#7 Renton & Seattle

Arrived to Seattle, an hour less behind from home again so 9hours! I was picked up by a friend I met a few years back in Belize! She lives close to Seattle in Renton and I was able to stay with her! We chatted for a bit and watched a match, and she also made me one of her homemade Margaritas :-)! Heard some fireworks that night around 11pm since it was 4th of July the next day. She told me that it wasn't allowed anymore, but people don't care. 

They showed the weather forecast just before landing, looks great!

Looks less great, next stage: blue and bruised 😅 but not hurting anymore

We went downtown Renton the next morning to watch the Canada-Morroco match! We wanted to watch on the screen outside but it wasn't up, probably because it was the 4th of July and so we found a German pub that was open just for the matches that day!

 

Mimosa for breakfast and Hasselhoff at the front door 😅🤷🏽‍♀️

Brunch cocktail menu. I had a Mimosa and the Breakfast shot, huge shot 😅

Breakfast shot, shot of Whisky with Butterscotch Schnapps and an orange juice shot to finish it off.

What the hell is this?! Dutch Baby (German Pancake) 🤷🏽‍♀️. I Googled it: "Despite the name, it's an American dish, a variation of the German pancake, with "Dutch" being a corruption of "Deutsch" (German)" 

Downtown Renton

Walked through the park, super busy in the picnic area at the start of the park with people celebrating 4th of July. 

4th of July decorations

Last bit of sunshine by the pool :-)

We had a hotdog for dinner since it was 4th of July and that's one of the things they eat a lot then (a lot do a bbq)! And we watched a movie 'The nice guys' (2016), funny haha! I heard fireworks go off in the distance since it's banned withing the city limits of Renton so wasn't too bad luckily. Early morning tomorrow!!

Went to sleep pretty late in the end, close to midnight, and awake before 6am. But we had to leave about 40 minutes after so was all good! We went to Poo Poo for a mountain hike and a view of another mountain. I kind of underestimated the walk and wasn't prepared for it, it was a constant incline up and got pretty steep at times, but we made it in the end. Poo poo 🎉!!

Facts:

Distance: ~3.8 miles round trip  (6,1km).

Elevation Gain: ~1,637 to 1,760 feet (499 to 536.4 meters).

Average Time: 3 to 3.5 hours round trip.

Here we go! The Chirico trail (which is more more diffucult).

The name "Poo Poo Point" on West Tiger Mountain comes from the steam whistles used by the logging industry over a century ago. The whistles, which made a distinct "poo poo" sound, signaled to workers that logs were tied to cables and ready to be towed

It wasn't like this all the way up but I do like paths like these with rocks or tree roots on them.

Birdie! So many birds on the trail! And a few chipmunks (I don't think I've ever seen one before) and squirrels!

We made it!!!

View of Mount Rainier

Gorgeous flowers!!

More flowers :-)

Mountain in the clouds

We did it!!!

And when one goes up, one must go down. The way down was still a bit challenging at times but a lot easier than going up! After our morning work out, we went out to get lunch! Club sandwhich (grilled chicken, avocado and bacon) with fries and a vanilla shake for me and a lettuce wrap burger and a shake as well for her! Well deserved if you ask me!! 

Once we got back to her place, we went to the pool again since it was nice and quiet and I finally finished the book I had with me and so I can leave that behind for good will.

The book I finished.

We also watched the Mexico-England match. Unfortunately Mexico lost, but we still had homemade quacamole, blue corn chips and homemade Margaritas again! That was our dinner. We were both full from our meal after the walk that it was all we needed! 

Cheers to Mexico

With a fancy rim 🥂🙃

We went to Seattle downtown the next morning since USA was playing Belgium in Seattle and so it seemed fun to watch that match in the city and do a bit of sightseeing. We started at the Pike Place Market to watch the famous 'fish tossing' and just walk around for a bit. There were a lot of Americans dressed for the match, some had really crazy outfits on!!

Main entrance

Fish toss one way

Fish toss return

Original/First Starbucks 1971. There was a line outside for if you wanted to go in and order/buy something and apparently you could also reserve a timeslot (we overheard someone about that)

Peonies 🤩, $3 a stem. Lots of gorgeous flowers and bouquets on the market!

Walk down go the Waterfront

Found a good sportsbar to watch the Spain-Portugal match and had lunch before going to the Underground Tour where you go under the streets for a bit of Seattle history!

Lots of screens and Mexican food!

Margaritaaa

Underground tour. Pretty interesting and also funny.

We then walked towards the fan area and saw so many people dressed up. I didn't take a lot of pictures but take our Kings Day as an example and then all American style shirts, colors, outfits! It was crazy and weird to see as well. There was also a fan parade with some people on horses.

Some of the outfits and waaaa so busy!!

You can click on the picture to enlarge it but it says on the left sign: "I bet a cold beer sounds pretty good right now". And on the right bottom sign: "No drunkard shall Inherit the Kingdom of God". There were a lót of people praising God, handing out free bibles and also lots of Jehovas, even with Dutch signs 'Gratis Bijbel Cursus".

Walked by the stadium, too busy all around so found a sportsbar to watch the match and have some food.

Belgium scored, USA not happy 🙈

USA scored, USA very happy, holy crap. USA!! USA!! USA!! Only lasted 51seconds, cause Belgium scored again right after haha.

Sasquatch, kind of big in Seattle!

We left when it was halftime, the bar had filled up and with Belgium ahead we figured it would not be a good idea to stay in Seattle until the end of the match. Finished watching the match at her house. USA is out! That's it for the hosting countries, all 3 are out. Night night!

Woke up pretty early, around 5ish and couldn't get back to sleep. So I did a bit of writing, it's best to do that daily. I packed my bags a bit after. It's not much but I washed my clothes last night and hung some things up to dry overnight. We left around 8ish to go to Rainier mountain. The mountain we saw from the other mountain we climbed. This time not to climb the mountain though but to walk around the base.

Haha! Saw the Belgium team pass through Renton when we just left the house!!

It was about an hour and a half to Mount Rainier and once inside anouther half an hour to get closest to the mountain. We stopped at Shookum Falls on the way, tiny stream. Nice river though, the White river, that followed us most of the way!

Shookum Falls (look closely-click on picture to enlarge) with the moon still visible on top.

Next stage: yellow (and the light makes it look really bad, it wasn't thát yellow). That means it's close to healing. Maybe don't click on this picture to enlarge it😅

First viewpoint, almost there!

So many layers of mountains 🧘🏽‍♀️

On the road again, getting closer!

We made it! Elevation 6400ft (1951km)

Picnic lunch!

And a little visitor

Beautiful views and peaceful surroundings

Butterfly. So many butterflies (not on camera)

Love these fluffballs flowers!

Byebye mountain

A general store..the start of many deaths..by serial killers or zombies haha. This one had a 'big foot guest book' to write down where and when you saw it...

A giant flask! But I got a smores icecream and a gingerbeer!

Took us a out two hours to get back to Seattle. I had booked a hotel and was being dropped off. Much appreciated!! We said our goodbyes and told each other to stay safe! I checked in and was just in time for the final minutes of the Switzerland-Columbia match (we had checked the scores on the way) and watched the penalties in my room. I then went outside to go to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. I decided to walk and the streets can be pretty steep over here. Reminded me of San Fran.

My room for the night

Haha this guy made a fifa ball on his umbrella. I also saw a guy passed out on the street with a crack pipe in hand and also one guy at the busstop with a crack pipe, still awake though.

Street art

Museum - one of the pieces was inspired by Native Americans.

The glass ceiling and more glass art. Isn't it amazing?!

Outside glass art, including one with the Space Needle in the background.

What a coincidence (I know, there are no coincidences) but one of 7 video's showed in the theater and just walked in when this one was on. The art I saw in Chicago in Garfield Park was made by the same guy!

My walk back to the hotel.

I had a pretty good night sleep and enough time to take it easy the next morning. Watched some tv, took a looooong shower, packed my bags, got ready and checked out. I left my bags at the hotel and walked across the street to the ferry terminal. Visiting Bainbridge island today! I got to the terminal with just 5minutes left before the ferry left and so again, timing was perfect. Maybe somebody is looking out for me on this trip, although I wouldn't know who. Maybe it's just luck or karma ;-)!

The ferry took about 35 minutes and it was a kind of chilly morning so I bought a cup of tea. I asked the guy for the price and he told me but there were two sizes so I said, which size and he shrugged his shoulders and said the bigger one haha. Perfect! 

Walked around for a bit, followed one of the nature trails and went into a few shops before I headed back to downtown Seattle to get some lunch.

These old people were protesting against Trump 💪🏽

Leaving the island

Little windy 🤭 - Seattle in the background

Seattle - Space Needle on the left, Stadium on the right

Lunch at a famous place for fish&chips 🤷🏽‍♀️

Last but not least, visiting Sasquatch. 

I did not go into the ride because it was $25 😅.

Walked around the waterfront and downtown for a bit after lunch, walked back to the hotel to pick up my bags and then left for the airport. What's next? Going home for the weekend, leaving again next week! Where to? Sign up/stay tuned for the next part of my sabbatical!

Got to go, boarding soon! Layover in Reykjavik, unfortunately I couldn't do an overnight! 

Over&out,

T.

Walked; 4,6km - 7,3km - 9,6km - 6,4km - 9km - 11km