Independence Day is Tysha's very favorite holiday. We had awesome weather in Seattle this year for celebrating (the joke among locals is that summer doesn't really get to Seattle until July 5th - but this year it came early!)
We were going to go for a hike in the morning but learned from our neighbor that our location is one of the most desirable for watching the fireworks and that if we left we might not get a parking spot on return (even though we have a designated parking spot!) So, we decided to instead go on an "Urban Jungle Hike". We hiked downtown and went to climb to the top of a different kind of "mountain" for a spectacular kind of view.
We headed to the Smith Tower. , which is located in the heart of Pioneer Square (historic downtown Seattle). We learned that The Smith Tower opened on July 4, 1914 - exactly 93 years ago. At the time, it was the fourth tallest building in the world. It remained the tallest building outside of New York City for almost 50 years. Access to the Observation Deck is via one of the last manually operated elevators on the west coast, which we found to be very cool!
Somehow the elevator operator thought we were cool enough that he gave us two golden tickets - a free ride up to the observation deck, where we wandered around soaking in the sun and fantastic views of the Puget Sound, downtown, and even clear skies all the way to Mt. Rainier.
Tysha said it was one of the best days of her life (she says that every now and then). After our picnic and taking in the views from the top of our Urban Hike, we headed to Pike Place Market., where Jacob surprised Tysha with some very fresh and beautiful flowers from the farmers. Tysha was in heaven.
Near the market we wandered in a guitar and music store. Jacob was in heaven.
On our way home, we meandered through the new Olympic Sculpture Park.
Later, our friends Sofie & Casey (who are getting married this Friday!) came over for a BBQ, games, and to watch the fireworks from Lake Union on our rooftop. The Lake was plum full of boats all afternoon, hoping for the best views. And we could literally see Gas Works Park from our roof, a mountain of almost 60,000 people! Lucky for us, we didn't have to brave the crowd. We just relaxed on our roof and enjoyed 40 minutes of one of the Nation's top 5 fireworks displays!
What a day!
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