Seattle - Washington State - page 100

with the water worlds of the Puget Sound region. The star attractions here are
the playful river otters and the sea otters, as well as the giant octopus. There's
also an underwater viewing dome, from which you get a fish's-eye view of life
beneath the waves, and each September, you can watch salmon return up a fish
ladder to spawn. Of course there are also plenty of small tanks that allow you to
familiarize yourself with the many fish of the Northwest, a beautiful large coral-
reef tank, and several smaller tanks that exhibit fish from distant waters. “Life
on the Edge” focuses on tide-pool life along Washington's Pacific Ocean and
Puget Sound shores, while “Life of a Drifter,” the aquarium's newest exhibit,
highlights jellyfish.
Pier 59, 1483 Alaskan Way. & 206/386-4300. www.seattleaquarium.org. Admission $11 adults, $7 ages 6-12,
$5 ages 3-5 (joint Aquarium-IMAXDome tickets also available). Labor Day to Memorial Day daily 10am-5pm;
Memorial Day to Labor Day daily 9:30am-7pm. Bus: 10, 12, 15, or 18; then walk through Pike Place Market to
the waterfront. Waterfront Streetcar: To Pike Place Market stop.
PIKE PLACE MARKET TO PIONEER SQUARE
Pike Place Market and the Pioneer Square historic district lie at opposite ends of
First Avenue; midway between the two is the Seattle Art Museum.
The Pioneer Square area, with its historic buildings, interesting shops,
museum, and the Underground Tour (see the box titled “Good Times in Bad
Taste,” below), is well worth a morning or afternoon's exploration.
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park It isn't in the Klondike
(that's in Canada) and it isn't really a park (it's a single room in an old store), but
this is a fascinating little museum. “At 3 o'clock this morning the steamship
Portland, from St. Michaels for Seattle, passed up [Puget] Sound with more than
a ton of gold on board and 68 passengers.” When the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
published that sentence on July 17, 1897, it started a stampede. Would-be min-
ers heading for the Klondike gold fields in the 1890s made Seattle their outfit-
ting center and helped turn it into a prosperous city. When they struck it rich
up north, they headed back to Seattle, the first U.S. outpost of civilization, and
unloaded their gold, making Seattle doubly rich. It seems only fitting that this
museum should be here. Another unit of the park is in Skagway, Alaska.
117 S. Main St. & 206/553-7220. www.nps.gov/klse. Free admission. Daily 9am-5pm. Closed Thanksgiv-
ing, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Bus: 15, 16, 18, 21, or 22. Waterfront Streetcar: To Occidental Park stop.
Pike Place Market Pike Place Market, originally a farmers' market,
was founded in 1907 when housewives complained that middlemen were raising
the price of produce. The market allowed shoppers to buy directly from produc-
ers, and thus save on grocery bills. By the 1960s, however, the market was no
longer the popular spot it had been. World War II had deprived it of nearly half
its farmers when Japanese Americans were moved to internment camps. The
postwar flight to the suburbs almost spelled the end of the market, and the site
was being eyed for a major redevelopment project. Fortunately, a grass-roots
movement to save the 9-acre market culminated in its being declared a National
Historic District.
Today the market is once again bustling, but the 100 or so farmers and fish-
mongers who set up shop on the premises are only a small part of the attraction.
More than 150 local craftspeople and artists can be found here, selling their cre-
ations as street performers serenade milling crowds. There are also hundreds of
small specialty shops throughout the market, plus dozens of restaurants, including
some of the city's best. At the information booth almost directly below the large
Pike Place Market sign, you can pick up a free map and guide to the market. Keep