Sentinel Building

Right next to the iconic Transamerica Building is the Sentinel Building.  Its San Francisco Landmark #33.

This building was built in 1907 and is also knows as the Columbus Tower and Coppola's Cupola.

The Sentinel Building is located in between Little Italy, Chinatown, and the financial district so there are plenty of great restaurants and stores nearby.  Cafe Zoetrope is currently on the ground floor of the Sentinel Building.

I love this city, you can turn the corner and see such cool buildings as this!

Columbus Tower
916 Kearny Street
San Francisco, CA 

Seattle Space Needle

Next up in the Seattle adventure after Pike's Place was visiting the Space Needle!!  The Space Needle was built for the World Fair in 1962.  The Space Needle isn't the only thing I've been to that was created for a World Fair!  The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco was also built in 1915.

Anyways, back to the Space Needle! Did you know it only takes 41 seconds to reach the top via the elevator. It was fast!! It was pretty cool to see the city get smaller and smaller as you rode to the top.

Oh hey there Canada!

View of the city from 520 feet above!  Look how beautiful Mt. Rainier looks in the back ground!

It was so cool to see the tops of the buildings!

The view from the other side.

Brandy & I posing on the Space Needle observation deck.

Pike's Place Market

Next up on my travel bucket list in Seattle was going to Pike's Place Market!  According to Wikipedia, "The Market opened August 17, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the United States."  I just had to go!  I saw the throwing of the fish, lots and lots of stalls of fresh food and the most beautiful smelling flowers!

It was a bit chaotic and busy so we didn't stay long, but I'm super happy we checked it off my to-do list.  With more than 10 million visitors annually, Pike Place Market is Seattle's most popular tourist destination and is the 33rd most visited tourist attraction in the world.  AHHH so busy!!!!

Beautiful flower arrangements

And I was super surprised to see how cheap they all were!

And then we turned the corner and its the first Starbucks store ever!  It was created in 1971...well technically.  According to Wikipedia, While commonly referred to as the first Starbucks location, the current address is the second for the Pike Place store. The first Starbucks cafe was located at 2000 Western Avenue from 1971–1976. This cafe later moved to 1912 Pike Place, its present location (pictured above).

I didn't actually go in because let's face it, I was with my father and he does NOT wait in line. Oh well!  But if I HAD gone in, here are a few notable things according to the Starbucks website:

• The leather on bar’s outer facing was scrap obtained from shoe and automobile factories.
• The walnut used in the tables, doors and bar top was salvaged from a nearby farm.
• The signage on the bar uses recycled slate from a local high school.
• The community table is twice reused; it was previously located at a Seattle restaurant and before that, in a home.
• The restroom partitions are made from recycled laundry detergent bottles.
• The wall tapestry is made of repurposed burlap coffee bags from our local roasting plant.

Waving goodbye to the Pike Place Market!!!

Seattle, Washington

PHEW now that I'm finally home, I can catch everyone up on my whirlwind adventures.  Well, I'm home for a week and then I fly back to Dallas. But anyways, next up on my travel list was when I visited my sister and her husband in Washington State. My dad even flew in from the East Coast and joined us.  I had no idea Washington was so pretty....AND HOT!!!!  Wow, I was not expecting it to be 90 degrees!!

I flew into Seattle early (really early) to Seattle and my dad picked me up at the airport. Then we headed downtown to pick my sister up from the train station. She took the 90 minute train down from Bellingham (I think?) to meet up.

They had 2 train stations and they were BEAUTIFUL!! I always love to think about how trains used to be the way to travel and then I start to wonder what these walls would say if they could. How many people reunited with their loved ones or how many people had to say goodbye.

After we picked up Brandy, we headed down to the water and it was a beautiful day!

AND HOT, and I mean H-O-T! I wasn't aware that Seattle got so hot!  Thankfully there was a breeze near the water. Apparently it was record heat that weekend, its not normally so hot until later in the year...oh yay...

My sister and I being goofballs....gosh, I look at myself in this picture and all I see staring back at me is my mother!  Which isn't a bad thing, but sometimes pictures like that catch me off guard!

From here we boarded a tour boat, called the Argosy and did a tour of the bay!  It was really neat to be on the water and be able to look back to town and see everything that was going on and to see the sites.  The tour instructor was pretty cool too and told us all about the city...to which I promptly forgot everything he told me!

It was also pride week in Seattle!  Can you spot the gay flag? LOVE IT!

Oh hey there Seattle!

Those mountains out there in the distance is Canada. What's going on, eh?

Except for this guy's forehead (fivehead?) being in the picture, this is a really beautiful picture! The American flag and the space needle!

That's Mt. Rainier in the background. Apparently you don't see the mountain often because of the fog (dude, its just like home!) but today we had a crisp, beautiful day out on the bay!

Wave hi to Seattle everyone!!

I tried to do a panoramic picture

Another beautiful day on the water!

Transamerica Building

The Transamerica building has become as large of an icon in San Francisco as the Golden Gate Bridge.  Its become a symbol of San Francisco and its unique architecture. The building is the largest skyscraper in San Francisco and was built in 1972 and is the 37th tallest building in the world.  I mean, just look at that unique shape!

View from Top of the Mark while drinking cocktails

View from the bottom...and you can see the crescent moon to the left!

Here's 10 fun facts about the building:

1. At 853 feet tall, it is currently San Francisco’s tallest building — that is, until the Salesforce Tower (which will be 1,100 feet tall) is complete.  
2. There are 48 floors, 15 passenger elevators, 3 freight elevators, and 3,678 windows.
3. Because of the shape of the building, the majority of the windows can pivot 360 degrees so they can be washed from the inside.
4. There used to be a public observation deck on the 27th floor, but it was closed after 9/11.
5. The conference room (with 360 degree views of the city) is located on the 48th floor and can be booked for $400-600 dollars…an hour.
6. The beacon at the tip is 6,000-watts and lit on special occasions, while the red aircraft light is a 1,000-watt high-voltage neon lamp required by the FAA.
7. It was designed by architect William Pereira and faced a lot of controversy while being built, even called “Pereira’s Prick.”
8. The shape of the building is in part due to Transamerica CEO John R. Beckett wanting to allow more natural light on the street below.
9. Construction began in 1969 and the first tenants moved in during the summer of 1972 and the building is covered in crushed white quartz, giving it its pure white color.
10. The Gold Rush ship The Niantic is located underground just a few feet away from the base of the Pyramid.

If you'd like to learn more and find out where I got these facts, click here.

Its so so tall!

An observation deck on the 27th floor was closed after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and replaced by the virtual observation deck. So this is all you get now :(

And then I found this cute little park next to it! Such an oasis in the heart of Chinatown/Financial District!

I'm not sure if this is creepy or cute....

A plaque for the park

Its so tall compared to the rest of the buildings!

Fort Point

 

After our jaunt to see the Palace of Fine Arts, I requested that we go to Fort Point, which is under the Golden Gate Bridge.  It was a hike to get there, but MAN was it worth it!! The views were incredible and I've never been UNDER the bridge!  And we were really lucky to have sunny weather too!

Fort Point was built between 1853 and 1861 at the mouth of the bay, to protect the bay from attack.  Its said that the Golden Gate Bridge was built to resemble the arches in Fort Point, if you look underneath the bridge, you can see the resemblance in the architecture.

 The first site of the Golden Gate Bridge is always a bit breathtaking!

 

Walking along the path around Crissy Field to get there

Stopped for a selfie

Hello beautiful....

First sign and entrance!

The undercarriage of the bridge is built to resemble the arches of Fort Point

You can see the resemblance here.

I mean, look at that sunny sky!!

It was super super windy!!

Beautiful view back of the city!

I could look at this view every day!  I had such a fun jaunt to Fort Point with the B Man.  I had forgotten just how FAR of a trek to the bridge was, but it was well worth the view!