Day 2- Sunday, May 12

 Sunday morning came early.  Because we were still on East coast time, we were up well before 6:30am (which, in all actuality, was sleeping in!). We had no car, so we could not go to church, so we decided to walk downtown and explore Seattle.  It was a cool, dreary morning, but that didn't matter to us!

It was also a special day for two reasons- Mother's Day and Anna's 17th birthday.  (Ironically, Anna was born on Mother's Day 17 years ago.  It has only happened a few times that her birthday has fallen on Mother's Day again).  Each one of my 7 children called me and wished me a happy mother's day before the day was over.

So we headed out.  We walked in a different direction than the night before and walked through a strange yet interesting sculpture garden.  We were quickly realizing how unique Seattle was.  We walked to the Space Needle and caught the monorail to Pike's Market, which was really where Paul wanted to go.  Pike's Market put us both in mind of Quincy Market in Boston.

(These pics are all out of order!0

 One of the first things we noticed were these trees painted blue.

 Sailaway from Seattle

 The color run was running through downtown.  The people wear white shirts and they spray them with color as they run.

 We were so excited!!

 Pike's Market

 After we departed Seattle, this is how the ocean looked.

 At Pike's market we found a cheese chop.  They were making cheese here and we both immediately thought of our son Paul who is a cheese nut!

 Mmmmm.  Cheese curd.

 A string quartet who played frequently on the ship.

 I was sitting in front of the huge vat they make cheese in.

 Second dessert.  Yes, we were bad.  Very bad.

 At Pike's Market there was a flower festival going on with gorgeous tulips in about every color.

 And of course there was alot of fish.

Beautiful mountains.

After we walked back to the hotel, we packed up and left.  We had 3 hours to spare, so we walked to a small pub and had lunch.  We then walked to the pier.  Paul said it was only a mile or two, so we took our time at the pub and walking.  Paul was pulling 2 suitcases, I was pulling 1 and we both had on a heavy backpack.  We walked, and walked, and walked and walked, all along Elliot Bay.  We could see the cruise ship and we knew we were getting close- until we realized we couldn't get to the ship because of a canal.  Soooo we walked all the way up the canal, over and back down again.  We got about 1/4 mile from the ship and a very kind shuttle driver had pity on us and drove us the rest of the way.  I bet we walked 3 or 4 miles with all the luggage.  The good news was that we did not have to wait in any lines to board the ship.

After we boarded and went through the mandatory safety drill, we went up on deck for the sailaway.  We were both surprised that our room while not big, was roomy enough.  And the bed was amazingly comfortable.

We enjoyed prime rib for dinner and watched a show before calling it a night.  What a great first night!