Underground and Overland

Seattle Underground Tour - deep beneath the city sidewalk.
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Today after breakfast at the hotel we headed out on a very brisk walk down hill to Pioneer Square. This was the starting point for the Underground Tour of Seattle. This 90min tour told us the story of the beginnings of Seattle and how the street level of the business district was raised from their original level. This was due to "issues" with the sewer system at high tide and the use of the new invention developed by Thomas Crapper.

The sidewalks as they are used today are actually at the second floor level of the original buildings. The tour took us underground to walk in some of the passageways of the original sidewalks. These passageways are lit in some places by original skylight grids in the current sidewalk that lets light down below.

Holy Crapper!

Love that Moose Hat!!! No didn't buy it - just borrowed it!
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After the end of this tour it was a quick ride back to the hotel to check-out and head to the airport for our afternoon flight to Anchorage. At the airport our boarding was delayed by a security breach at the airport which halted access to the boarding gates. After a short wait our flight boarded and we had a smooth ride to Anchorage.

Arriving here at 5pm local time, it felt like 2pm in the afternoon, and suprisingly we walked around without jumpers. After a birthday drink in the hotel bar, we wandered around the local area, checking out the multitude of souvenier stores and the novelty items on offer. We spotted a lot of taxidermied brown bears and polar bears to size ourselves up against.

Seattle Underground Skylights in sidewalk.
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We headed back to the hotel and grabbed a bite to eat in the sports bar (and another birthday drink!) before deciding to call it a night. At 9pm it was still bright daylight, but we were getting tired and well aware of the 5:30am wake-up required for tomorrow.