Last month, my parents and I went on a road trip to Seattle for a wedding, it was my mom and dad's first visit to Seattle and my mom kept saying how excited she was to get there and be near an ocean because she tries to see the ocean every year. She was surprised to find out that Seattle, though it's described as a coastal seaport, is not by the open ocean, it's nicely tucked way back on the Puget Sound.
Let me refresh your third grade vocab, a sound is a large sea or ocean inlet that is larger than a bay, deeper than a bright, and wider than a fjord. It is a narrow ocean channel between two bodies of land. And the Puget Sound is a huge sound... see the image below.
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| Image found here |
If you look at that small dot where Seattle is located next the Puget Sound, you begin to realize all the exploration and adventure this place has offer. There are literally hundreds of if little inlets all along the sound, spanning between the Cascade Mountains and the Olympic Peninsula. It's not hard to believe that Seattle has more boats, and people living on boats, than almost anywhere else in the world (excluding parts of south asia). It's a huge part of Seattle's history... because of the mountainous Olympic and Cascade region, the water was the easiest way to get around, back in the day there were thousands of small ferries and freight boats on the sound... these busy traders eventually established regular picking up and dropping off points around the Puget Sound, and some of these points became towns... and some of those old trading post towns are still around today. Something I would love to do is experience that gorgeous area by boat, and explore all the little quaint villages and marinas along this beautiful area. From Friday Harbor on the San Juan Islands to Olympia... they say you can plan to retire in the Puget Sound to spend the rest of your golden years boating around the breathtaking views and corners, and never see the same place twice!
I think an epic proper mountain woman trip would be to learn how to captain a boat, then rent a boat, and travel around this misty haven... pulling up to a dock to get some great sea food, or camping on a secluded beach on the San Juan islands, spending a day near the Emerald City, or jutting down to Olympia... watching the scenery change with each inlet you explore... sudden surges of rock, or a cliff a hundred feet high and fifty feet across, holding tiny forests on their platter tops, people watching and being on the look out for sea creatures. Doesn't that sound enjoyable?
Read about these Top 5 Boating Destinations in the Puget Sound, I would love to experience these places.
Side note: It might interest you to know that a pod of orca whales calls this place home, and just over a week ago this local pod of whales welcomed a new baby calf to the Puget Sound!
Sooo... now that you know that Seattle is situated along the Puget Sound. you will find it fascinating to realize that the city is actually on a narrow isthmus... with the Puget Sound on one side and Lake Washington on the other... it blows my mind! It's two ecosystems merging into one very unique city...
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| image found here |
They have had to be pretty creative in designing traffic in this city... both for the people in their cars and the people in their boats. Below is one of the floating bridges you can drive on in Seattle.
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| image found here |
One of my favorite places that I have visited in Seattle is the Ballard Locks. If you happen to find yourself in Seattle try to make time to stop here... even though I have been there several times it's always a fun experience. The Ballard Locks, located in the Ballard neighborhood, were built to help move boats back and forth, from the water level of Lake Union to the water level of the Puget Sound. So when you visit the Ballard Locks you are watching ships and boats come in, and the water raise and lower them... when you first see it, it sort of trips you out. And if you have questions about what the heck is going on... well, walk across the walkway to the little visitors center on the other side of the locks, there you can see the man-made salmon latter, view a giant map of the area, and talk to a friendly visitors center guide.
For a fun morning, I would recommend driving out to Ballard Locks, stopping somewhere in Ballard along the way to grab some food (there's a ton of interesting stores and bakeries), and if it's not raining... finding a bench along the locks to sit and eat and take in the scenery.
Other cool things and places to eat in Ballard:
Cafe Besalu - for macaroons
Wild Mountain Cafe - for breakfast
Ballard Pizza Company - for pizza
Ballard Farmers Market - every Sunday
Golden Gardens - lovely beach, campfire friendly, views of the Olympic mountains
Stoneburner - for brunch
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