July 12th Seattle, WA

My full free day in Seattle started with a wonderful home cooked breakfast by my friends Dave and Chris. Dave is a friend from my Key Biscayne days. He's another New Englander. We used to play roller hockey, roller blade, snorkel and other fun stuff on Key Biscayne. Chris is Dave's wife. I am also very happy to say that I was the person who officiated at their wedding on the Cape in MA, a decade ago. They have two wonderful girls. It's been great catching up with them and seeing their life here in Seattle.
After breakfast Dave and I headed to the Coast Guard station where he works as a civil science officer, not sure what his actual title is. He gave me a tour of the research vessel he works on when at sea.

The ship is undergoing renovations in preparation for its next research mission to the Arctic Circle. Dave will be going on part of this mission.

When the tour was done and we successful avoid the Admiral who was on base for a tour of the station and a change of officers, Dave headed to his office at the Station and I headed downtown. I walked along the waterfront bike/walking path to the ferry terminal and then climbed the hill to 1^st street. From there I headed to Pike Place. I wish I lived in a community with such an awesome public market. The fresh fruit and vegetable stands and all the amazing fresh fish/seafood. I did not catch a fish, but I watched as others did and I ate a very over the top fresh baked cinnamon bun with frosting and chocolate chips. The only thing that could have made the cinnamon bun better would have been a great cup of espresso, but I'm off coffee during this bike trek/trip to Southeast Asia.

In Pike Place, I happened upon an artist who make clocks out of recycled bicycle parts. I just might to to order one when I get home in honor of my ride. The clocks were very cool. My limited space will keep me from buying non consumable items along the way, at least for the bike part of my trip.

From Pike Place, I continued on foot to the Space Needle with a stop for lunch at the Virginia Inn along the way. The Space Needle was fun and the sky was clear blue or as clear blue as Seattle gets. I took at great photo of the Space Needle rising out of the clouds on the morning drive into downtown. Sadly, I did not have enough time to visit the garden and museum connected to the Space Needle.

Some really good sushi for dinner, a little laundry and time to write a piece for the blog. Dave and Chris at a dog training school. The Forcucci family has a third child as of three weeks ago a little puppy named Willie. He's very cute and full of energy, like most puppies. Tonight was the first night of dog training school. I think the school is probably as much about training the parents as it is training the dog.