffee addicts (is it surprising in Seattle?), Starbucks opened its very first store here. Now they dot the American landscape and have even spread abroad.
Besides Starbucks, Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing have their headquarters in Seattle. It is hard to come across people who do not work for one of these companies. The visit of the Boeing factory and fields ("Future of Flight") is worth it, even on a public holiday - when there is hardly any activity ... or is it always like this?? The tour guide was proud to say that there is no official retirement age and that their oldest worker is 82. What does that tell you about productivity? So off we go and wander through the widest building in the world, the size of 61 football fields. Very impressive to see the assembly line. Because that is what this place/country has become: an assembly place. A lot of parts are produced outside of the USA, including Japan and Italy. But let me not criticize Boeing too much, after all we saw that they had planes ready for delivery to airlines from Ethiopia, India, Angola, Morocco... Great customers. And they might have to wait, as the green light from the US administration is still pending.
Seattle has also a funny history, including how it got its name (from the Indian chief "Seattle" who did not want the town to be named after him because of bad spirits until he got shown some money), toilets and poor sewage systems, as well as a ravaging fire. An interesting way to know this is by doing the "undeground tour" of the city.
Seattle is also a great gateway to majestic landscape. Unfortunately, the distances are big and we could not make it to the St.Helens volcano. Instead, both trips to Mount Rainier and the Olympic National Park (via a ferry ride) brought us high up in the mountains. There was still lots of snow.
And we were fortunate to come across a bear ! Quite menacing...
All the contrary for this fox. It was begging close to a parking lot, while snow was falling down. It still has to wait for two months for summer to arrive... At one of our stop, we even met a skier - in June !!
Like any mountainous areas, there are nice blue lakes, lush forests and steep waterfalls to see. Enjoyable walks in the nature.
The iconic structure in the town is the Space Needle (we can see it in the distance on the above picture as well). With such a key and high landmark, I really wonder who would need a GPS to orientate itself there... Maybe it would be needed during the many rainy and foggy days. I was told that there are two seasons in Seattle: winter and August !
Of course, the West Coast is famous for its excellent salmon. I went to the local Pike market where you see merchants throwing heavy salmons over the counter and estimating the weight of the animal, before being weighted on a scale. Quite accurate in general. And the salmon - fresh or smoked - is yummy!
Seattle is also famous for being the headquarter and birthplace of many important businesses - probably a positive externality of bad weather: people here have to stay indoors (because of the rain) and come up with good ideas. For coffee addicts (is it surprising in Seattle?), Starbucks opened its very first store here. Now they dot the American landscape and have even spread abroad.
Besides Starbucks, Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing have their headquarters in Seattle. It is hard to come across people who do not work for one of these companies. The visit of the Boeing factory and fields ("Future of Flight") is worth it, even on a public holiday - when there is hardly any activity ... or is it always like this?? The tour guide was proud to say that there is no official retirement age and that their oldest worker is 82. What does that tell you about productivity? So off we go and wander through the widest building in the world, the size of 61 football fields. Very impressive to see the assembly line. Because that is what this place/country has become: an assembly place. A lot of parts are produced outside of the USA, including Japan and Italy. But let me not criticize Boeing too much, after all we saw that they had planes ready for delivery to airlines from Ethiopia, India, Angola, Morocco... Great customers. And they might have to wait, as the green light from the US administration is still pending.
Seattle has also a funny history, including how it got its name (from the Indian chief "Seattle" who did not want the town to be named after him because of bad spirits until he got shown some money), toilets and poor sewage systems, as well as a ravaging fire. An interesting way to know this is by doing the "undeground tour" of the city.
Seattle is also a great gateway to majestic landscape. Unfortunately, the distances are big and we could not make it to the St.Helens volcano. Instead, both trips to Mount Rainier and the Olympic National Park (via a ferry ride) brought us high up in the mountains. There was still lots of snow.
And we were fortunate to come across a bear ! Quite menacing...
All the contrary for this fox. It was begging close to a parking lot, while snow was falling down. It still has to wait for two months for summer to arrive... At one of our stop, we even met a skier - in June !!
Like any mountainous areas, there are nice blue lakes, lush forests and steep waterfalls to see. Enjoyable walks in the nature.
