Weekend
Getaway to
Mike’s
Hometown
Day one was packed full of fun. Our flight arrived 20 min early in Seattle. We grabbed a rental car and off we went. It was chilly, wet, and gloomy. Wasn’t expecting anything different.
First stop was Pike Place Market, where we would later meet up with Mike’s long time friend, Kori West, and his wife Lissa. The last time we had seen these guys was almost 8 years ago.
Pike Place Market is a public market overlooking the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle. The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continually operated public farmers' markets in the United States. It is a place of business for many small farmers, craftspeople, and merchants. Named after the central street, Pike Place runs northwest from Pike Street to Virginia Street, and remains one of Seattle's most popular tourist destinations.
While waiting to meet up, Mike and I enjoyed a little seafood.
This scary thing scared me to death! It’s tail is tied to a rope where one of the workers waits for people to get up close and then pulls on it. I fell for it.
There were street performers everywhere.
It had sprinkled our entire weekend there.
Rachel, the Market's bronze piggybank, has been "bringing in the bacon" for the Market Foundation since the Market's 79th birthday in 1986. People from all over the world feed Rachel with spare change and currency from the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Asia, and other countries from around the world. In 2006, Market visitors contributed close to $9,000 to the Market Foundation by adding to Rachel's bank.
Rachel weighs in at 550 pounds and was created by Georgia Gerber, a sculptor living on Whidbey Island, Washington. She was named after a real 750-pound pig named Rachel, the 1985 winner of the Island County Fair. Rachel's favorite holiday is March 1, National Pig Day.
Pike Place Market was just shuttin’ down. Closing time was 6pm!
We walked around a bit longer after Kori and Lissa arrived and then we drove together to Westlake Center Mall. I found the best store ever! I loved it. It’s called Fireworks. I could have looked through that store all day.
We met up with my brother, Jeremy, and Leslie at 8pm to eat at the same restaurant Mike’s brother, Jason, proposed to Cyn at.
There was a live blues band playing called Casey MacGill’s Blue 4 Trio. Pretty good too.
Check them out here.
This was our view.
And this too, was our view.
We had 10:30pm tickets to Theater Sports. Mike and I have gone to this once before, back in the days when we were kid-less. It’s a lot of fun and you laugh a WHOLE LOT! It’s down an alley, below Pike Place Market, right below Rachel, the pig.
The brick wall that surrounds the Market Theater is one of Pike Place Market's more unusual attractions. Also known as the Gum Wall, it is a multi-hued collage of messages, symbols and names-fashioned in used chewing gum. The gum graffiti has been there since the early 1990s, when theater patrons waiting in line for a show discovered this odd way to pass the time.
This Seattle landmark has landed on a dubious list as one of the world's top five germiest attractions. It comes in at number two on the list. The wall was scraped clean twice, but people couldn't seem to stop sticking their gum up and down the wall, and now it's a tourist attraction.
Seattle Theatresports is the most professional improv show the Northwest has to offer. Theatersports is comedy, improv, theater, and sports all rolled into one! Teams of improvisers create scenes based entirely on audience suggestions and are scored by a panel of judges.
Seattle Theatresports is also Seattle's longest running show, having turned 25 years old this June!
Theatresports plays every Friday and Saturday night at 10:30pm.
Found in their bathroom 
We couldn’t leave without leaving our gum imprint on the gum wall.
Kori trying to move the pig?
…to be continued.
