Maple pecan muffin and some really good cake with yummy frosting.
We only get to see Alyssa for a bit at night for supper during the week while we are here because they have training after supper, and she leaves at 5:45 in the mornings, and gets back from training at about 8, at which time she is pretty exhausted from the day's activities. We wish we could have spent more time with her, but was so thankful we saw her when we could.
On Wednesday we headed out again with mainly one thing in mind, Pike Place. We got on our bikes and headed downtown. When we arrived, of course there was a line again in front of the original Starbucks, so we decided to wait as the line wasn't as long as the one we saw on Sunday.
When we finally got up to the counter, the fella who took our order asked us where we were from. We told him, and he said that he thought our accents sounded familiar as he is from Kentucky.
And then we stood in line again to pick up our order. I got a venti white mocha frappuccino and Hannah got her usual Americano, and Anthony just mooched off ours.
I love how the worker decided to smile also. She was so cute.
I know why I was smiling, tho:
Lots of whipped cream makes me happy!
We also purchased probably our one and only souvenir, a stainless steel double sided coffee mug, that says Pike Place and has the original logo, for Anthony. His plastic one broke when we were at the rest stop that had possible rattlesnakes.
We got to walk through the market, which has just about anything imaginable, including fish.
And flowers:
And just about everything in between. It was pretty crowded, even for a Wednesday.
While we are out walking around, Anthony locked up our bikes, and it always cracks us up when he gets out his lock. He found this lock on the ground in Chattanooga, and thankfully it was open and had the combination to where it should be. Here is the combination:
XNow you know why we snicker.
Next we got on our bikes in quest for the Starbucks headquarters, and we got to pass where the Seahawks and Mariners play, but the stadiums just weren't as pretty as the one in Denver, but still just as huge, and located right by each other. Anyway, we were going down this back alley kind of close to the water, and I was thinking there is no way that the headquarters is located here, but lo and behold there it was. It was lunchtime, so there were lots of people outside, and Hannah and Anthony took the opportunity to "hang out" for a bit.
We also went to City Center, where I got to see the space needle up close and their pretty awesome water park.
We also went into the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. On a display it let us take our picture, so it can be displayed on this big feature wall, so you know we couldn't miss this opportunity to do that. I guess it will stay there until the next jokers come along to get their picture taken.
We know, peoples' names and peoples' faces. . .
Along the bike trail, they happen to have a pull up bar, so Anthony took the opportunity to show us how strong he is.
And then challenged Hannah, who definitely got her arm strength from me. She just hung there.
When we returned, we washed our clothes to get them ready for our departure the next morning. Hannah was heading back to Chattanooga and was leaving at 5:00 am. We woke up at 5:30 to say goodbye to Alyssa. It was a really nice few days in Seattle, and the city is huge and a nice place to visit, but made me appreciate Chattanooga even more.
Regarding the plentiful bike trails, when one crossed the road, the traffic stopped for the cyclists and pedestrians. Of course, we didn't know whether to trust the cars or not, so we always slowed down at the intersections. You know, it only takes one crazy time where someone doesn't know the rules. But the cyclists acted like they were all Dale Earnhardt, Jr., on the racetrack. 99% didn't acknowledge they were coming around! and were just not happy. Here they were with one of the best commuting bicycle trail systems in the country, and they looked miserable and stressed. So sad. I am sure we got on their nerves just tooling around.
After we packed up, we decided to head south toward Mt. Rainier. It looks so huge from Seattle and I wanted to see it up close. From Seattle it looked like it was just a lone mountain, but you get closer and it is surrounded by all kinds of mountains. Mt. Rainier is a 14,410 ice clad volcano. Here it is from Seattle:
Here it is closer up.
Next we went to Mt. St. Helens.
And we drove for what seemed like forever and a day, without cell phone service, and finally got to the end of the road to the now dormant, as far as we know, volcano that erupted in May, 1980. I was so far removed from it when it happened, so I couldn't believe I was standing right in front of it. Down below was Spirit Lake, what used to be a huge recreational lake, and now looks like this:
The white stuff on the right is just ash. At 8:32 a.m. on that dreadful day, according to the AAA book, the force of the explosion blew the top 1,313 feet and much of the bulging north face off of the volcano and shot smoke and ash 80,000 feet in the air and released a mile wide avalanche that raised Spirit Lake 200 feet. They said that 57 people died that day.
And 35 years later, a lot of the surrounding area still looks like this:
After we finished here, we started looking for a place to sleep and ended up at Lower Lewis Falls Recreation area. 
And we met a man taking a picture of the falls who said he lived in Yakima, WA, when the volcano erupted. He said that when it happened, he didn't know what was going on, looked outside and saw dry lightning, and reached his hand outside and got sand in his hand. He said the area got about 1 1/2 inches of sand that covered everything, and that Spokane got a covering of ashy dust. He said he wasn't able to drive anywhere and was concerned about his new car that they had just bought, and also that his daughter was at a skating party and wasn't able to pick her up, so she slept at the skating rink until he was able to pick her up the next day. Wow. He said he worked on generators and had to get out in it to maintain the generators since the electricity went out.
We had a nice stay at the campground, and took a few pictures of our surroundings while we were in that area.
Next is Oregon and whatever will unfold for us there.
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