World’s Fair...continued...Washington State

We crossed the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon.  The river marks the state line between Oregon and Washington for about three-fourths of the way to the Idaho border.

We took I-5 north, which followed along the Columbia for about 40 miles before it turned west toward the Pacific Ocean and we continued north toward Olympia.  It was a beautiful drive...very green with lots of trees and some small rolling hills.  To the two of us from Lubbock, Texas...flat and brown and very dry and dusty...the drive was like Utopia.

While in Olympia, we ate at the Olympia Oyster House.  It is famous for the tiny oysters harvested from Puget Sound.  We ordered fried oysters and were served huge mounds of the little things.  They were so-o-o-o good!  There might have been raw oysters on the menu, but we won’t go there!

We went on to Seattle and the World’s Fair, our main destination.  As we got into the area, we discovered how expensive it was to park for an event like that.  All of a sudden I told Bill to follow that car.  The man driving it had a World’s Fair patch on his uniform.  He wound around through neighborhoods and parked.  We parked right behind him and followed him for about a block, to one of the entrances!

We probably took pictures, but over the years, with our lifestyle now, those things are mostly gone.  We do remember going up on the Space Needle and enjoying the magnificent view of the area.  The Space Needle was built as the main attraction for the Seattle World’s Fair, and still remains open.  

We also ate at the restaurant on the very top.  It revolved slowly, 360°...a very nice place to eat.  I can’t remember a thing about the food, but the view was awesome!

About all else we can remember was going to downtown Seattle, not far from the fairgrounds.  We went to Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers’ market in the country.  There is a fishmonger, where they throw the fish back and forth according to what the customers order.  It is a special attraction of the market, which is built on a cliff over looking the waterfront.  There are three levels of shops, artists, produce stands, and restaurants.

Before leaving the Seattle area, we went down to the waterfront area and walked around seeing the sights.  I’m sure we ate fish and chips, one of Bill’s favorites.  There were several good choices of fish places.

We continued our journey north toward Canada!