Seattle (51)

By contrast to our selection of a campground in Vancouver, Seattle’s choice turned out to be the complete opposite. Instead of sodden grassy mounds, we had luckily chosen a quite small campground that turned out to be all asphalt and level. The wifi connection was available sitting in the RV and there was a heated, indoor pool and games room. The local shopping centre was a short walking distance away and the nearest Park and Ride station was only a 7 minute drive. As I mentioned in the Vancouver blog, it’s amazing how different you feel when everything comes together when you first arrive.

We sifted through the display of tourist brochures in the reception office and found quite a few things of interest - there seemed to be heaps to do: the Space Needle, a Duck Tour (a fleet of former World War 2 amphibious vehicles providing both a land and water tour), Music Expo/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame building, an underground city tour, a mono rail system, and north of the city a tour through the Boeing factory where every 747, 777 and 787 ever built are being produced, plus more.

When we flew to Seattle to take our cruise to Alaska, we glimpsed a number of the above attractions as we passed them in a taxi en route to our hotel. Fortunately most of them are very close to each other so exploring would be quite easy.

However, our luck of travelling with good weather was coming to an end as the weather channel was forecasting rain and colder temperatures four days after our arrival. In fact, the maximum daily temps were soon to be about 13 to14° which was right on average for this time of the year. Accordingly, we selected a few outdoor venues to start with and, time (and schoolwork) permitting, would visit the indoor activities last.

The day after we arrived, we journeyed into the city via the 554 bus on our first excursion. During our brief visit the month before, we remembered seeing the Duck Tours leaving their depot from beside the Space Needle. That was chosen as our first adventure as we expected they would also point out other things to do along the way.

The nearest bus to the Duck tour dropped us at one end of the CBD - the Duck Tour is at the other but it was only a walk of about 1 ½ kilometres to get there. We decided to take a leisurely stroll there, down 2nd Avenue and explore the CBD by foot. A monorail system also ran above us on 2nd Avenue and we decided we’d try that one day as well. The road was not at all busy and there weren’t many people walking the streets, we surmised that was due to the time, about 11am and most people would have been indoors working.

We came to a glass blowing factory along the way and went in for a look. It was only small but interesting, particularly for the Lowther ladies as they’d never seen glass blowing before. The front of the factory had a shop with heaps of coloured glassware, most of it too fragile to travel in the RV. However, we settled on a solid, round piece of glass with sea anemones carefully crafted within. We then slowly continued all the way down 2nd till we arrived at the Duck Tour.

The Duck Tour was fantastic. Our driver/guide “Noah Lott” was full of energy, funny stories, Seattle history and many hat changes to suit various themes that we passed along the way. All the people on the duck we encouraged to join in the fun by waving hands and singing along with tunes like YMCA when we were in the middle of the business centre of the CBD. Then, off to the water for a cruise around the harbour and eventually back to their depot. People waved and yelled hello as we went past – great fun for 90 minutes and very worthwhile if you ever have the chance.

During our trip through the city, he mentioned all the things of interest to us plus a lot more. We learned that Starbucks was first started in Seattle and the original store is located beside Pike Place markets in the CBD. Although the address moved 6 years after it first started in 1971, they rebuilt the store in its current location and from the original design and materials.

The markets were worth a visit as well – they are similar to Flemington markets, however the prices are definitely geared for tourists, not bargain hunters. We didn’t buy any trinkets but did buy quite a lot of fruit and veggies, only to find out the day after the prices were cheaper in the local supermarket, and some of it by almost 40%! Oh well, live and learn...

However, I’ve transgressed, we visited Pike Place markets and Starbucks on the last day of our visit to the city – we ended up exploring the city over 3 days.

Following the Duck Tour, we went up the Space Needle to look at the views over Seattle from the observation deck. The top of the tower stands at 605 feet high and the observation deck is 520 feet above ground level, thus quite a bit shorter than Centrepoint Tower in Sydney, however the views from there are very good.

We decided to walk back along 4th Avenue to catch the bus home, just to see a different part of the city – frankly, we all need the exercise too! The walk back was good, but a little worrying for Grace as we passed some locals standing outside a pub along the way. Apparently the girls and Grace were getting lots of strange, scary looks, something I missed completely. Nevertheless, we made it back to the designated spot to catch the 5.18pm bus back to our Park and Ride at Eastgate, then home.

The following day we had allocated as a school day, nothing to write about other than the stress of trying to be their teacher and parent!

Our good weather was still held for the following day so off we went, back to the city again to see the Music Expo, Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. All of those are in the one building, a peculiarly shaped structure that we learnt from the Duck Tour was supposed to resemble a Jimi Hendrix guitar that had been smashed, something he became synonymous for doing to end his concerts.

We spent over four hours in the Music Expo and Hall of Fame sections alone! There was a heap to do, a wonderful interactive display. There were separate sound booths in which you could play a guitar, drums, and keyboard and sing karaoke as loudly and badly as you could without anyone hearing you!

They had laser controlled sound systems with multiple options that played various instruments as you waved you hand between the lasers to break the beams. Lots and lots of displays that detailed many different musicians that have become icons of their industry, complete with the outfits they wore and instruments they used. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to use flash photography so many of our photos are quite dark, however hopefully manage to show what it like inside.

As a result of time spent there, we didn’t move into the Science Fiction Museum till early afternoon. There they had many original costumes worn by stars from Star Trek, Lost in Space, ET, Planet of the Apes and many more. All in all, another entertaining and busy day, time once again just enough time to catch the 5.18 home, provided we either walk very briskly or catch the monorail.

Catch the monorail we did. And what a memorable event, not because the trip only went from one station to another (total journey) and not because it was our first monorail trip, but because both Chantelle and Rochelle got to blow the monorail’s horn before we started the trip. We ended up taking the very front seats in the front carriage and the driver was seated right beside the girls.

As we were about to start and he closed the doors, he leaned over to Rochelle and asked if she would like to blown the horn. He pointed to a button on his hand control, she leant over and pushed it and sure enough, the very loud train horn sounded. Much to our surprise, he then asked Chantelle to do the same and she did – two very excited girls thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the 4 minute journey.

Our third and following day in the city was to take the Underground Tour, to see both Starbucks and the Market Place and visit the Pacific Science Centre. The Underground Tour was our first stop and this is a tour of about 90 minutes. It was a fascinating journey through a small section of the city, 1 level below today’s street level and to help remind me of the details, I bought a book in the gift shop at the end of our tour and have just looked at it to assist me now....and, oh dear, I’ve chosen a book written in Spanish! Lovely pictures....

The Underground Tour took us around Pioneer Square above ground and also to a hidden Seattle that now lies underground. About 25 square blocks of Pioneer Square have hollow spaces under the sidewalks, thanks to peculiarities of the reconstruction after the great Seattle fire of 1889. Seattle at that time had been built using timber from huge, local forests that had trees as tall as 400 feet and a diameter of up to 8 feet.

It was a city that was essentially built on swampland and behind the swamp was a cliff about 200’ high. The poorer people lived up on the tops of the cliff and needed to walk down to work and climb back daily. The more affluent chose to build in the new city of Seattle and had timber from the cliff tops cut down and houses/shops built below.

Our guide told us many very humorous tales about the vagaries of life in the city then, in particular the sewage system. Naturally, living on a swamp it is impossible to create a fall in the sewer, a slope if you like to carry waste downhill. There was a system of sorts but most folk living there were reliant on the 20’ tides to carry all their waste out so sea – the problem arose of course when the tide came back in again. Apparently the daily paper at the time used to put the expected high and low tides for the day on the front page in order to assist those needing to do number 2s. Not many folk on the streets at the top of the tide as it started to ebb; most were indoors, reading the paper!

Someone then came up with a brilliant idea to build a sewage system above ground and commence it from the 200’ cliff behind the city. That would create a head of water pressure that could carry everyone’s waste out to sea. A boxed, four-sided wooden waste pipe was then built and was very successful for those living on the cliff! Their waste rocketed down the pipes and through the elevated system in Seattle, out to sea. Of course, the folk in the city needed to raise their toilets high enough to connect to the system, so most dunnies were in an area of the house well above floor level to allow them to connect.

The system was not without fault though. Due to the expanse of the city on the swampland, the pipes gradient was significantly reduced at ground level and the wooden channel structure only finished a short distance out to the sea. Apart from the constant leaks from overhead system, they still had to contend with tides.

The pressure of the incoming tides worked against the pressure being created from the 200’ drop from the cliff and great care needed to be exercised when flushing the toilet with an incoming tide. Apparently, with water pressure from both ends, if you were somewhere in the centre of the city and foolishly flushed the toilet at the wrong time, you were treated to a very unpleasant geyser, many feet high! One can’t imagine the smell and feel of the city at that time.

The Seattle fire: on the afternoon of June 6, 1889, John Back, an assistant in Victor Clairmont's woodworking shop at Front Street (now First Avenue) and Madison Avenue, was heating glue over a gasoline fire. Sometime after 2:15, the glue boiled over, caught fire and spread to the floors which were covered by wood chips and turpentine. He tried to put the fire out with water, but that only served to thin the turpentine and spread the fire further.

Seattle's water supply proved to be a major problem in fighting the fire. Hydrants were only located on every other street, the 'pipes' were small and many were made of hollowed out logs (several of which would burn in the fire). As more hoses were added to fight the fire, water pressure fell to the point that the hoses didn't work. Firemen tried to keep the fire from spreading further by pumping water from Elliott Bay but the tide was out, and the hoses were not long enough to reach the side of the building closest to the fire. To add insult to injury, crowds harassed the fire fighters as the water pressure fell. Many of the firemen gave up due to the lack of water and the crowd’s harassment.

The fire burned until 3:00 am. When it was done, the damage was enormous. 120 acres (25 city blocks) had been destroyed, about 119 buildings in all. Although the loss of human life was evidently low (no statistics were kept on that) it was estimated that 1 million rats were killed. Thousands of people were displaced and 5,000 men lost their jobs.

The city didn't take much time to mourn. Instead Seattle banded together, and to combat looting, two hundred special deputies were sworn in and the town placed under martial law for two weeks. A relief committee was formed to handle the charitable donations that were being sent from all over the country. Tacoma, a city about 40 miles south and no longer a rival, but an ally in the time of need, raised $20,000 and sent up a relief committee to help.

Within a month of the fire over 100 businesses were operating out of tents. Instead of relocating, most businesses decided to rebuild where they had been, and rebuilding began almost immediately. Wooden buildings were banned in the burned out district, to be replaced by brick.

The original I beams are still above
new I beams fitted for additional
support

At the same time, it was decided that streets should be raised up to 22 feet in places to allow for proper services including sewage systems to be built underground and to help level the hilly city. However, most businessmen couldn’t wait the expected number of years it was going to take to raise the height of the city by carving out some of the cliff areas.

Hence, a plan to divide the then city ground level into grids was devised. The new ground level was to be at the height of these walls, essentially at the ceiling of the ground floor. They built walls in blocks and used soil and rocks from the cliff to fill many of these for strength. These cavities also provided an area for the city in which to dispose of the charred remains of the former buildings. Not all of these cavities were filled as it was decided many wanted to use these areas for storage.

Businessmen were able to construct their new buildings knowing that the current ground level would eventually become their basement. Within a year, 465 buildings had been built, most of the reconstruction was complete and the businesses had reopened. Thus, we were able to see what used to be Seattle’s ground level, complete with pavements during our Underground Tour.

Following the tour we walked to Pike Place to find the original Starbucks. It was a very small shop-front, very unassuming indeed. No area inside to sit inside and soak up the atmosphere of what has turned out to be a global success, just a place that sold coffee beans. A street busker and parked cars immediately in front of the building, about 1 ½ metres from the front door made it difficult to take a photo and the only recognition of its fame was a plaque inside.

The last place for us to explore was the Pacific Science Center located near the Space Needle and a place that was highly recommended by the Duck Tour guide. It’s a building full of interactive displays for children, both young and old! There were bodyworks machines for strength, flexibility, machines that changed your body and face shape (by image, not physically), planetarium, tide pool, balance games of all types, dinosaurs to be brought alive, an insect village, butterfly farm – absolutely full of entertainment for the young and young at heart. A $3million Harry Potter exhibit was to open in a large section of the building the day we planned to leave Seattle, so we unfortunately missed that.

We stayed there till it closed at 5pm, caught the monorail to our city bus stop and waited for the next bus at 5.51. Our luck of weather had finally come to an end and we finally received liquid sunshine. We were able to take shelter though in a coffee shop adjacent to the bus stop and waited in warmth and comfort, complete with a hot chocolate in hand.

Friday was an allocated school day and thanks to our planning and accurate weather forecast, was spent in the Sierra looking at the gloomy weather outside.

On Saturday we drove north to the Boeing factory to look at their “Future of Flight” exhibition. It started with a 90 minute tour of their aircraft building factories/warehouses/hangers. There were five in all although our tour only went inside three, but they were huge, 40 hectares of floor space! From the observation decks of each building we looked at them building 747s, 777s and their newest plane, the Dreamliner 787s.

Quite a number of the planes were on the hanger floors in various stages of construction, however we weren’t allowed to take our cameras on the tour, hence no photos. There was an area in the main visitors centre that had small cut aways and models of engines and sections of plane that enabled us to take a few photos to remind us of our visit.

It was an interesting tour and a worthwhile visit, but time for this epilogue about Seattle to finish and us to head off on Sunday to Mt St Helens RV park campground, 50 miles from Mt St Helens, but the nearest place we could stay.