Shortly after finishing up my summer internship, going nuts in Las Vegas (not really), and being back home for 1.5 days, I decided I needed another adventure. I'm the type of person who always has to be somewhere and doing something, so I planned out my summer pretty carefully. I bought plane tickets to go to Seattle and visit my boyfriend!
Ride The Ducks:
One of the fun activities that we did while there, and something that I have always wanted to do, was Ride the Ducks! It is a way to tour Seattle while being entertained at the same time. The tour does not take place on a bus like most city tours. Instead, they use an amphibious car- an automobile that can go both on land and in water! During the tour, we went around downtown Seattle and learned a bit of the history behind the city. We then embarked to the port where the driver drove the car into the water and suddenly the car turned into a boat. It then became a water tour and had some really awesome sights that you simply could not get from walking on land!
One of the views included a view of the skyline of Seattle (pictured above)! We also got a glimpse of the cute floating houses and the numerous apartments from where you could see the water. I think I definitely would need to live by the water one day and be able to see it from my window every morning. It just looks so peaceful. While on the water, everyone was clapping and singing to the songs the driver was playing. The driver kept changing different hats as he drove too, adding to the entertainment. I highly recommend taking a Ride the Ducks tour if you are ever in a city. It adds a different meaning to city tours.
Boeing Tour:
On another day, we rented a Zipcar and drove over to the Future of Flight Aviation Center to tour the Boeing plant. I thought this would be an interesting thing to take a look at since I worked at Honeywell for the summer and became familiar with the aerospace industry. Honeywell makes a lot of the components that go into an airplane but does not assemble the actual airplane itself. It would be nice to know where all of these smaller parts are going to at the end and see the whole product. Well, I got my wish!
Unfortunately no photos are allowed during the tour so that is why I haven't posted any on here. However, I can say that the tour was fun and educational. I've always had an interest in manufacturing since it has gone such a long way in a short amount of time. It's amazing to see that we can create so many copies of the same items in such a short timing! Also the fact that airplanes are not just falling out of the sky is amazing to me. There are so many things that could potentially go wrong in-flight, but those chances are minimized from technological advancements and many years of careful engineering.
From the tour, we were able to see the different stages of production of the airplanes from when it's in pieces to the fully completed planes. They let us tour the Boeing 777 and new Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes! It is definitely worth checking out if you are in the Everett area.
The only photos I could get are one of me after the tour in the parking lot. I was very happy with what I saw. In the background you can also see the manufacturing plant and some of the planes parked in front of the hangars.
Here is a closeup of the planes that carry the Dreamliner parts! They look like oversized beluga whales to me.
Food:
Seattle is also a great place if you are a foodie. I happen to be one. I don't take photos of every meal when I travel, but I did sneak in a photo or two of what I tried while over there...
Seattle has a huge open air market called Pike Place Market full of food and shops. You can nom all day there and you can buy random things for souvenirs, and even flowers! Ben and I went to a little deli type of store at Pike's called Bavarian Meats. What's awesome about this shop is that the workers speak German and a good deal of them come from Germany. The food is pretty comparable to what I have eaten in Germany and it has never failed to satisfy my German food cravings. This time around, Ben and I picked up some sausages and had a small lunch there (pictured above). Everything was awesome about that plate of food- pretzel, bratwurst, sauerkraut, and potatoes. Who could complain about that?!? I would highly recommend coming back here again and again.
Another little neat place we found was an up-coming chain called Veggie Grill. The great thing about this restaurant is that everything is vegetarian. The "meats" there are made from plants, but they actually do taste like meat. It was a nice alternative to the heavier foods we were eating while in Seattle. It was our first time there so we were not sure what to expect, but the food could not have delighted us more! I ordered the Santa Fe Crispy Chickn' (pictured above) and it came with chili.