Seattle's Pike Place Market - Part two

One of the greatest things about the market is the vendors that sell their hand-crafted items. You can find everything from jewelry, to hand-bound leather journals, to stuffed animals. Lots of unique items. My mom didn't think much of any of it. She just tends to be that way - or she thinks everything is over priced - which may be true, but I appreciate hand-crafted items and loved giving everything a look.

She did end up buying a frog for Marco and a mermaid for Naomi from this booth. The lady sewed these little creatures with a machine and then filled them with sand and hand stitched them shut. Really cute.

This booth had home-made jellies, jams, pickled veggies, and sauces. After tasting about 10 different jellies, my dad finally decided that he liked the huckleberry best. I was glad to buy him a jar. My dad totally gets my love for the market, art, etc. He gets ME. =)

Beautiful flowers!! Priced very good too.

LOVE the giant peonies.

These daisies just popped. So bright and fresh.

As I was looking at some of the flowers and such, Marco and Naomi had talked their dad into getting a balloon from this guy. Marco chose a dragon and Naomi asked for a crown with a flower on it.

And then he asked Taryn what she wanted. She was reluctant to ask for one at first, but then gladly accepted the flower wristlet. It's hard being a tween sometimes. ;)

We decided it was time to walk down to the water front. We were all going to go to the Seattle Aquarium.

More street performers and clowns as you made your way down the very steep hill going several blocks down.

Taking a break - but almost there!

This gentleman played beautifully on the clarinet.

Cool art work can be found all over Seattle in the form of paintings, sculptures and even fountains like this one.

Next stop...the Seattle Aquarium. Oh, and don't worry. I took along my Smash journal, ATC cards and watercolors and took time to create and work in my journal. Stay tuned for the rest of the trip.

Seattle's Pike Place Market - Part 1

Pikes Place Public Market is a favorite for everyone. I am vowing though that the next time I go - it will be alone or with people that really appreciate it. I don't like being rushed through places like this, you know? Well, I guess the fact that there were 8 of us trying to make our way through the crowded market, each with their own agenda, should have given me a clue to how it would be. There is so much to see, hear, smell, taste, feel...a definite party for your senses. Let me walk you through the photos. =)

Here is the famous piggy bank located at the front of the market. I'm pretty sure that I've taken a picture of each of the girls when they were babies on this thing.

I love listening to the different street entertainers. Some are actually very good!

This guy did a little act/dance whenever someone dropped a bit of change in the can. The bigger the donation, the better the show. haha

The guys that "throw fish" at the front of the market are probably the most famous thing at Pikes Market. They are high energy and fun all the time. There's always a huge crowd around their lot and when someone asks for a fish the one guy yells out the order and throws it. Then the other guy yells out a repeat of the order as he catches, weighs and wraps it. Really cool and exciting for all that are watching.

This is a monk fish, Yo! They have one of these on display all the time. Of course with a face like that, anyone would be curious to get a close look. Well, the guys behind the counter love to give a little surprise tug on the tail of that beast and it always gets a good squeel out of anyone too close and unsuspecting.

Guess who one of their recent victims were? haha Made us all laugh so hard.

Local, fresh fruit...

All kinds of seafood - local and from the shores of Alaska.

These looked so good! I thought about buying some, but didn't want them sitting in the van the rest of the day.

The rest of our trip in the next post!