Because Jon and Colleen had use of the Go Seattle card, they called an audible the day before and decided to go to the Pacific Science Center, which is also on the Seattle Center campus. Colleen was glad they did. What looked like a children's science museum was much more than
that, with things with water like a giant hamster wheel that was much harder than it looked and a high rail bike
outside and a touch tank, butterfly pavilion and great interactive health exhibit inside. Jon and Colleen skipped the special Grossology exhibit since Colleen had seen the same exhibit in Denver but they did come across a guy who was a little too into his 
Madagascar hissing cockroach. Colleen: "What do you got there?" Dude: "A cockroach." Colleen (gesturing to tank): "One of those?" Dude: "Yup. Wanna hold it?" Colleen: "Nope." Jon and Colleen got there about 10:15 and had to leave about 11:20 to make the walk to the monorail, ride the monorail and walk to the Pike Place Market and be in place by noon, but they didn't get to get through everything we wanted to, so they decided to come back before closing at 6.They arrived at the tea shop meetup place about 11:45 so we took some pictures while they waited.
When we went inside, Penny, our tour guide, told us we were two of three people on the tour. While we waited for that person to arrive, Penny tried to find a tea Colleen (who doesn't like tea) would like... without any success. Turns out our third person was a third and a fourth. They had their tea samples and then we *officially started the tour. Penny revealed to us she is from Japan and really all over being a military brat, that she was a theater major (that's how she met her husband - a psychic told her she would marry him and not the guy she was dating), that last night she had fruit with goat cheese and truffle oil on top and that all her tip money (she doesn't take tripping but she does take tipping) goes to food at the Market. She also does ghost tours Wednesday night, used to work for the Underground Tour and invented the Sub Seattle tour (apparently the "seedy" tour Colleen had been seeking).Partway through Colleen had to stop eating she got so full. And that was on a downsized free breakfast! Her faves (in order) were the clam chowder from Pike Place Chowder, cheese curds and truffle salt (just a taste is all you want/need, but what a taste!) The smoked salmon, gelato and homemade donut were good too.
While Penny was getting us scones (toward the beginning of the tour), Jon and Colleen learned the other two people on our tour were hired to do marketing for Seattle Food Tours, the company that does the tours. Apparently the girl was an intern as she said next week she was going to Argentina for what sounded like a semester abroad. So not a couple like Jon and Colleen first thought! Jon and Colleen then felt obligated to be appreciative of Penny since the other people really didn't count! (She revealed she knew what they were up to when she mentioned looking up the guy's boss online.)
Penny looked up on her Blackberry how to get to our next destination, Seattle Bug Safari (another Go Card special).
Jon and Colleen soon realized why no one had seemed to have heard of this place. A harried looking guy in the gift shop begrudingly took our Go Seattle cards. (Colleen thinks these places MUST get a cut of the Go Seattle card, but wonders how much as no one ever looked very happy to see Jon and Colleen had them.) He then handed Jon a flashlight and said it would be "obvious" when to use them. He then unlocked a door and we walked into a room the size of a garage with aquariums on all the walls with bugs in them. Colleen was grateful she didn't have to pay the regular $7 admission fee or she would have felt gipped. It took 15 minutes going slowly to see everything. (A lot of the bugs, including the Madagascar hissing cockroach, of which there were several, were repeats from the Pacific Science Center. And there were numerous versions of the same thing in individual aquariums.) Oh, and the lights were on so there wasn't really a need for the flashlight, except when the guy, who had locked the door on the way out, (which Colleen thought was weird), unlocked the door minutes later and took our flashlight to bring out a critter hiding from under a rock. Colleen then asked if these were all his. He responded in the affirmative and then said, "For years they've been my nightmare." Colleen later noted the signage for the bugs had "captured" dates.
We didn't have to worry about rushing down to the Waterfront for our 1-hour Harbor Tour. We killed time at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Rich, the Underground Tour guide, had told us they had mummies in there. A look around the crowded shop didn't turn up any mummies, so we asked a cashier at the frontier who was a dead ringer for Luna Lovegood in looks and in behavior. Her deadpanned response?: "Oh, Sylvester and Sylvia." (Like they were friends or something.) "They're in the back." They were actually pretty freaky looking skeletons, none of that King Tut in a sarcophagus stuff.
Once on board our ship, the ship's captain introduced Jon and Colleen to their tour guide,
"Robbie, not Robert," (Robert was working the bar downstairs) and they were on our way. Robbie lives over on the other side of Elliott Bay (the body of water they were on) and moved to Seattle a year ago. He's originally from New Hampshire and a Red Sox fan (although the Mariners are his second team.) Robbie's info on the shipping companies was pretty interesting as well as learning Seattle has 300 days of clouds (we lucked out - no clouds Monday, Tuesday or today) and that Seattle is not in the Top 12 of rainiest cities (it rains a lot of days because of the Olympic Mountains, but not that much on a given day.) Robbie did lose points though because he incorrectly believed a woman who told him they rebuilt Seattle because of an earthquake, not a fire. He did get some of those points back though when he told us he was from Jon's hometown, Barrington.
After the ship docked at 5 p.m., we booked it to the monorail station to get back to the Pacific Science Center. Jon took the ride on the high rail bike and then we finished up the health exhibits. At 5:55 we got a 5 minute warning and then at 6 p.m., they kicked everybody out. It was like all these people in blue shirts descended upon us at once. Not even the gift shop was open! They had that closed up BY 5:55. Jon and Colleen went outside and all the water for the outside attractions had been turned off. Right after they got off the hamster wheel, the blue shirts came and told the people who got on next they had to leave.Jon and Colleen decided to walk down to Olympic Sculpture Park since that was on that side of the Seattle Center, on the waterfront. It seemed to take a lot longer than it looked on the map, and when we got there, you had to hike up a hill and then it was all spread out and the other attractions were down hills. Colleen decided she was content looking at how they looked in an abandoned brochure. Then it was back UP the hill toward the Seattle Center.
Colleen and Jon arrived at a Halloween costume shop that looked pretty cool at 6:50, only to be told, "Just so you know, we close in 10 minutes, but let me know if you need anything?" Why do these people have closing times if they clearly don't want to be open 10 minutes ahead of that?
Colleen then decided she had come this far, she could go check out the daytime action at the International Fountain. Back up the hill. Turns out it
IS set to music. Still, Bellagio Fountains they were not!Pacific Science Center: A
Taste of Pike Place Market: B+
Seattle Bug Safari: D
Harbor Cruise: A-
Olympic Sculpture Park: C-
International Fountain during the day: B-
--POSTED BY COLLEEN
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