Xīnnián kuàilè, dàjí dàlì (Happy Lunar New Year.)

Day two in Seattle leads us on a little adventure downtown.  An easy way to get around (and cheap) is Metro, the bus system. 

Navy is super excited to be on the bus and making our way to China town.

We made it!

Seattle has a vibrant international district and we knew this was the place to go to celebrate Lunar New Year.  The international district has little pockets of "towns" so there is a little Saigon, a Japan town, and in our case China town. 

Little Fox took us on a walking tour of the district.  This park was pretty cool and in the center of the international district.  Can you see the lanterns hanging in the trees? 

We had a mission to go dine at a dim sum restaurant.  LF and crew found this restaurant a few years ago, it's off the main drag, and had vibes of a hole in the wall but it was darn delicious.  First, we warmed up with some hot tea. 

Then the food came.  Shumai, pork dumplings, fried tofu, and some shrimp buns, and stuffed eggplant. Little Fox wanted the chicken feet, but us mice vetoed that idea. 

Little Fox is a good host.  He's handling the chop sticks to serve us.  

After dim sum we knew we wanted to explore and we came across a celebration for the new year.  

Dragons.

Parades.

Firecrackers. 

Drums.

More firecrackers (to scare away the evil spirits) 

Of course, being in the international district knows it's a short walk to the waterfront and pike place market. 

 

Seattle Day 2 and 3.

Good Morning World.  Little Fox here at the International District in Seattle.  The Smith Tower in the background and this cool dragon on the power pole. 

The large gate welcomes you to the International District.  The gate has been up and running since 1999. The Portland gate has been open since 1984 and the San Francisco gate has been up since the 60s.

This fox is hungry  I think I am going to pass on the squid hot dog but definitely going to try the pastries. 

Now that I'm fortified (also got some Dim Sum) and it's time to explore more of the city.  On my way to Pike Place Market I stopped at the remodeled King Street Station (Seattle's Amtrak Station). 

Yipee, the train station is remodeled to it's grandeur.  Back in the 1940s and 1950s they put acoustic tiles to mitigate sound and had less than original seating.  

Onward. I found a cool location to stop and enjoy the view (and got a pear biscuit for breakfast tomorrow).

Pike Place Market was packed (shocker....) so no pictures for me.  Time to get back on the light rail back to my place.

My final day in Seattle actually was in Olympia.  To escape the wet weather we decided to explore Olympia (even though the original plan was Seattle).  Found this cool toy to play on. 

Onward Little Fox. 

 

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