Pike Place Market

We arrived.

So the plan was to do touristy things today, since we got here around 11am. This left the afternoon open for whatever we wanted. What I wanted was a nap. In order to catch our 6:20am flight we had to get up at 3:30am. I catnapped for a total of about 30 minutes on the flight.

I could go on a rant about how the TSA isn't really keeping us safe by making us take our shoes off and denying us liquids when we go through security. All they're really doing is instilling fear and reminding everyone that the government is in charge of our lives. I could probably write three paragraphs about all that, but I'm too tired.

So it's the afternoon, and I'm pretty much wrecked. Elizabeth is bouncing off the walls with the excitement of being on vacation in Seattle. Hey, isn't Seattle famous for coffee? As we leave the hotel I fortify myself with a nice cuppa joe and at least I'm not falling asleep while waiting for the walk signal.

Off to Pike Place Market, a tourist destination and fish throwing extravaganza.



It's an odd place. Yes, you can sit and watch the water, but there's a highway in between the market and the waterfront. In fact, it seems to me that the entire waterfront is denied any real kind of existence because of this highway. I'm sure Dick will have something to say about why Seattle developed that way, and it's only from listening to him that I even noticed this.

But really, the sights of the market are not looking away from it. This place is full of sound, and smell, and incredible visuals.


Yes, those are crabs. I have a movie of the guys throwing the fish around. When you buy a fish, the guy in front picks it up and throws it to the guys behind the counter, who then clean and filet it however you want. There's a whole bunch of theater involved too.

And all this did for me was wish that I had a kitchen nearby so I could buy some of this fabulous food and go home and cook it. It's not just seafood in evidence, either.


Gorgeous produce was everywhere. There are people standing nearby cutting up a peach or a nectarine and just handing out exquisite slices of fruit. We finally broke down and bought a giant peach, a nectarine, and some cherries. That's breakfast tomorrow.

There was also pasta, all sorts of meat, and even fresh made doughnuts. Mmmm, doughnuts.

It was really an exercise in frustration. We could look, but didn't have the means to keep or cook any of it.

I started fading again, so we went downstairs to perhaps find a scenic lookout on the bay. Instead we found this:


Total geek out. This was like every other magic shop I've ever been in. You've got your joy buzzers, and your disappearing ink on racks and all sorts of tricks for sale at the counter. One guy manned the cash register while the other guy did tricks for anyone who walked in. And guess what? If you wanted to know how the trick was done, you could buy it.

I ended up with a Svengali deck and a DVD on the many tricks I can do with it. I've read about this kind of deck before, during my magician years. Every boy goes through the magic years starting at the age of 11, and usually ending by the age 14 or 15, otherwise he becomes a magician, juggler, or just carny trash. I have probably more detailed instructions on its use in my Amateur Magician's Handbook back home on my bookshelf.

I will amaze my friends with fabulous card tricks. Or, more likely, it will go in a drawer and be forgotten.