This day was not quite as busy as Friday as we only had three major items planned....Pike Place Market, the Zoo, and a tour of Safeco Field.
We had planned to spend the morning at the Market and head for Safeco after lunch and hit the Zoo up last. A very relaxing day...uh huh sure? Because really, what more relaxing place is there than Pike Place Market on a Saturday morning in the middle of August??? Actually though, it really wasn't that bad. The hardest part was the kids were less than thrilled with the adventure of a busy market that smelled of fish and no one was buying fish so of course, no flying fish. It was a let down but I think more so for us adults than for the kiddos. They did enjoy the fresh apples we bought and I got to step inside the first-ever Starbucks!!
When the market had lost its appeal, we realized we were way ahead of our schedule. Even though it was a less-than-busy day, we still knew what time we needed to be at certain places. Luckily for us though, we found that we could hit Safeco for an earlier tour than we had originally planned if we could just hurry...and so hurry we did. We were just a smidge late for the tour...just missing the meet and greet with the tour guide so really nothing of too much interest.
Let me tell you, for those of you interested in seeing the inter-workings of a baseball field, this tour is awesome. It was pretty inexpensive, very knowledgable and of course fun. The only downside...actually, two downsides were our less-than-thrilled guide who wanted to breeze through everything that he was literally pushing the group ahead of us out of rooms AND the fact that we and another couple had gotten lost. We stopped to take pictures and because the before-mentioned guide didn't like to stop for such nonsense, we turned around and the group was gone. Yep, it took us a while but we finally found them...but not before we considered joining another group we found. We learned some cool facts and even sat inside the Mariners' dugout. I think Bradley even sat where Ichiro sits. The kids were entertained but oh how I would have loved to lay in that grassy infield...but, no walking on the grass allowed...bummer :-(
Jeylin taking in the veiw from the upper deck
Each Suite at Safeco was named for legendary players...from Ty Cobb to Lou Gehrig and Sandy Koufax to Mickey Mantle.
View from the Owner's Suite I believe.
Kierra Nielson...future journalist...inside the Press Box.
A 2nd Strike foul ball that missed some journalists but left a lasting impression on the wall behind them.
This is the infamous family picture which caused us, and the couple who took it, to lose our tour group.
Walking out of the tunnel onto the field...this was an AWESOME feeling!!
The kids...being ever so careful not to step on the perfectly trimmed grass :-)
Sitting in the dugout.
Ichiro's seat.
I'm thinking about this time we went to eat lunch but honestly, I can't remember where. Hmmm, who knows? I guess it's possible we skipped lunch and headed for the zoo though. That was fun {**to be read in major sarcastic tone**}!!! The Seattle Zoo was honestly, one of the worst I think I've been too. Now with that being said, I haven't gone to many...actually, I think I've only gone to two others...but, it really wasn't that great. In fact, many people I have talked to, weren't even aware there was a zoo in Seattle. Well, there is and since we had tickets from the City Pass Booklet, we went.
While driving to the Zoo, you realize that you are still in the middle of the city...the residential part of the city. We're talking several different small parking lots all on opposite sides or walking distances away from the zoo, no street-side parking because like I said, residential area...and small city streets and busy traffic. Holy toledo Batman...it was crazy! After driving around for about 10 minutes looking for a parking spot, me freaking out at the closed-in streets and near misses of pedestrians and other traffic and of course, three kids complaining from heat and boredom and possibly hunger, we decided to skip the zoo, head for the hotel and take a nap, and come back later. Since we had yet to use our night-time Space Needle pass, we figured we'd do it all together.
Once back, we found a great parking spot in the main lot, but of course not without some great Nielson family luck. While searching through the back pack (on Brad's back) for my larger camera lens, I opened the zipper too far and out fell my huge lens on the concrete sidewalk. Fortunately, it only cracked a little bit around the rim that holds the cap on. The lens itself was OK (since I was able to take the picture at right) but it still ticked me off. Once inside the zoo, we were sorely disappointed. It was hard to find anything and very small exhibits. I think the zoo tried to keep the look of a more "natural" habitat so the trails were interconnected and even with a map, it was hard to maneuver. I think we visited half of the park and then headed out. Maybe under less stressful situations, the zoo would have been relaxing but I soon realized that (at least as an adult), once you've seen one giraffe, hyenna, hippo, lion, tiger, monkey, etc...you've really seen them all. But for future reference, I think we'll stick to the Portland Zoo...it's much better!
Since it was starting to turn dark, we headed for the Space Needle. We were very excited to take this trip up since neither Brad or I had been to the top at night. We parked in our usual lot, jumped out, and I pulled out the camera to take a picture from the ground, only to realize that CRAP!!!...my camera battery had died. I had forgotten to charge it when we went back for our nap and after taking the pictures at the zoo, I had drained it. Even more frustrating that I drained it at THAT zoo...ugh! So, we took a few pictures with our cell phones but that was about it. I was so bummed because it was absolutely beautiful up there at night. But, this just means we'll have to go back and do it again sometime...with a fully charged camera battery.
Now, onto day #4...the main event and driving force behind this particular vacationing spot...
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