USA Holiday 3, October 13 (Northwest Passage)

The only available train with Amtrak between Vancouver and Seattle left at 6:40am. Still, it beats going to the airport. Everything was all looking good until this group of eight guys came into the carriage just before departure and went on to talk loudly about stupid stuff for the whole trip. Add to that a whole bunch of annoying heavy accents, some combination of Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Scotland from what I could tell, and shouting rounds of beer from 7:00am and getting louder as it went, and it wasn't the best.

The train trip otherwise was quite scenic I suppose, passing through Bellingham and Mt Vernon, but the train seem to go much slower than it needed to, and even came to a stop at times. I think it could have reached Seattle in 2 hours easily, instead of the 4 hours that it takes. At the luggage carousel at Seattle they actually checked the baggage tags against receipts, I've always wondered why they don't do the same at airports, where anyone could just turn up and take whatever bags they want.

Dropped off the bags at the hotel and then walked back through downtown to the stadium district, well there's two stadiums. There was a Washington Huskies vs USC college football game on, but I had not bought tickets for that as I don't know anything about college football. Continued on to the Safeco Field baseball park where they have a 1.5 hour tour for something like $9. The tour guide was pretty good and had some fun facts, but sometimes talked too much as well. These tours are generally quite similar in what you get to see: luxury suites, press room, locker rooms and field level. Still, it's a pretty nice, modern stadium.

Walked back to the other end of downtown where the hotel is located and nearby is Seattle Centre which includes the Space Needle and many other things. For now there was just time to take in the view from the top of needle. The location is quite good as you can see the rest of downtown, the Seattle Centre immediately below, the Queen Anne and North Seattle suburbs, and of course the bay and Pugent Sound.

Century Link Field, formerly Qwest Field.

Safeco Field.

The two best Mariners.

Executive Suite level.

Same.

Behind home plate.

Purple Huskies late for kickoff.

The Space Needle.

Key Arena at Seattle Centre. Home of the WNBA Seattle Storm!

Puget Sound.

Downtown.

An outdoor observation deck, incredible. Actually the wind was pretty crazy.

All of that junk is EMP at Seattle Centre.

At the time I didn't think to jump in the other side.

The monorail track.

Seemed interesting at the time.

The new Nike Shoes I purchased in Chicago and started wearing in New Orleans have already started squeaking whenever I walk. That's so annoying, and I've only been wearing them for a week at most.