To California...and Beyond?: Columbia River Gorge and Seattle

We woke up yesterday morning and, I am somewhat embarrassed to admit, headed to Voodoo Doughnuts's other location in Portland to get more maple bacon bars, as well as an apple fritter (which was seriously so delicious).

We drove towards Seattle but decided to take a detour to the Columbia River Gorge on the way. It was a very beautiful drive!

Mt. Hood

We stopped to taste some wine and had a very nice time talking to the owner of the winery.

Welcome to Seattle!

We went to dinner at The Pike, then hit The Crocodile, a Seattle spot famous for hosting such bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and R.E.M. back in the 90s. And then we went to Shorty's and played some arcade games.

This morning, we met up with Jordan's friend for breakfast at the Luna Park Cafe in West Seattle. This is a really cool place that I highly recommend. I don't remember exactly what I got but it was crazy unhealthy and involved eggs, bacon, blue cheese and potatoes.

"Hey baby, I hear the blues a-callin', tossed salads and scrambled eggs…"

We then headed to Pioneer Square to go to the top of the Smith Tower. Typically, people visit the Space Needle, but this is apparently expensive and also takes long because it gets very crowded. So we decided to try something different.

The Smith Tower is 42-stories tall and is now the 17th tallest building in Seattle. At the time it was built, it was the tallest building in the world outside of New York City. Construction was planned by Lyman Cornelius Smith, who died in 1910, and was completed by his son, Burns Lyman Smith, in 1914. It still maintains many of its original elements, including copper and brass Otis elevators, doors, tiled floors and windows, and it is still a functional office building.

Being in this building reminded me of scenes in so many classic films. It's really beautiful.

Elevator

This is the carved ceiling of the 35th floor, where the Chinese Room and Observation Deck are located. The story is that the Empress of China furnished the room as a gift to Mr. Smith.

The picture to the left points up towards floors above the Observation Deck/Chinese Room, which are accessible only by stairs (the elevator stops at the 35th floor). This area is actually an apartment occupied by a family that lives in Seattle. Crazy!

After we left the Smith Tower, we went shopping at Utilikilts.

Jordan considered the benefits of firefighting in a kilt, but decided to think about it rather than making an impulse purchase.

We went on an Underground Tour after this! It was absolutely fascinating and I was very surprised at what I learned on this tour. I know the following paragraph is lengthy, but I think you'll be glad you read it because you'll have learned something new today!

Originally built upon filled-in tidelands, Seattle flooded often with enough water and mud to consume children and small animals. This was until the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, in which 25 blocks of mostly wooden buildings in the heart of the city were destroyed. It was then decided that the city would be rebuilt with buildings of stone or brick (not wood) and that it would also be built upon a new foundation, at least eight feet (in some places, up to 35 feet) higher than where it stood at that time. So, retaining walls were constructed along sidewalks and new sidewalks and roads were built on top of the retaining walls. This resulted in the first one or two stories of buildings being underground. So, today, when you walk into an old building in Seattle, you are often unknowingly entering on the second or third floor of that building, and what was once the first floor has essentially become a basement. The old streets and sidewalks still remain beneath the current streets of Seattle.