Our Alaska Cruise began in Seattle, WA

The Princess Cruise we took as a family in July began in Seattle, Washington. Seattle is a fun place to visit! My husband and I spent a week there in 2016 to celebrate our 42nd anniversary. We visited all the major city sights back then. The Space Needle, seen above, is part of the 74-acre Seattle Center, which was originally built for the 1963 World's Fair and is an arts, educational, tourism, and entertainment center in Seattle. It is home to the iconic landmark 605-foot (184 m) tall Space Needle tower, and the Chihuly Garden and Glass--click here--to see my blog post about Chihuly Garden.

We arrived on the same late afternoon flight as our daughter, son-in-law, and our oldest granddaughter two days before our scheduled cruise, and we stayed in the same hotel. We had dinner at the nearby Queen Anne Beer Hall, and then took a walk to the shore of Puget Sound to enjoy the sunset.  Our daughter-in-law and two grandchildren flew in earlier that morning and spent the day sightseeing, while our son and oldest grandson flew in the next day, after our grandson's last day as a camp counselor-in-training.

The next day, everyone went sightseeing! My husband and I walked around the Belltown Neighborhood. As you can read on the Wikipedia link above, Belltown was "formerly a low-rent, semi-industrial arts district, and in recent decades, it has transformed into a neighborhood of trendy restaurants, boutiques, nightclubs, and residential towers as well as warehouses and art galleries.

I enjoyed photographing its artistic window screens and blocks of poetry on the sidewalk.

Even the privacy screens on fences were filled with quotes!

A highlight for me was that one of my dear friends from high school, Josette, who now lives in Florida, was visiting her daughter and family in a suburb of Seattle, and she was able to meet my husband and me for lunch. She suggested a fun landmark, a 24-hour diner called The 5 Point Cafe, where we were able to talk for hours!

Afterward, my husband and I walked down to Pike Place Market.

The Public Market Center at Pike Place is a bustling area full of stores, shops, and vendors of all kinds. 

As the website states: Founded in 1907, the Market is one of the oldest and largest continuously operating public markets in the United States and is brought to life by the hundreds of farmers, crafters, small businesses, and residents that call it "home”.

The first Starbucks is located there and had a line around the corner of people waiting to visit it!

The seafood being sold by multiple vendors was amazing!

So much fresh seafood!

The next day, we all boarded the Princess Discovery Cruise ship and enjoyed the "sail away" sights of Seattle. 

Later that evening, we all gathered for dinner at one of the Discovery specialty restaurants, "The Catch By Rudi." All the seafood was very delicious, and our waiter treated us by singing "Happy 50th Anniversary" and presented us with a special chocolate cake to enjoy.  It was the perfect way to begin our cruise!

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