If you're familiar with the North American map, you'd probably know that Canada's British Columbia and USA's Washington State are neighbours. We took the opportunity to visit Seattle, which is about 2 hours drive from Richmond. The 9 of us packed into 2 different cars.
When approaching the border, there were signs that said Nexus Lane Only, and I was not familiar with the term at all. So I drove on the Nexus lane and by the time we saw the long line up for the "regular" lanes, it was already too late to switch. Luckily, some of the cones used to divide the lanes were missing and we took the opportunity to squeeze into the regular lane and we were fine after all.
Mid-way to Seattle from the border, we stopped at a casino to have all-you-can-eat lunch. It was called the Tulalip Casino, right next to the Seattle Premium Outlet. The restaurant had very decent selection with reasonable prices. Unfortunately, to reach the restaurant, which was far inside the casino, we had to pass by all the slot machines with people smoking cigarettes. I guess indoor smoking is still allowed there...
We then continued our journey to the Pike Place Market. If you are a fan of Starbucks Coffee, then you would know that the very first Starbucks Coffee opened up at the Pike Place Market many years ago exactly on the same spot where it still stands today. Many customers line up just to buy their special Pike Place Coffee Beans and also their unique to Pike Place tumblers and bottles.
Aside from the famous coffee chain, this area is also famous for their public market, offering fresh fish, local and organic fruits and vegetables, arts and crafts, restaurants, bakery, and more. It is a lively place and the vendors there are very friendly. It totally had a different feel from markets in Asia.
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| A variety of peppers |
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| More variety of peppers |
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| And yet some more peppers |
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| Pepper wreaths |
Still in the Pike Place Marget area, there is a second and newer Starbucks Coffee location with much larger space. This is where we went to get our drinks, since the lineup was not as bad.
At the market I bought some organic raspberries, peaches, nectarines, plums, and pluot (plum-apricot cross). They tasted sooooo good!
Later that day at 5 pm we went to get the famous Pike Place Chowder only to find that they were already closed... So disappointing!
We didn't give up though, the next morning we came back just to have the chowder. They had so many variety of chowders we decided to get the sampler of 4 chowder of our choices. I found that the original still tasted the best. I also got sucked into buying the Captain's Sandwich, which is a shrimp and crab sandwich. It was not nearly as good as their chowder though....
From there we went to the Seattle Premium Outlet and then back to Richmond.
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