Day 7-8

Day 7

Our day started with an excursion the Pikes Place market around 7:37. We explored the market a bit as it was opening, saw some fresh fish, some nice farmers markets, ate some fresh fruit, what you would expect. We also stopped by the first Starbucks. Then we went to get some breakfast. For our breakfast, I had eggs benedict with king salmon and king crab fresh from Alaska. It was delicious and I ate and savored every bite.

 After breakfast we had some more time before we were going to check out the Aquarium, so we explored a bit more and found the back of the public market sign and took the photo less taken.

 Then we ventured down to the Aquarium. This Aquarium was gorgeous and different from the other Aquariums I have been to in the past. The first thing you see when you walk in was a huge wall of glass.

We were lucky enough to get there when the divers were in the water feeding the fish, and the eel, which was extremely cool. In the next room over there was a huge touch tank, something that many Aquariums have, but the main thing that this one featured were hundreds of different types of anemones. This specifically surprised me because for the entirety of my life I have believed that anemones sting you. Now for your average 15-year-old, this isn't saying much but I also have my Open water, Advanced, Wreck, Night, Pathfinder, and Underwater ecology scuba certified scuba diver. So it was a shock to me.

When you touched them they had a sticky texture. They would move around your finger and hugs it. Of course, this was the anemone trying to eat it like it would eat a fish. It was interesting to watch the different types of anemones reacting to my touch. The next exhibit was in another building altogether.

It was a dome, that was completely surrounded by a tank, changing the perspective and feeling of a "tank". This was because the tank itself was the outside of the glass room we were in and was bigger than the room we were in so in many ways it turned the traditional Aquarium on its head and put the viewer in the tank and the fish on the outside.

After the Aquarium, we headed to the Seattle Great Wheel. As the second biggest fairs wheel in the U.S., it has gorgeous views of the city and even more so the bay.

After the wheel, we took a boat tour of the city. It was your generic boat tour, and we stayed on the top on the top regardless of the weather. It was quite nice, and a cool way to see the city.

After that, we went home and relaxed a bit before going out to dinner. 

Our dinner was phenomenal. We went to one of the highest rated sushi places in the U.S. Its name is Shiro's Sushi. Sence we do not know much about sushi we asked our waiter (who happened to be the head manager) what his favorites were, he then said, "let me bring you what I like in small portions until you say stop" this was/is the perfect type of dining for me. That being said there were three plates that stood out over the rest. 

 The salmon plate had three types of salmon, The first lightly seared on top just enough to provide a difference in texture, this was served with his homemade soy sauce that was much less imposing than other soy sauces I have tasted in the past. The second was the normal cut of salmon that you would eat for sushi but instead of soy sauce, it used sea salt and lemon juice on top which changed the flavor completely. Finally, there was the Alaskan salmon which was blood red and had a tougher texture than the rest it was also a bit spicy. the combination of the three in that order created the perfect plate. 

   The tuna plate was three completely different types and cuts of tuna, that funny enough all came from the same 367-pound fish. the first was your normal cut from the back, gorgeous red meat served with the homemade soy sauce again. The second cut was from closer to the mid it was a bit fattier and was marinated in salt for 15 minutes and vinegar for 5 minutes. This lead to the flavor is extremely complex and interesting. Finally, there was the cut from the front which was the fattiest out of the three, because of this it really melted in your mouth and with his homemade soy sauce, it tasted design. 

   Finally, we have the challenge plate. The challenge plate was the plate that he thought would be a challenge to eat, and he had a good reason. On it, there was a whole baby squid with miso paste and a quail egg underneath it. Next, there was a raw scallop with a bit of wasabi on top of it, and finally, there was a raw shrimp. Each of these tasted phenomenal, and I would gladly have any of those again. Then there was the shrimp head. For some unknown reason, my dad LOVED it but me not so much. That being said I am glad I tried it because how many people can say, "I've eaten a tempura shrimp head." 

Day 8: 

Our day started slow, with a breakfast at 7:32 at Top Pot doughnuts. Which was phenomenal for Apple Fritters.

After that, we waited around until 11:23 when we met with some friend from the Adirondacks who had moved to Seattle two years ago. It was great to see them again. 

The first thing we did was go to get lunch at a sandwich place named Tat's Deli. Their hoagies were phenomenal, specifically the Italian. After lunch, we headed to the underground tour, or at least we thought that we were, but when we got to the door of the Underground tour, there was a guy who was poaching clients from the underground tour in possibly the most shameless way. It worked and we ended up going on his tour instead.

The tour was interesting. Specifically, the reason that the tunnels exist. A bit after the Seattle fire and the city was rebuilt there was significant flooding and not enough drainage, so their solution was to build walls as high as the first story of each building along the road brace them against the buildings and the ground. Once done they filled the area between the two walls with dirt and made the new road one story taller than it used to be. so the first story of all the buildings became the basement and the old sidewalk actually became a tunnel system connecting all the buildings on the block. 

After We finished the tour we stopped by a few different places before making it to our next main location which was the locks. 

After the locks we went back to there house where we hung out through dinner then came back late at night. It was an extremely fun day and it was really nice to see them.