Sunshine and Seafeasts!

It was a slow morning....mostly my fault since I was working on this thing.

We took the monorail back downtown and went back to Pike's Place for a little shopping, and the Saturday crowds were there in full force.  We bought some delicious pastries (mine, a cardamom and cinnamon braid, Hans', a pastry-wrapped baked apple with cream cheese icing).  After buying a few gifts and expanding our art collection we drove to the neighborhood of Fremont for lunch with Molly, one of our friends from UAF.

It was really great seeing her, and I'm always appreciative that even though "the gang" has been spread all over the country we can still get together like no time has passed.  Molly showed us the Troll Under the Bridge, and we hung out for another couple of hours.

After parting ways I picked up a cup of coffee and we...erm...mostly got lost and confused by the one-way streets and no-left-turn intersections in Fremont and ended up back at the hotel for a short bit.  I changed clothes since the wind had picked up during the afternoon.  When we went back outside, the clouds had cleared over the city and there was brilliant sunshine on Lake Union.

We drove to Gas Works Park, which was formerly, just that.  The main gas works have been fenced off and the water isn't suitable for swimming or fishing, but the giant green hill made for excellent views of downtown Seattle and some of the charming waterfront neighborhoods.  There were also some smaller pipes that were brightly painted for children to run around.

The sun set over Queen Anne Hill, so we hopped back in the car and Hans took me to the Locks and Botanical Garden, where the spring flowers were blooming and we saw some beautiful examples of Alaskan yellow weeping cedar.  There was a large heron sitting on one of the lock gates but it flew away before I could get a very good picture in the low light.

We ended our evening at Waterfront Park, downtown, where we waited a full hour to enter The Crab Pot, a major crowd draw probably because it's been featured on Food Network.  But let me tell ya, it's worth the wait!

We started our meal with a plate of jalapeno cheddar hush puppies and a liter of beer apiece (why not?).  Then, our Sea Feast arrived.  A gigantic bowl of steamed clams, mussels, oysters, red potatoes, corn on the cob, spears of salmon, snow crab, and dungeness crab was dumped into the middle of our table.  Then, we began to demolish the pile of fresh and sweet sea critters before us.

As we were eating, I was reflecting on the fact that I was actually glad that we had to wait so long for a table: When we arrived the hallway outside the restaurant was packed and noisy.  By the time we were seated at 9 pm, the crowds had gone (and I think many had given up because we were originally told it was going to be a 90 minute wait).  Of course, we were slowing way down by the time we were cracking our way through the rich crab legs, but by then the staff were no longer seating people and it was much quieter.  In fact, even when we were first seated Hans and I never had to shout to hear one another.  The last bits of crab and beer were pretty difficult to get through, and I laughed loudly when our server asked if we wanted dessert.  Upon arriving back at the hotel, I barely had the energy to look at the day's pictures before passing out.

Said pictures:

 The Troll!

 Downtown from Lake Union, Gas Works

 

The Locks

Hans is feeling watched, Sea Feast!

 Waterfront Park