Day 40 Washington State Seattle
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
48
205
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Seattle,
Washington,
United States
Sunday, June 15, 2008
One could ask by now, "Where are they now?"
Well the answer is; "We are in Seattle, Washington State. The trip from the "interesting RV park, was a very simple drive along a great highway, being experienced travellers we are at this point, it was decided, Sunday would be a good quiet day to tackle the city in the Castle to check it out, maybe obtain a park and look around. Undaunted we tackle the freeway and over many twists and turns following Mandy's directions, (gee after the trip into San Fran or LA docks etc, nothing can stop the Rolling Castle!
Well gee we should have known that there was a Baseball game on and the Mariners were playing "someone" and Mandy must have considered we were baseball fans, cause we went right by the stadium and right into 1st and whatever streets that run off the city hub on a Sunday, we even saw the famous Pike Farmers markets as we kept the Castle hopefully on the correct side of the road in amongst the lovely "narrower than usual" streets, until Rick cried "Enough" and Karon reset Mandy to the closest RV park to the city.
Gee no problem, it took us through tunnels and underpasses and over a long water level bridge, into a place called Bellevue.
We arrived at a very close packed RV park, which raised the question in our minds as to; "how many nights guys?" we decided on 1 for a start to "suck it and see"
As it turns out it is not too bad, just a bit of an act backing the castle into the allotted space, but hey we are experienced RV travellers by now!
Of course no day is without the fun bit, We managed to walk to the grocery store, just up the road, then decided to try the "park & ride" system.
This is you drive to a free park and then ride an express bus into the city.
We had obtained directions from the counter when we checked in, but again I guess the culture or difference in Aussie English and American English, or maybe just plain Murphy's law took over.
We left the RV park with great (yeah right!) confidence in the written directions, A debate as to which way to turn as soon as we hit the front gates arose, oh well let us go this way and see, Maybe someone was attempting to bring the sinners into line! We arrived in a private property "reserved for Temple staff only" site, and of course they cater for 30ft Castles to turn around in. (we are getting good at 3 point + turns in the Castle, We should be we are getting enough practice!)
Well we choose another direction, and off we go, over the bridge over the motor way and then into Bellevue suburbia, "don't you love it when people give directions and say, "You can't miss it!"
Well back across the highway this time after sitting in the middle choosing if it was over or under, (I kid you not!) then back attempting to retrace on the written directions.
Well this time it takes us into another lot of Suburbia, I am sure someone is attempting to give us a message or GEE a lot of BAD people live around here because we passed another church.
Another U turn/3 pt turn and back to the supermarket car park to obtain fresh directions, This time we managed to obtain some clear instructions, we FOUND the Park and Ride place.
The bus driver couldn't take our $2.50 each fare "Cause the machine is broke, so don't worry about it" So the ride was free!
It was a great service that took us into the tracks we had visited earlier in the Castle.
We hopped off and wandered around in the famous Markets, (Seen on the travel programs of guys throwing fish over the counter etc), and a wonderful labyrinth of shops of all types and sizes built in rabbit warren type architecture(not sure if that is a registered name but it sure felt like it!)
Then we walked down the street to find the city underground tour, this was very informative and gave a wonderful insight into how Seattle was born and why some of the city was underground, and abandoned when the level of the streets was raised 10 - 12 ft, leaving the shops, first floor levels underground.
We managed to find our way back to 2nd street and the express bus home, (Damn the money collection thing worked) and we arrived home happy with the days outing.
