Seattle by Torchlight

This week has been full of ferry rides for us!  Yesterday took the count up to 4 round-trip adventures to the East side of Puget Sound.

Of course, there had to be pictures...

 Isn't he cute?!

 The Space Needle and a ferry...can't get more Seattle than that!

It was WINDY!

What was our destination last night??

Tim had heard an advertisement on the radio that morning and spontaneously decided he wanted to go.  If you know Tim, you know it takes a lot for him to be spontaneous, I was so happy, there was no way I was going to say no!  (Also, this was our second Torchlight Parade experience, the first one was 5 years ago, when we marched with the Cougar Marching Band.)

As soon as we got off the ferry, we headed to the 4th Avenue parade route to find a place to sit.  We were still a few hours from the start of the parade, but already the streets were full:

 

However, we got a pretty sweet spot! 

Situated between Spring and Madison, just one block from the street that leads to the ferry and across the street from...

 The Seattle Public Library!

After getting some sandwiches and other goodies from the closest grocery store and playing card games, it was time for the parade to FINALLY start!

Of course, you can't start a parade without the Police Motorcycle drill team:

After that, Alaska airlines and their flight attendant drill team (who Tim saw practicing in Sea-Tac a few weeks ago) passed us.  AND THEN, my favorite, the Grand Marshal came by...

APOLO ANTON OHNO

We also saw Jackie and Bender from Kiss 106.1:

The SeaFair inflatable pirate:

Who had some difficulty going block-to-block:

We heard music from the Army band, the Navy band, and the Marine Corp band:

 Of course, it wouldn't be SeaFair with out the SeaFair Clowns...

 There was also a 125-foot Chinese Dragon:

 I love this picture!

And it REALLY wouldn't be SeaFair without the Pirates!  We could hear them from three or four blocks away...mostly because of their loud cannon!

Oh, and the kids went CrAzY for them! 

 The parade ended with a "parade" of the Hydroplanes.  This is the 2008 & 2009 national champion, Miss Madison:

 After that, we needed to head back to the ferry, with the rest of the Kitsap County spectators. It was a full ferry, but Tim did manage to get this sweet picture before we loaded onto the boat:

Overall, it was a great opportunity to enjoy the parade, only this time from a spectator point-of-view!