July 30-We woke up and jumped in the jeep to drive North to Bremerton to meet the car ferry into Seattle. We bought our tickets and were the 2d one in line. As did many others, I got out of the car and walked over to the local Starbucks for coffee and breakfast. The ferry was right on time, and we rolled the jeep into the ferry.
Our ferry was the Sealth.
It was a large ferry with a big breakfast bar, lots of seating inside with airline type chairs and booths (a lot of people were sleeping). It might have had Wi-Fi too--seemed like a lot of folks were on their computers. The ferry left Bremerton Harbor 
and set off around the islands to cross Puget Sound to Seattle. Puget Sound was calm, but I like to get out on the front of the boat just to be sure I don't have any seasickness. While we were out there I saw many jellyfish in the water in the Sound. We were also dogged by seagulls who were looking for food. One lady opened up her bag of chips and encouraged a seagull to eat out of the bag. The seagull was more than willing to fly along, dip into the bag, and chow down triumphantly on the captured chip.
We drove off the ferry and found ourselves near Safeco Field. Since one of our goals was to go to a Seattle Mariners game that night, we went ahead and parked and bought tickets for the evening game. Got back in the car and toodled over to the Seattle Space Needle. Our timing was impeccable--we got there about 11:00 and made reservations for lunch at 12:30 in the Space Needle restaurant. That gave us time to walk around the grounds near the Needle. There are several museums and attractions in the area. The chief amusement was watching about 200 kids, about 5-7 years old, all dressed in red shirts, running around and kicking soccer balls led by black shirted teenagers. Perhaps it was some form of soccer camp; it was neat to see all that energy in the girls and boys.When our appointed time arrived, we went up the elevator to the Space Needle restaurant. Our table was not ready, so we had some time to roam around in the observation area above the restaurant. This was a 360 degree view of Seattle and surrounding suburbs. It was a beautiful, clear day conducive to lots of pictures, which we have included here. A couple of times people agreed to take our picture with Seattle as the backdrop.
This is all before we have even had anything in the restaurant.We had a wonderful extended meal in the restaurant with a sparkling wine with the salad and an excellent red with the meal. I was smiling when we went down the elevator. (I needed those glasses of wine--I am a little afraid of heights and this was unnerving to be this high up on so spindly a platform.)
From the Space Needle we drove down near Safeco Field. It was still too early to go to the ballpark, but it was later in the day, so we found a good parking place and walked over to Pioneer Square.
. Susan did a little window shopping, then we did some going inside and looking shopping. Susan found a beautiful opal ring; I found a Utilikilt.We walked back over to Safeco Field, running the gauntlet of vendors set up along the street we had parked on. Welcome to Safeco Field!
We got very good seats on the 3d base side just 6 rows up.
Seattle Mariners game vs. the Anaheim Angels. It was Japanese baseball night.
Many Japanese players and connections to Japanese baseball were featured.
I was struck hard by an American choir of Japanese women singing the Star Spangled Banner. To see those folks, those Americans, singing our National Anthem was so uplifting. It was another reminder that American is not a racial designation; it is a declaration of principle. No matter that some of those singing may have had parents or grandparents detained during World War II, America recognizes that it is not perfect and goes on to seek betterment for all.Safeco had a nice field that was well laid out.We saw some fantastic defensive plays at shortstop right in front of us. The field also had a summary board that would summarize inning events.
Seattle won 2-0. Ichiro had a big night. Took the Ferry back
and drove back to Gig Harbor RV park. Got home after mignight. A very big day in Seattle
