Life on the Left Coast: Last Day: Pike's Place Market and Impromptu Pre-Flight Canoeing

Yesterday was Delores and Clyde's last day with us. We had a super great time with them while they were here with us! It was fun to show them around our new city. It being the last day here and them having not seen Pike's Place Market, we knew we'd have to fit that in! Mike had to go back to work, so it was just Delores, Clyde, the boys and I. We had a drizzly, true-to-form Seattle afternoon, but we shook off the chill with a lunch of soup and hot tea at a great little oyster shack we finally rambled into after about an hour of wandering around trying to figure out what we were in the mood for! Here are the highlights-in-pictures from our day at the market:

Here we are! The famous Pike's Place Market.

The flower stands, a must-see.

Most of these bouquets are just $10.

Delores, who loves flowers more than maybe anything else--except Jesus,
and her kids, and her grandkids, and her church. :)

The variety of fruits and vegetables is pretty much
astounding. We spotted donut peaches, and champagne
grapes, and multiple varieties of cherries (I've only ever
eaten Bing). All sorts of mushrooms, too. Amazing.

Cute.

Drizzly photo op!

The fish monger invited the boys to touch this
fish's eyeball. Ewww. They both did it. Double ewww.

Merrit tried to talk us into buying lobster tails.
Not today, buddy.

It's cherry season!

Close up of peonies. Smells fab.

Close up of salmon. Smells not fishy at all.

The famous Pike Place Fish Co, where they throw the fish. Delores bought
some seasoning mix and I bought two pounds of shrimp for our dinner.

Ollie could get a summer job here in about 10 years. :)

The boys putting coins into the biggest piggy bank ever.

Say cheese. (We did see some great goat's cheese for sale,
but I didn't get it. Next time...)

I'm combating the drizzle with the yellow trench I bought in England!

Warming up and waiting for our steaming bowls of soup.
Everyone but me ordered New England style clam chowder and French bread.

Don't mind Ollie's grubby little fingers; he's trying to steal my mini mussels!
This is what I had. OMGosh, it was so good. It was a really garlicky seafood
soup of clam broth with pieces of salmon and small mussels, topped with
a crisp cracker and a lemon aioli. Came with French bread on the side. Wow.

We left the market, took a too-circuitous route through Seattle (darn that GPS, but on the up side, we did get to drive past the Mariner's stadium twice), and hung out at home for the rest of the afternoon. Clyde and Delores packed their bags for the flight and I went to pick up Mike at about 5pm. We cooked up some shrimp and sausages for dinner and ate well.

At about 7:30, with an hour to kill before our guests had to leave for the airport, I shoo'ed Mike and his parents out the door, convincing them that they had time for a quick canoe ride. With some rainy days and our busy schedule, Clyde and Delores had not even been out in our canoe! And besides the lake looked AMAZING. It was perfectly still, reflecting the trees and sky like a mirror. The HAD to get out there.

And they did. Yep, they squeezed every last ounce of fun out of this trip, I do believe!